The 'Cousins'

Part Fifty-Gamma: The Problem With Abie Gollancz

….Ebonie had risen above the shock and asked Walt in a firm voice while tapping the table.

“But what’m  this got to do with Abie Gollancz ‘n’ him maybe goin’ bankrupt on Monday? Are you’m saying he sold us out?”

Walt took out his handkerchief to wipe his face and neck before replying.

“ Good question. I’ll need to fill you in on some more background history to answer your question properly..”

                                     *   *   *

"The Problem with Abie Gollancz”

“…Abie’s father, Zachariah Gollancz opened that business in the 1950’s to service all the small family farms that populated this area.” Walt waved his wrist around as he spoke.  “These farms were the legacies of the old pioneering days when people got given 160 acres to get off the wagon train and settle in this area.  That’s the farming business the Gollancz’s got to know and they were successful at it for a while. They soon expanded by opening the store in town where Mafferty’s is now to sell ironmongery and chicken feed to the folks coming into town. Most people kept a few chickens and a dog in the back yard in them days.  ..."

"... About this time some of the bigger ranchers started expanding some more and swallowing up more of the smaller guys. The Gollancz customer base shrank with each sell out. The I-80 pushed through here and widened the scope of the business, but Zak Gollancz ignored the changes, he preferred things how they were when he started; service was in his smile and outlook instead of profit. Eventually he couldn’t make it pay, things went sour on him and he sold out to Fawley’s father, who had come up from Kansas looking for a ready-made business with potential for expansion.”

“ This is hist’ry, what it got to do with us?’ Gerry Wolny jutted his chin belligerently in Walt’s direction as he asked his question.

Walt waved the palms of his hands at him. “Bear with me on this, you need to know the background, ‘cos it leads into the mess you’ll all be in on Monday.”

"...Zak moved the remnants of his business a few miles further north, where most of the remaining small farmers had their spreads, but it wasn’t working out for him since they were becoming fewer every year as more and more of them sold their land to the bigger ranchers and moved out.”  Walt paused to check he held their attention,  coughed into his hand and continued.

“… There was a good enough business model in the town shop to keep ‘em going, selling pet food and the likes in town, but when Abie took over he wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted the old business back again; all of it. He went up against Fawley Junior, who by then had taken over from his Pa. 

Mitt Fawley saw this as a personal challenge and went out of his way to make life hard for Abie. I know this for sure, ‘cos I had to set up the dirty business deals Mitt put together to thwart Abie and make certain he went down ...”

Gerry Wolny interrupted again. “What sort of deals?”  It was an awkward question for Walt. He paused, rubbing his throat with his finger and thumb for a few seconds before deciding to answer Wolny.

“ I’m not proud of my part in this.  The biggest was a grain deal that would have given Abie the wherewithal to hold out and maybe even get back on top if it worked out for him like he thought it would.  …  Fawley put together a scam with a bunch of grain buyers. They put out buy-options at a very high price and Abie was sucked in, he picked 'em up and started buying everything he could ex-field from the small farmers. Fawley made out he was bidding against Abie for these same harvest grains from the same small farmers driving up the bushel price ex-farm to an unheard of height.  Abie always went one point higher and this  let Fawley back out leaving the deals for Abie to fix at impossible prices outside of the buy-option prices. The farmers couldn’t believe their good fortune and got in line to sign up with Abie. He was so sucked in he wasn’t thinking straight; beating Fawley became his No 1 priority.”