The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 32. Opportunities Abound

On Saturday, Danny had a party for Brandon at the house. It wasn’t a huge gathering, since so many family members now lived in other parts of the state, or even the country. For this reason, most of them were no longer close enough to come back, except for major holidays. However, those who lived locally, which included our extended family, and a few of the people Brandon worked with, would be attending. The invitations Danny had delivered stated that no gifts were necessary, but their presence would be greatly appreciated to help celebrate this special day.

In the end, it turned out to be not only a beautiful day, but also a very nice gathering. Those who didn’t already know the dentist that Brandon worked for now got a chance to meet him, along with the dental hygienist and receptionist from his office. The party was well attended, each of those present enjoyed themselves and Brandon was thrilled that so many had come to honor him.

Throughout the day, Brandon went out of his way to fill everyone in about what Elliot had done for him the previous evening. This, in turn, elicited more than a few comments directed toward Elliot, along with a few encouraging wishes of ‘well-done’ and ‘that-a-boy,’

No matter how much fun we were having or how interesting this get together was, none of this was what made the day so memorable. That happened when Kevin approached his brother Danny a little later, concerning something he had heard about.

“Danny, I know you still want to open your own pediatric office, but is there any chance you may be doing it soon?” Kevin wanted to know.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if that’s going to happen anytime in the near future,” Danny admitted. “Joshie’s pediatrician says he isn’t ready to retire yet and this area just isn’t capable of supporting another pediatric office. I guess I’ll just have to keep my job at the hospital a little longer and do the best that I can, while I’m waiting for something to open up.”

“Well, I may have another possibility for you, if you’re interested,” Kevin told him.

“Of course I am,” Danny confessed. “I’m willing to listen to any possibilities that may come up, but how would you know about a pediatric job?”

“It’s not a pediatric job exactly, just a chance for you to start one,” Kevin clarified. “Look, let me tell you about my idea and then you can make up your own mind.” Danny nodded.

“The local school district where Vinnie and I are currently living is thinking about selling one or more of its buildings,” Kevin began. “The district’s enrollment is down and they’re talking about closing some of the neighborhood K – 6 schools, so they can consolidate the district into larger, and more cost efficient, elementary and middle schools. I’ve learned that one building they will most likely be putting on the market is not too far from us and I believe it would make a great medical center.”

“But are they getting rid of it because it’s run down and needs a large amount of repairs?” Danny wondered.

“No, they’re getting rid of it because it’s the least centrally located,” Kevin informed him. “Unfortunately, when it was constructed they chose a site that is fairly close to the boundary of the school district and this is what makes it so undesirable for consolidation purposes. However, it is also what gives it potential as a medical center, because it is located really close to the Interstate. It’s just a few blocks from I-76 and less than 20 miles from the junction of I-99, so it would be easy to get to. Not only that, but it wouldn’t be a bad commute for you either. Hell, it would even give Brandon the opportunity of opening his own dental office there. It would be perfect for both of you.”

“It sounds interesting, but what can you tell me about the building?” Danny wanted to know.

“I can tell you it’s one of those one story elementary buildings that was probably built in the late 70s or early 80s,” Kevin explained. “Sometime in the 90s the district added a two story addition to one end of the school and the entire place looks to be in fairly good shape. It has a lot of land, because it also has athletic fields, and there is also quite a bit of parking space. I think the combination of those features are what makes it perfect for something like a medical facility.”

“It sounds as if you might be right,” Danny agreed. “I must admit I have thought about doing something like this, but I just didn’t think I’d be ready to attempt it for another five or ten years. It’s kind of been a dream of mine to open a regional children’s medical center.”

“Well now might be time for you to act,” Kevin told him. “If the district puts the school on the market, someone will probably snatch it up quickly and turn it into apartments. If not, someone else might turn it into a senior center or nursing home. You might not get another chance like this.”

“Okay, but let me talk this over with Brandon and Dad first. If they think it’s a good idea, then I’ll contact some other people I know and see what they think of the idea too,” Danny confirmed. “I am definitely intrigued by the possibility, but I need to get some other input first, before I act. Thanks for the info though.”

Kevin assured his brother that he was happy he was able to have supplied him with this possible opportunity, and then Danny went back to make sure the party was going well. Danny didn’t say anything to either Brandon or me when he returned, but once the celebration ended and the others had left for home, Danny pulled us aside. In great detail, he shared the information Kevin had told him earlier.

“It sounds like a great possibility,” Brandon agreed, “especially if it means I might be able to start my own pediatric dental practice too. I’m just worried that it sounds like a really big gamble.”

“There will be some risk involved, but we may never get this opportunity again,” Danny responded. “I’m going to call some of my contacts at Penn State and talk to them about this, but I’d also like to know what you think about this, Dad?”

“I’m merely wondering if you will be able to afford to do something like this,” I stated. “Not only will there be the initial expense for the building and property, but there will also be the cost of transforming it from a school into medical and dental offices.”

“I know and that’s something I need to check on,” Danny agreed. “I still have quite a bit of money left in the fund that you set up for me and Brandon and I have been able to save up some additional money since we’ve been living here with you. It’s not enough to pay for everything, so Brandon and I will still need to take out a mortgage on the place, but I think we can swing it.”

“Do you think you can make enough off of the center to make it worth your while?” I asked next.

“I’m not trying to make a killing off this, but I think there is money to be made,” Danny confirmed. “If I can get enough others interested in opening an office there, then I think it will be worth it. The other practices will be paying rent for their office space and that should be enough to cover the mortgage and taxes. I think I’ll be able to sell others on the idea that it would be a great spot for an office, because a centralize children’s center could be a huge draw. Having something like a children’s center would also provide immeasurable advantages for the health of the youngsters in this part of the state. We could offer services there that they’d have to travel to a major city to receive, which would also save their families and insurance providers a huge expense.”

“I don’t disagree,” I acknowledged, “and if you determine this is feasible, I might also be able to assist you with the finances. I am willing to arrange a donation from the Castaway Foundation to help you do this, since it will be providing a service to children.”

“Awesome, Dad, and thanks,” Danny responded. “I still have to do some work to check it out further, but once I’m able to do that, I’ll get back to you.”

Almost immediately, Danny started spending most of his free-time researching the feasibility of doing this. He began by calling several of his old professors at Penn State, so he could get their input and suggestions. A couple of them even told Danny this was not only a great possibility, but they also informed him that there are grants and other resources available that he could use to get money to help pull this off. After receiving their encouragement and input about funding, he started to believe he might be able to make this a reality after all.

Now that Danny was convinced of the feasibility of making this happen, he contacted Kevin again. This time, he wanted to see if his brother would be willing to take him over to the school, so he could look the building over.

“Sure, but we probably won’t be able to get inside yet,” Kevin agreed. “I’ll be happy to walk around the outside with you and look through some of the windows, so you can see what it looks like inside.”

Since Kevin was willing, they set up a time to do this. An hour later, Danny and Brandon drove to Kevin’s new place and then the three of them went over to the school. For over an hour, they walked around the perimeter of the building, looked through windows and checked out the grounds and parking area, before looking at the various outbuildings.

“This place is in better condition than I expected,” Danny stated, as he started to become even more optimistic that this could be done.

“And there appears to be at least minimal plumbing in every room,” Brandon added. “I’ve seen a counter with a sink in each one and I’ve noticed some of the classrooms even have a small toilet facility located in one of the corners.”

“And it has a gym and athletic fields that can be utilized for youth fitness programs,” Danny confirmed. “We could allow local sports leagues to use them, which will help to promote kids getting out to play and staying in shape.”

“Kevin, do you think you could find a place to put a pharmacy in there too?” Brandon wondered. “It would be really convenient if the patients coming to these offices could get their prescriptions filled here as well.”

“Damn, I hadn’t thought about that, but it’s something I’m willing to consider,” Kevin agreed. “Wow! I hadn’t even seen the possibility that this might also lead to me having my own business. I was just thinking about you guys.”

Now, they all had research to do, to see if this idea was feasible. All three of them were intrigued by the possibilities, yet still somewhat hesitant about taking such a huge risk. There was a lot more work for them to do first, before they could make up their minds.

While his fathers were doing all of their research, Elliot was getting more involved with tennis. Not only were Hayden and he working out on their own in the gym, but now the tennis team was also meeting to do the same thing, on a limited basis. The problem was, it was getting difficult to find time when the gym was available, because now there were considerably more demands on this facility. The baseball and lacrosse teams were also using the gym for some early workouts, at least until the last of the snow disappeared. This meant Elliot and Hayden weren’t able to get in there alone every day and it forced them to workout outside, whenever the weather wasn’t too cold or inhospitable.

I was glad to see Elliot and Hayden’s friendship blossoming too. From some of the comments Hayden had made and some of the things Elliot had told us, I didn’t think this would be anything more than a friendship, but they did get along really well with each other. I think this, along with Elliot fitting in so well with our family, has helped to account for the reason he’s bounced back so quickly after his father’s death.

Since Elliot was so involved with tennis, Jesse was finding it difficult to fill all of his free time. After I’d spoken with him, he’s been hanging around with his friends and doing more things with them, but I thought there was something else Jesse should be concentrating on. Therefore, I sat down with him and began to question if he’d been thinking ahead, about his future.

“Jesse, you’re almost at the end of your junior year, so have you made any decisions about what you want to do after you graduate?” I asked him.

“I’ll probably go to college,” he said, rather vaguely.

“Do you know where you want to apply or what you plan to study?” I challenged, since I felt it was time for him to start thinking about this.

“I’ve thought about it a little, but I haven’t made any decisions yet,” he confessed.

“Well, maybe you should start using some of your time to begin thinking about this,” I suggested. “What types of things are you interested in?”

“I like science and I really admire what Danny’s doing,” Jesse admitted. “I think it was neat that he started out taking care of Elliot and then became his foster-father, but I don’t think I could ever be a doctor. That would take way too long.”

“Well, if you don’t think you could be a doctor, how about doing something else in the medical field then,” I hinted. “There are plenty of other opportunities that don’t require you to become a doctor or take as many years to achieve. There are male nurses and all kinds of technological and laboratory positions.”

“Yeah, that might be something I’d be interested in,” Jesse confirmed. “I think you’re right and I’ll look into some of those things.”

“Talk to Danny too,” I offered. “I think he might be able to give you some advice and help get you going in the right direction.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll do that,” Jesse agreed.

He now took off and began to look some information up on the computer.

I found it interesting that there was suddenly a whole lot of research going on at the house. Jesse was looking into possible careers, Danny and Brandon were studying the feasibility of opening a medical center and, even though he wasn’t still living with us, Kevin was looking at the possibility of opening his own pharmacy. Since Kevin was frequently in touch with Danny and Brandon about this, to discuss his options, he would often stop by the house and do some of his research while he was here as well. Personally, I thought it was fantastic that each of the boys was seriously considering these possibilities.

This, however, didn’t mean they weren’t involved in other activities too. Even though they were fairly busy, Elliot was also pressuring his fathers to schedule a sitting for their family portrait. He felt that because it had now been a couple of weeks since he had given Dad Brandon the gift certificate, it was time to use it. After they finally agreed on a time that would be good for each of them, they made an appointment to have their portrait taken. When that time came, they each dressed in a suit and tie, and the three of them were looking absolutely handsome, as they left the house.

Once they were at the studio, the photographer arranged them with Danny and Brandon standing behind Elliot. He was standing in front and between them, and they each had a hand on one of his arms. After clicking off a few shots of that pose, the photographer then arranged them in a similar pose, but this time Danny and Brandon had a hand on Elliot’s shoulder. After snapping a few frames of that pose, the photographer placed them in a final pose that had Danny and Brandon seated, with Elliot standing behind them. This time, Elliot had one of his hands on each of his fathers’ shoulders. After they told me about the session, I was anxious to see how the photos turned out.

As we approached the end of March, each of my sons was starting to reach some conclusions about the business deals they were considering. Danny, Brandon and Kevin came to me one night, because they wanted to run some of their ideas by me.

“Dad, my contacts at Penn State have really been encouraging me to do this,” Danny informed me. “They have given me more information about potential funding sources and have also agreed to get in touch with some of their professional contacts who might be thinking about expanding their practices or even want to relocate. A few of them have even agreed to direct former and current students to contact me about the possibly of opening their own practice with us. A couple of these contacts have also expressed an interest in investing in what we’re doing or possibly even serving as consultants.”

“That does sound promising,” I agreed, and then Brandon added some information of his own.

“I’ve also talked to a guy I met in college and he is willing to form a dental practice with me,” Brandon stated next. “If I accept his offer, it would make the office even more attractive to new clients, because it would now become a Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontic office. That’s because my friend’s specialty is orthodontics. He’s currently working in Pittsburgh with an orthodontic group there, but he says he’d prefer to get out on his own.”

“Wow! You guys have really been looking into this very seriously then,” I acknowledged. “What about redoing the school into medical suites.”

“I’ve talked to Dustin and he’s agreed to do all the HVAC work for us,” Danny announced. “He also says he knows a couple of guys who own their own plumbing and electrical firms. He says he thinks he can talk them into doing the work for us at a discounted rate.”

“That could save you some bucks,” I agreed.

“It could,” Danny concurred, “and when I told Ricky what we were thinking of doing, he contacted Jay and told him. Jay then called me and said he’d be willing to draw up the architectural plans for free. He said it would be his way of repaying us for everything our family did for him. Since he’s willing to do that, all I’ll need to do is hire a general contractor to handle the structural changes to the interior of the building.”

“Damn, this is really coming together,” I concurred.

“Yes and I’ve found a possibility for me too,” Kevin announced, since he was here for this meeting as well.

“I went back and looked at the school again, but didn’t see a good spot in it where I could locate a pharmacy. Since I couldn’t find a place in the current building, I was thinking about adding on to the end where the school had storage facilities and those extra trailers,” Kevin continued. “Then I discovered something that would work out even better for me. About a hundred yards from the school, on the same side of the street, is an old bank that’s currently for sale. It came on the market when two banks merged, because the other bank has a branch of equal size, but in a slightly newer building that is less than half a mile from there. This meant the other building was now unnecessary, so they put it up for sale.”

“And it would work as a pharmacy?” I asked.

“Oh, yes,” Kevin agreed. “It’s a perfect size for one thing and I could use the bank vault to store the controlled drugs and as many of the others drugs as I could. I could also keep the store’s reserve cash supply and our daily receipts locked up in there too. Doing that would make the pharmacy really secure – probably the safest pharmacy in the state, if not the entire country.” Kevin chuckled after saying this.

“I suppose it would at that,” I agreed.

“Another great feature about the bank building is that it also has a bulletproof drive-thru window,” Kevin added. “We could use that for people who don’t want to come inside to pick up their prescription. Not only that, but the doctors at the medical center would be able to call or fax over the scripts and we could have them ready by the time the patients are leaving the office. Then, they can either come in and pick them up with some other things or just come to the drive-thru window to get it.”

“Man, I like that idea,” Danny confirmed.

“Me too,” I concurred. “It seems as if you boys have done your homework on this. So, Kevin, are you planning to just carry the standard pharmaceutical products?”

“No, besides the typical pharmacy products, I also want to carry things that not many other places have,” Kevin stated. “I want to offer an expanded line of first aid items, as well as a collection of specialized supplies for those who are handicapped, either long-term or as a result of an injury, accident or old age.”

“I wonder where he got that idea from?” Brandon teased, while looking at Kevin.

“Okay, Vinnie did have some input along this line,” he confirmed. “Since he works with children that have disabilities, he’s told me about some of the extremes they have to go to at times, in order to get certain items. That’s why I’ve decided to carry what I can, but I’ll also set it up so I can sell other items and have them delivered overnight or in two days max, so I’ll be able to meet their needs.”

“I believe doing something like that could also attract an additional clientele to your store,” I agreed.

“Yes, with carrying those items and being conveniently located next to the medical center, it should give me a leg up on any other nearby pharmacies,” Kevin concurred. “That’s why I think this might be the best opportunity that will come my way, no matter how long I wait.”

“You may be right about that,” I agreed. “So what do you guys plan to do for your next move?”

The three boys looked at each other, to decide who was going to answer. Finally, Danny stepped forward.

“I’m going to call and schedule an appointment with the superintendent and board of education, so I can find out what they’re going to ask or the property,” Danny informed us. “Once they give me a price, then I’ll be able to make an offer. I feel if we can hammer out an agreement before the district signs on with a realtor, then they’ll be able to save the realtor’s cut. That way, we can split the difference and both make out on the deal.”

“If they agree to Danny’s offer,” Kevin added, “then I’ll make an offer on the bank building and the two of us can begin negotiating with the bank about taking mortgages out on the two properties. I think by going together, and since the bank already owns one of the places, we’ll be able to make out better.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” I agreed. “Will you have enough cash for the required down payments?”

“Yes, we both still have enough in our accounts to cover that,” Danny confirmed, “plus Brand and I have been able to put away a little more from our current jobs. I think this will work out great, even though I’m getting into it a few years earlier than I’d first planned.”

“That may be true, but opportunity knocks only once, so if it is knocking for you now, then go for it,” I told him. “I’ll back you all the way and will do everything I can to help. You can use the money from the Castaway Foundation to renovate some of the interior.”

“We know you will do everything you can and thank you, Dad,” Brandon added.

Now, I was just as anxious as they were to see how all of this was going to work out. I thought this was a great possibility for each of them.

The boys had also come up with a name for what they wanted to call this place. Danny and Brandon had agreed to name it the ‘South-Central PA Regional Children’s Health Center.’ I know that’s a very long name, but it describes exactly what they’re trying to do there.

I also feel the location of the center has possibilities to attract patients from out of state too. The building isn’t situated very far from the Pennsylvania border with Maryland and can be easily reached by coming up I-70. I-70 also connects to I-68, which runs the length of Maryland’s northern border. Since traveling to the health center can be done easily over any number of major highways, I think this fact could influence people to come to them, rather than going someplace they can only reach by traveling over less hospitable local and county routes.

Just before the month was to end, I got a call to tell Danny and Brandon they could come down to see the proofs of their family photo. I told the photographer I’d have them call him back, but I couldn’t wait to see how the photos came out. For that reason, I called Danny on his cell phone and left a message for him to call the photographer back.

When he came home, Danny told me he had made an appointment to go down and look at the proofs the following evening. He told me I was welcome to come with them, because he knew I didn’t want to wait to see how they turned out. Even though I didn’t wish to impose on their family decision, they talked me into going with them.

There was at least one good proof of all three poses, but Danny, Brandon and Elliot agreed they liked the photo with Danny and Brandon seated the best. They ordered a wall-sized (16 x 20) copy of that one and two table-sized (8 x 10) copies of all three poses. They said they’d keep one of those sets and give me the other. I thought that was really sweet of them and offered to pay for my copies. However, Elliot wasn’t about to let me do that either and insisted that he was paying for everything.