The Base Jumpers and Other Stories

"What about your little problem? Seems to me you can't seem to help getting high all the time, that doesn't make for good business." Josh stated.

"If it means that much to you dude, I'll quit. I'll even go to rehab for three weeks out at Henwood when we get back to town. If that doesn't sound like I'm serious about this I don't know what does." Came Brad's reply.

"You mean it? But you're the worst chronic I've ever seen. Can you really do it?" Josh asked him.

"I know I can. I don't need that garbage. What I need is money. Money to eat out, money to go skiing, money to take trips and buy a decent car. I'm sick of all this scrounging so we can go make a base jump and end up like this. We'll be lucky if we can pay our rent this month!" Brad said forcibly.

For the first time in the years he had known him, Brad seemed to be talking sense. It was a no-brainer that he wasn't happy about wearing two leg casts for six weeks. "So where do we come up with the money to start this all up? We need rent, inventory, charge and debit accounts, heat, power, water. Probably even a bookkeeper."

"I've got it all figured out dude."

"Stop calling me dude or I'm going to end this idea now." Josh exclaimed through a haze of pain.

"Josh my friend, my Uncle believes in me. He's going to co-sign a loan for the two of us. All we have to do is clear $2200 a month and we'll have all the bills paid and we'll be out of debt in just a couple of years."

"I don't know if I should make a decision like this on this much pain killer." Josh said. "But it does sound pretty damn good."

"Take all the time you need bro."

"Don't call me bro either. I'm your business partner, not your friend anymore." Josh declared.

A few weeks went by, Brad's Uncle Marvin came for a visit a few times and talked things over. One day Brad went with him to his car in a wheelchair and when he came back to the room he looked depressed.

"Josh man, I think we might have a bit of a problem."

"What's going on? Did your Uncle change his mind?"

"No, not really. Well, things are like this. He said that with all the crazy stuff we do and the things we get into he wants to have some guarantee. He said he wants us to take out insurance on each other with each other as the beneficiary and him as the next in line for it just in case. He made it sound like it was a deal-killer."

"Well that doesn't sound that bad. How much will it cost?"

"Not much, maybe another $200 a month on top of the $2200 we talked about. That would cover us each for about a million." Brad said looking despondent.

"That's nothing man, we can do that. I heard of all kinds of business people who have to take out insurance." Josh said and saw Brad's face go back to somewhat normal.

"Thanks man, you won't ever regret trusting me." Brad told him.

"I regret it already!" Josh said, smiling.

The next few days went by fairly quickly. Soon it was time for Brad's cast to come off and then he would go back to Edmonton and check himself into the treatment centre for 3 weeks. Hopefully by that time Josh would be through with his physiotherapy and be ready to start looking for a spot for their shop. They needed something near the University on Whyte avenue to bring in buyers, but they also needed to find a way to compromise their choice of location because they would also need a steady stream of sellers of used equipment. No matter how many calls they made or how many times they crunched the numbers, they just couldn't find a way to get a store on Whyte. That meant they were going to have to figure a way to bring traffic to themselves. Josh told Brad just to worry about getting on his feet first though and the two friends parted with a fist bump.