The Comic Book Conundrum (Short Story) {Part III}
June 29, 2012
Land of The Free, Home of the Brainless (Silverton Style)
July 13, 2012
The fourth part and conclusion of “The Comic Book Morality Conundrum” short story. Time to move onto the next posting, which will be an essay I’ve already written and will give to you next Friday. Until then, have fun with the final part of this story.
Ward Count: 1072
The Comic Book
Morality Conundrum (part IV)
Which is exactly what it did. Nick used a little bit of the money he had saved up for his comic book shop to help Amin get out of his mortgage quagmire. Right after that, they split the shop space in two and set up separate areas for The Cozy Cover, and Fabulous Fantasies Emporium. It turns out that many of the same people who began frequenting Fabulous Fantasies also began browsing around The Cozy Cover. Some of those exact same comic book Fan
Boys/girls actually stuck a crow bar in their wallet and spent money on books they previously wouldn’t have. Business revenue began to pick up for Amin, and a steady stream of clientele from the local college wanting to cling to their adolescent dreams kept Fabulous Fantasies’ business hoping as well.
On the surface, things looked downright hunky dory as the old saying goes. Just when one gets a bit too complacent though, certain players have a way of finding one thing or another disagreeable with the situation and wanting to change it. In this case, the participant wanting to change things happened to be one of Nick’s own family. No real surprise, but his reasons for desiring a modification to the current status quo were.
A bright and sunny day around the counter of Fabulous Fantasies:
“So where’s your Lebanese accomplice?” asked Calvin.
Rather emphatically Nick answered back. “He isn’t my business partner, just the guy I share this same location with.”
“Good thing he isn’t here right now,” said Nigel. “You don’t really like him do you dad?”
“You aren’t secretly prejudice towards people of Middle Eastern decent are you?” said/asked Nicolas. “That isn’t the way you taught us to think and act.”
“I don’t really dislike him per se, I just disagree with the guy about certain ideologies.”
“For instance?”
“He doesn’t follow the Dorfmeister philosophy of life.”
Both brothers looked at each other with the same unbelieving facial expressions as someone who’d just witnessed a congressional directive accomplishing something. “The “what”?” asked a perplexed Nigel?
Nick chimed in. “One of your steady clown performances. The people gave you psycho-tropic laced drinks when you did a gig for them didn’t they?”
“Not that I know of? I’d be quite aware if I ingested anything foreign into my system. Based of course upon my 60’s Woodstock era experimentation.”
“So what exactly is this “Dorfmeister Philosophy” anyway?” asked Nigel.
“It’s kind of hard to explain since the two of you pretty much towed the party line ever since you were old enough to start making decisions for yourselves.”
Nick looked up from the new retail sign he was designing. “You still haven’t answered Nigel’s question, what is it?”
“The Dorfmeister Philosophy involves a way of thinking that’s slightly outside the norm of civilized culture. Everyone in our family dating back many generations, has pursued endeavors that most of work oriented society considers different. Uncharacteristic if you will. Creative pursuits that involve looking at things from a nonconformist perspective. Even if pursuit of such nonimitative passions involves many years of struggle and strife.”
“Sort of like numerous years of eating lots of peanut butter with a spoon since you can’t afford the bread and jelly.”
“Precisely Nigel.”
“That’s nice dad, but what’s this got to do with Amin and my business?”
“Simple, he looks at things from a work and pursuit of money outlook rather than a purely
creative perspective like us Dorfmeisters. Maybe that’s why he was in such hot water financially before you came along.”
“Actually him not being able to meet his mortgage payments had more to do with being in the wrong place just when the economy took a nose dive back into the dumpster. I still like the guy despite his more conformist, business oriented philosophies.”
“Yeah dad,” said Nigel. “Don’t want to offend you, but when it comes right down to it, does it really matter what you think about Amin. No, probably not.”
“I guess you’re right,” said Calvin. “Although I sometimes wonder how much he appreciates you sticking your neck out for him?”
“A lot when you get right down to it. Let me show you a letter he gave me just last week. He isn’t as obsessed with making money as you think. Nick walked into the back stock room and all-purpose storage area for unsold comic books to grab it. “I figured it really wasn’t necessary to show this letter to the two of you, but I am.”
September 24, 2011
Nicolas,
I want to thank you for taking such a big risk to help me out financially last year with my business. When I first opened my bookshop, and before that as Jamila and I were deciding to immigrate to America four years ago, we never expected the situation to become so dire for my business. Was this because of the economic situation, or me? We shall never know.
My desire to start the bookstore stems from strong aspirations to further the literary
excellence that has existed in my family for many generations. I thought that by opening the
shop, it would present me with the opportunity to be surrounded by books and journals.
Reading and writing being two of my favorite pursuits in life. I’m not so much for working outside of creative endeavors such as this shop, but I’ll aspire to be more commerce oriented. After all, successful operation of the bookstore helps to pay the bills. Things got a bit out of hand financially with the unfortunate mortgage non-payments, and I apologize for this.
I will continue to do my best to succeed within the same space as your cartoon picture books emporium. Both Jamila and I are happy to report that commerce has improved significantly for me within the past two months. I tie this directly into your customers being presented with a most beautiful opportunity to examine my offerings. This is a testament to your family and the high moral standards they maintain. Thank you.
Your friend and fellow business space occupant,
Amin
While reading the letter, Calvin’s jaw dropped faster than the stock market during an economic downturn. “Guess he isn’t as much of a nose-to-the-grindstone worker as I thought.”
“What do you say dad. We should probably make him an honorary Dorfmeister don’t you think? He’s got the right philosophy.”
