The Peripheral Sur

by Bart Key

  Our last day as we were hiking out and to my great consternation, my mind returned to the same conundrum about war that had plagued in the past. When this occurred, it took a while before the thoughts dispersed. I would definitely need some quiet time alone when we returned.

  A couple of days later, I flew to Oklahoma City and met with Mason to tell him of my plans to form my own oil company and drill my own oil wells. I asked if he would become my exploration manager and was elated when he accepted. Later that same day we met with Josh, a landman we both knew and had worked with before. I retained him to begin acquiring oil drilling leases covering lands that Mason identified as being prospective.

  Josh did a yeoman’s job and before long he had acquired a significant number of leases within the area we specified. I hired him as my permanent land manager and soon the three of us settled into our new office in Oklahoma City where we began finalizing plans for drilling our first well. As we would need an experienced drilling engineer to manage the operation, I contacted Ryan, a young independent engineer I had worked with previously, to see if he had an interest in the job. He did and quickly accepted the offer I made to him. He considered it the opportunity of a lifetime as he would be on the ground floor with a new company just getting started with its first drilling program. Soon our company spudded its first well which turned out to be a successful oil producer in the middle of the area where we owned considerable other leasehold acreage. We now were position to drill multiple wells in the field discovered by our well.

  Right after returning from our backpack tip to the High Sierras and before I had flown off to meet Mason in Oklahoma City, I had called Eric and told him I wanted to find a private and secluded property in the area, preferably one located on the beach in Santa Barbara. When I got back from Oklahoma City, he took me to a place for sale he thought matched my specifications. The home was located on a three-acre lot within a gated subdivision. Though outdated, it was in excellent condition structurally and, being at the end of a road, offered near seclusion and privacy to its residents. Best of all, it was relatively close to the Santa Barbara airport which I knew I would be flying in and out of often in the future. I closed on the house about a month later. During the interim, Ward and I visited the property several times to decide on the details of what should be done to modernize it. My team was assigned to do the work and about two months later, the home was ready for me to move into. This would be my new home for many years to come.

  •

  I was very confused when Sur showed me his new place in Santa Barbara. Knowing that he was starting up a new company which would be drilling wells in Oklahoma, I understood that he would want to be close to the Santa Barbara Airport and avoid the drive back and forth to Ventura. But I felt there was more to it than that. I had a feeling that Sur felt he needed a quieter place to deal with the downer mood he experienced walking down from the mountains on our backpack trip. Or even worse, perhaps he wanted to distance himself more from the three of us. Finally, I just had to ask him what was going on. He seemed surprised and maybe a little hurt by my question but instantly assured me that his moving had nothing to do with wanting to separate himself from us. To the contrary, his hope was that in time the three of us would become even more involved in his life and activities.

  While comforted by his reply I knew the three of us would miss him terribly not being just a short walk away and joining us each day on our beach run. I held out hope that he would successfully rid himself of what was plaguing him and return to being his same wonderful Sur.

  Chapter 8

  Reunion

  My new home in Santa Barbara was the ideal place for quiet and privacy while I tried to come to grips with the upsetting thoughts on war which had suddenly resurfaced when we were walking down from the mountains. My hope was that they would disperse over time as they had before although I was not so naïve as to believe they would ever disappear permanently.

  Certainly, my new digs were pleasant to return to when I came home exhausted and drained from working in Oklahoma City. Except for missing my buddies being along, there was nothing like a long run on the beach before sitting down to a nice dinner on my deck watching the sun go down. For someone thirty years old, I considered myself very fortunate in being able to enjoy a few perks though having wealth wasn’t all that important to me except as a means of making it possible for me to expand my business organization.

  My new oil company was growing by leaps and bounds. Managing it took up most of my time as we now had two drilling rigs operating continuously. It seemed like each week I had to hire more people. Being very selective, I personally reviewed all employment applications and joined in the interviews of all those under consideration for professional positions. With use of my time being so important, my company leased a small jet to ferry me back and forth to Oklahoma City. I also rented a small apartment there so I could stay overnight when the necessity arose.

  One evening Mason invited me over for dinner to celebrate our most recent successful well. He and his wife Sherry were dear friends. I remember well my sophomore year when Mason and I roomed together at our fraternity house. That was when he met Sherry, then a freshman in pre-med. It was love at first sight and I was the best man at their wedding that summer. Mason went on to earn his masters in geology and Sherry her M.D. The couple eventually made their home in Oklahoma City where Mason set up his consulting practice and Sherry practiced medicine as a pediatrician in a large clinic. They had a son who was now three years old.

  During our dinner conversation, Mason mentioned our fraternity’s upcoming reunion and asked whether I had plans to attend. I hadn’t even thought about it as I usually shunned outside social activities in favor of spending any free time I had in Ventura with my three buddies. Upon thinking about it however, I thought it might be fun to catch up with some of my brothers and decided to go.

  After checking into my hotel in Boulder, I drove to the fraternity house to attend the afternoon welcoming reception. It was cool to see the house again as I had lived there most of my college years. After entering, I spotted Mason chatting with some of my other close brothers and walked over to join them. Our discussion naturally focused on where everyone lived now, whether they were married, did they have kids and what they did for a living. Mason had already informed them he worked for my company, which impressed the others of course. He had related also that I lived in Santa Barbara on the beach and had my own jet. Hating the spotlight, I quickly diverted the conversation away from me and on to others. The reception was a roaring success and the laughing was continuous as we recollected some of our wilder times in college.

  During the event, the active members of the fraternity circulated among the alumni and welcomed them. One of them, a young man named Li, introduced himself to me and I was instantly struck by his natural friendliness and demeanor. As we chatted, he conversed with self-confidence and wit. At the banquet that evening, I made a special point of sitting next to him.

  I learned that he was a sophomore majoring in business administration with a minor in Chinese civilization. He had been born in Hong Kong as had his Chinese mother. His American father had met his mom while on assignment in Hong Kong as a project manager for a large international engineering company. When he was still a toddler, the family had moved to Denver and not long after that his parents had divorced. Li was raised by his mother and by his Chinese grandmother who had immigrated to the States following his parents separation. His grandmother spoke little English and as a result Li grew up speaking both English and Cantonese. His father’s financial support made it possible for him to attend private school at the Colorado Academy but right after his high school graduation, his remarried father died from a disease he had contracted while working in Brazil. As a result, Li would no longer have the financial support necessary to attend Stanford and enroll in its MBA program as he had planned. His high school grades and test scores were high eno
ugh that he was offered a full tuition scholarship by my alma mater. While disappointed that CU offered only a few courses in international finance, the specialty he had planned to pursue at Stanford, he was relatively content and was making the most of it, being excited that he had recently been accepted as a member of CU’s soccer club.

  As I was spending the night in Boulder, I invited Li to join me for breakfast the next morning. Though rarely not one to make hasty, out-of-the-blue decisions, I decided to make an exception in Li’s case. After coffee was poured, I asked Li if he would still like to pursue his MBA at Stanford if I were to pay his college expenses. After being speechless for a moment, he coolly replied that he certainly would. But why would I do that? I explained that I thought him to be an impressive and talented young man who deserved the opportunity to study in the field of international finance as he had dreamed of doing. He should know that there were no catches or conditions to my offer. He should proceed immediately to apply for acceptance into the Stanford program and if he were accepted, he should call me and we would work out the details. After breakfast we exchanged contact information, shook hands and I flew back to Santa Barbara. About two weeks later he called me with the news that Stanford had accepted him starting the upcoming Spring semester and would accept all of his CU credits. His college dean had been instrumental in getting the quick turn-around as he knew the Stanford dean personally. I congratulated him and invited him to spend his Spring break with me in Santa Barbara so we could get to know each other better after which I would be happy to drive him to Stanford to begin his classes.

  •

  Sur’s jet picked me and all my stuff up in Denver the day after my last final and when we landed in Santa Barbara, he was there to greet me. When we arrived at his beach house, I was stunned by the beauty of the place. The house was one level with high ceilings and tall windows. The front was surrounded by beautifully manicured landscaping which included fully grown palms trees and at the back was a huge deck and pool which looked down on the Pacific. I could get used to this. My short stay there is somewhat blurred as the time went by so fast. Each day we ran the beach together usually before breakfast. Twice I joined him in workout sessions with his personal trainer. The one weekend I was there, we drove to Ventura where he introduced me to his three close buddies and soon all of us were off to go surfing even though it was early January. In full wet suits, the four of them paddled out into the surf together. To my untrained eye, Jeremy and Ward were obviously skilled surfers.

  Jeremy had an extra wet suit in his truck and offered to give me a lesson if I wanted to paddle out and give surfing a try. I politely declined noting that I hoped to join in a soccer game which was just getting started down the beach. On my way however, I walked by a young woman about my age who was sun bathing even though the temperature was on the cool side. We chatted it up for a few minutes and she invited me to have a beer with her back at her van. About an hour later, I returned to the beach smiling and spent. I could really get used to the culture here in California. Jeremy must have been keeping an eye on me as he teased me later about where the hell had I suddenly disappeared to for a while.

  During my short stay, Sur did not travel to Oklahoma City but was often engaged in long business calls during which he was always extremely courteous as he spoke but at the same time short and to the point. I needed to learn from that. Another thing I noticed about him was that he never flaunted or mentioned his wealth or success to anyone. He seemed almost oblivious to it. Books, newspapers and magazines were lying all over his home office, most of them resources on the economics and sciences of the oil business. But Sur was not all work and no play. His home had an incredible built-in sound system and he had a massive music collection. While I was there he played the Eagles and Credence a lot and asked me if I liked the bands. Well, yeah. Sur definitely was my role model.

  •

  I looked forward to Li’s joining me in Santa Barbara for a short time before his classes started as it would give us an opportunity to get to know each other better. My prior observation that he was highly intelligent was quickly confirmed and he seemed also to be quite the athlete. Obviously in good shape, he ran with incredible grace and you could see why he made the soccer club at CU. He was a handsome young man whose facial features were a combination of Asian and Caucasian. He was slightly taller than me, perhaps six feet. From our conversations, I would tell he was not shy about participating in the college social scene when he was not studying. I didn’t doubt for a minute that young women found him irresistible.

  He couldn’t wait to start classes. He inquired as to whether he could attend summer school sessions and I gave the green light immediately. His reasoning was that, in addition to taking all the courses offered in international finance, he wanted to take elective courses in Mandarin and Chinese culture. Already being conversant in English and Cantonese, he reckoned that adding Mandarin would give him a leg up when seeking future employment in the international arena after graduation.

  When his classes were about to begin, I drove him up the coast to Stanford. I had no doubt he would do well though he probably would have to study harder than he ever had before. Later, as I was driving back, I reflected on my spur-of-the-moment decision to support his attending Stanford. Clearly it had been a correct decision and I had a strong hunch that Li might play an important role in my business organization one day.

  Chapter 9

  The Wizard

  Very soon after moving to Ventura, I had started investing in the stock market through Brad, a stockbroker who was one of Jeremy’s surfer friends. Within a relatively short time, I began building up a healthy stock portfolio. Now, with my oil company blowing and going, I no longer had the time to properly manage it. I would need someone to do it for me and my preference would be for that person to work for me directly if possible. I had been quite satisfied with Brad’s service but knew he was associated with a national brokerage firm and presumably on a career track he wouldn’t be anxious to leave.

  So I took him to lunch one day and he confirmed that. I asked him if it was even possible to find a qualified broker who could work directly for me and, for that matter, how did a person qualify to become a licensed broker? Brad explained that first one would have to earn to have earn a degree in business or economics and then successfully pass the required examinations in the State in which he or she planned to practice. In some States, like New York for instance, an internship of at least two years with a reputable brokerage firm was also required before license issuance. He didn’t know personally any licensed brokers who went to work exclusively for individuals after receiving their credentials but he would be glad to make some inquiries within his firm to see if there was anyone who might fall into that category.

  About a week later, Brad called to tell me about David, a young man who worked in his firm’s home office in New York City. David was well into his second year of internship with the firm and had recently given notice that he would be leaving at the end of his internship to seek an opportunity outside the mainstream allowing him to have hands-on responsibility for managing a privately owned portfolio. Brad’s firm had considered David a real catch when they hired him and were naturally disappointed with his decision to leave. He sent me a copy of David’s resume.

  In reviewing it, I learned that David was a graduate of Wharton having earned an MBA with honors. I called him and, after identifying myself, told him about the position I wanted to fill. If he were interested, I would come to New York to personally interview him. Without hesitation, he said he was quite interested and would look forward to our meeting. Two days later we sat down for lunch at a restaurant he recommended and I started things off by asking him to tell me about himself.

  David had grown up in a suburb outside of Philadelphia. Both of his parents were attorneys and he was their only child. He had attended private schools as a youngster and had graduated a year early from high scho
ol after which he attended the University of Pennsylvania graduating Phi Beta Kappa. This was followed by two years at Wharton where he earned his MBA. His focus at Wharton had been on the securities markets.

  On a more personal note, David told me that when he was just a kid in middle school, he had become enamored with the stock market and had practiced investing on paper as a hobby. He chuckled that he hadn’t done very well at first. He also admitted that he had been a bit of a recluse in school as his studies took up most of his time. But he had played soccer in high school and taken up bicycling in college eventually competing in long-distance racing events within the Philadelphia area. In undergraduate school he had majored in economics with minors in both art and French.

  After graduate school, he was hired as an intern by Brad’s brokerage firm in New York City and had passed all the necessary examinations to receive his brokerage license which he expected to be granted when he finished his two-year internship in about four months. He loved living in New York except he wished he had a place to live that was more conveniently located. He shared an apartment with two other guys and longed for the day he would have his own place.

  David impressed me. It being my turn, I gave him a brief history of my current business activities namely that I owned three successful companies and that I had started investing in the market very soon after leaving the army. Over time my portfolio had grown to a respectable size but now I had no time to properly manage it because of the demands placed upon me in managing my oil company. Knowing that he probably would want to know more of the specifics about my portfolio and its history, I handed him a short summary which I had prepared. After taking a few minutes to review it, David looked up and complimented me on my successes noting that he was particularly impressed by my having anticipated the recent market collapse managing not only to avoid its consequences but also taking advantage of some opportunities.