by Matthew Nuth
Paul was skeptical of the kitchen concept, but loved the majority of what he was seeing. Arlin was fascinated with the potential that had been unleashed for this tired, old building. He got up from the table and grabbed a couple of the drawings and began to walk and talk as he pointed to specific structures in the building to suggest alterations and improvements to Mark and Tim’s plans. In real time, he was reinventing the interior of the building. Eventually, the whole group was following Arlin around as he outlined how the building’s character could be maintained while synergistically delivering on Mark and Tim’s dream.
After half an hour of exciting brainstorming, they returned to the table to share a bottle of a wine that Tim had told them he had been saving for the end of the meeting. “I hope we have had enough time away from the food to enjoy this. We think you will really like this.” In reality, they had saved two bottles for the PW Simmons team: first, a 1970 Bordeaux from Chateau Mouton-Rothschild and second, a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from a relatively young winery out of Napa Valley called Stag’s Leap.
As Mark poured he introduced the wines. “The Bordeaux is something Tim and I have been saving for a very special occasion, and we hope this is it. It should have a huge, concentrated taste. It might be a little dry for your taste, but with a great steak, wonderful. The Stag’s Leap, might be a little less dry, but the taste just goes on and on. It is a surprisingly wonderful wine that we hope gives the Bordeaux a run for its money, but we are going to leave that up to you.” Mark pulled out two glasses for each member of Paul’s team. Smiling he said, “I think it is a good thing you will be walking back to the office.”
Tim and Mark left Paul, Lanny, William, and Arlin to enjoy the wine and, hopefully, discuss what they saw and experienced today. After waiting for what seemed an eternity, but in reality no more than five to ten minutes, Tim broke the silence “So what do you think? Do Mark and I have what you need for the mall and this building? I know we kind of tripped over your questions yesterday, but now I think we have answered them. Yes, we have something that will make us all proud, and it will be an asset to the mall. We think you should bet on our success because we have talent, vision, and energy for this business. Plus, Mark and I complement each other so well; we cannot lose.”
* * *
The discussion back in the PW Simmons’s office after Mark and Tim’s presentation became circular: acknowledging the creativity, but concern over the lack of experience; loving the talent and passion, but lacking the financial capability. All four men liked the idea of a high-end restaurant at the entrance to the mall, as long as it could keep itself contemporary and fashionable. It would provide a welcoming business that spoke to quality and instantaneously differentiated this experience from the shopping malls.
Ultimately, they agreed Mark and Tim were the right candidates for this piece of real estate. Their passion and talent would guarantee they had a showcase business to attract future businesses and customers. They also agreed that they absolutely wanted to maintain ownership of this particular piece of real estate as the cornerstone of the entire mall. They desired to lease the real estate and maintain tight control over the improvements to ensure the work complemented the entire mall. That said, the investment to take the skeleton of structure and create a functional and exciting restaurant would be huge, probably a lot bigger than their two prospective clients could afford, so they needed to come up with a means to provide the upfront capital.
William provided an opening to move the discussion forward. “Look, if we think these are the right guys, can we fund the interior investment and do it in agreement with Mark and Tim. We could up the rent to pay off the investment over time. I have to believe, getting that building occupied with a vibrant business is going to make leasing or selling the rest of the real estate a heck of a lot easier.”
Lanny responded, “You are right, but we have earmarked our budgets already and we are pretty close to being tapped out. Paul, how much do you think Tim and Mark have available for investment? Maybe enough to take care of the kitchen at least?”
Paul shook his head. “I might have screwed up on this one. These guys have barely enough to take over an existing small restaurant. They don’t have even close to what it would take to start a place like we discussed today. I probably shouldn’t have showed them the building on Linden. It is at least twice the size they had originally looked for, but they are so passionate, just the kind of people we want running businesses on Linden. Lanny, they’re kind of like us when we jumped into our first development. It scared the hell out of me.
“I actually thought those two guys would fall apart yesterday when we showed up in mass, but they took it in stride. Hell, if they failed, we would have just chalked it up to the business and the building being too much for them, outsizing their dreams, and their pocket book. Instead, I think they are right for it for everything except their pocketbook. Look, how about Sam and I loan the company the money to complete the retrofit.”
“Paul, are you serious?” asked William. “It’s a lot of money and you have a kid getting set for college. Maybe you and Sam need to talk about this.”
“We have. Last night. And she said that if I thought it was a good thing, we will pull out some of our savings to make it happen.” Then he smiled, “Randall doesn’t know it yet, but it looks like he will be working to pay his own way through college. Just kidding, I think we’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” said Lanny, “then I think we need to get Arlin’s team into there to finish the design, assuming Tim and Mark are ready to sign on the line for the lease.”
Chapter 35
Tim pushed back from the table and stretched. “My God, I am good. I don’t think I could have improved on that dinner. You agree?” he said, fishing for complements.
Mark shook his head “Folks please ignore him. If you complement the meal, I will have to listen to his bragging and his cooking secrets all night. Randall, just so you know, your Dad made our business happen. He was, and still is, our patron saint; but not just ours, but for a lot of the businesses here on the mall. Back then when we started, interest rates were so high, and the economy was terrible. I can’t tell you how many of our neighbors could not pay their bills and ended up going out of business. It was a bad time that lasted the whole time you were away at college. I am so glad your Mom and Dad saved this place.”
Mark looked at my Mom and mouthed, “Thank you.”
* * *
Paul leaned back in his chair. The office was quiet now since it was after seven at night. All the lights were out except for his desk lamp. He had just laid off one of his company’s employees, a young, budding architect that had joined their firm this past year. This had been her first job out of school, and she had been such an energetic addition to the office. Laying her off had been one of the hardest things he had done in his life. It was like saying goodbye to his kid.
She had taken the news like a pro, sitting stoically, taking in the words without responding. He had thought everything was okay until he heard her sobbing as she cleaned out her desk. He felt ashamed. He stayed in his office until she had left and only then had he opened his office door. He had decided to inform her of his decision late in the day so that most of the rest of the staff would have already left.
He had known he needed to cut costs for some time now. In general, their business was doing okay, but they were facing a noticeable slowdown in the local economy. High interest rates had put a major hurt on their home sales. Their most recent development was selling out at only half the rate they had planned, forcing them to reduce their construction teams. Rental incomes were probably doing even worse. He was facing a number of commercial properties that were behind in their rent. Of these businesses that had fallen behind, a number were small retailers that would never catch up. These were just barely holding on now, deciding daily who should be paid next, trying to stretch their limited dollars as best possible
to provide an opportunity for some type of miraculous recovery. They were slowly shrinking their inventory to pay utilities or the employees’ salaries. Many of his small retail tenants had already laid off their sales staff, hoping that they could work even more hours to somehow make up for the short staff. They would just slowly die, of course, their owners facing bankruptcy.
Tonight, before heading home, he would be visiting one of these dying businesses. This business was particularly troublesome. The tenant had been running a successful and profitable upscale retail business for years. He had recently expanded his business to a second site, and everything was going good; maybe too good. The expansion had forced him to take out a small business bank loan that had adjusted with rising interest rates, resulting in rising costs each quarter. The killer had been the ultimate slow-down in the economy. His product, high-end stereo gear, had been in demand when the economy was ginning, became an unaffordable luxury now. The owner had called him up this morning and had informed Paul he was leaving the shop’s keys on the counter. The building was now turned back over to PW Simmons. He had seen businesses die before; just not at the rate he was currently seeing.
For PW Simmons, this had been the first layoff for their office staff; however, Lanny had already warned Paul more would likely be required. It was going to be a trying time. The good news; they could finally see the end of the bureaucratic tunnel that had been holding up their development in California. If they could outlast the current economic downturn, they had a very rosy future. One might think this would make the layoffs easier, knowing it was preparing the company for future success, but for Paul, it made it even more difficult. It just meant PW Simmons was going to survive, but a lot of people that had made the company a success would not.
He took comfort in the darkened office. He did not want to go home to face Sam, now. He knew that she would say she understood, but he knew she would also be ashamed. Ashamed that her husband had failed. Every person laid off was just another mark of shame.
* * *
Mark and Tim were waiting outside the PW Simmons entrance as Paul came into work. He could tell from their look they were concerned. Paul had taken the two under his wing almost as his and Sam’s adopted kids. They had been great tenants, at least until the past few months, and they had showed all the creativity and passion he had seen in them the first time they met. The past few months had been a struggle, however. They had fallen behind in their rent. Today they were fully a month late and he had called them in to discuss what was going on.
After a brief hello the three walked together up the steps to the PW Simmons place of business. Without stopping to say hello to any of the staff already present, Paul ushered Mark and Tim into his private office. “So, guys, have a seat.” He motioned to the two chairs facing his desk. Instead of taking his place behind his desk, Paul instead pulled over a third chair from the corner and sat down.
Mark started before Paul could even tell them why he had asked them to his office. “Look, Paul, I know we’re behind and we are working with the bank to secure a small loan to get us through. Business has really slowed down these past few months on the mall. Can you give us a couple more months to get our funding together?”
“Thanks, Mark, but stop right there. Tell me how borrowing money at 14% is going to help you when what you are really dealing with is a drop off in business? I’m not here to badger you on being late with the rent, even though that is unacceptable. I brought you here to discuss what you are going to do to stimulate the business level. Borrowing money at a high interest rate is merely going to dig the hole you are in deeper, unless you have a plan for those dollars that result in increased traffic.
“For me, I think I need you to be successful for the success of the entire mall. Everyone in the mall is suffering, and you are one of the mall’s cornerstones. I need you to be successful. One month’s rent is the least of my concerns. What I need from you is to consider expanding your operating hours to include breakfast.”
Mark looked to Tim then shook his head and responded, “Paul, Tim and I think that makes a lot of sense, too. It would give us some more revenue with a lot less food costs. Plus, we even thought we might be able to put some café tables out in the mall to extend the seating area, but it costs us money to get the staff and menus in place. Money that we just don’t have right now. We really don’t know what to do.”
Tim added, “Even if we do add the breakfast, it is going to take some time for it to catch on.”
Paul interrupted, “Look, Sam and I are going to give you a personal loan. Part of it goes to bringing you up to date on your rent, okay? The rest goes to breakfast, right?”
“PW Simmons is going to throw in funds to advertise the mall and kick off a series of outdoor exhibitions; you know, live music and artists. It will be a waste if the businesses are not prepared to take advantage of it. You will have free customers if you can pull it off.”
Mark looked to Paul and asked, “Paul, this is an amazing offer, but why? I mean, why are you giving us a personal loan to make it work? It is so risky.”
“Look, last night I had to go home and tell Sam I laid off my first employee; my first ever. I never want to do that again. Sam agrees. So, you better not let me down.”
Chapter 36
The table was quiet. I looked to Mom and she stared down at her plate. She finally offered, “I think Dad’s laying off that young lady almost killed him. All he said when he got home was ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ I knew things were bad then. He never talked about work at home and I never knew things were so bad. I did then. You know, we had made a wonderful life out of this business. I guess it was time to give something back, even if it was just to make it easy for your Dad to live with the decisions he needed to make. Plus, he actually liked these two guys.” She said nodded to Mark and Tim, “So do I.”
Uncle Bill was beginning to dose. He had certainly caught up with the wine as the conversation had dwindled so I suggested it was time we headed home. “Thanks for telling me a little about Dad. After we moved the business to San Diego, I really hadn’t had the time. Oh, that’s bullshit, I haven’t made the time to get home to see my family. Now, I realize how much I have missed by not being here. Thanks.”
* * *
Sitting by Dad’s bed I pulled out his little blue journal. I once again pulled off the rubber-band that bound it closed. The band broke. No problem, I’d snag another from one of the drawers in the kitchen. The only light in the room come from the small bureau lamp next to my chair. I had chosen this small lamp in hope it would let me read a little more while not interrupting Dad’s peaceful sleep. I could hear Dad’s shallow breath, rhythmically reminding me Dad was still with me.
Near the back of the journal, Dad had written a note to me.
Randall -
I remember when you sprouted and when everything you experienced was new and exciting.
Perhaps it still is that way, but not so much . . .
At least in the way when you first felt the wind cool you or the sun warm you.
You brought smiles with your smile, melted our hearts when you bent our way
When you first took a step, we saw, not a baby, but a young boy
And our minds set off in wild imagination of the man to come
I am sure now you have grown as a tree in the forest, strong and flexing
Busy spreading branches, reaching out to places never touched
Reaching beyond anything my older branches could ever imbue.
My branches used to be the same, reaching out further each day
Achieving heights well beyond those which my parents enjoyed
Stretching for the heavens with hubris, seemingly, to some . . .
Only to realize so many years later the importance of the rest of the trees in the forest.
They provided shade when I was the sapling
/> They shielded me from the winds that threatened to tear my branches.
They gave me water to quench my thirst while keeping the rains from washing away the soil.
Now you are just beginning a new phase of growth;
Your branches will get stronger, albeit less flexible,
Your leaves will become thicker, so that you might provide shade to others.
Your roots will go deeper, so that you are less reliant on rain.
You are a man.
Be strong, but not so strong that you ignore new thoughts.
Strength is not something you have,
But something you give to others through your compassion and care.
Strength without flexibility is useless.
Providing cover and guidance to others is hard.
It is risky and has to come out of love,
But, a little cover goes a long way.
A sapling never grows if it can’t see and feel the sun.
As your roots grow deeper, don’t forget the importance of rain.
Roots without water are useless;
