by Ed Nelson
“Well, take this message back. It is a war to the knife.”
An unhappy Kennedy hung up the phone. I suspect he almost broke the handset when he slammed it down.
I did place calls to Germany and England. The Germans were completely on board with buying Game Co. Stock, this would force the bank to make good on its short position and they would make a bundle. They had made a couple of hundred million already.
Mr. Norman was still thinking about what to do. I told him to call the London School of Economics and take their advice.
After an hour on the phone, I was ready for some activity so headed over to the practice range.
I found John and Sam in deep conversation. They had a series of drawings in front of them. They were hand-drawn sketches of the holes in Augusta that I had problems putting.
They seemed to have things well in hand, so I fell into my practice routine. Putt a couple of hundred balls, then go to the driving range to work my way through all my clubs.
At the lunch break, they explained what they were doing. It was as I thought. They were now laying out those specific putts I had problems with on the green. They would be virtually identical. You could call this virtual reality. That was a catchy term.
It seems diminishing returns had set in. I wasn’t even getting a tenth of a percent improvement after my time practicing. At the same time, I felt like I was doing the best of my life. I now would try to stay at this level for the tournaments.
Based on that scientific analysis of my game I decided to take the afternoon off. Mounting George, I rode back to Jackson House to find a minor uproar going on.
It seems my little sister had managed to pass a message from my Mum to the broker who handled Mary’s accounts. How she did that no one knew. She had listened at dinner about that investment bank, she didn’t like them picking on me, so she bought Game Co. stock, several million shares.
By the time the broker, soon to be ex-broker I think, thought to confirm things with Mum, Mary had made ten million dollars. Mum cashed Mary out immediately.
With that sort of money floating around I wondered what my one hundred million in buying had done. I made a phone call and about choked. When I could speak, I told them to sell at the current price.
Mary had made ten million, I had made close to a billion. I was on and off the phone for the next two hours as they liquidated my positions. Before the final bell rang on Wall Street the bank's value had gone down to zero.
The bank managers had tried all day to have trading suspended but the governing body told them they couldn’t because foreign national banks were involved, and they had to play it straight.
That didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy. If my overseas friends hadn’t chosen to play, I could have lost everything. Well, a bunch of money.
There was also no doubt now that I was the wealthiest known individual in the world. I still felt that there was a thousand-year-old vampire out there somewhere that was worth a lot more.
All the buying and selling had been done through my office in London with an English broker as a UK citizen. I did this upon advice as the British short-term gains tax rate is 15% while the US was 25%. There would be some screaming in Washington when they figure that out.
There would be a toast or two in Threadneedle Street. For me, it would mean the difference of one hundred and fifty million in taxes or two hundred and fifty million. It didn’t take long to make that decision.
It would probably make me the highest ratepayer in England. Wait until the tabloids found that out. Maybe I should be applying for a position at McMurdo station now.
At dinner, the table talk was of the day’s trading. To say Denny and Eddie were jealous of Mary would be an understatement. I asked them why they didn’t care about the money I had made, and I was told they expected it of me and that it was so much it wasn’t real.
Mary didn’t know how to act. She asked Mum how much she would be allowed to have.
“Nothing until you are twenty-one.”
“But that won’t be for another million years,” she wailed.
“It will only be another fourteen years, and what would you do with all that money anyway?”
“I could buy ice cream for everyone at school. Then new shoes with what was leftover.”
It was not very polite of Dad to laugh at his daughter as he did. I hid my laughter behind a raised hand. Parents these days!
“On a more serious note, Rick, do you have any plans?”
“Not thought through. The money will all be in England and I probably should invest a lot of it there. Also, I would like to buy land in Australia, a lot of lands.”
“You can’t go wrong buying land. Any other thoughts?”
“A banana split?”
“Sounds like a well-thought-out financial effort. Maybe you could treat the whole family.”
That’s what we did, we all crowded into a Crown Vic that Dad used for less advertised trips and went down to Dairy Queen. We all had banana splits.
They had a deal going. They had bunches of bananas. You would pick the banana you wanted, and it would have a number from 1 to 49 cents. That is what you paid. The normal price was 30 cents.
It cost me two dollars and fifteen cents. If I had paid the normal price it would have been a buck and a half. That hurt.
I know, but this was real, all that other money didn’t seem real yet.
There was a phone message waiting at home. Please call this number. There was no name. I usually wouldn’t return a call like that because of my movie status. In the business, you get weird calls all the time.
Since this was an unusual day, I dialed the number. A raw voice on the other end asked, “Is this Jackson.”
“Yes, it is, who is this?”
“It doesn’t matter, you are a dead man walking. You cost me a lot of money today, and tomorrow you and your family will pay.”
At that the phone clicked, he had hung up. I immediately told my parents about the call. Dad called security at the front gate to alert them for possible intrusions. They were also to double the number of guards on duty until further notice.
After discussion, it was decided the whole family would stay in tomorrow. The guy probably wasn’t being literal in his statement, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.
The next day we hung out as a family and had a game fest. Everything from Old Maids for Mary to a blood-thirsty game of Monopoly. Mrs. Hernandez cleaned up. I was glad we weren’t playing for real money.
Late in the afternoon, there was the sound of gunfire at the front gate. It sounded like World War II but probably was only a couple of dozen shots.
We got a phone call from the guard station. A man had tried to ram his way through the front gate and got killed for his effort. A check of his car found a Thompson submachine gun and two hand grenades. This guy was serious. Since he was dead, we couldn’t determine if he were the one that called.
The Sheriff showed up and took over the crime scene. He cleared our people as soon as he saw the guy's weapons.
Later we would find that he had lost two million dollars in the investment bank and was broke, or dead broke as Mum said.
Chapter 42
Early the next day I received a phone call from China, it was Chairman Deng.
“Richard my friend, how are you.”
My first thought was to hold onto my wallet.
“I’m fine and I hope all your Dragons have five toes.”
“Thank you. I have called to let you know we are considering you for a serious honor.”
“What is that?”
“We want to make you the Duke of Guangzhou.”
“What!”
“Our ruling communist party has decided to revert to the Imperial system. Of course, all party officers will have the new titles of nobility. We decided that you should be the one to have control of Guangzhou and its port. It needs wise leadership.”
“What would a wise leader be leading, and what resource
s would they have?”
“The wise leader would own everything the state-owned as their personal property. They could use it as they see fit. The wise leader would have control of local law and finances. The wise leader would invest in his property so that it would grow and give rich rewards.”
As I thought, hang on to your wallet, oh wise leader.
“Tell me more about Guangzhou, I know nothing about the area.”
"Guangzhou Port is situated at the intersection of the three most important rivers of Dongjiang, Xijiang, and Beijing in South China. All three rivers have potential waterways, railway, expressways, and airlines intersecting here, thus a critical transportation hub can be formed here. It can be the main port of focus in the Pearl River Delta Region.”
“The port's harbor area extends along the Pearl River coast and water areas in the cities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai. The port is situated beyond the entrance of Pearl River opening and can serve as a gateway for shipping activity for other Harbor areas such as Nansha Harbor Area, Xinsha Harbor Area, Huangpu Harbor Area, and Inner Harbor Area.”
“You are presenting the opportunities of the area, but not the current reality.”
“The current leadership of Guangzhou has failed miserably and the many yuan that was provided to make these things come to pass have disappeared along with the leader and his family. We will find them.”
And Dad wanted to know what I was going to do with my windfall from yesterday.
“Will I be expected to live there?”
“That would be entirely up to you. Frankly, I wouldn’t recommend it. Your life is so different from ours that while you are a good friend you would be too exciting of a neighbor.”
Maybe I should work on changing my reputation.
“I would have a free hand in investing in infrastructure and local manufacturing?”
“Completely. We are counting on it.”
“Could I take local business partners and let them run the business up to the point that I’m a silent partner?”
“If you so desire, but why would you give up control and income.”
“I can only control so much. My immediate reaction is to set up a bank and make loans. Also allowed port authority bonds to be sold. That way I’m facilitating the operations but not tied to them on a routine basis.”
“Maybe you are a wise leader.”
“I don’t know about that, but I have learned a few things with my ownership of Jackson Enterprises.”
“Yes. We heard of your actions on the US stock market. You make a good friend and a terrible enemy.”
“One tries.”
“One other thing you should be aware of, there are some disputes about what areas are included in the various Noble grants. There will be fighting. We don’t expect any challenges to you, but you need to know of the possibility.”
“So, I’m being made a Duke with all power and responsibility for an area, and I will have to defend it.”
“Possibly, the Imperial Army would be there at your need.”
“What is your title going to be.”
“Prince of Beijing.”
“Has a successor been named for Empress Ping?”
“Not at this time.”
“It sounds to me like China is about to return to the level of fighting warlords.”
“That is what we are trying to avert by raising the living standards of the people.”
“The more I think about it, I’m going to decline the Dukedom.”
“You can’t! We need the money you can bring in.”
“I can still open a bank and back development bonds for Guangzhou, but having a title right now is the same as putting a target on your back.”
“If you do that China will forever be in your debt. We will have the yuan on the gold standard for international trade, but that does not cure our internal problems. If you jumpstart one of our major cities, it might prevent the violence we see coming.”
“I have the money right now, so have your people get with Mr. Williamson to put a bank in place.”
“What will you call it?”
“Is there a Bank of Guangzhou?”
“No.”
“Then that is what we will call it.”
We talked about some of the details that would need to be handled. It boiled down to them filling out forms for me, me signing them, and sending a bunch of money, dollars, or pound sterling.
I told him it would be in pound sterling as England was where my transactions had taken place. Well, they took place on Wall Street but as a British entity.
If this is Tuesday it must be Belgium.
I called Jim and told him we would be opening a bank in China with my British funds.
“What did the Chinese offer?”
“A Dukedom.”
“What, did you take it?”
“No, it seems they are going to be jockeying for a position and unless I would hire an army, I would be a prime target.”
“Sounds dangerous, besides, you will probably end up as a British Duke which has more prestige.”
“How do you figure that?”
“The Brits always give a title or two to their highest taxpayers and you will probably have the highest tax bill in the country this year.”
“That’s true about the taxes, I know nothing about the titles.”
My phone calls had taken most of the morning, so I goofed off until lunchtime. Mum was home so I told her about the offer from the Chinese to become a Duke.
I must say that was one of the few times I saw Mum taken aback.
“What did you tell them?”
“I ended up declining as it appears, they are heading for a spot of bother and I don’t want to be involved.”
“I am making a significant investment in the city of Guangzhou to try to delay the problems.”
“What sort of problems?”
“It seems all the communist leaders have decided they would rather have Noble titles, they would keep their power, I guess it would require a lot of new business cards.”
“While they are rearranging the deck chairs some of them will try to grab an extra chair or two. I don’t want to be there if they come for mine.”
“Good thinking. What sort of investments?”
“A bank, and support bonds issued for the water, rail, highway, and air infrastructure.”
“How much?”
“Half a billion.”
“I’m glad you aren't thinking small. You do realize that you are probably throwing good money after bad.”
“Probably so, but if it turns out to be good money after good, then I stand to make some real money.”
“Rick, you are already a billionaire, what do you want?”
“What comes after a billion?”
“The Yanks say a trillion which would be a thousand billion, but it is a million billion.”
“I guess I can forget that there will never be a trillion dollars floating around.”
“They almost managed it in Germany after the first war.”
“True, but I’m talking about a normal economy.”
“You are right about that, well unless Mary gets involved.”
We both laughed at that, but it was a laugh with reservations. Who knows what that girl will do when she grows up? According to her, that will be around twelve.
Speaking of the little devil she came storming in from school. She was furious.
“That Patty is going to pay!”
“What has she done?”
“I saw her kiss Davy!”
“I thought he liked you?”
She wailed, “So did I! I’m ruined for life!”
At that point, I shut up. This was Mum's stuff.
“I’m late for golf practice, I had better go.”
Mum gave me that look but I kept moving.
I did ride George over to the practice area but neither John nor Sam was there. Some Park Rangers were using the driving range, bu
t I didn’t join them.
I had too many things going through my mind. Why on earth would the Chinese want to make me a Duke? What would the reaction be at Augusta when it was revealed their greenskeeper was rigging the tournaments? Why did Don Carlo think golf was a game for gentlemen? Would I have to have the Kennedys assassinated to save myself?
The Kennedy question was the only one I could answer, I had always done my own dirty work, I wasn’t going to change now. I had to make peace with them. The question was how
Chapter 43
I didn’t have much time to consider my relationship with the Kennedys. It was the start of Masters week at Augusta.
Practice rounds were to start Monday, so John and I flew in on Sunday. My office had found a house to rent not that far from the golf course.
Renting out houses near the course was a common practice. There was a lot of money to be made and all those outsiders could be avoided. Hotels and restaurants would be jammed. It was a good time to spend a week at the beach. I didn’t even ask what the house rental was.
Monday and Tuesday were practice days. Both days helped me to feel more comfortable with the course. It was interesting being grouped with professional golfers. They were polite but you could see they didn’t take any amateur seriously.
Even though I had won a previous US Open I was considered a flash in the pan not to be worried about. I had different thoughts on that.
Wednesday was a fun day. There is a nine-hole par-three course on the edge of the main course. They have a par three contest where all the golfers participate but it is a fun day. Many of the golfer's children were caddies that day.
Since I had no children, I asked Mary if she wanted the job. She said yes, even after she found out there would be no pay.
Now Mary is too small to carry a golf bag, so John carried it for her. She did wear a sign on her back that said, “Caddy in Chief.” John had a sign reading, “Mary’s Assistant Caddy.” The crowd and TV people loved it.
We had a good time, posing for pictures with the crowd as we went.
Now no one who has won the par-three has ever won the Masters, so there is superstition involved.
Some of the pros who knew they had no chance at winning the Masters played all out on the par three.