As we more closely approached the day on which my parole would expire, we stepped up the frequency of our visits to San Jose. Almost from the start of the assay job, we spent weekends there, mostly reading the Sunday papers in search of our next employment. Weekends were good for learning about available positions, but interviews are almost always conducted on weekdays.
l asked Felix if he knew someone, real smart, who might be able to quickly learn
the assay procedures and had time to work on some Mondays and Tuesdays so l could start interviewing in San Jose. He referred me to a guy named Scott Henderson. He had considerable experience (some as an assayer's assistant and needed very little training to do our assays.)
l ran my plan past Willy, our mining
operations manager, without mentioning that l was looking for my next job, l
told him that Dahlia was pregnant and wanted to be seen by her Doctor in Saratoga, (which was true). So we started adding Monday and sometimes Tuesday, to our weekend visits there. l paid Scott what l earned for the days he worked, so it did have a noticeable impact on our income, but we had saved a bunch by that time, so we didn't run short.
Time flies and suddenly (it seemed) it's April 6, 1963, my last day on parole. l had given my notice a couple of weeks earlier, so we were on our way back to San Jose. l was pleased that Scott applied for my job and was hired. Given his good work during my absences, he was a natural for that job.
l must admit that the news of Dahlia's "condition" surprised me a bit. At that point in time, l had pretty much left behind any notion that l might, or could ever be fertile. But, here was evidence that what seems is not always what is.
Some years later l learned that the type of undershorts worn by men have a direct effect on the wearer's fertility. l had learned in George Jeffs' seventh grade zoology class that the testes are contained in a skin sack which holds them a couple or more inches away from the man's body, because, for some reason, normal body temperature is too hot for the millions of microscopic
characteristics carriers. Jockey shorts hold the testes tightly against the body.
Boxer shorts allow hanging loose. l had worn jockey shorts from the time l left diapers behind, and until the Army started clothing me. Since then, and until now,l have worn Boxers. lt takes time, though. Six years passed between my
beginning to wear Boxer shorts and the first evidence of my fertility. lt's just for comfort that l wear them now. Dahlia and l got together sometime after mid-
October '61. Her doctor in Lovelock pronounced her pregnant in late December
'62. At first l thought it might be a good idea to postpone our return to San Jose
for a few months or more, figuring the move, by itself would be a big deal, to say nothing of the hunt for residence. And my job hunt. And...Dahlia said "l'm
not going to have our baby in the Lovelock hospital. Reyann was born at O'conner hospital. they did what they were supposed to do and everything went fine. Why tempt fate?"
"Well, she's the one doing the having and l say (said) more power to you, Honey".
We had planned, well before we went job-hunting in Nevada, to leave Lovelock (or wherever we might have found a good-paying job like the assaying job, as soon as we had accumulated X amount of assets and had successfully completed the 18 months parole, to return to California and seek interesting and lucrative opportunities in sales and sales management. Dahlia would continue to be a stay-at-home wife and mother,at least for as long my income was sufficient to meet our needs.
We accumulated considerable stuff while we were in Lovelock, much more than we could carry in our little VW. l had thought to rent a pickup, but when Ely called to learn how our return to California was progressing,and Dahlia told him
we would rent a pickup, he offered us the use of his pickup. She accepted. That was no small contribution; a round trip, Elko County to Santaclara county and return put more than a thousand miles on Ely's pickup.
Ely's son,Ross volunteered to drive the pickup, a huge contribution that saved us several hundred miles driving to return a rented truck and all the help with loading and unloading our junk that Ross did.
Once ensconced in our two-bedroom apartment in Campbell (just a little bit North and West of central San Jose), We were finally totally focused on finding and securing employment as a Salesman, Sales Manager, or some combination of the two. On the third day of the quest, l saw an interesting ad:Salesman/Manager, Salary and commission. Call Thom Kessler, 9AM to Noon
today.
Very strange interview: About a dozen applicants in a classroom setting. Thom takes the teacher's part. first, he hands each of us a russett potato and a drinking straw. (the old type small bore paper straw) He says our task is to hold the potato in one hand, the straw in the other, then simply stab the potato with the straw, so it sticks out the other side of the potato. Thom stabbed his potato
as he spoke, leaving his straw sticking out both sides of the potato. Seeing his success convinced me that it was possible and in an instant my potato was pierced by my straw, just like Thom's. Only three of us in that room (including Thom) passed their straw thru their potato on the first try. Our reward was an
interview. After that we were both hired. Me, for the San Jose store and the other guy,Rod Upmann, for the Hayward store. The company was Caluminum, a home-improvement company, specializing in aluminum awnings and patio cov-
ers, as well as fibre-glass screening to enclose the covers. Cal Lume, as we called it,
had three stores in the bay area:in Hayward, San Jose and San Rafael. Customer leads were generated by full-page ads in the Sunday editions of the
San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune. With the help of a telephone receptionist (who turned inquiries into "no obligation" appointments). Four other direct salesmen in a small store in a six-unit strip-mall at 983 South Bascom Ave. made easy work of it. l was paid a fair salary,
(about $500. per week in today's money)to manage the store. Additionally,on jobs l sold myself, l received the same percentage commission as my salesmen did on the jobs they sold. l also received a percentage of the face value of every
contract sold in the San Jose store.(Manager's overide)
First things first: Ad in the Merc; "Telephone Receptionist, needed yesterday. Call xxx xxxx for telephone interview". Phones in the store were yet to be hooked up, so l put my home phone number in the ad. My very first caller had an extremely beautiful and cultured voice. l couldn't imagine that any other voice l might yet encounter could be near as nice. So, after talking/listening to
twenty-five additional voices after hers, l still held the same opinion. Lil Wallace
was her name and she was a sweetheart and a fine receptionist;if she didn't turn a call into an appointment (l learned as l got to know her) some detail beyond our control prevented it. But those were rare: a vast majority fell under the spell of her voice and the lead slips piled up in the in-boxes of what she came to call her "Big Five".
Being one of them, let me introduce the other four:
Frank Paulsen...Well spoken, overly dapper, gregarious, no excuses,lotsa results.
Vic Demos...Quiet,earnest,persuasive, very high closing percentage.
Murray Acevido...Loquacious, craftsman, smooth closer.
Russ Eams...Wild man,funny, deep,Red hair, Closerola!
Out of nine applicants, l picked those four and never once regretted it.Later, in fact, they all had something to teach me that was really beneficial.After all, they
were all some years older than l was. ln fact, they were all mentors to me.
On this job l was making so much money so soon and so consistently that l
figured (about three weeks into the job) that l should buy a new car. l did not like the VW at all, and l had my eye on a Corvair Monza coupe painted fire engine red.When they offered what l thought was a great price for the VW, l had to go for it. l immediately went to our store to show "the other four" what great taste l had in cars. My taste,they weren't interested in; but they liked the Monza a lot.
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