The 'Cousins'

Chapter 100 (Bravo) - Who Needs Sleep (Contd.)

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED (Bravo)

Who Needs Sleep (Contd.)

Greg next wrote down a reminder to ask Wayne for an update on the truck's arrival time when they discuss the details of the oil plant set-up at breakfast. Greg scratched his chin as another thought pushed its way to the front of his mind.

'Wayne will be looking for full-time commitment from me at Fishers and he'll be expecting it from me at breakfast tomorrow. I can't just give up on Jess or the others, providing they still want to work with me. Perhaps there's something I can do with those old contracts between us to give him the assurance he's looking for until I can get my Bamptonville arrangements more permanently settled.'

His next consideration was for the Whitewater people and he wrote the single word 'Elbury' against the item on his pad.

'All they have to do this weekend is turn up and work. If they break their promises to me and don't show, there's no pressure for me to do anything more for them - it'll be all over between us. But if they do show, I'll set things up like I promised. I can talk everything through with Elbury tomorrow and let him and Halburton handle the details. I needn't spend any more time on them tonight.'

Greg jumped to item three - the Elbury meeting, and wrote down another list of what he needed to have ready for the accountant's visit tomorrow. This proved to be his most complex item. The extent of his list of topics for them to discuss at their meeting surprised him:

i. Ideas for getting the Whitewater crew back into work.

ii. Promise of a protective slush fund should they try, but fail for no fault of their own.

iii. His personal finances and Elbury's negotiations with the IRS on his behalf.

iv. Elbury's progress in setting up Ghost to work in the US and to be his employer.

v. The detailed arrangements planned for cashing in his investments.

vi. The Lumpers potato deal.

vii. Reinvesting his capital gains in property.

viii. Fishers, and Elbury's involvement in the project.

Greg wrote short notes against each heading and sat back to review them.

'Phew! That's quite a stack of things to get through in one session. Elbury hoped to finish up by lunchtime tomorrow, but I can't see us getting through everything before late afternoon.'

A spur of the moment inspiration had him write 'USP?' against the Lumpers note.

'Need to find their unique selling point. Must get the details finalised for the Lumpers deal tomorrow with whatever each of us has found out about marketing potatoes in the meantime.' Greg brooded for a moment to face the unwelcome fact that neither he nor Elbury had any experience of this specialised market. 'I need to do a lot more research before our meeting tomorrow.'

The potato deal was his elephant in the room since he knew so little about the trade and was obliged to trust the advice of others. He shook his head.

'There's no way around doing deals like the Lumpers project. The waste oil plant won't cover a fraction of my expenses; not now I've committed myself to providing for Jess and the Whitewater crowd. I'll need the income from bigger, one-off deals like the Lumpers to balance the books once we get started.'

"If we get started." He growled, showing his exasperation at Jess and Ali's apparent lacklustre approach to the opportunity he was opening for them.