No one here belongs to me. Meredith Willson's estate is the proud owner, unless they sold the rights.
Chapter Five: Who Is Not Ashamed of a Few Nice Things
Over the next couple of years, Gregory and Marian settled down in Detroit. They found a nice house in a suburb of Detroit. They moved Sean up to Detroit at the end of the school year. Being away from River City, among people who knew nothing about his past, Gregory's self-confidence and self-assurance grew. He became who he should have been all along.
Gregory did well in his job. After about five years, he was put in charge of several dealerships, as the concept did well, and expanded to other cities. About that time, the Scott family moved to a nicer house, in a nicer neighborhood.
Over the next couple of years, they furnished their house in the way they had always wanted. Marian's upright became a grand piano. She still took in a few students, but only because she was a born teacher. They didn't need the money.
When the Depression hit, Gregory and Marian struggled a little along with the rest of the country. Gregory had anticipated some sort of problem, and been careful to save as much as possible, and avoided investing in the stock market. When everything fell apart, the Scotts had a cushion to fall back on when the car market went flat. No one could afford to buy a car.
At this point, it was Gregory's idea to buy back cars from people who couldn't afford to keep them, and sell them at a lower price than the new ones to people who needed a car, but couldn't afford to buy new. The used cars sold well, and Gregory's dealership topped the sales charts.
When the top management saw the figures, they came to Gregory to find out what was happening. His idea caught their fancy, and they communicated to all the other dealerships what they wanted them to do. Soon, all the dealerships in the company were buying cars from people on the way down, and selling them to people who were on the way back up.
After the Depression ended, Gregory and Marian continued to do well. Sean grew up, and married. He worked with Gregory in the car business, but he was more inclined to work on them than sell them. Eventually, he started his own car repair business. Gregory was his silent partner. Later, Sean hired some mechanics, and became the manager of a successful chain of car repair shops in Michigan.
There were some anxious moments during World War II. Sean was still young enough to be eligible to go into the military. Since he was the only male child, though, the military wouldn't take him. His parents breathed a sigh of relief when they found out.
In each house the Scotts lived in, over the fireplace, was a shadow box. In the shadow box was a broken stick. It looked like part of a school pointer.
When people asked what it was, Gregory never said exactly. His only comment was, "It keeps me humble." Marian would just smile.