The 'Cousins'

Chapter 100 (Alpha) : Who Needs Sleep

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED (Alpha)

Who Needs Sleep?

A/N: This chapter comes at the end of Greg's day on Friday, 20th April 2007. It brings together the various threads working on him so that the reader can readily recall them without having to go back in the story. There are quite a number of them and for that reason this chapter will be posted in three parts over the period of seven days. The forces working on Greg and Jess both individually and as a pair and their ongoing relationship is shaped by these events. Enjoy!

Wayne's disclosures concerning the massive, and largely undiscovered potential for Fisher's blew Greg away. 'Eight billion gallons of gasoline from cow muck that's just lying around in animal sheds and fields creating stink and an environmental problem. Eight billion gallons! That's sixteen billion dollars to be had every year, and it's just lying there, valuable raw material waiting to be scooped up and dumped into a gasifier; converting a difficult and problematic waste into a more socially acceptable and profitable resource. - and what did Wayne say was the reduction in stink - eighty percent. Wow! The Noble and Not-So-Noble Breaths eradicated for good measure. Amazing! It just goes to show: all waste is nothing more than waste if nothing's done with it.'

The speech fired him up like nothing had before in his business life. His body shook and the hairs on his neck tingled at the extent of the opportunity Wayne was handing him. He fought back the urge to drop everything and rush down to Florida to learn more about the processes involved and lose no time starting work on building this company and expanding its fortunes. 'The time for this is now, and there's none to lose before others pick up on the idea and become our competitors. This is mind blowing, now I know what Halburton meant when he said I'd never meet up with a greater opportunity or challenge.'

Greg's anxiety to get hold of Wayne's folder caused him to rush ahead of his two companions on their return to the motel from Ma Tooley's. The substance of the talk left him:

Energised!

Exhilarated!

Motivated and impatient to be involved.

Ideas for the Fishers' venture swam in shoals through Greg's head. It was almost too much for him to contemplate. There was nothing - but nothing, bigger than this likely to come up in this decade or even in the rest of the century. 'This is the big one.'

Two weeks ago he would have yielded to the compulsive urge to cancel all of his ongoing commitments, pack his bag, and rush off to Florida to get his hands on this venture: immediately freeing himself of all other distractions to give it his total commitment, ingenuity and staying power. The project demanded nothing less of its leader to deliver the mammoth success decreed in Wayne's projections: estimates that Greg was now ready and able to accept were feasible and achievable without any questions or qualifications.

'Holey moley, I can see now why Wayne was so dismissive about my undertakings here. He's offering me the Pacific Ocean and here I sit in my conceit, holding him back, to play around in a mucky pond in Bamptonville.'

But he was no longer the person he had been, in spite of his resolve to commit himself absolutely to Fishers. Greg gritted his teeth and reminded himself of his prior commitment to Jess and the Whitewater crowd. Pulling out now and leaving them behind was not an option, however strong was the tug and urgency of the Fisher project. Settling his existing commitments on a sound and self-servicing footing was one more problem for him to solve tonight. Greg sensed, rather than heard Wayne talking to him.

"Huh, what was that, missed it, my mind was miles away. I was sat on a chicken farm somewhere."

Wayne chuckled.