Owned By My Father

"Hi, Hilda," I replied, smiling. "I prefer Alex, if you don't mind. Tell me, do you know anything about this machine?" I asked, referring to the coffee machine. "I just made some coffee but it was terrible."

"Those machines aren't designed to produce good coffee," Hilda said with a smile.

"Well, this one certainly doesn't," I said. "I had some coffee in Hawaii that was amazing. Kona, I think. They grow it there. Could you find out if we can get some? And maybe a machine to do it justice?"

"I'd be happy to, Mr. -- Alex," she replied. "I was wondering if there was anything in particular that you'd like me to do, or not do? I'm not sure what you expect from me."

"I don't have a clue, either, Hilda," I replied, laughing. "I'm in way over my head here. That's why I've got Suzi and Mr. Willington. Unless it's my mother, Penny, or Erin or Juanita calling, just give everything to Suzi. She's the boss, I just sign the paychecks."

"Very good, sir," Hilda said. "I must say, the offices are very beautifully done."

"That's all Suzi's doing," I replied. "But thanks. I agree. I'll tell her that you said so."

"Ah, there you are," Mr. Willington said when he looked into the kitchenette. "Everything okay? Remiss of me not to have introduced you."

"Hilda took care of that," I replied. "I was just explaining to her how little I know about things."

"Nonsense," Mr. Willington said. "Don't let that baby face of his fool you, Hilda. This young man is sharp as a whip."

"If you'll excuse me," Hilda said as she left.

"Would you like to see the condos that are for sale?" Mr. Willington asked.

"Right now?" I replied.

"Jeremy is falling over himself," Mr. Willington laughed. "We'd better see them and make a deal before he has a stroke."

"Let's get Suzi," I said, heading to her office.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Of course, once you furnish and decorate them, they'll take on their own personality," Mr. Higgins said, wiping his forehead with his handkerchief after he had shown us the units, all next to each other on the 51st floor with the two-bedroom unit between two of the one-bedroom units, all with gorgeous views to the south of the Molucca Straits.

"What do you think?" I asked Suzi.

"They're all great," Suzi replied. "How much are they?" she asked, looking at Mr. Higgins.

"The list price on all four of the units is just over $10 million," he replied.

"Jeremy, that's not what she asked and you know it," Mr. Willington chided.

"We could let you have them all for $9 million," Mr. Higgins said, wiping his forehead.

"I'll give you $7 million, cash today," I said, remembering how Bruce had steamrolled him over the Super Penthouse.

"We couldn't possibly consider such an offer," Mr. Higgins said despairingly, again wiping his forehead. "We might be able to see our way to $8 million."

"$7.5 million," I said. "And that's my last offer or word on the subject."

"$7.5 million," Mr. Higgins said, his hands trembling as he once again wiped his forehead. "It-it would be a pleasure, sir."

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it, Jeremy?" Mr. Willington said, patting him on the shoulder. "You think that you can have the papers for me tomorrow?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure that we can," Mr. Higgins replied, his face pale.

"Shall we meet at Mr. Hanson's office at 3:00, then?" he asked as he led him away.

"That should be fine," Mr. Higgins said.

"We'll be along in a minute," I said. "Now for your next assignment," I said when they had gone.

"What's that?" Suzi asked.

"Get them furnished and decorated," I replied, grinning at the look on her face as her mouth dropped open. "Talk to Penny about Chef André, see what you can learn about him. The two-bedroom unit is for him, so you should try to decorate it in a way that he'll find comfortable."

"What about the others?" Suzi asked.

"Use your own judgement," I replied. "Which one do you think is the best?"

"Well, this one," Suzi replied. "The only neighbor is another one-bedroom. It'll be quieter. Besides, this one is at the south end of the building, closer to the water. It has a better view."

"This one is yours, then," I said.

"M-mine!" Suzi stammered, staring at me. "Mine!"

"You need something better than that apartment of yours," I said. "Will this satisfy the 'face' of not actually living with me? It comes with a lifetime paid lease. Even if you stop working for me, it's yours for as long as you live."

"But why?" Suzi asked in a soft voice, tears running down her cheeks from her unfathomable sloe eyes.

"To help you realize your dream," I replied. "Because I like you."

"You're lucky that you're so cute," she said, hugging me, her whole body shaking as she silently cried, her face pressed against my chest.

"I think that we should celebrate tonight," I said when Suzi finally cried herself out, pulling out my phone and calling Mr. Lee at the bank.

"I'd be happy to call Mr. Liang, the owner, and arrange things for you," Mr. Lee said when I explained that I wanted to have dinner at Waku Ghin. "How many will be in your party?"

"I've never eaten there," Suzi said when I hung up.

"Now you will," I replied, grinning. "I really like it, though I have no idea what I'm eating. It all looks incredible and tastes even better."

I had never felt better about my life than I did that night at dinner at Waku Ghin, watching as Suzi regaled Penny, Erin, and Juanita with the story of the condo purchase and its ultimate dénouement, seeing how they all delighted in it, especially Suzi's good fortune. Mr. Liang, the owner himself, escorted us to our table, giving me his card and telling me to please feel free to call him directly whenever I wished to eat there.

"I hope that doesn't mean that we won't be seeing you as much," Penny said, Erin and Juanita agreeing enthusiastically.

"It just gives us another playground," Suzi replied with a smile.

Suzi and I finally got up early the next morning to go run and swim, leaving Juanita asleep in the bed. It was too easy to let exercising slide and I was determined that I needed to be more disciplined about it. After eating breakfast when we returned, I suggested to Suzi that she take Penny, Erin, and Juanita on a tour, making sure to be back for the closing on the condos.

I arrived at the office just in time to see the La Pavoni Bar T2 espresso machine being installed in the kitchenette.

"Would you like me to demonstrate how to use the machine?" the installer asked when he had finished.

"Yes, please," I replied as I stood next to Hilda.

"Could you use this?" Hilda asked, holding out a bag of 100% Kona Coffee from Hawaii Coffee Company. "They have an office here in Singapore," she explained in response to my surprise.

"Now that's what coffee is supposed to taste like," I said when the installer pulled an espresso for me. "Go ahead and do it, Hilda. Make sure that you've got it right while he's here."

"That is certainly delicious coffee," Hilda said after successfully pulling an espresso for herself.

"Kona's always voted the best coffee," the installer said, "but this is a 1^st-class machine. That makes a lot of difference."

"Well, thanks," I said. "This is great. Mr. Willington, care for one?" I asked when I noticed him appear.

"No, not for me, Alex," he replied. "Tea is my drink of choice."

"Come talk with me after you've made yourself a cup, okay?" I asked.

"Certainly," he replied.

I felt nervous sitting behind my desk with Mr. Willington sitting in a comfortable chair in front of it. I was suddenly all too aware of being 18 years of age, swimming in very deep waters.

"I imagine you wondered what Our Future was all about," I said.

"I assumed that you'd tell me anything I needed to know if and when I needed to know it," Mr. Willington replied.

"I don't want to get into any details, but until six months ago, my life could accurately be described as pure hell," I said with a sigh. "The change in my circumstances is so extreme that I almost feel like freaking out."

"I'm sure that I can't even imagine such a scenario," Mr. Willington said.

"When I first graduated from the military school and got sent home, I really didn't know or have any kind of a relationship with my parents," I explained. "I'd almost never seen them since I was five years of age. I didn't know them and they certainly didn't know me. It was easier when Bruce wasn't around. He made everyone uncomfortable. He wasn't a very nice person."

"One day in the beginning, my mother asked me if I could do anything in life and there were no obstacles to doing whatever that was, what would I want to do? I told her that I'd like to do something to help kids with no homes, or bad homes."

"That's a very commendable aspiration," Mr. Willington said.

"I've been thinking a lot about things since Bruce died. All of this moving and getting settled and everything will finally wind down and then I'll need to do something. I can't just sit around. Then I remembered that conversation with my mother and I've been thinking about it, how could I help kids from bad homes or no homes. I decided that the best way to do that was through education. I remembered that parable about give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Even if a kid has a life of hell, if he has an education, then he can get himself out of that hell at some point if he's willing to try. Without an education, he's pretty much doomed. I know."

"And have you come to any conclusions about how you could do that?" Mr. Willington asked.

"I want to create schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods," I replied.

"But there are schools, aren't there?" he asked.

"The schools reflect their neighborhoods," I replied. "Lower-income demographic usually means lower-quality schools, teachers, education. There's a reason that the top schools are in top neighborhoods in a system where property tax dollars pay for public education. Those dollars are usually spent in the neighborhoods that pay them."

"But how will poor people afford a private school?" he asked.

"It will be free to anyone who is accepted," I said. "I want only the best teachers, which means that they need to be paid what they're worth. I want optimum class sizes. There needs to be a psychologist on staff. These are going to be kids with problems because of their situations. There needs to be a free clinic for the students, too."

"That will be expensive," he said.

"I've got money, if nothing else," I replied.

"I think you have a marvelous idea, Alex," Mr. Willington said. "But it will be expensive. How many schools do you envision creating?"

"As many as I can," I replied. "I'll start with $5 billion in seed money and add $5 billion every year at a minimum."

"That would certainly go quite a ways," Mr. Willington said. "It occurs to me that your idea might dovetail nicely with the work that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is doing. Education is one of their priorities. I think that they also focus on training teachers. It might be an idea to contact them, feel them out, see if they'd be interested in partnering in some way."

"I'm open to anything," I said, "but I don't want my name used. I want to stay anonymous. That's why I came up with the name Our Future. It's not about me, it's about us collectively. If we don't give each generation the tools that they need to succeed, we're only dooming all of our futures. That has to start with education."

"Let me reach out and see what I can learn," Mr. Willington suggested.

"I'd rather keep this between us for now," I said. "Not even Suzi."

"As you wish," Mr. Willington said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next couple of weeks were actually fairly normal, all things considered, running and swimming each morning with Suzi, then doing a lot of nothing while Suzi, Penny, Erin, and Juanita threw themselves into furnishing and decorating the four condos, my only input being insisting that each unit had one of the La Pavoni espresso machines in it. Other than the sale of all of the assets under the administration of the San Francisco law firm, which they estimated would bring in approximately $500 million, everything else had been concluded with a total transfer of funds from the various banks around the world amounting to just over $37 billion.

I linked Bruce's Forex account -- I was still having difficulty wrapping my head around the fact that it was mine -- to the BrAx account, transferring the funds from the old account to the BrAx account, then closing it, and began trading the whole $40 billion at my disposal, my head spinning when I saw the account increasing by close to $30 million a day. For some reason that I can't explain, I kept my personal Forex account separate, the one originally funded with seed money I got as a result of Penny sucking my cock for the first time, and got more pleasure out of seeing it grow -- it was now over $20 million -- than I did the BrAx account. I paid myself the 20% that Bruce had agreed to pay on any profits derived from trading his Forex account as stipulated by the contract, so my personal bank account at Zurich Cantonal Bank now had well over $100 million in it.

"I had a very nice conversation with someone at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation yesterday who works with the educational aspect of their endowments," Mr. Willington explained after settling into a seat in front of my desk, having closed the door to ensure privacy. "I explained what you'd like to do and she was very receptive, thought that it could be something that they'd be interested in partnering with, but with one caveat: they'd like to see it in practice, not just theory. They suggested that you do a pilot project to test your idea."

"In other words, build a school, show that the idea works," I said.

"So it would seem," Mr. Willington agreed.

"They're right, of course," I said with a sigh. "Why would anyone gamble on such a thing? So, I need to do it, build a school, set up a program."

"You're going to need help, professional help," Mr. Willington said. "And you'll have to decide where you want to do it."

"Why not do it here?" I asked.

"Singapore has one of the finest public school systems in the world," Mr. Willington replied. "It's open and compulsory to all students, regardless of their circumstances."

"Then if we could do it here, we could do it anywhere," I said. "Wouldn't it be easier, too?"

"It would certainly make oversight much easier," Mr. Willington conceded. "There are perhaps 40 private schools in Singapore, most of them catering to a specific nationality or economic demographic. Most of them are quite good and they all have to meet the basic Singaporean standards. They have annual standardized testing across the country. The pressure is very intense on the students to do well."

"So, if we build a school that can do all of that, that would demonstrate that we can provide an adequate education," I said. "That's probably the easiest part of the whole thing. I think it's going to be a lot more difficult to target the kind of students we're looking to help."

"Especially here where they have equal access to high-quality education," Mr. Wellington said. "But the fact that it's a private foreign school offering free tuition, that would be very novel. That could very well work in your favor. In fact, I know just the person to talk to about the whole idea. Her name is Betty Wang. She was a teacher for more than 30 years, then a superintendent of schools for more than 15 years. If there's anyone that understands education and the educational system in Singapore, it's Betty."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Mr. Hanson, a pleasure to meet you," Chef André said when Penny introduced him after Suzi brought him from the airport in the Blue Beast. "I never had the pleasure in California."

"It's Alex and that was a different world," I said. "I'm glad that you'll be joining us. The one thing I do remember from California was the incredible meals."

"With this kitchen, there is nothing that I will be unable to do," he said, sweeping his arm to encompass the room. "It is a chef's dream kitchen. And then I have the pleasure and privilege of working once again with Juanita."

"We have arranged a place for you to stay nearby," I said. "Perhaps Juanita can show you the way and help you get settled."

"We need to go talk to Horace," Suzi said.

"Okay," I replied. "Enjoy the day, Chef, and we'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you, Alex," Chef André said.

"Why do we need to see Mr. Willington?" I asked as Suzi and I headed to the office.

"Did you notice that guy this morning following us in the park?" Suzi asked.

"Not particularly," I replied.

"He was also waiting outside the swimming pool when we finished," Suzi said.

"Maybe he was turned on by you?" I suggested.

"No, this was different," Suzi replied, shaking her head.

"Good afternoon," Mr. Willington greeted us when we entered the office. "Did your Chef André arrive in good order?"

"Yes," I replied. "Juanita's showing him to his condo now."

"Horace, some creepy guy was following us this morning," Suzi said as we took seats in his office. "When we were running in the park, then he was waiting around when we left the swimming hall. He followed us back to the condo."

"Well, I can't say that that surprises me," Mr. Willington said. "It was bound to happen."

"Why?" I asked.

"In a word, money," Mr. Willington replied. "Like it or not, you are now a target for scrupulous and unscrupulous people who all want a piece of what you have."

"It's not safe for you to just go around by yourself," Suzi said. "There's not a Mandarin in Singapore who would take the chance."

"Mandarin?" I asked.

"In this context, the wealthy head of a household," Mr. Willington replied. "And Suzi is correct."

"A bodyguard?" I asked incredulously.

"It's a sad reality of life these days," Mr. Willington said.

"When I first got out of military school, my mother had me implanted with a device that identified me to the security system on the estate, but also worked as a locator," I said. "She told me the same thing, but I didn't take it seriously."

"Well, you need to," Mr. Willington said. "It's only a matter of time before someone makes some attempt at something. You're too inviting and easy a target."

"He needs a body man, Horace," Suzi insisted.

"Oh, I quite agree, Suzi," Mr. Willington said.

"Where do you find such people?" I asked.

"There are two basic types," Mr. Willington replied, "ex-servicemen and gang-connected thugs from the Mainland."

"No Chinese," Suzi insisted. "Their loyalty will always be to any Chinese who has the money to buy them."

"So, an ex-serviceman," Mr. Willington said.

"He should be big and black," Suzi said emphatically.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Asians hate and fear blacks," Suzi replied.

"Half of the battle is making sure that there isn't one," Mr. Willington said. "The intimidation factor will discourage any but the most serious attempts at trouble."

"When Hakim was my grandfather's body man, people would trip over themselves to get out of the way when they would walk down the street," Suzi said. "My grandfather always assumed that it was out of respect for him. I knew better. It was this huge black giant hulking behind my grandfather that scared the shit out of everyone."

"This is crazy," I insisted. "You're talking about a babysitter."

"That is essentially correct," Mr. Willington replied, "only this babysitter's job is to make sure that nothing untoward happens to you, or your mother or the rest of your family."

"My family!" I exclaimed.

"The most common occurrence is that a family member is kidnapped and held for ransom," Mr. Willington said. "They're usually softer targets. Sadly, it still occurs from time to time. Most often a large sum of money is paid and the person is returned unharmed, though not always."