Do You Want To Buy A Puppy?

So, there I was, alone in my house, and I had just received my income tax return. It was the first money I had seen in months while waiting for WCB to decide if they believed I had something wrong with my arms. The fact that my left arm was in constant pain and numb from the elbow down, even after no trucking for months, wasn’t a factor according to them.

It wasn’t a lot of money, only $2200, but it was more than I had seen in a long time, and after paying back a few friends I had borrowed from and catching up my bills, I had $1100 left. And I wanted a stereo.

Let me back up a bit here.

A month after my job with Marshall was over, and WCB was denying my claim, my wife left with my children, taking almost everything. The only furniture I had was the rental stuff, a couch and love seat and an entertainment unit. And a clock radio was the only thing in the entertainment unit. It was a very difficult time because I missed my family terribly, especially my children. That little clock radio was looking pretty lonely on the big empty shelf. Plus it had lousy reception and a tinny speaker.

I went to a few stereo stores and was instantly shocked at the prices. I couldn’t even get a set of speakers for $1100! Then, one morning, I went to the corner store to get something, I forget what, and there it was, the Buy & Sell paper on its rack with the title, “STEREOS FOR SALE”. So I bought one, hoping to find my new stereo.

I got home and dove in. Almost all of the ads were from the big stores, so I was a bit disappointed. But there, near the end of the listings, was an ad. “Stereos for sale! Must sell! Owner leaving country! No offer refused!” It wasn’t a local number, but I called anyway.

“Hello?” I heard a very thick east indian accent, and although I’m not a bigot in any way, my experience with them was not contusive to trusting them. I asked him what he had and he told me he had many stereos for sale. Wait, what? Many? It sounded suspicious so I said I had made a mistake and was about to hang up when he said, “Wait! Please! I am a Christian man!” Still skeptical, I asked him to explain. He said he was born again and that he desperately needed to sell everything because he was getting kicked out of the country, and he begged me to come and see what he had to offer. So, begrudgingly, and since I didn’t really have anything else to do, I drove out to meet him.

This was in the days before GPS, and as I drove up and down the street looking for his house, I couldn’t find it. It was a very upscale neighbourhood but there was one house that was really run down with overgrown lawn and a broken gate hanging on one hinge. Since it didn’t have an address on it, and it was between two big houses, that had to be it, so I drove in. I went to the door and knocked. Dogs barked from inside and I was wondering what I was doing there. Then the door opened and a very tall dark man came outside, wearing pajamas and holding a puppy. At 2 in the afternoon. I was even more apprehensive now.

He said, “Hello! You are the man who wants stereo? Praise the Lord! Please come in! Do you want to buy a puppy? I am very sorry for the smell, I had to let my housekeeper go since I could no longer pay her…” I just stood there, not knowing what to think or do, but I had come all that way so I thought, what can it hurt to at least look. So, in I went.

The smell of dog poo was overpowering. There were dogs and puppies running wild and barking as he led me into the living room. And there it was, a massive entertainment unit with every stereo component you could think of, with doubles and triples of everything. All I could think was that this was all stolen and I said, thanks but I have to go. “NO! Please! I am a Christian man! Please, let me explain!”

I thought, ok, this should be good, so I let him explain.

In his own words…. “My name is Cresno Widjojo, and I am from Malaysia. My family lived on the property of the royal family and we took care of the horses. Then there was a coup and we were told to leave the country or we would all be killed, even though we weren’t related to the royal family, that didn’t matter. They raided the treasury and gave each of us $50 million and said we had two days to leave. I chose Canada. That was 25 years ago and have spent all of my money and I never did apply for citizenship so they are kicking me out of Canada, so that is why I have to sell everything. Please, choose what you want and make an offer.” I just stood there, stunned.

Well, he did have quite a large selection to choose from. So, still not sure what to make of this guy, I picked out a bunch of components. We made a deal and I had a “new” stereo system, complete with brand new speakers.

He helped me carry it all out to my car and while we were loading it, he saw the prototype motorhome model in the back seat. “What is that?!” I explained how were trying to raise capital for our motorhome business and he said, “Oh, how I wish I had met you a year ago! I would have invested everything I had in this! Wait! I know a man who will love this!” And with that he took his portable phone off the hem of his pajamas and dialed a number. “Hello Ken? Yes, yes, I know I owe you money but please listen. I am with a man who has a beautiful project and I think you should meet him!” With that, he handed me the phone. I was greeted with, “Who is this? And how do you know Cresno? And what is this project he’s talking about?” Again I was in shock at how fast things were going, but I explained a little bit about what we were doing and he asked if we could meet that afternoon. I said sure, why not.

After insisting that Cresno put on something other than pajamas, we drove to meet this Ken fellow. We drove up a long driveway and came up to some stables where he was lunging a horse. We made our introductions and went into his house where I showed him the prototype, had him sign an NDA, and then showed him our business plan. As he looked it over he said, “I think what you have is worth looking into further, but I’m also looking for capital for a project. Perhaps we could do a joint venture. You help me raise capital and once my project is funded and operating, I will fully fund yours.” All I wanted was a cheap stereo, and now I’m looking at funding for the motorhome business. Now all I had to do was tell Richard the possibly good news. But he was on his way back from Nevada where he’d put the Peterbilt in the Barret Jackson auction, and it didn’t meet the minimum bid. He had spent every penny to get there and was literally praying his way back to Bellingham. I still don’t know how he made it back, but he did.

I called Janelle later that evening to tell her about my day and all that had happened. She said that Richard was backing the motorhome into the driveway and she took the phone out to him and handed it to him. “Jon, I just got home and I’m tired and frustrated. Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow!” And he hung up on me.