Chapter 7

Of the four seniors who had made up the foursome, only two headed for the clubhouse for some refreshment. While the four had played ostensibly for the pleasure of each other’s company and the love of the game, two of the men were perennial rivals and had a side bet going on throughout the game. To say that Mike Branagh and Ernie Chathert were friends would be stretching the most liberal interpretation of friendship. Although at the golf club and at occasional social events they maintained an appearance of friendship.

Being evenly matched in their respective handicaps they preferred match play rather than stroke play for $5.00 a hole.

Mike had shot a 92, which was four strokes over his average for the year, but he had still ended up 5 holes to the good. Ernie, in spite of shooting a 91, would have to cough up $25.00. The money shouldn’t have been a concern to either of the two for they were both in the millionaire category. However, Ernie had a reputation for being a ‘cheapskate’ who viewed every dollar spent as a miscalculation. Mike, on the other hand, was the type of person who would hand out a $10.00 bill to any waif or stray who looked like they needed it.

Ernie grudgingly handed over the twenty-five dollars and said, “ The least you can do is buy me a coffee!”

“You’re wrong there buddy” replied Mike with a very large grin on his face, “I think it’s the most I can do”

They seated themselves in the lounge bar by a window overlooking the putting green. Although it was still only July Ernie, for some reason, surprised Mike with an unlikely question for the time of year.

“So when are you heading down to Phoenix?” asked Ernie.

“Oh I don’t know. Maybe middle of October, but not later than first week of November.  And you?”

“November 15th. I’m waiting for an investment which is due first week of November”. Ernie’s style of speech was invariably devoid of any kind of warmth and Mike equated it with some sort of stabbing motion.

“You mean you have to wait until somebody gives you some spending money?” Mike goaded.

“Of course not” shot back Ernie “this is a special kind of investment. Low risk, high interest, but not necessarily lily white and its tax-free cash. Something you should think about getting into”.

“Why don’t you tell me about it” said Mike looking out over the putting green and showing the minimal degree of enthusiasm.

Moving a little closer to Mike and lowering his voice Ernie continued. “First of all it’s very secretive. Generally people involved don’t talk about it so as not to attract attention”.

Mike chuckled a little “Hum! Well you seem to be talking about it”

Irritated, Ernie snapped “ well do you want to know or not?”

Still smiling Mike said “lighten up buddy, ‘course I want to know”

Ernie explained that he was in for $150,000 and that it would yield interest of $75,000 on a 1-year term. “Mind you” he said, “I started out small, $20,000 that paid $8,000 in just 4 months. Sometimes there are opportunities for small investments; other times there are the big ones. You can do anything from 3 grand to 75 grand. Normally the big ones are for a year. The smaller ones vary from 3 to 6 months. But the return is always 10 times more than you can expect from the bank or the market”

Mike pondered this for a while before asking, “who does this and how do they do it?”

“Look” said Ernie conspiratorially “the how doesn’t matter does it” he went on “do you remember Frank that I introduced to you at the new restaurant down by your place?”

“Yeah, the Italian guy” growled Mike.

“Exactly. Well he’s connected with some influential people on the coast”

“What do you mean, connected with who?”

“Good god man! Must I spell it out for you? He belongs to the Italian organization!”

“Mafia?” questioned Mike with more than a little disbelief.

“That’s right. He was the big guy in Vancouver until he got into some trouble and moved here to avoid the heat. Now he runs the operation from here”. Ernie leaned back in his chair, his eyes sweeping the room as if to see if anyone had been listening to their conversation.

After a minute or so of silence Mike, his face showing signs of doubt and apprehension inquired “and what do they use this money for?”

At this point Ernie decided he had said enough, shrugged his shoulder and replied “look, you’ll have to talk to Frank about that. I’ll tell him to come see you”.

The next day Mike had a call from Frank and they arranged to meet in a couple of hours. Since Frank was doing some maintenance work at the hotel just around the corner from Mike’s place they would meet at the Fixx café which was no more than a 5 minute walk for both of them.

Mike is a big man, standing at 6’2”; his broad frame is lean and fit for a man of more than 70 years. His face is permanently tanned from his year round golfing habit and still bears the scars of his youth when he played junior pro hockey.

It was many months later that I became acquainted with Mike and learned something of his background. My first experience with the game of monopoly came in the 50’s when I was perhaps 10 years old. I have no idea when the game was first introduced as family entertainment but it may well have been in the 30’s. I speculate on this matter because I imagine that Mike had been a monopoly player in the 30’s when he was just a ten year old boy because as an adult he had played the game very well, but this time for real money and real property. Over the years Mike had acquired a large tract of prime property on the lakeshore. He started by buying the smallest lot and over a period of 25 years gradually acquired 10 more adjacent properties. The renters paid the mortgage for each property and 25 years later he owned 5 acres of prime real estate worth a small fortune.

Anyway, on this day Mike took a leisurely walk along the Lakeshore road to his rendezvous with Frank, who, in anticipation of a good business deal had arrived 15 minutes earlier. In his best Italian English Frank greeted Mike with a “ ‘ey, how you doon Miguel? Can I buy you coffee? This guy, he meka the best espresso”. It should be pointed out that this was not his normal manner of speaking. Only when he was nervous or was on the wrong side of an argument did he revert to Engliano. 

They seated themselves at a table on the patio where Frank could smoke his cigarettes and Mike could smoke a torpedo-sized cigar. Mike had not been enthused about having the ‘best espresso’ and instead opted for a regular ‘perked’ coffee. Meanwhile, Frank who was drooling over the waitress, and, one suspects making lewd suggestions, eventually ordered his double espresso with a dash of foamed milk on top. 

They didn’t get down to business right away, instead Frank described in great detail the wide range of trade skills he possessed and concluded by saying “so ifa you need anything leta me know and I come do it”.

Mike broached the subject of the investment opportunity and was disappointed when Frank said that at the moment he had nothing, but quickly added that something may come up ‘real soon’ and he would be prepared to consider Mike for it.

“What kind of number do you have in mind?” questioned Frank.

“How about 50 thousand to start?” responded Mike.

“Big ones come along,” said Frank, his brow furrowed and his jaw set firmly as if he were a CEO about to make a major corporate decision. “Would you be interested in something smaller, or bigger if I get the word?”

The disappointment of the initial negative response had left Mike eager to get into something and he readily agreed, “Sure, you let me know and I’ll take care of it”.

The waitress came out to the patio and asked if everything was o.k. and would they like anything else, and while Mikes response was “no, I’m fine” Frank’s was “yeah, I’d like something else but now’s not the time and here’s not the place”. The waitress forced the weakest of smiles and quickly returned to the safety of the restaurant.

Mike reopened the conversation of investment. “What’s the format of the investment?”

“What do you mean ‘what’s the format’” said Frank waiting for a more suitable entry point.

“Well, what do I have to do and what do you have to do?” questioned Mike.

“Look, Ernie done a lot of stuff with us, what did he tell you?” said Frank, once again making Mike do the talking.

“Ernie said the whole thing was very secretive and that it was handled by a” Mike hesitated while trying to think of the right way to phrase his next words, “uh, a ‘well know organization’ shall we put it.”

“Everything we do is done on the honour system. When I tell you the deal and you give me the money, we shake hands. My handshake is more secure than Fort Knox. I guarantee the deal ‘cause nobody fucks with us. We have to be careful so’s not to get attention. We don’t want no papers and contracts that could get anybody in trouble. We do our thing and everybody makes money. You understand what I‘m saying?”. Having made the mini speech Frank sat back in his chair and gave Mike a long hard stare, chin thrust forward, mouth curled down at either side, eyes semi squinting. All in all it looked like one of those acting school facial expressions he might have borrowed from Robert di Nero. It was good enough and Mike gave him every benefit of the doubt.

“o.k. I understand” said Mike.

Shortly thereafter they went their separate ways but it was only 4 days later that Mike had a call from Frank saying there was a small investment opportunity. The deal was only $15,000 returning $5,000 in just 2 months.

“Miguel” said Frank “if you want to wait for a bigger one that’s o.k. I do have someone else who wants this one, but I thought I’d give you the first chance”.

“Hell no, I’ll take it and when a bigger one comes up I’ll take it too” replied Mike, anxious not to miss such a good opportunity.

Three days later the deal was made, the handshake given and everyone was happy. 

The two months passed very quickly and around the first week of October, as Mike was making plans to join the snowbirds flying south, Frank called. “Mr. Branagh, issa Francesco. How you doon my friend?”

“Fine Frank, and how are you?” replied Mike.

“I’m a good. Mike, your money’s coming through in a couple a days. But I got good news and I got good news,” said Frank in his smoothest voice.

“Ha! And what’s the good news?” queried Mike.

“I got a much better opportunity if you’re interested” Frank didn’t wait to hear if Mike was interested but continued “if you want you can have a piece of a really big one. $75,000, 10 months, pays $32,000. But I gotta know quickly or we lose the deal”.

Mike hesitated trying to gather his thoughts.

Not wanting to waste a moment Frank went on “Ernie’s in on this one and me. I know a guy up on Dilworth that wants a share but he’s already made a ton of money so I prefer if you had this one. If you want we can roll the $20,000 over and then you only need to come up with $55,000, does that sound good?”

There are times when the mind does not seem to work fast enough and this was one of those situations for Mike. He wanted to analyze the proposal, weigh the risk, calculate his cash flow all at once and he couldn’t do it. If I don’t take it he thought, I might not get another chance for 6 months, if ever.

“Mike, if you don’t have the cash I can give this one to Bill ‘cause he wants it badly”

Mike caved in “o.k. Frank, but I need a couple of days to get the cash”.

Frank maintained the pressure with “we can’t wait more than two days or we lose the deal. You understand that, right?”

“Sure” said Mike somewhat wearily; “I’ll have the cash by noon on Thursday” 

“Alright buddy, I’ll come by and pick it up then”.