Chapter 15

[Sunday, June 22nd, 1986]

I woke again to the sunlight coming through the window. Looking at the alarm clock showed me it was almost 7 am. I got up and took my morning shower. After getting dressed for the day, I headed out to the car and made my way to the nearby diner. While I drank the coffee that Carol had poured for me, I considered the menu.

Carol soon came back and asked, “So what can I get for you this morning?”

I replied, “I think I’ll go with a short stack of pancakes and a side of sausage, please.”

As she went to place my order, I grabbed a copy of the newspaper to read. I set the Sunday Comics section of the paper to the side to enjoy later and opened up the Business section. I couldn’t help but notice a large add for Charles Schwab discount brokerage taking up almost half the second page. They offered 24/7 access to trading accounts over the phone, along with considerably smaller fees for trading transactions. The number (1-800-257-1234) looked pretty easy to remember.

I would have to call them and figure out the process for setting up an account. I might very well have found a socially acceptable career for myself that would fit the lifestyle I wanted to have. I didn’t think day traders were a thing yet, but I could easily see how to make that effectively work for me with minimal hassle and effort. I didn’t want to spend all my time watching stocks, but I wouldn’t have to do that to make this idea work.

If I wanted to, I could very easily spend a day doing fun temporary things that I knew would be lost. Hell, maybe I can take up fishing. Any enjoyable hobby would work to pass the time. After the market had closed for the day, I could spend a little time researching and noting the most appropriate stocks for the day and then roll back to the morning. I could place the orders with a phone call. Another phone call at the end of the day to close the position, or perhaps I could put in a sell order at a given value, and otherwise just go about living the “real” day. Essentially, just make doing it twice part of every workday.

That method could work for my wealth, as well as potentially managing the funds for the charity. When Carol delivered the food, I asked her if she could lend me a pen and maybe something slightly better than a napkin to write on.

She said, “How about one of these?” as she gestured to a blank order sheet from her pad. I nodded with a smile and said, “Perfect.” She gave me one along with a pen. I thanked her and jotted down the 1-800 number and put the folded sheet into a back pocket. With that done, I tucked into breakfast while enjoying the comics.

After tidying the newspaper back up and paying for breakfast, leaving Carol a nice tip, I headed out to the Credit Union. The ATM let me withdraw 200 dollars, and I headed back to the house. When I got home, Mom, Michael, and Anne were heading out to go to church. Mom asked me if I wanted to go, and I respectfully declined.

I spent some time getting a backpack that I had used my Senior year ready for use. I emptied it of all the garbage and then made sure the bag had a few pens and a couple of basically unused composition notebooks. I also moved my address book into it, so I would have it if I needed a number while I was out. I entered the 1-800 number for Schwab to the address book and tossed the sheet I had used in the trash. Lastly, I grabbed a light blanket from the closet that didn’t get used very often and added it to the backpack. It was getting pretty warm in my room, so I made my way down to the first floor.

I spent some time watching TV until 11:30 am, then I headed out to the sandwich shop and got a large grinder with pastrami and swiss cheese. I also bought a six-pack of Sprite, and some sour cream and onion flavored Pringles potato chips from the convenience store next door, then put them all in my backpack too.

I made my way to the park where I had met Sam. I parked in the same area I had used before, but Sam was nowhere in sight. I got out of the car, grabbed my bag and a pair of sunglasses, and went to find a spot in an open area of grass.

I laid out my blanket and sat down to eat one half of the sandwich. If anything, the views had improved compared to my visit the last time through. There were several groups of young ladies using the park to catch the sun. One group of six girls and only two guys even had a volleyball net set up. I should have worn shorts. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of playing in jeans while everyone else was in swimwear for the most part. Tempting as that was, I was here for a different purpose anyway.

I packed away the second half of the grinder, leaned back on one elbow, and sipped on a Sprite while watching the crowds. About twice as many people were jogging on the paved running paths, but a larger percentage were men this time. Still, the eye candy was delicious indeed. I don’t remember hanging out at this park very often on my first time through. It has been nice discovering this place again.

Hanging out for about half an hour after eating, I eventually saw Sam. He was strolling through the park on one of the paths and soon found a bench to use. I picked up my blanket and packed it away in my bag. As I moved over towards where Sam was, I tossed the empty Sprite can in a trash bin. I checked the time, and it was just after 12:30 pm.

As I approached the bench that Sam was on, he turned to look in my direction. I nodded my head in greeting, and when I was close enough, I said, “Hi, mind if I join you for a minute?” Sam told me, “It’s still a free country, last I heard.”

I had to smile at that. It was what I remembered Sam saying the first time we met. I replied, “So far as I know, it still is one.” I sat on the bench, and we both scanned the area a bit more. I said, “You know, I’ve lived in this general area since I was born, but I don’t remember the scenery being quite this nice before.”

We both watched a pretty girl serve the volleyball to her friends. Sam replied, “It sure has its nice points.” I told him, “I have to agree.” I smiled and stretched out my right hand to him. “John Turner,” I said. He replied, “Folks call me Sam,” as he shook my hand firmly.

Sam asked, “So what can I do for you, John? You look like you have something in mind.”

I told him, “Yup, I do. If you are open to the idea, I’ve got a few questions, and I think you have the answers. I’d be happy to pay you for your time if you are willing to hear me out and give me honest answers where you can. It shouldn’t take very long.”

Sam said, “Okay, I might be interested. What kind of pay are we talking about?”

I told him, “How about $20 and the other half of my Pastrami and Swiss grinder? I’ll throw in a Sprite too.”

Sam smiled and said, “Deal. Let’s grab a table in the shade over there.”

We picked up our stuff and headed to the picnic table that was not very far away. Again, we both got on the same side to share the view. I handed over the sandwich and a Sprite, then dug out a can of Sprite for myself along with the Pringles.

I said, “Go ahead and dig in if you’re hungry, the questions can wait a while. Want some Pringles with it?” I gestured with the tube. He nodded and took a small stack of chips and handed the sleeve back to me.

I munched and drank in silence as Sam dug in appreciatively. As he ate, he did ask me how we would handle questions where he didn’t know the answer. I told him I was paying for his time and willingness to answer honestly, not the answers themselves. After a while, he said, “That was a fine sandwich. Thank you.”

As Sam finished off his chips, I said, “You’re welcome. Well, if you’re ready, we might as well start with the big one. I would love to hear whatever parts of your story you are comfortable sharing. If something I ask is too personal, just let me know. I won’t hold it against you. My first question is about why you choose to live the way you seem to do.”

Sam asked, “So you want to know if you are dealing with a crazy homeless person?”

I grinned and said, “Maybe so, but truly, I’m not here to look down on anyone, Sam. I don’t mind if someone is a little different, and sometimes being homeless is just a fact of life. I just need to know if I can work with you on a project I have in mind. To make an intelligent decision, I need to find out a little more about the kind of person you are. Your unconventional living arrangements just seem like the best place to start the conversation.”

Sam considered my response as he drank from the Sprite can. When he finished, he told me the same basic story I had heard the first time through. I asked a few questions to clarify the symptoms and exceptions. Sam answered with examples that didn’t shed any new light on what I already knew.

I clarified his age and that he had served. He explained how he found work and that he traveled a lot. We talked about driving in cars and his inability to travel by bus anymore. I asked, “Are you planning to be around this area for a while?”

Sam told me, “Probably for another few days anyway, in my experience, staying in one place too long is just asking for the locals to start hassling you.”

I said, “Well, I’ll be honest with you, Sam. I was hoping to find someone interested in working with me through the rest of Summer at a minimum. Lets put a pin in that for now and get back to a few other questions that could be deal-breakers.”

Sam said, “Okay,” and I asked him, “Do you have any problems working for someone my age? I’m going to be running the show, and that can rub some people the wrong way. I want to head off that issue upfront if I can.”

He said, “No, I won’t have any issue with that at all.”

I said, “Alright, do you have any moral issues with the idea of underaged gambling or gambling in general for that matter?”

Sam said, “Nah, I grew up playing poker and making bets on sports with family and friends. Nobody cared how old you were, and as long as you were gambling with money that you could afford to lose, it was fine. I still believe that’s the way it should be.”

I dug a $20 out of my wallet and handed it to Sam. I said, “Thank you for your time and for answering my questions. I do have a proposition for you if you are interested.”

Sam said, “I do think I’m interested, but of course, it would depend on the details.”

I said, “Well, as you probably have guessed, I want to do some gambling. The law prohibits me from doing it, so I need someone over 21 and willing to place the bets I want in my place. That would be your job if we can come to terms with the split or fee you want. Do you have an idea of how you would want to work it?”

Sam said, “I think it would depend on a few more things that I don’t know yet. For instance, what kind of gambling are we talking about?”

I said, “In the long term, it could be many different things, but I can’t imagine it would be anything you would find unpleasant. For the next few weeks, I simply intend to do some gambling at the dog track. Do you have any issue with that?”

Sam said, “No, I think that would be fine.”

I said, “Okay, first, for the sake of this conversation, let’s assume that I will be successful in my gambling. If not, then it’s all a moot point. Now, let’s get back to that idea we put a pin in before. What kind of money would make it worth your while to stick around the area and be available to work with me? Let’s assume we are talking about two hours of effort per gambling session and an average of two sessions a week.”

Sam said, “For a couple of hours of work, I would like to see $20 to $30. If I made something like $100 per session, that would make it worth my while to change my plans and stick around to do it again a few days later.”

I said, “I don’t think we are talking about the same kind of numbers here, Sam. I don’t want to have you feeling like you were cheated later. How about we agree to make your cut either $100 or 25% of the profits, whichever is higher. As I said, I’m looking at the long term here, and I want my employees to be happy. I don’t want you looking at me sideways when we clear three or four grand in profits some sessions.”

Sam said, “So if you make four grand in profits, you are going to want to give me one grand of it? That seems like too much to me. I wouldn’t feel like I had earned that much money in just a couple of hours. Let’s change that to 10%.”

I smiled and said, “I don’t think you are very good at negotiating there, Sam. You’re working in the wrong direction. How about we go with 20%?”

Sam smiled back and said, “No, it’s you who doesn’t understand. I am not negotiating. If you want me to do the betting, then we will have to agree that it will be $100 or 10% per session.”

I laughed and said, “I was wrong; you are very good at negotiating. I was just on the wrong side of the table for that one. You’ve got a deal. Are you interested in starting today?”

Sam nodded, and I looked at my watch. It was almost 1 pm.

I told Sam, “Okay, the afternoon session at the dog track starts in just a couple minutes. We can be there in about 15, so we should only miss the first couple of races if we head out now.”

So that’s what we did. Both of us grabbed our bags, and I lead Sam to my car. We both put our bags in the trunk for safekeeping. As we drove there, I filled Sam in on the betting process and educated him on what Win, Place, Show, and Trifecta bets were. We also spoke a bit about his code of ethics.

I said, “So tell me, Sam, why were you so adamant about only getting 10% of the take?”

He told me, “It is vital to me to live my life a certain way. When I die, I want to be able to honestly say that I’ve lived my life following a certain code. I won’t lie, I won’t steal, I will earn my keep. It’s amazingly difficult to follow those three simple rules, but I’ve managed it for a long time, and I mean to continue.”

I was quiet for a bit, then I said, “That’s very impressive, Sam. I don’t know if I could do it.”

When we got there, I handed Sam $100 in the form of five $20 bills.

I said, “We don’t want to be exchanging money inside this place. The idea is that while I might be advising you on things, you are the one making all the bets and handling all of the money. We’ll split the winnings when we get back here in the car.”

Sam told me he understood, and we made our way to the entrance. When we got there, it was pretty busy inside. We didn’t go in very far, but we could easily see that the crowds were kind of unruly. Watching Sam, I could see he didn’t like it as soon as we entered. I stopped us and said, “Let’s step back outside for a minute first.” Sam agreed, and we headed back out the door we just came in.

When we got outside and moved away from the doors a bit, I told him, “That was pretty ugly in there. You looked distinctly uncomfortable to me.”

Sam told me, “Yeah, not a place I would be comfortable spending a lot of time. If dealing with that is going to be necessary, I’m not sure I will be able to do this for you.”

I told him, “Okay, wait here, and let me see what our other options are. We should be able to find another way.” Sam agreed.

I made my way to the Management office and asked Gail about speaking to someone about a special needs customer. She got Jack for me, and we went through the same basic conversation, minus the joke about not calling him Shirley. I asked if we could try out the VIP area, and he said that would be fine, but he was a little busy with the active racing going on. However, he was happy to call someone to show us around. An assistant manager named Gary agreed to escort us when Jack called him. Jack told Gary that if we felt it would work for us, he should add us to the VIP list for the rest of the month.

Gary and I met Sam and then made our way to the VIP stairwell and up to the lounge. As we climbed the stairs, I told Sam we would proceed directly to the balcony first and see if he was comfortable there. We could see the entire area from the balcony, and Sam was much more optimistic about it working for us. We waited for things to calm down after the race finished, and Gary led us up to one of the teller windows to get us added to the VIP list.

When Sam showed his ID, I noticed for the first time that his name was not actually Sam. It was Nathan Samuels, and his driver’s license was from Florida. I could see how he would get used to being called Sam. That kind of thing happened all the time in the service. I didn’t say anything about it, figuring it was nobody’s business but his.

We both thanked Gary and headed back out to the balcony. I asked Sam if he would be okay in one of the private booths if we decided to go that route. Sam gave it some thought and said, “I think it would be alright, especially one of the end ones. I won’t know for sure until I experience it. Also, some days are worse than others, so that might be fine one time but not another.”

I said, “Well, we should have asked Gary first, but since this is about seeing if things suit our needs, why don’t we try this end one out briefly and see how it feels. There don’t appear to be any locks on the doors, and it’s empty right now.”

We stepped into the lounge area and then over to the door to the first private booth. The door opened to my pulling on it, and we stepped inside. I told Sam to make himself comfortable. There were two rows of four very comfortable looking seats with more than enough room to walk around each chair. It was tranquil in the space, you could hear some soft murmuring from outside in the lounge area, but it was very subdued. Two TV screens were visible in the upper left and right corners of the front of the room. I thought it was very nice.

Sam told me, “Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that this will usually work. Maybe if there was a rowdy crown right next door, but I don’t see that happening.”

I said, “Cool, let’s get out of here before we outstay our welcome.” We went back outside on the balcony. The next race started, and the dogs flew around the track. Looking inside, we could see this was the 6th race, and when it was official, the winning dogs were 3-6-4. The #3 dog was an underdog and was getting 15-1 odds. I jumped into the tunnel.

I moved back to when we were just leaving the teller and focused on the scene. I quickly found myself back into my body.

I turned to Sam and said, “While we are here, let’s go ahead and make a bet. I like #3 in the next race.”

Sam said, “Ok, how much?”

I told him, “Let’s say $100 to win.”

Since there was no-one in line behind us, Sam turned back to the teller and said, “$100 on #3 to win.”

She took his money and handed him a ticket stub. We headed back outside to the balcony to watch the race. I asked Sam to let me see the ticket, and it showed $100 for #3 to win, and he was getting 16 to 1 odds. I watched the screen and saw the odds fluctuate between 16-1 and 15-1, where they stabilized right as the race started.

When #3 won by a full body length, both Sam and I were cheering for him with fists pumping in the air. We waited for the official results signal then checked the teller area. The lines were reasonable, with only a few people talking to tellers. I followed Sam as he went to cash in the ticket, making sure nobody crowded him.

When we got back to the balcony, Sam was still smiling and said, “Whew, that was a rush.”

I told him, “I just had a good feeling for him. I’m glad it worked out.”

While we waited on the next race, I took off the watch on my left wrist and put it in my pocket for a minute. I spent a little while massaging where it usually was with my right hand while looking at it. I wanted to be able to find this point in time again soon.

We watched the 7th race, and the #6 dog won. He, too, was getting pretty good odds.

I moved back to the scene of me, rubbing my wrist, and focused on the scene. I quickly found myself back into my body.

Since we were alone on the balcony, I told Sam, “I like #6 this time, but let’s just make a $100 bet for him to Place.”

Sam said, “You’re the boss,” and went to go place the bet. I let him go on his own this time. Things looked very peaceful there. I was confident he could handle it without assistance.

We spent the rest of the session at the track doing minor variations of that same process. We made mostly Place bets, but I switched it up now and then. I even had us lose a few, making bets for dogs to Place that only Showed. I stayed away from the Trifecta bets for now. In the last race, we had put another hundred on the winner. Sam cashed in the winning ticket, and we headed out to the car. It was almost 3:30 pm.

When we settled into the car, Sam asked, “Okay, that was amazing. But there is no way you should have been able to do that. You were rarely wrong, and I suspect the only ones you lost were intentional. Nobody’s even close to that good. What’s the deal?”

I gave it some thought and said, “You are right. There is something fishy going on, but I’m not sure if I want to tell you about it just yet. We have just met after all. Is not knowing going to be a deal-breaker for you right now?”

Sam said, “I don’t want to be involved in anything illegal. Is there someone else involved in this? Is it some type of scam?”

I said, “Okay, those are valid concerns. I can honestly tell you that what I am doing is not illegal. There is nobody involved besides the two of us, and you know your side of it is completely clean. I don’t think I am hurting anybody here, but yes, I do have an unfair advantage.”