CHAPTER 1

I'm getting old; past my prime. At 62, with grey hair and a bigger waistline than I'd like, at least I have more money than I could spend in the rest of my life. I may not be able to attract women like I did years ago, but my money attracts women easily. But I'm not a womanizer. I was only a one-woman-at-a-time kind of guy. I've been married twice. I have two sons and a step-daughter and none of them are in my life. They tried to get back in my life after I came into my fortune, is that a surprise? So, I'm trying to use my money to buy some happiness in what's left of my life.

I designed and had built a big, beautiful home. It's way bigger than I need at around 10,000 square feet but it's what I wanted. It's two stories plus a full basement, which in itself, is unusual in Southern California. It's in an exclusive part of town and I surrounded it with a ten-foot wrought iron fence. The front door is a 2" thick slab of mahogany. What makes it unusual is that on the outside, there is no door handle or knob and no external lock. The door can only be opened or closed from inside the house. Inside, the door is released by an electric latch like you find in an office where a secretary buzzes you into the internal offices. In addition, there is a three-bolt high security lock made in Israel. This house is designed to be secure. All glass in the house is shatterproof. You could take a sledge hammer to a window and maybe make it crack, but it won't break. No one can get in this house unless they are let in.

The entire property, inside and out, is monitored by 32 high-definition security cameras. The only places not covered are the bathrooms. I would have put them in there too, but I was advised that was an invasion of privacy as people have the right to expect privacy in a bathroom. At the front door, there is a small screen which displays the camera views of all the cameras in the front of the house. Before opening the door, one can see who is outside and how many are outside. In addition, the front electric gate can be controlled from the front door.

The house has a game room with a full-sized pool table and large TV screen and a full wet bar. There is also a large home theatre that was professionally designed for the best sound system available with a 72" Samsung TV and seating for ten people. The house is completely powered by solar electricity. I have a large solar farm that generates more power than the house needs and sends it to an array of batteries down in the basement. The whole house actually runs on battery power. All the water that goes down the drain except the toilets and the kitchen sink goes down to a processing station in the basement which completely filters the water for reuse. The filtered water is actually more pure than tap water. Even all the rain gutters around the house and the drains in the concrete around the house all drain into the processing station for reuse. This house is very nearly completely self-sufficient.

The house has an attached three-car garage, but I also have an out building with enough room for another 10 or 12 cars. I have started a car collection since I have money to burn. So far, I only have four cars, but I intend to go to more Mecum auctions to buy more.

Now what the house needs is some female presence. I have ads out for a live-n housekeeper. It's going to take a very special woman to get this job as the requirements will be unlike any housekeeping job around. The housekeeper will also function as my personal assistant and will assist me in any and every way possible. To get this kind of an assistant, I intend to pay a lot of money; much more than could be made by a regular housekeeping job. I'm looking for someone young, between 19 and 25. I want someone who will hopefully work for me at least five years. I'm afraid that a woman any older will be looking for a husband and wanting to start a family and I might not get five years out of her. I have a few girls scheduled to come in for interviews.

My doorbell rang right on time for the first interview appointment. I went to the door and looked at the camera feed next to the door and saw a somewhat attractive girl waiting at the door. I pressed the button to close the front gate so that we would not be disturbed before opening the door.

She introduced herself as Zarii. She was a young black girl with a dazzling smile which made her quite a bit more attractive than I originally thought from the camera. I invited her inside and guided her to the great room. This room is in the center of the house with all of the other rooms around or overlooking it. The ceiling is twenty feet high with a very large rectangular skylight above providing a great amount of natural light into the room. In the corner of the room is a planter box which has a very well made fake twelve-foot tree surrounded by real plants like ferns and small palms. I would have liked to have a real tree in the house, but with the basement down below there would be no room for the roots of a real tree.

Zarii sat on the couch while I sat on a chair off to the side of her. She was wearing a fairly plain dress that came down to her knees. I would have hoped for something shorter. I asked the usual questions about her experience and why she was considering a live-in job.

I took her for a tour of the house and explained what I was willing to pay and she was clearly excited. That is until I told her what was expected of her as my personal assistant. She quite quickly declined the job and left. I expect that will happen several times before I can find the right girl for the job.