by Ed Nelson
Already in the room were Vice President Nixon and Secretary of State Christian Herter. First of all, Ike and Mr. Herter congratulated me on my Asian trip. Mr. Nixon gave one of his false looking smiles and that was it.
We talked about the various receptions and outcomes in the countries visited. They thought all went as they had predicted and that Australia was a really big win. They attributed that to me and my team’s efforts. I made certain to give the State Department group plenty of credit for their help and guidance.
I never could get that gentleman’s name to stick. Once again I learned his name was William Battle. I wondered if I would remember it.
They then got to the real reason for the meeting. China. The United States wanted to open China for trade. It was potentially one of the biggest markets in the world. The President thought that it would take twenty or thirty years to really open them up but he was thinking of the future.
Capitalism is great as long as there are growing markets. He saw the day when we would saturate our current markets and raised everyone’s standard of living as high as it could go. After that things would stagnate. India was a possibility but for some reason, they just went in circles and never broke out of their caste system which was holding them back.
The Soviet Block wouldn’t trade with us and we didn’t want them. While Ike thought they would collapse under their own weight, given the time. He didn’t want to extend that by boosting their economies. This all made sense when he explained it, but I would have never put it together on my own.
It also gave me some dos and don’ts as to where I should do business. We even discussed South America but until stable governments arose and allowed a middle class to thrive it would be throwing good money in to be nationalized later.
During this conversation, Mr. Nixon looked uncomfortable. I found out why. It hinged on my contact with the Chinese. He was against me following up on their request to drop a suit off at their dry cleaners. He wanted to put everything off until he was in office so the credit would go to his administration.
The President and Mr. Herter thought it should proceed as requested. I knew what I would do. As I was taking my leave Ike cornered me and told me not to worry about Dick Nixon he was a politician through and through and would go with the winners.
Also, there had been time blocked out for me to go to the State Department. I was going somewhere else to be briefed on China.
Somewhere else was the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. At least that was what the sign said. Since I recognized a young man passing in the hall I knew it was a CIA building. He was one of those that had been tailing me and burned by the Soviets. He would spend his career here rather than the field since he had been burned.
I was given a very thorough rundown on the state of affairs with China and its leaders. Their main concern was that by putting container systems in their main ports China would be able to export more weapons to their satellite groups such as the Communists in Viet Nam.
Providing them with these tools would be a double edge sword. I left there not knowing what the right thing to do really was but knowing that I would do what the President wanted.
They took me back to the Willard where I spent the night then caught an early flight back to California. It seemed like I had been gone a hundred years though it was really only five weeks.
Chapter 16
It was Monday, March 7th when I landed in California mid-afternoon. I had been in England two days before so I had quite a few time zones to make up for. All told I didn’t feel that bad. A good night’s sleep would do it. The only problem would be that I would probably have a good night’s sleep in by 2:00 am.
A driver was waiting for me at the luggage carrousel. I only had a small carryon bag but it was the most convenient place to meet. He dropped me off at home. Dad was still at work. My brothers and sister were home from school and busy with their chores.
No matter how much money we had the youngsters would always have chores. This was part of our Bellefontaine upbringing. Of course, they weren’t your normal chores. Mary was polishing silver. Her chores varied as she was learning all the tasks needed to run a large establishment.
She assured me that all Princesses needed to know these things else the staff would become lazy and the next thing you knew a wicked stepmother would be running the place. It made sense to me.
Denny was doing chores but wasn’t as happy about it. Jackson House was finally switching over from coalfired heating to gas. His job this week was to clean out the now empty coal bin. He looked like what I imagined a Charles Dickens chimney sweep would have.
Eddie’s chore was filling all the flower vases with fresh water. It was easy to find him. All you had to do was follow the trail of spilled water. I suspect his chore was creating more work for the staff than helping.
They were all glad to see me and wanted to know what presents I had brought them. When I told them I hadn’t picked anything up they went back to work, so much for glad to see me.
One of the first things I did was check my personal mail. Dad had opened all of it with my permission to ensure nothing was missed untimely. He hadn’t told me but my SAT scores were there. I had an overall score of 1580. That exceeded my expectations. I had taken into account that other candidates would have had twelve years of formal schooling while I only had nine, plus a year and a half self-study.
The good news was that with this score and my A-Level results any university in the world would take me. That was all moot as I was registered at Trinity College in Oxford but it was still nice to know. It would also help with any future education plans that I may have. I knew that I would have to obtain at least an MBA with a solid finance background. Mary’s thoughts about the staff and wicked stepmother weren’t that far off.
When Dad got home we had a discussion about our trip around the world. We had feedback from South Korea that the Rhee administration was out and that we now could buy the steelworks without a lot of corruption. Notice I didn’t say any, just not a lot. It was now a good deal so Jackson Enterprises was proceeding.
We also talked about China. It would be hard for Jackson Enterprises to do business there since Chinese markets were basically closed to the world. Their currency had no real exchange rate established. About the only method, we could do business was to accept and then resell agricultural products as this was their only export.
The drawback there was that most of their exports were sold to Russia. They did make shipments to Indonesia. We wondered if we could set up a trade where they sold grain to Indonesia in exchange for rubber. The rubber with Indonesia acting as a broker would be then sold to Australia for Australian dollars.
This sounded complicated as all get out. Physically an Indonesian flagged ship would purchase and load grain in China, offload it at Tanjung Priok the main port and reload with rubber. The only transaction in Indonesia was the barter exchange of grain for rubber. The rubber would be taken to Australia where it would be sold for Australian dollars.
Using the Australian dollars Indonesia would then purchase equipment and consulting from Jackson Enterprises. What they would be buying is the training and equipment needed for Indonesian engineers to go to China to supervise Chinese workers in constructing a container port. Indonesia would have enough Australian dollars left over to make a profit on the whole.
Australian trade would increase. Indonesia would have increased trade and the core of a trained engineering workforce. Some of those engineers would be going to China as advisors would be Jackson Enterprise engineers. They wouldn’t interface with the Chinese just the Indonesians.
That way China wouldn’t be seen as doing business with the west. It gave me a headache to think about it.
We would have to set up a separate company in Australia to handle this but that was probably a good idea for that part of the world anyway. It would also increase our influence in Australia which would be a good thing.
I said Dad and I discussed t
his, Actually, he explained to me that Jackson Enterprise Management and the US State Department and the Australian State Department had come up with this possibility. My role would be to present it to the Chinese. The Indonesians would go for it as there was no way they could lose. The benefit to the United States would be a very complicated diplomatic backdoor to China. This backdoor would be imperative if relations were ever to become public and formal. Of course, my company would make a ton of money.
My only concern about the whole deal was that I didn’t get kidnapped by the Russians on my way to the dry cleaner. The whole proposal had been typed up and placed into a thick envelope which would be inside the suit I dropped off.
That brought up another benefit. If successful it would move the Chinese further from the Russian camp.
The Chinese had just asked for me to drop off a suit. The proposal was being proactive.
After that talk with Dad which took three hours I was exhausted and went to bed and sleep. As I thought I was awake at 3:00 am. That was better than 2:00 but it was still way too early. I crept down to the kitchen and had a bowl of cereal and toast. From there I went back to bed and slept three more hours.
It really felt good to run the trails in the park after a long absence. Not wanting to put off my trip to the dry cleaner and let it grow into a monster, at least in my mind I drove down to Chinatown. It was really anticlimactic. On the way down I replayed my run-in with the Russians and later betrayal by a rogue FBI agent.
I went into the dry cleaner to hand the suit to the same woman I had seen in Hong Kong. She went through it to make certain I hadn’t left anything in the pockets. She didn’t blink at the envelope deftly placing it in a drawer behind the counter.
I thanked her for my ‘tickee’ which drew a tight smile and had an uneventful trip home. I thought about calling Nancy but realized that it was a school day in the normal world.
Instead, I drove over to Riviera Country Club and after checking to make certain I was signed up for the US Open qualifying rounds on the 19th, and 27th I played eighteen holes after using the driving range and putting greens. John Jacobs was out on the course so I drew a caddy from the pool. I had originally thought that the sectional would be played over two days as it was thirty-six holes. I was wrong it would all be on one long day.
Today I didn’t try anything fancy. I just played the course as I understood it. I was a bit rusty so only played two under par. I would have to tighten up before the sectional and regional rounds. To that end, I stopped at the clubhouse and signed up to play three rounds next week and two the week after.
There was another issue I had to settle while I was home. My movie agent Mr. Baxter was effectively retired. He was working with Mary but that was more like a hobby for him as Mum had limits on what Mary could do. I noticed that the brat kept pushing those limits.
Keeping that in mind I did call Mr. Baxter. Before I left on my trip I had asked him if he had anyone he could recommend. He said he would give it some thought. He returned my call after dinner. He did have a recommendation. It was a small startup firm.
They were the children of agents he had dealt with for years. He had always been a one-man show but thought I would do better with an agency. He did offer to act as a consultant if I had any questions about what was being presented to me, for a fee of course.
I had to laugh at that, it was his nature. It really was a good idea. The contracts and money were only part of the equation. The films and parts were probably even more important as to where my career if any went. He knew me as well as anyone in the industry and would know what would work.
After my morning workout and run on Thursday I made a call that I had been putting off. I called Mr. Sinatra’s agent and told him that I would consider doing another duet with Mr. Sinatra. I was told my timing was poor. Mr. Sinatra had other projects scheduled and couldn’t work me in. I had waited too long.
I can’t begin to say how disappointed I was. I had been taught not to lie. It made my day. Well, half a day. After a good ride on George who was a little frisky because of his long layoff, and then lunch I received a phone call.
One may have guessed it would be Mr. Sinatra.
“Ricky I just talked to my agent. I don’t know what he was thinking. I have plans for another song. I want to redo the ‘Coffee Song’. It was fun and I think we could do better than my first time around with it.”
There was nothing for me to do but say yes. I asked about the timing.
“Oh no hurry, if you could be in the studio sometime next week that would be great.”
“Would Tuesday or Thursday work? I have golf the other days.”
“Playing golf is more important than singing with me.”
“I have qualifying rounds for the US Open at the end of the month so I have to get some practice in.”
“Oh, that makes sense. Let’s reserve both days and try to get it done in one. It is a simple song.”
At dinner, Dad asked me if I had seen the new house in Oxford. I very cautiously said, “Yes”.
“Coward, your Mum had told me all about it. What’s your opinion?”
It is very grand. It is the sort of house Viscountess Jackson would live in and the Queen would stay there when visiting.”
“She told me how much she paid for it. That doesn’t bother me. She gave up a lot to follow me to Bellefontaine and never complained. I was wondering how the rest of us would adjust.”
I proceeded to tell him about how Mr. Hamilton had firm control over the staff and how helpful they were, like unloading all my books and ordering all the suggested reading ones. How there was a billiard room with a full-size billiard table and two pool tables. That got Denny’s attention.
I had inquired for Eddie and there is a local Boy Scout Troop. This made him happy.
I deliberately ignored the young lady sitting at the table. Well, I tried to ignore her but she wouldn’t let me.
“Is there anything I might like there?”
“They have a real tea parlor. I did notice some little girls playing in the nearby village. Oh, they do have a stable which would hold a pony. Then I think that we found Cinderella’s lost coach in the stables.”
This elicited a bunch of questions. The upshot was that Dad was going to have to pay for the refurbishing of a Coach very much like the State Coach used by Queen Elizabeth at her Coronation. It would not be gilded gold though.
I told Dad about all the books in the library and that we would probably end up replacing all those bought at auctions by the yard. They had no purpose other than to fill the shelves. With titles like, ‘Reminisces of a Yorkshire parson in 1840’ one couldn’t wait to read them. Well, I had read the first chapter and could cheerfully wait for the rest of my life to finish it.
Friday morning I checked on the addition being done to the garages at Jackson House. I would have a wonderful workshop here. It would be a shame if I could never use it. The same went for the Beach House which was almost done. It was going to be a great place. If I spent five days a year there I would be lucky.
I stopped for lunch at a little sidewalk café. I was almost finished when I was recognized. I spent half an hour signing autographs and talking to people. They wanted to know why I was wearing an Oxford University tee-shirt. Without thinking much of it I replied that I had just signed up to go to school there.
It turned out that there was a reporter in the small group. She didn’t let on what she was doing and I was skillfully interviewed about how I had qualified to go to Oxford University as I had just graduated tenth grade. It had made all the LA papers not that long ago. That led to talk about the English O and A-Level exam system.
From there I just had to brag about my SAT score of 1580. I guess I came off as more factual about it than I thought because the article she wrote treated me kindly.
After lunch, I stopped by my office for a business update. It was astonishing to hear the dollars that were passing through my company. Also astonishing was the
numbers that were staying with the company. If I sold the company I would be well on my way to being a billionaire. That made no sense to me. As they say in New Orleans, ‘Let the good times roll.’
After that, I drove up to the forestry service airport. It was in full swing. I wish my plane was ready. By the time it would be ready I would be in school in England. I planned to have it taken over there. It would have to be on a ship as the plane wouldn’t go that distance without refueling. I wondered if I could just take delivery in England. I would have to check on that.
Dinner was fun as we had pizza. It was a seafood pizza which I had never had before. Octopus, lobster, and shrimp just didn’t seem right. It tasted good and there was none left so I guess we all liked it no matter how many turned up noses there were.
Chapter 17
The weekend was quiet. I called Nancy several times Saturday morning but there was no answer at their house. Apparently, they were out of town. I had read in Popular Mechanics about a new product on the market, a machine that answered the telephone and recorded messages. That would be a handy thing to have.
I drove over to the studio to see what was going on. Usually, there was something happening, some production running out of time so filming on the weekend. The stunt area was deserted. I got my archery equipment out and practiced for an hour but it felt different and I got bored.
As I was packing to leave a studio runner found me. He was one of the many acting school kids on the lot working weekends for experience, money, and the hope of being discovered. I thought these were all good reasons and I may have gone that route.
“There is a small scene on set 20. Do you have time? They need a big guy.”
Having nothing better to do I said, “Sure.”
Arriving on the closed set there was little activity.
“I found someone, Mr. Dodge.”
Ron Dodge looked up, shook his head and said, “You sure did, Rick are you up to a change of image role?”