Chapter 1
Karen Bradley recently moved to the Kansas City area from the Shady Path Resort in southern Missouri. There she had managed the riding stables with her herd of ten horses. Karen had been involved with the resort’s stables for many years assisting her Uncle Frank, who had passed over a year ago. She had continued to manage both jobs at the resort very successfully. Her horses were like members of her family. She had helped to deliver all but one of them, and had raised them with gentleness and love, and she called them her babies. The owners of the resort had suddenly discontinued the riding stables and planned to build more cabins where the stable was presently located. Mark Garza had leased her herd and hired her to manage his new riding stable in the Kansas City area, allowing Karen and her horses to stay together.
Karen, an energetic little redhead, had initiated several innovative ideas to use with her horses to add to the income of Mark’s business. One of these ideas was to provide a class for ‘Beginning Horsemanship’ through the University of Missouri in Kansas City and it was a resounding success. Because she was not an accredited professor at UMKC, a professor from the school would assist as she taught students how to ride and care for their mounts. It amused her that the professor learned along with his students. She hoped that he would be of more help with future classes, as his knowledge increased. Many of her students continued their lessons beyond the class and they added to her growing group of clients. These clients either came for private lessons, as part of a scheduled class time not affiliated through the college, or as a walk-in to schedule a horse available to ride. Who would have thought that a person would have to call and reserve one of her babies?
Other possibilities included an ‘Advanced Horsemanship’class and she thought of asking Mark about becoming a resource for the Veterinary Medicine classes at UMKC by providing her babies as ‘patients’for hands-on training, learning more about horses for their classes.
Karen was very pleased with the success of the riding stable since the move and so was Mark. The additional income had paid for the construction of a new covered arena that enabled them to have more flexibility in inclement weather.
There were two extra stalls that were available and Mark asked Karen her opinion about offering boarding services for two horses. She thought that it might work and hated the space just going to waste. However, Karen raised some liability questions in case one of the boarded horses got sick or injured, possible vet expenses and some issues like additional liability insurance that Mark hadn’t considered. So they decided to delay that idea until they got these issues identified and answered.
Mark enjoyed brainstorming with Karen and he respected her opinion. By involving her, they came up with much better solutions and things to be aware of. She was becoming a more valuable asset to his operation. One day he called her and asked her if she could swing by his office, located in a different building. She said, “Sure”, but remembering the last office visit she had experienced with her boss at the resort when she and her horses were dismissed, she was very nervous. She went right over to his office and found him sitting at his desk and she went in smiling. “Karen, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Come on in.”
Mark said.
“Do you want me to close the door?” she asked.
“Naw, I just wanted to ask you if I could give you a raise?”
Obviously shocked, she said, “Araise? Of course. Now, what kind of a question is that? You scared me out of my wits. Oh gosh, I mean thank you, Mark.”
Mark laughed and said, “I am so proud of what you have done with the stable and the best way to show you is to give you a raise in salary. Your idea of involving UMKC was nothing short of genius and that should be an ongoing source of activity and revenue. Do you have any other ideas?”
Karen smiled and said, “I always have ideas Mark. Oh, like adding some seating so that we could have some shows or something like dressage demonstrations or other equestrian events like jumping. I have tried to find something similar available in the Kansas City area but nothing has caught my eye. There are stables that teach dressage, but there are no places for performances to speak of other than dusty rodeo venues or the locations where the lessons are given. Having a nice place to showcase dressage could spark a little attention and I would love to see beautiful dancing horses in person. They are so spectacular to watch. I have seen the Lipizzaner horses in movies and on TV, but to see something like that up close with a smaller more intimate audience would be something to remember.
Smiling, she continued, “It would be interesting to invite a small, distinguished group to join us for a demonstration with Flamenco and classical music. Afancy ‘invitations only’kind of event could kick us up a notch, for a different group of people with funding capabilities. We should also invite the stables and trainers who teach lessons to let them know about us. They might also enjoy ‘hob-nobbing’with the rich and famous,” and she giggled.
Mark was listening to her, smiling at her enthusiasm and was envisioning Dr. Joe, his dad, and a group of his friends and their
reactions. She said laughing, “Gosh, listen to me. Sometimes when I get started with an idea, it gets away from me.”
Mark said, “Karen, I like your idea. We have the space, so our first step would be seating, but if we are going to invite the ‘upper notch’folks, having nice, comfortable seating would be imperative, and maybe bleachers aren’t the way to go. Let me work on it. These are the kind of ideas that are fun to work on. Thanks.”
“Thank you for the raise, Mark.” she said, and smiled as she left the office as Mark unrolled some blue prints. And work on it, he did. Mark’s formal education was in architectural engineering before he had bought the H. T.Academy next door.
He went online to inquire about the availability of used theater seating, when he remembered that a local movie theater had recently closed. Afew minutes after his inquiry he got a response that there were 300 used seats available from a local salvage company and if he took all 300 they could offer a special price. He made an appointment to see them. He hadn’t intended to use that many seats, but he would take a look. He looked at the blue prints again and by using seating along one side and across one end of the arena, he could fit 300 seats in. If they intended to use the arena as a venue for other events, maybe going with a larger number of seats was a good idea. More people would mean more revenue and a quicker return on investment. Alot would depend on the condition of the seats.
The salvage company was located in the warehouse district of North Kansas City, KS and the neighborhood was a little sketchy. Mark called Jim Larson, his retired KCPD detective friend, and asked him if he would be up for another adventure. He gave Jim a bare bones description of the project, and Jim asked if he should bring his ‘friend’along. Mark said it might be a good idea if it was still registered and licensed. Jim laughed and assured
him that they were still legal. Jim came over to the office and they left together to look at the seats.
As they drove to the salvage company Jim asked more questions about Mark’s plan for the arena and the more he heard, the better Jim liked the idea and suggested other possible uses for the Venue. One question he asked had Mark temporarily stumped. With the floor combination of soil/oil/sand of the arena, how would the seats be kept free of dust in between events? They discussed coverings of some kind, but a lot would depend on the sizes of seats, how and if they were fastened together. That decision could be made after actual dimensions were taken and the chairs seen. These were definitely things to be taken into consideration.
From Jim’s methodical background in law enforcement, he always wanted as much information as possible before making a decision. He thought it would be good to know where the seats had come from, how old they were, who the manufacturer was and what environmental hazards they had been exposed to. All of these issues were from a liability point of view. They needed to be certain that the seats were a legal purchase.Another question of concern would address if any guarantee would come with them, in case one fell apart and caused an injury to someone.
Mark listened to Jim’s comments and was convinced that he had made the right call when he involved Jim.
They found the address and walked up bare, concrete steps next to a loading dock to a dented, metal door that was marked with only a street number painted on the door, surrounded by security cameras. Mark cautiously opened the unlocked door and called, “Hello?” There was no answer. He took a step inside the dark interior, his large frame almost filled the door’s opening and called out louder, “Hello! Anyone here?” From the back of the building he could hear footsteps heading their way. Then a man’s
voice called out “Yeah, I’m on my way.”Aman appeared, coming into the light from the open door and asked, “Hi. Can you turn on the lights behind you?”
Jim turned around and found the light switch and turned it on, flooding the vast space with light showing lots of used merchandise including appliances, doors, windows, boxes of opened flooring, carpet, paint, and lots of plumbing and lighting fixtures.
Jim relaxed his hand on his revolver under his jacket. Mark introduced himself and said that he was interested in the theater seats. “Oh yes. You must be the guy who contacted me earlier. Come this way.” He turned around and led them past aisles of shelving containing boxes of items, some new and some used.
“Here they are. All together there are 300 of them.”
Mark started to examine them, surprised to see that the ones visible were in excellent condition. He looked under the seat of one and found the manufacturer’s name and model number.
“Where did they come from?” Mark asked.
The man looked at papers on his clip board and said, “Marquee Theater. It went into foreclosure and the creditors cleaned it out. We bought them three weeks ago,” looking at his bill of sale.
Jim asked, “May I see your bill of sale?”
“Sure.” the man replied, handing the clipboard to Jim.
“Are they under some kind of warranty?” Mark asked.
“No, afraid not. Once they are removed from the original purchaser's establishment, the warranty is voided. But they are only two years old and have had minimal use. On the next page you can see when they were originally installed at the Marquee.”
The seats were fastened together at the bottom of the legs to heavy metal pieces connecting four seats together. Jim looked at the leather upholstery closely and asked, “Are they all the same color?”
“Yes, I think it is a burgundy color, yes, Old World Burgundy. However, I think that three seats have minor damage to the upholstery and they are over here.” indicating two sets of seats that were separated from the rest. Mark and Jim examined those seats and had difficulty finding the damage on one, and the other two the damage was minimal, with small scrapes on the sides of the seats.
“There may be a few scratches here and there that mostly came from moving them. Sometimes workers aren’t too careful. The rest look almost new and should clean up pretty well.”
Mark photographed the seats showing how they were fastened together and he measured them. He asked the man and said, “You mentioned a special price for all 300?”
“Yes, I could discount 25% if you take all of them.”
Mark looked at Jim again and Jim turned away. Quickly the man said, “Or, would 35% off be of interest?”
Jim asked, “Is that your last offer?”
The man said, “Man, you are killing me. Okay 40%, but that is as low as I can go.”
Jim looked at Mark and Mark nodded. “And that includes delivery?” Jim asked.
The man nodded, “Yes, but delivery can’t happen for a couple of weeks. I am backed up until then.”
Mark settled up with a new bill of sale and Jim asked for copies of the original installation documentation and the original bill of sale, that would provide clear chain of possession if a question ever arose.
Jim asked the man, “Can we come back and prepare them for delivery?”
“Of course. What kind of preparation do you have in mind?”
Jim replied, “Plastic shrink wrap would probably work to eliminate a few more scratches and dents.”
The man said, “Good idea. When will you like to come back?”
Jim said, “I will get back with you on the time.” Handing the man one of his old KCPD business cards with his phone number on the back. The man agreed, then turned the card over and said, “Jim.”
As they were driving away, Jim was smiling. “Oh, how I love to spend other people’s money.”
Mark replied, “You also saved me quite a bit. How did you know to look away when you did, to call his bluff? That was a very effective negotiating skill.”
Laughing, Jim said, “Actually, I thought that I was going to sneeze. It isn’t polite to sneeze in someone’s face.” And they both laughed as they headed for Mark’s office.
After they arrived, using the measurements they had taken from the seat groupings, Mark began to plan where they would go and how to build three wide tiers of seating. This would allow for wider spacing between the rows of seats and by raising the rows, the viewer could have enough room to be comfortable and to optimize viewing. Jim watched for a while and then decided that Mark knew what he wanted to accomplish with his plan, thanked Mark for the play date and went home.
The rest of Mark’s day was pretty routine with phone calls and paperwork and he was ready to go home when things quieted down.