RJ Book 10 Taking Care of Business

by Earl Nelson

  I expected one of the fleets of Rollers. When I appeared in the lobby in full uniform it stopped foot traffic everywhere as people gawked at me. From my movie career, I was used to this and took it in stride.

  My companions not so much. They shuffled and looked awkward with all the attention. I mean they weren’t idiots like Don Knotts on The Andy Griffth show but you could see they weren’t comfortable with the attention.

  The hotel night manager came up to me, almost running and then giving a small bow. Lord Blackhoof your car will be here momentarily. That was strange I could see a line of empty limos right outside.

  Then my ride came into sight. It was the longest most ostentation car I had ever seen. I found out that it is a Rolls-Royce 1934 Phantom II. It was beautiful, it was large and did I say ostentatious?

  From the huge headlights to the passenger cabin it had every automotive excess known to man. I loved it.

  By special arrangement whenever this vehicle was used there were Hong Kong police cars as escorts, before and after. There were motorcycle police who would go ahead and shut down the intersections so we could drive straight through.

  I thought this was incredible and wondered who paid for all this. I found out when Roger showed me my bill. Oh well, this excess was worth it. I now had an inkling of how the Queen traveled every time she went out. One could get used to this.

  The press had been forewarned of my arrival at Government House as they were there in full force. It was nice to have police form a barrier so we would get jostled by the commoners. I better stop being an ass!

  Chapter 50

  Once inside Government House, I was drafted into the receiving line to be introduced. That part is not so much fun. Guys would try to break my hand. Some stunk of alcohol and tobacco, others just stunk. I’m not talking of just men.

  Then there were the mothers who were certain I needed to meet their daughters. As an aside to the Governor I asked him if he enjoyed doing this for a living.

  He told me some days he would rather be back in a Japanese prison camp. Harsh!

  As we stood there greeting people as they came in, I recognized a familiar face in the line. I didn’t know what to call her. Maybe she was here to tell me my dry cleaning was ready?

  She reached Sir Robert first.

  “Lady Ping!, you do us great honor in attending our reception for Sir Richard.”

  “I have a message for Sir Richard.”

  Turning to me she told me, “Do not come to China under any circumstances. Both sides would like to use you as a bargaining chip. At the same time be prepared to increase grain shipments. We will be paying gold.”

  Sir Robert asked, “From that can I assume that Deng Xiaoping is winning.”

  “For the moment he has the upper hand. I think he will take all power very soon.”

  This meant he would be the highest official in the both government and the communist party.

  “The Great Leap Forward is done, now we must save the people. That is what I’m here to ask Sir Richard to do.”

  “How will we handle the details”

  “Sir Richard if you do not mind I and several others will attend you in your hotel tomorrow morning.”

  Thinking quickly I asked, “How will I know that those accompanying you are not using you to get to me.”

  “I will tell you that it is a beautiful day in Hong Kong.”

  “So if I hear the words beautiful day in Hong Kong you aren’t under any duress?

  “Yes.”

  “May I have a representative of the Crown there?”

  “Sir Robert you are welcome to attend.”

  He nodded and she moved on into the room. She must have immediately left as I didn’t see her again.

  “Sir Robert, I have dealt with Lady Ping many times, in many places who exactly is she?

  “She is the only descendent of Puyi the last Emporer. If the Qing dynasty was still in power she would be Empress. As it is she has worked all her life for the people of China. She will deal with anyone who makes it better for the people.”

  “Do you think she can ever regain power?”

  “No, and I don’t think she would want it, she has never married and has no children, at least that we know of so there would be no successor.”

  There was an interesting mix of people at the reception. To my surprise an old friend was present.

  “Hey pilgrim, fancy meeting you here. That’s quite a getup you are wearing. You should be on a set somewhere.”

  I started to draw the dress sword at my side. He faked fear. We had a good laugh. People watching us, and there were plenty of them must have thought we were crazy.

  “John, it is good to see you, I’m here on business, what are you up to?”

  “Scouting a location. I think we will make an action movie here. You up to another movie?”

  “When will shooting start?”

  “I’m planning for the first quarter of next year. I hear you got kicked out of school so you should have the time.”

  “What studio are you working with?”

  “Monroes.”

  “Let’s talk further, could you have a script sent to me in England.”

  “I have an extra one with me, I will bring it to your room later tonight.”

  “That would be cool.”

  We chatted about mutual friends for a while. Others had gathered around us waiting to talk to one of us. It turned out Mr. Wayne was more popular than me, who would have thought!”

  There were a couple of cute English girls whose parents worked at Government House who were interested in flirting with me.

  It was fun but meant nothing. While cute neither one had two brain cells to rub together.

  Back at the hotel with Jim and Todd, we discussed the evening. While I had official duty standing in line and later talks with every businessman who thought they could make a quick buck off me they had enjoyed themselves mingling with the crowd.

  There was a knock at the door and John Wayne joined us. The men were having a whiskey so he joined them. I had my usual Coke.

  John started telling stories about me on the set. You would think I was a rabble-rouser and troublemaker the way he told them.

  As he kept them spellbound with my supposed antics I leafed through the script. It seemed to be one I could work with. Jackson, Rick Jackson.

  I half-listened to his storytelling, I had to object when he started telling the story of me in the stampede. I didn’t ride any bulls through the herd!”

  I gave up and went to bed at two in the morning. They were still at it. After a short night, I had room service to provide breakfast. My two companions managed to get up and have coffee before going to the shower.

  I took mercy on them and ordered a new breakfast setup for after they were dressed.

  Todd told me, “I learned a lot I didn’t know about you Rick, I know there was some exaggeration but you have had an interesting time of it.”

  “Some exaggeration! Yes, I killed a coyote, no I didn’t skin it on the set. I didn’t skin it at all.”

  “But you did stand up to a charging rabid coyote?”

  “Well yeah, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

  “Sure.”

  His ‘sure’ was drug out, it sounded like, ‘suure.’ Almost like he didn’t believe me.

  We finished up breakfast and were joined by Sir Robert, Lady Ping, and two other Chinese gentlemen. After introductions around business began.

  It started with a review of what grain shipments had been made and what was still on order. They wanted to triple their order.

  “We have ceased the treasury so we can pay in gold if that is acceptable.”

  “It is but I need to be paid in Canada or better yet in England as it is illegal to own gold or have it in contracts in the United States.”

  “We can do that, now a sensitive question. It will take time to have the gold moved to you.
Will you extend a line of credit so shipments can start immediately?”

  I turned to Jim.

  “How much credit can we extend without damaging any of our positions?”

  He thought for a moment, “One hundred million with no problems, beyond that I would have to do an in-depth review.”

  I asked, “Will that be enough?”

  “For the grain yes,” stated Lady Ping. “There is the next matter, weapons, and ammunition.”

  Sir Robert stepped in, “Rick I think this is an issue for Her Majesties Government.”

  Turning to Lady Ping, “We would be delighted to sell you the materials you need to bring peace to China.”

  Then chuckling he added, “Especially when it gives us a chance to get some of Sir Richard money.”

  I protested, “It is only a line of credit extended, not a gift.”

  “I know, but it is your money, you are becoming a Rothschild.”

  “I can’t afford a canal-like they did.”

  “Maybe not this year.”

  From the puzzled looks on Lady Ping's companions, I had to explain.

  “Lord Rothschild of the banking family loaned the money to England to buy shares in the recently completed Suez Canal. It was done on a handshake, no contracts.”

  At that, I held out my hand to Lady Ping. We shook hands and I had just put one hundred million dollars of the line. She wasn’t even an official of the new struggling government.

  The way I looked at it if China didn’t want to repay me, they wouldn’t and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

  By making this beau geste I would either come up smelling like roses or be dead broke, well down to my last half a billion dollars or so. Having money can be fun.

  Besides who can say they loaned money to an Empress?

  It was agreed that Jim would appoint someone from the London office to oversee the projects. Contact information was exchanged and they made their goodbye. I got a hug from Lady Ping.

  “You will always be known as a friend of China.”

  After they left Todd and Jim were both blown away by events. I had agreed to put up a huge sum of money to save starving people and provide weapons for a government to fight a civil war.

  Jim asked, “ Who exactly is Lady Ping?”

  When I told them it was the frosting on the cake. Todd exclaimed, “Now I know why fighting with the Kennedy’s doesn’t bother you. You are power on the world stage in your own right.”

  I hadn’t looked at it that way but he wasn’t far wrong.

  Chapter 51

  The next day we went over the local books with the accountants. Everything was under strict control and we didn’t even see anything questionable. This was the tightest run operation of any we had visited.

  Maybe it was because they would cane for minor offenses and hang for major. Not for crimes of violence but what we called white-collar crime.

  No resort prisons for high-level offenders, I had not seen them but was told the prisons were terrible by American standards.

  They even had local politicians locked up. It seems like the rest of the world should follow suit. I basing that thought on how well this project was being run with high quality, on time, and under budget.

  No one had ever told them that you can have any of the two above but not all three.

  From Hong Kong, it was an easy flight to Toyoko. The Japanese appeared to be in a contest with Hong Kong as to who could do it best.

  There seemed to be an international contest going on to see who could award me honors. Again I was invited to a reception. It was being held in the main hall of the Diet as the Prime Minister’s residence was too small for such a function.

  The bad part of this is that both chambers of the Japanese government would be there as it was their building. I would be introduced to most of them. I just hoped that all seven hundred plus members wouldn’t be present.

  We were taken to our quarters to freshen up before the reception. Instead of the usual hotel suite, we were staying at a guest house rented by my company.

  I had been told it was well staffed and could cater to all our needs. I wondered if this meant hot and cold running Geisha Girls.

  Upon arriving we were welcomed by the housekeeper. She said her name but I missed it as I didn’t get the pronunciation. After a shower I changed into the suit Roger had selected for me.

  I went downstairs and was directed to a living room that looked like it was out of a 1930s movie set. It reminded me of a set I had been on at Warner Brothers.

  I was there because Dick Wyman had me there for a fight scene. I got engrossed in the plush seats and watched a complete dining room scene play out. It was based on eighteenth-century British manners but with an Oriental twist. Probably nothing like the real Japan but fascinating none the less.

  The housekeeper whose name I never did get asked if I would like anything. I told her a Coke would be wonderful.

  Jim and Todd came into the room as my Coke was being served. It is a good thing I had been on that movie set. The young lady who served me came in, and with a smooth motion went to her knees while holding a tray.

  She poured my Coke into an ice-filled glass and looking down handed it to me. I took the glass, she rose in a flowing motion and bowed, and left the room.

  Between my acting and having watched the little ceremony play out on the movie set I was able to act like this was the way things were done.

  Jim and Todd’s mouths were agape.

  As I read once, fake it until you make it. Boy was I faking. To think this was real.

  We were loaded into a limo for our trip to the National Diet. After the limos in Hong Kong this car, a Cadilac was boring.

  To my relief, I wasn’t introduced to seven hundred people. There was only about one hundred present and most weren’t interested in meeting me. I had thought it would be the representatives and councilors.

  Instead, it was members of industry, their suppliers, consultants, bankers, and others involved in rebuilding the Japanese economy. At this time Japanese products were considered a joke.

  There was a rumor that Japan had renamed a town USA so it could claim products were made in the USA. I wanted to ask our host if there was any truth to this but realized it would be highly insulting.

  Jim got caught up talking to some financial types. Todd and I wandered around. We saw a tall obvious American standing at an open bar. He had an attractive Japanese girl on his arm.

  I looked at him too long and caught his eye. He came over to me. He introduced himself, W. Edwards Deming. He was there looking for work. He was a Quality Consultant who had a heavy statistical background.

  I made the mistake of asking him how statistics could help in manufacturing. He explained, and then he explained some more. At first, I wanted to run away, but by the time he explained the difference between common cause and special cause I was hooked.

  We needed this sort of expertise in our operation in Pittsburgh. Todd and I exchanged glances and Todd took over saying we would be interested in his looking at our operations in Pittsburgh to see if he could help.

  He was heading back stateside in two weeks and would be glad to visit Todd. He didn’t pay much attention to me, I think since Todd was older he was the boss. That was fine with me.

  There were no awards for me at this event which was fine. There comes a point when it becomes a bit much. I was introduced to the Prime Minister and he thanked me through his interpreter for my helping his country modernize.

  The next morning we were up for our tour. The tour went well but I was getting to feel if you have seen one container port you have seen them all.

  There was one interesting conversation. Through an interpreter, I was asking how things were going. The only word that I recognized was Popeye. Did I hear right?

  The translator told us that things were now fine on the dock since Popeye had straightened out the Yakuza. I asked if it
was my Popeye, well I described him and the dockworker was shaking his head, yes.

  I asked the translator to ask if there was a body count. The answer was no body count, no bodies were ever found. They just went away.

  The worker through the translator asked if I knew Popeye. My response that he was my Uncle was accepted with wide eyes. The worker suddenly bowed to me three times and hurried away.

  For the rest of the tour, I felt many eyes on me. Not because my company was building this, Popeye is my Uncle! That made some of his fame rub off on me. What a weird feeling that was.

  The tour only lasted half a day so we spent the rest of the afternoon being updated on the project and its finances. Jim had a lot of good questions. Todd looked like he was learning a lot. I managed not to yawn.

  At the end of the day, we boarded our plane for an overnight flight to Anchorage where we would refuel. We would then fly to Chicago, refueling once more, then on to Savannah.

  I slept crossing the Pacific so missed seeing the short day-night cycle. This was because we were flying almost as fast as the earth rotated but couldn’t quite beat it to stay completely in day or night.

  I was glad I woke up when we landed. Since it was winter in Alaska even though we were on the ground a short time we needed de-icing before takeoff. The sound of all that saltwater against the fuselage would have made it impossible to sleep.

  Since I was refreshed from a good night's sleep the rest of the people on board looked tired to me, not exhausted but lacking a good night's sleep. Even a first-class fold-down seat wasn’t the same as a bed.

  I decided the only political thing to do was ignore their lack of sleep, that or have the plane redesigned. Now that is a thought.

  I had breakfast in my conference room where I was joined by a chipper Roger. I was puzzled then remembered he had a Pullman bunk in his room in the cargo hold. Thinking about it I realized we could have made three more rooms like his down there.

  Chicago was a quick stop, at least quick for Chicago. The weather was good so there were no delays. The ground crew wasn’t on a slowdown so things went smoothly.