by David Kersey
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO – Expansion?
“I am going to stop here in Danville, Adele. I have a friend here who owes me a favor. I think you’ll like what I’m about to do.” Patricia looked through her phone directory, then placed a call.
“Hi, Walter, it’s Pat Reid. I’m in Danville. Do you have some time to meet with me?”
Walter Matthews owned and operated the Danville Bottling Company, and had been an acquaintance of Pat’s since their college days at Vanderbilt. Even though Walt’s business was small as bottlers go, she for sure was going to give her business inside her state. “I guess so, Pat. Just watchin’ the Nascar race and I was dozing off. What brings you to my fair city?”
“Have a favor to ask, Walt. Can you meet me at your plant in fifteen minutes?”
“You’ll never change, Pat. Get her done, and get her done now.”
“This will be a piece of cake for a man of your brilliance. It will only detain you five New York minutes.”
“Ok, see you there in fifteen Kentucky minutes.”
It took Pat roughly five Kentucky minutes to pull into the bottling company’s parking area. While they waited for Walt, Pat placed another call. “Hello, John, it’s Pat Reid. Sorry to disturb you on Sunday, but I am in Danville and have a favor to ask. Could I drop by your home in about an hour?”
John Morgan was probably Danville’s leading attorney, though Pat had dealt with other esquires in Boyle County. John, and his staff, which included crack corporate attorney Al Eisenstein, could be trusted. “Ok, Pat. It’ll be good to see you again. Can you stay for dinner?”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve got to get back to Frankfurt and tie up some lose ends before calling it a day. I’ll call you when I’m on my way. I am meeting with Walt Matthews in a few minutes. It shouldn’t take long.”
Walt pulled in and Pat introduced Adele. “What is that?” Walt asked.
“Miracle food. Look, I’d like to know if you can empty each of these sixteen ounce jars into one ounce plastic containers. Would that be possible to do right now?”
“Good golly, Miss Molly. I bet you cut your grass every single day. Let me see. I have a bottle like that, but it’s patented to an energy drink concern. Let me think. Oh, you know what? I’ve got an overrun of a bottle I made that the buyer chose another design. Let’s go see how many of those I have.”
Walt switched on the lights in the company’s assembly section. He disappeared for a few minutes, then returned carrying a large cardboard box. “There’s 288 of these little buggers.” He held up an unmarked, clear, one ounce bottle with a silver screw cap. “This was supposed to be an airplane shot of Woodford Reserve, but they went with a Louisville bottler’s design after I had already started the run. Will this serve your purpose?”
“Perfect, though in the future I’d like a shorter version. This bottle looks like a rocket. How can I help?”
“Well, liquor folks want tall bottles because of the way they are marketed. Short ones don’t sell as well. Ok. You two start emptying your jars into this vat right here. You’ve got five sixteen ounce jars there, so that’s 80 bottles you’ll need. When you’re done emptying, come help me queue the 80. We’re going to unscrew each bottle cap and then screw them back on by hand. It’s quicker that way, believe me.”
Fifteen minutes later there were 80 one ounce bottles, capped, and filled with NIL. “Pat, if you are going to sell these, you’ll need a seal.”
“Not going to seal them because I’m not going to sell them. How many employees do you have, Walt?”
“Twelve, counting the front office and back here.”
“Here’s twelve bottles for you. Give each employee one and watch what happens. I told you it is miracle food. And when I get to the point of mass producing this, I’ll give you the order.”
“Great. I’ll need artwork if you want me to do the labelling. Also, there are dozens of bottle designs, and differing sizes too. I agree, you may want to go with a squarer, shorter, and opaque version next time. That way people won’t as easily mistake it as vodka.”
Pat gave Walt a hug, then said, “I told you he was brilliant, Adele. So Walt, are we even now?”
“Nah, I still owe you. This was nothing. I look forward to getting your business. That will make us even. And Pat, good luck on the Senate run. I’ll fire employees if you don’t get twelve votes out of this building.”
Back in the car, Adele asked, “Why didn’t you use the last sixteen ounce jar? And, by the way, Joshua and I have wanted to do this for a long time. We just didn’t have the wherewithal to do it. Wait until I tell him this.”
“I want to give John the sixteen ouncer, plus a couple of one ouncers. And I’m going to give him the manual Joshua made up. Don’t worry, this won’t cost you a dime. Adele, the way I look at it, the Ball jar is awkward. Plus, you might be able to be more profitable by using plastic. Shipping costs savings. And ease of use and packaging. Less breakage. I think you could easily get two dollars per ounce, don’t you? Can’t you see these little guys lined up at the point of sale at a Seven-Eleven?”
“Pat, we can’t make as much product as you are envisioning?”
“I understand. Just keep going with what you can do for the time being. I’d love to see you expand with the greenhouse in the valley, but that’s not where I’m headed. I have an idea on how to create a lot more NIL and in fairly short order. But I am not going to tell you my entire idea until we have some other things out of the way, like making this stuff legal, for one. That’s where we’re going now, to see John Morgan. If we can get him to believe in what you and Joshua want to do, you’d have a very powerful ally.”
John Morgan greeted Patricia and Adele at his front door. The man had obviously done extremely well. Adele’s Tates Creek home could fit into a third of this man’s estate home. “Good to see you again, Pat? Have you resorted to selling Girl Scout cookies? Or are you campaigning?”
“John, say hello to Adele Meadors, a friend of mine.”
“Any relation to Jack Meadors?”
“You could say that. He’s my husband.”
“I’ll be damn. Small world. I’ve known Jack for years. Did you know we are fraternity brothers? He is still a cop, right?”
“Yes he is. A detective grade now, still in Lexington.”
“Mercy. Let’s swap cards, and you be sure to tell Jack I am thinking about him. Ok? And Pat, what are you selling?”
“This.” Pat handed John the sixteen ounce jar. “I just had Walt make up a few one ounce bottles of this. I’ve got a couple of those to give you, as well as an ingredient manual. I want to know what hoops I’ve got to jump through to get this on the market. If you could have Al give it a look, don’t bill the state. It’ll be on me.”
“What is it?”
“It’s called NIL, which is short for No Inner Limit. If it does what I’m hoping, it will revolutionize the way people maintain or fix their health. You’ll see when you see the ingredients, and sample it for yourself. I’d also like you to help me obtain the endorsement of Dr. Levin up at Jewish Hospital.”
“You can’t make health claims, Pat. You know that. Levin is a tough get. I have my doubts that he’ll endorse anything without over-the-top proof.”
“I won’t. You know me……nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it does what I’ve been told, there will be no need to make health claims. And if it fizzles out, which I don’t believe it will, at least we tried. So will you help me out?”
“Give me a couple days. I’ll have Al take a look. First thing in the process is that you’ll have to obtain a patent. I can’t get you a patent without some detailed information. I’ll let you know what I need after reading the manual. Where do you stand on the campaign?”
“Too early to be confident, John. I appreciate you seeing me on a Sunday. Here’s the two little bottles and the manual. Let me know. And say hello to Meredith.”
Again on Highway 27, Adele said, “Pat, you have gotten more done in an hour than I th
ought humanly possible. But then again, since we both have cancer, time is precious, isn’t it?”
“Well, my political stature certainly helps open doors, but if I was selling shoes at the Mall, I’d still be the same way. And yes, time is always on my mind.” Pat looked at Adele. “Do you know how many thousands of people in my state that could have the NIL in their bellies right now? That’s what concerns me the most. More than my own condition, to be truthful. One more thing……if I didn’t have the NIL in my belly right now, I might not have stopped at either place. You and Joshua have really got something here, kiddo.”
“I simply cannot believe what has transpired since we met on the terrace last night. Wow.”
“Welcome to my world. Adele, one thing you must know. This is a dirty, rotten world at times. If the NIL were to be discovered by another element of society, it would have been stolen away from you in the blink of an eye. So yes, it was fate that put us together. No, that’s not right; instead of fate, Adele, it is God answering my prayers, and the prayers of many. Do you believe that?”
“I do, Pat. I do.”
“Adele, please don’t think I am trying to take control of your dreams. I am just trying to help, and maybe save my life too. I want to ask you something. If school kids were getting a daily dose of this stuff, do you think they’d do better in the classroom?”
“I sure do. Pat, I am a teacher, and I’ve had access to the various versions of NIL up to this latest mixture for about three years. Don’t rat me out, but I’ve watched my own students excel after drinking it. I teach college age kids. I think a lot more kids could get into college if they would have access to it at an earlier age. So yes, I sure do.”
“Education has my heart strings. You heard me talk about it last night. My mind is exploding, Adele. Let’s just say, as the Lieutenant Governor, I have access to the massive educational fund for the Commonwealth. I am going to give the NIL a trial run for myself for a couple of weeks, then decide if certain buttons need to be pushed. Adele, what school inside our state has a very large agriculture program?”
“Don’t make me laugh. My own school has one of the largest in the country.”
“Bingo. Listen, the University of Florida has received over a hundred and fifty million dollars in royalties from the sale proceeds of Gatorade. Now keep listening. Joshua’s heart is in helping the guy who is down and out, and I applaud him for that. What if you and Jack, and Joshua, received a part of the royalties the University of Kentucky would generate from the NIL? Joshua could continue his heartfelt campaign and still profit greatly from holding the joint patent with the University. What do you think of that idea?”
“Wow, Pat. You’re thinking way bigger than Joshua and I. I’d have to bounce it off him. He is the brain that developed this thing. I’d hate for him to think he’s being undercut.”
“Talk to him, and Jack, and think about it. I promise I won’t run ahead of you guys. It’s your baby. Just giving you my input.”
“It takes years for the ingredients to grow. How could that process be expedited?”
“Remember, I can push buttons with the Ed Fund. We can buy what we need. But UK will have much of it already. I’ve been there to their experimental facilities. You should also go take a look. First things first. Let’s get the patent process started, so talk to Jack and Joshua about setting up an LLC. John Morgan can get that done for you for small change. You’ve got to lock this product into your own control, so the patent comes first. If you want to involve the UK Ag department, let them go to the FDA. They’d get it through a lot faster than you could.”
“You are certainly on a roll, girl.”
“A NIL roll, my friend. A NIL roll.”