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It meant the rest of the dolls, or at least most of them, and maybe a bank loan to cover the difference.
Fletcher said she could probably get a bank loan to cover the whole thing, but the monthly payment
would be a killer. She would be much more likely to go broke if anything went wrong. Besides, Dan
Frost had talked to her about the danger of keeping her dolls in the house when everyone knew she had
the collection.
Delia knew it was the best course, but the dolls were committed. She had promised them to the kids if
they were needed, and they might be yet, in spite of the fact that they were in production now. She
almost dropped the idea without mentioning it. But Fletcher Wendell would probably tell Sarah and Dave
would tell Kent, who would tell Brent and Trent. She hadn't asked anyone to keep the discussions
secret. If she didn't bring it up, the kids would worry about it.
* * *
"You've all heard about the storage containers?"
The kids nodded. Delia told them about the possible warehouse, and what it would cost to build.
Significantly more than had been invested in the sewing machine company. How long it would take. The
rest of the winter and most of the spring. Even if she got use of some of the construction equipment. She
told them that she could probably get a loan to cover the whole amount, but the more she could put in up
front, the better it would work. "But don't worry, I won't use the dolls, they are promised to you."
Brent, Trent and David looked at Sarah. Sarah was the CFO, and incorporating was her plan.
"Dad likes to quote 'If' by Rudyard Kipling," Sarah said, "The line that goes: 'If you can make one heap
of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss.' Then Mom says: 'If you do that I'll divorce
you. Even if you win. Diversify!'"
Sarah shook her head. "We all have to gamble now. Since the Ring of Fire, everything we do, every
decision we make is a gamble. Maybe they always were and we just didn't notice it before. But we don't
have to gamble dumb. Risking it all on one turn of pitch and toss may be very manly. But it's not real
smart. We women," she continued with a haughty look at the boys, "say things like 'never put all your
eggs in one basket.' The sewing machine company is one basket. It's a good one, I think, but it's only
one. The warehouse is another. You've already put some of your dolls in Higgins Sewing Machine Co.
Now it's time to put some in Higgins Warehousing Co."
Sarah gave Delia an almost pleading look. "But Mrs. Higgins, please keep some for you. Besides," she
continued in a much more practical tone, "the way things worked out, it will be very hard for us to go
bankrupt. If we had gotten the loan, then defaulted, the bank could have taken everything we had, but
since we didn't get the loan, the sewing machine parts, the production machines we have so far, and one
down-time made sewing machine are ours. We have no outstanding debt. Well, except for the money we
owe Mr. Marcantonio for the last production machine. We have a plan for that though, and for some
other stuff that has come up.
"We think we should turn the company into a corporation. If we convert to a public corporation, with
say two hundred thousand shares, we'd take a hundred thousand of them to represent present
ownership, and then gradually sell off some of the other hundred thousand as needed. Even at just a
dollar or two a share, we should raise enough to handle any problems that come up. Also, I am pretty
sure Mr. Marcantonio will be happy to take payment in shares for the last production machine he made.
"Every new part and every new production machine is that much more value the company itself has. So
we can use the work we have already done, and the equipment we already have, to get more financing
through a corporate loan secured with stock or the sale of stock. We're in a much better position to do
that now than we were when we started. Now we can show people working machines, and an inventory
of parts."
"What about the possibility of losing control?" Delia wanted to know.
"We've talked about that," said David. "Early on, the thought of losing control really bothered us. We
figured that if we showed it to an adult, they would pat us on the head and then ignore us. Or treat it like
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