What should I have done?
Chapter 23 – The Adventures of Prudence Penny
It took the opening of the Cleveland-Cincinnati rolling road to nail down in George
Strong’s mind that my prophecies really were accurate. I was always most careful not
even to hint the source of my foreknowledge because I had a strong hunch that the
truth would be harder for George to take than leaving it all a mystery. So I joked
about it: my cracked crystal ball – a small time machine I keep in the basement next
to my Ouija Board – my seance guiding spirit, Chief Forked Tongue – tea-leaves, but
it has to be Black Dragon tea, Lipton’s Orange Pekoe doesn’t have the right
vibrations.
George smiled at each bit of nonsense – George was a gentle soul – and eventually
quit asking me how I did it and simply treated the message in each envelope as a
reliable forecast – as indeed it was.
But he was still chewing the bit at the time the Cleveland-Cincinnati road opened.
We attended the opening together, sat in the grandstand, watched the Governor of
Ohio cut the ribbon. We were seated where we could talk privately if we kept our
voices down; the speeches over the loudspeakers covered our words.
‘George, how much real estate does Harriman and Strong own on each side of the
roadway?’
‘Eh? Quite a bit. Although some speculator got in ahead of us and took options on
the best commercial sites. However, Harriman Industries has a substantial investment
in D-M power screens – but you know that; you were there when we voted it, and you
voted for it’ `So I did. Although my motion to invest three times that amount was
first voted down.’
George shook his head. `Too risky. Maureen, money is made by risking money but not
by wildly plunging. I have trouble enough keeping Delos from plunging; you mustn’t
set him a bad example.’
`But I was right, George. Want to see the figures on a We-Woulda-Made if my motion
had carried?’
‘Maureen, one can always do a We-Woulda-Made on a wild guess that happens to hit
That doesn’t justify guessing. It ignores the other wild guesses that did not hit’
‘But that’s my point, George – I don’t guess; I know. You hold the envelopes; you
open them. Have I ever been wrong? Even once?’
He shook his head and sighed. ‘It goes against the grain.’
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‘So it does and your lack of faith in me is costing both Harriman and Strong and
Harriman Industries money, lots of money. Never mind. You say some speculator
optioned the best land?’
‘Yes. Probably somebody in a position to see the maps before the decisions were
pubhc.’
‘No, George, not a speculator – a soothsayer. Me. I could see that you weren’t
moving fast enough so I optioned as much as I could, using all the liquid capital I
could lay hands on, plus all the cash I could raise by borrowing against non liquid
assets.’
George looked hurt. I added hastily, `I’m turning my options over to you, George. At
cost, and you can decide how much to cut me in for after the special position we
have begins to pay back.’
‘No, Maureen, that’s not fair. You believed in yourself; you got there first; the
profits are yours.’
‘George, you didn’t listen. I don’t have the capital to exploit these options; I put
eve cent I could raise into the options themselves – if I had been able to lay hands
on another million, I would have optioned still more land further out and for longer
terms. I just hope you will listen to me next time. It distresses me to tell you
that it is going to rain soup, then have you show up with a teaspoon rather than a
bucket. Do you want me to warn you about the next special position? Or shall I go
straight to Mr Harriman and try to persuade him that I am an authentic soothsayer?’
He sighed. ‘I’d rather you told me. If you will.’
I said most quietly, ‘Do you have a place where we can shack up tonight?’