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Seattle, Washington
Back at campus, Paulette parked her old Tahoe and went looking for Greg. She had spent the long drive from the meeting planning her next moves — securing a large enough building and hiring the right people.
While searching the campus for Greg, her thoughts went to her campus life. Now I won’t have to listen to the professors who don’t like or understand my visionary thinking. I’m determined to show those professors and others who don’t believe in me that they were all wrong.
She finally found Greg in the Lees Building and jumped into his arms.
“Whoa there, hold on. What’s going on with you today?” He backed up a step.
“I just got back from the meeting, and you won’t believe what they said.”
“I’m not a mind reader, but I can assume from your excitement that you got the funding.”
“Yes and no. I was told they wanted to see a working prototype first, and they would consider fully funding us once we accomplished that.”
He looked at her and realized they just might have a chance. “When do we have to have this prototype built?”
“I told them we should have something within the year.
“A year! Do you think that’s enough time for just the two of us to build this prototype?”
“No, absolutely not. But we should have enough money to hire an entire research and development team, secure a building, and get the materials needed to build the prototype,” she said excitedly.
“Really, how much did they give us?”
“A million dollars just to build the prototype. Like I said, then if they like what they see, they may fund the production phase.”
“Wow! That’s a lot of money,” he said as he whistled.
“Yes, it is, and I need to get started locating a building big enough to house the research and development team and a small manufacturing area. I’ll be busy shopping for that, starting this weekend. Would you like to help me find the building we’ll need?” she asked.
“Sure,” he replied.
Saturday arrived quickly, and Paulette and Greg got together and began searching for the right building for their needs. It was a long and tedious task, but they finally found what they thought was the perfect building. Paulette scheduled a showing with the Realtor for 820 West Adams Street, then she and Greg got into her old Chevy Tahoe and drove to the location. When they arrived, they exited the vehicle and walked over to a man who looked to be in his mid-fifties, short and portly, with a slightly balding head, who, they assumed, was the person in charge of leasing the building.
“Hello, are you Mr. Bill Hogan?” Paulette asked.
“Yes, are you here to look at the building?” he replied.
“Yes, we are, if you don’t mind.”
“If you’ll follow me, then we can get started,” he said.
Paulette and Greg fell in step with Mr. Hogan as he approached the main entrance to the building.
Mr. Hogan unlocked and opened the door and said, “Please, come in.”
Paulette and Greg followed him.
“As you can see, there’s a large office built into the warehouse, and the warehouse itself is very spacious and has high ceilings with built-in ventilation. What do you think?” he asked.
Greg looked at Paulette. “It does look like it will work for us. What do you think?”
“I seem to agree with you. There’s plenty of space to work with.”
Paulette addressed Mr. Hogan, “So, how do we go about leasing the building?” she asked.
“Simple. If you follow me back to my office, we can discuss the lease terms and get you going.”
“That would be perfect. Thank you so much.” Paulette smiled as she shook Mr. Hogan’s hand.
They all got back into their cars and headed to the Realtor’s office and settled in to read the lease very carefully before signing it. Then Paulette gave Mr. Hogan a check for the deposit and the first six months’ rent.
Later in the car, Greg pointed out. “I think this building will work great for us. I like the location.”
“I agree. We’ll have plenty of privacy.”
“All we need now is to hire some contractors to build the R&D Department, as well as offices for the heads of each department,” Greg mentioned.
Paulette looked at Greg and shrugged. “I’ll have to research who can do all this within our cost constraints.
Paulette got right to work on researching local construction companies. She soon discovered how daunting a task this would be. Although she was extremely intelligent in many areas, a lot of the things she was trying to take care of were way out of her league, especially when it came to owning and running a company.
She picked up the phone and dialed Greg. He answered after the fifth ring.
“What! I’m studying,” he said irritably.
“Sorry to bother you, but I’m waiting to hear back from about a half dozen construction companies on quotes for getting the work done. I just thought I’d let you know.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry, just stressed as usual. When it comes to tests, I really hate these things.”
“Yeah, I know and understand. Believe it or not, I sometimes stress over them too.”
“Really? You, stress over a test? Give me a break, Miss Genius.”
“Come on, Greg. I’m not always on top of my game, especially with all this company stuff going on.”
“Really? You mean all those brains you’ve got, and you can’t figure out how to run a company and keep track of the money too?”
“Seriously, Greg, I wonder sometimes if you’re out to get me. Yes, even with all my smarts, I just don’t have that knack. Give me math or physics, and I can solve all the problems in the world. Throw business stuff at me, and I’d rather run a marathon than tackle it. I’m the inventor, remember, not the practical sit-in-an-office-and-push-paper kind of gal.”
Greg burst out laughing. “Okay you got me there. Guess I was wrong. You aren’t as smart as you pretend to be.”
“Hey that’s not nice. Stop laughing at me and get back to studying.”
Paulette decided it was time for a break so she drove to the local Starbucks near the University Campus. She liked the quiet atmosphere, despite its being so close to the university. She wasn’t ever much of a coffee drinker, so she’d order a caramel mocha frappe, her favorite drink. She entered the sitting area, the door swinging quietly shut behind her.
“Ah, I see my favorite bistro person is working today.”
“Hey, Paulette, how’s it going? The usual?”
“Yeah, Brad, I’ll take the usual. Can you bring it over to the corner table, along with one of your blueberry muffins?”
“Sure, no problem.”
Even though she didn’t particularly like the taste of coffee, the smell of it brewing was intoxicating. She waited patiently for her drink and blueberry muffin.
Brad walked over to the table in the corner, which gave a great view of all the activity on the street, and set her muffin and frappe down. “Hope you enjoy the frappe and muffin. If you need anything else just give me a holler. Oh, by the way, how’s the company stuff going? Get any funding yet?” he asked.
“Yeah, we got some partial funding. They want us to present a prototype before they’ll consider giving us full funding. I’ve been busy securing a building, and now I’ve got to get contractors in to do some renovations, not to mention hiring people, and so many other things that it’s mind-boggling. A lot of work, but hey, that’s why I’m here. Just needed to take a break from it all.”
“Understood. Like I said, if you need anything else, let me know. And congrats on the funding, even if it’s only part of it.”
“Thanks, Brad. I appreciate it.”
Paulette sat there munching her blueberry muffin and sipping her caramel frappe, deep in thought.
Sometimes, I do wonder if I’d have been further along had my parents not held me back from exploring the world more when I was younger. I kind of understand their not wanting me to be in college at eleven or twelve; but still, I may have been able to do so much more, earlier in life. Oh well, I’ve got to remember not to live in the past. I can’t change what happened. Or could I? Okay, no sense going there. Paradox theory and all. I just need to live with things the way they are and do my best to move forward with my life.
Greg and Paulette worked for weeks to hire the minimum personnel they’d need to, at least, complete the prototype bionic limb. Their favorite selection to lead a team of R&D personnel was a woman named Susan Ross, who was quite feisty. She stood five foot four inches, weighed about a hundred and twenty-five pounds; and with her red hair and green eyes, it was apparent she wouldn’t let anyone run her over. She commanded a great leadership quality they felt would, not only keep the R&D team on its toes, but also provide a good working environment.
The R&D engineering team was a little harder to figure out, but they settled on two managers, one for each section. One man, Sam Posh, a recent college graduate from a prestigious engineering school, had a keen interest in bionics. The other gentleman, Earl Jones, being in his mid-thirties, had what it took to develop the materials needed for the inside of the bionic limb. He had been on the leading edge for developing similar materials for robots and other bionics at an earlier job. The materials he would now need differed from what he had done before, but they both realized he could do it.
With their managers hired and a few key people to help in the making of the prototype, Paulette and Greg were confident they could get a prototype out in a few months.
