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Chapter 12
(One week later)
“What are you going to do today
Goldie?” Dwayne has been the
best of hosts the last few days. I
guess I have been a vegetable as of late.
I am getting up later, and Margie is running around with Dwayne’s
wife, Barb. I haven’t shaved
in a week. I was looking
pretty scruffy. I do think I
will shave today, as it helps to clean up to boost the energy level, and
make a guy feel better. Not
checking my cell phone messages the last couple of days, I hit my code.
The tone sounds before each message.
((Beep)) Mr Simms.
This is the insurance company on your house and building.
Please give us a call. ((Beep))
Goldie, its Amy Streeter. You
will not believe this. Call me
as soon as you can. You are
not going to believe this...
I wonder what that is about.
I have not talked to Amy for a week, and really did not mind that.
I am in no way wanting to change the world.
My own world was pretty shaken right now.
“What’s up Amy?” She
always carries her cell phone with her everywhere she goes.
“Goldie I need to see you. Where
are you?” “I am at
Dwayne’s, next door to my house” using that term loosely, as we both
knew it didn’t exist anymore. I
will be there as soon as I can. “This
is good new Goldie so rest your mind; at least I think it is.
See you in a few.”
The shower felt especially good this
morning, as I finished with a clean shave and a little cologne; just to
splash a little feel good on. I
do actually like Amy, but not in an attraction sense.
Madly in love with my wife, I don’t look at other women in a
sexual way. Even with this, a
person with the personality and looks that Amy has, enthusiasm, attitude,
and apparent honesty, she would have been a catch if I was single.
I do enjoy being with her when I am, feeling the sunshine walking
in the room when she comes in. Seeing her drive up the driveway, I walk
out to meet her. Her face is
lit up. With our solemn
conversations as of late, it was a refreshing thing to see from anyone.
She gets out of the car as fast as she could.
“Goldie, you will not believe this!
Look!” She walks
around the car and opens the trunk. There
are trash bags full of something. She
parted one of the openings to reveal what is in side.
Letters. Full of
letters. “These are all the
letters that are coming in to you, and they are not stopping!
We started getting them a couple of days ago, and when today’s
mail came this morning, I just couldn’t believe my eyes.
We must have gotten two of the bags full just today!
“I have to show you this one Goldie.
It came addressed to me at the station.
I was told to give it to you.”
She pulls out an opened letter from her purse in the front seat of
the car and hands it to me. There
was just a return address on the outside of the envelope.
No return name. It was
open as I could see it was addressed to Amy and the TV station.
I pulled it out and read it:
Dear
Mr. Golden Simms.
We
have heard of your misfortune in the fires that you have had set; to your
building and home. We greatly
regret that this happened, and know what it can do to a person.
Years ago I lost everything, even my business to a fire.
We lived upstairs in an apartment over the business.
I had no insurance as we were a small struggling company, and
through years of hard work had just paid off the building, so no bank
required insurance. As a
result of the fire, I had to file bankruptcy.
It was devastating, even loosing my wife in a divorce through all
the turmoil. This was twenty
years ago to the day it happened to you.
I remember the anniversary date of this personal disaster to the
day, and was sympathetically struck deeply when I saw the report on your
fires. I have also been
listening to the national reports of your ideas, and feel you have a gift
that this country greatly needs to tap.
You could be important to us Golden.
What
has happened to me over the last twenty years?
I started buying convenience stores.
I started with a lease with option to buy, and did really well with
the way I ran things. It was
no time at all that the profits started rolling in.
We produced a prototype store with the one we bought, colors, name,
theme, presentation, everything. Then
we started buying more of them. We
bought one a year for the first three or four years, and now we are buying
about 12 stores a year. That
is about one a month. I have a
real estate department now that is just as busy as the stores, as every
store we buy and re-do, has been extremely profitable.
These are just our corporate owned stores; the company I founded.
We are also starting franchises, and they too are starting to sell
very well. It is amazing what
a person will pay to have a well known name and set up assistance.
We just can do no wrong. I
am in my 60’s now, and could retire tomorrow with many lifetimes’
amount of money made; whether I sell the business or not.
Why
I have taken an interest in writing you is I am on the retail side of the
oil business. I see what is
going on with our vendors, and why there are record profits in that
industry. I do not need to get
that rich anymore. I just want
a simple profitable business in each store, but the pressure from the
vendors to hold and set prices to help protect stores they are selling to
in the close areas to our stores, it is a racket.
We need someone like you in the Whitehouse that does not have a
relationship with oil companies. The
current system seems to want to help them have a boom time in a poor
economy time. The whole system
has to be looked at, and if the oil companies continue, they will be the
rich, and the rest of the country will be poor.
Everyone wants to sit on the good side of the fence when times are
bad, the oil company being the good business to be in, so to speak.
In this case, they will flatten our economy.
Oil company executives are making as much as entire mid size
companies. I have put my money
where my mouth is, not as a donation to your political campaign, but a
contribution to your disaster relief.
Donations are widely accepted to help folks after a fire.
Please accept this cash donation of $100,000 from a person that has
been there, understands, and wants to help you.
It is true you got my attention by your political statements and
position, but want to help now for the things you really need, such as a
place to live. Good luck to
you Mr. Simms, and appreciate your ongoing efforts with your ideas.
It is all your call, but hopefully as you see we are behind you,
you will not chuck this letter in the trash.
Good luck and Godspeed.
“With
sympathy and empathy”
“Is this for real Amy?”
She reaches in an embroidered bag she was holding and pulls out a
wad of one hundred dollar bills. She
looks me in the eyes, “This bag is full Goldie.
These are all new one hundred dollar bills.
I counted it last night, and bundled them in five thousand dollar
bundles. It is all here, all
one hundred thousand dollars.” She
was trembling as she held the bag and the wad of money that she was
holding up for me to see. She
chuckled a little, “It’s kind of heavy Goldie.
These are not tens and twenties either.”
“I have to sit down Amy. Feeling
a little dizzy.” “This is
only one letter out of thousands too.
You and Margie will be busy for a few days going through them, and
they are still coming in!” Looking
down at the ground between my feet my mind is racing now.
Unbelievable...
It was an emotional day and evening.
Dwayne got off work and with Margie’s and Barb’s help, we got
through all the mail. Dwayne’s
front room was now a mess, looking like a Christmas present opening event.
The letters were all sympathetic, encouraging, as well as the
common message of not giving up. They
all said in different words the same message, “Run for president and get
us going again!” The
astonishing thing is that many had cash in them, checks, money orders,
even credit card numbers from some that said that was the only way they
could contribute, but felt it was that important.
Not counting credit card numbers that we were not intending on
using, we tallied the checks and cash.
We were astonished. The
total was four hundred twenty six thousand three hundred fifty two
dollars. Yes, $426,352...
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