Chapter 1

Two weeks before my eighteenth birthday, and six days after my high school graduation - my Dad suffered a massive heart attack.

Had it not been for Reybern, my older brother, I may not have gotten over Dad’s death. The three of us were very close, and though Reybern worked with Dad at his brokerage firm, Dad and I did everything together, from as far back as I can remember.

The day before my senior class was to leave for Biloxi Mississippi on a ten day senior trip - my on again, off again - girlfriend of two years, Sylvia Carpenter, calmly gave my Letter Sweater and gold-cross necklace back to me - after I politely informed her I wasn’t going on our senior trip with her.

“Ian Rae Easy, you know damn well I’ve gone to a lot of trouble making reservations for a coastal tour boat, plus dozens of plans for all the places I wanted us to visit while we’re on this trip. You’ll never know what you’re missing by doing this to me. You’ve also ruined all those plans I’ve made for our future - and now, you can just go straight to hell for all I care.”

“I’m not going to hell any time soon, but I am planning to work with Reybern at the investment firm. You can still give’em hell down on the coast, Boss Lady. Maybe they will let you take over a few of the bars, beer-joints, and clam shacks - and possibly plan their future for them...”

Monday, when I walked into the office, Reybern and Traci Parker, his latest girlfriend - between serious girlfriends, were sitting at Dad’s desk.

“Have a seat Ian. I have something to show you that will stagger your imagination, just as it did me.”

He pulled a heavy, black leather briefcase from beneath the desk and slid it across the glass desktop toward me.

“This has my name embossed on it ... Is this my present, for coming to work with you?”

“No, I have one identical to it, with my name on it. When I opened Dad’s personal safe this morning, I discovered both of them. I’m not going to tell you what’s inside. I’ll let you see for yourself. You wouldn’t believe me anyway, if I tried to convince you - that what you’re about to discover - is not only real, it’s so real - it’s unreal.”

“I suppose Dad left us a few thousand each, and some hot stock picks he wants us to invest in.”

“Close, but no blue ribbon this time. Open it and you’ll be just as shocked as I am.”

I flipped both latches and opened the briefcase to see a large manila folder with a cord tied around the middle, and a zipper closure that runs both ways from the middle to the ends, then down each side.

I looked over at Reybern, to see him smiling, then opened the file folder. The first thing I saw inside, was a file with Amazon on the tab.

Everything is laid out, like all of Dad’s files - neat and to the point. Just as my brother said - I’m already wondering if this is real, yet knowing dad, it has to be...

“HOLY SMOKE! Are you positive?”

“Yes, and he did the same for me. That’s only the file on Amazon you’re looking at. He bought in big-time at $18.00 a share - in his name, soon after they first listed on NASDAQ, about twenty-five years ago. PLUS he added two more accounts at that time, which he later put each of our names on. It’s all in there, you’ll see.

“The files on Facebook, Apple, Alphabet, and Tesla are in there also, along with Berkshire Hathaway, and a few other major stocks.”

“What are your plans now, after seeing this?”

“Starting this weekend, I’m going to take off a week to ten days, then I’ll be back here in the office.

“When I return, I plan to keep the office open and take care of the current, ninety or so accounts that we have on the books. I’ll make a decision before the end of this year, if this is what I want to do for the next thirty years, the way Dad did... “If you need me while I’m gone, for any reason at all, just call me - I’ll be here...

“Now that you’ve seen those numbers and have them running through your head, do you have any thoughts at all about your future?”

“Before seeing this, I was planning to work here with you. After seeing this, I may delay making any permanent plans for my future.”

“Since you’ve just graduated, and have already decided not to go on your senior trip, why don’t you take a month or so, to think it over. I’m sure you know, with those stocks, and the market like it is, you’ll make more in one day than most CEOs make in a month.”

“What happens if the markets go south?”

“We pull half our money back at the first hint of a serious drop, and buy gold. If the markets go north again, we reinvest.”

“That sounds like a plan to me. I’m even more happy I didn’t go to Biloxi, after seeing this. I may just head down to the coast in South Texas and hit the beach, for a week or two - or maybe even six, as I try to sort all of this out.”

“You need to look in the back, inside that last folder before you close your briefcase. That’s where you’ll find the papers on your two bank accounts, your debit cards for those two banks, and your checkbook for each bank. You may want to add a few more weeks to that vacation, once you see what’s in there.”

“Reybern! I never knew Dad dealt in this kind of cash, even in the firm’s name. I always knew he was making lots of money, but I thought all his money was invested. I never knew there was this much cash involved, much less, in my account at each of these two banks!”

I put the two debit cards in my card wallet, and both checkbooks in my shirt pocket.

“We have yet to open his will. If it’s okay with you, I’ll have Rogers get on that and start the process. You and I are his only heirs and we’re fifty-fifty on everything.”

“I’ll leave that up to you. I still haven’t fully convinced myself that he’s gone, and will never be back.”

“Believe me, I know what you’re feeling.”

“What about the house?”

“It’s yours, though Dad listed it fifty-fifty. I’ll get Rogers to change that, and you can keep it, or sell it and buy another one.”

“I think I’ll keep it - for now anyway.”

“You sound just like Dad, when you said that.”

“I realized that as soon as I said it. I just wish I could be half the man, and half as smart as he was.”

“You’re already there, Ian. You are so much like him, it’s scary ... You just need to get your head straight and stop hurting so much. He loved us and he left us the one thing he knew would keep us busy, whether we work at it - or sit on it and watch it grow.”

“Thanks Reybern...

“Traci, turn your head. I’m about to hug my big brother, and I don’t want to make you jealous.”

With my briefcase in my left hand, I threw my right arm around his neck when he stood.

“Be safe, Little Brother ... I love you.”

“I love you, Big Brother. See ya in a week to ten ... maybe. But I’ll keep in touch.

“Traci, see ya.”

She told me, “Ian, I’m not sure if this is the right time to tell you, but Carli asked me to have you to give her a call, if I see you. She’s asked about you twice and I told her that Reybern said you weren’t going on your class trip.”

“Thanks. I’ll give her a call, but I probably wouldn’t be good company right now, even for a girl with Carli’s looks and personality.”

“Here’s her new cell number. She won’t call you, but you need to call and invite her over to swim soon. She has a new white bikini that she’s dying to show you, but she’s too shy to wear it to the public pool. I doubt they would even let her inside wearing that one anyway.”

“Don’t tell her we talked ... I... I may not call right away.”

After strapping my briefcase on my buddy seat, I hit the starter on my Honda Sportster. Dad bought this for me in 2018, and I’m not going to part with it - though I’ve always wanted a Harley.

I always drive right past the dealership on my way home, and that’s where I’m headed now. When I rolled up and parked in front of the showroom, I thought of Dad. I knew if he could see me now, he’d laugh. He always told me that if I wanted a Harley bad enough, I could buy it when I have enough money of my own.

I’ve been here three or four times over the past two years, and as soon as Mr. Ross saw me, he came toward me grinning. I was looking at the fully dressed, 2022 Black and Chrome Road King with the Hammock Touring Seat.

“Ian, did you come to take your Harley home today?”

“I sure did and I’m going to keep my Sportster. Is there any way you can have your men deliver it to my house for me?”

“We’ll take care of it for you. You do know - this one is paid for?”

“You’re kidding!”

“No, your dad came in about a month ago and told me you’d be here within thirty to forty days to get it. He was laughing like it was going to be a big surprise.”

“It is, but he knew I would get a new Harley one day... Uh, You knew that Dad passed away a couple of weeks ago?”

“NO! OH HELL, Ian! I am so sorry. I was going along with his joke, and now I find out he’s gone.”

“Don’t worry, this just makes it that much more special now - that he bought my Harley for me.”

“I’ll have my men take it around and fill the gas tank. The paperwork has been taken care of and I’ll put the title and papers in an envelope for you, and put it in the left saddlebag. Will you be home in an hour? I’ll have my men drop off your Honda.”

“I should be there in an hour, but I’ll drive by and open the garage, just in case I’m not. Have them park the Honda inside next to my car.”

I grabbed my briefcase off my Honda, and made a quick trip by the insurance office to have my Harley listed with my Honda and Camaro. Then to the courthouse to get my license. I wasn’t in either of them twenty minutes.

After I drove by the house to click my garage door opener as I passed, I drove around the block to Carli Parker’s house.

I had just stepped off my Harley when Carli ran from her house.

“Ian! You have a new Harley! I hope you got my message. I wanted to call, but I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Thanks, Carli. I was hoping you’d be home. How about a ride? Oh, I heard rumor about you having a new bikini, and I’d love for you to go home with me and swim for a while, after we ride.”

“Are you sure? I mean, heck yeah. I need to go tell Mom, and get my bikini, but I’ll be right back.”

“Wear it! We’ll ride through town, and even out on the interstate before we go swim.”

“OH-HELL-NO! NO WAY! That damn thing barely covers my boobs and the bottom is nothing but a tiny little thong that gets lost in my fat butt.”

“That’s even better. Come on, you’ll be a senior in the fall and you need to show off your sexy body. What better way than on the back of a new Harley in a tiny white bikini?”

“Not even a coverup?”

“Just you and your new bikini, since you’re not brave enough to ride naked with me.”

“You’ll think I’m naked when I come out wearing those three skinny little scraps of white, tied together with kite-string.”