ASPIRATIONS IN JACKSONVILLE

Jim and Sue March lived north of Jacksonville in a large house with a long dock where their thirty-six foot Marine Trader double cabin boat was tied. They both wanted a newer, bigger boat but the one they wanted was close to half a million dollars. Jim’s construction equipment rental business was generating a good living, but not that good. Sue also worked at the business, so their entire income was dependent on equipment rentals. Additionally, a recent decline in new home construction had put a damper on their future income potential.

Jake and Mabel Frulen lived near Jim and Sue but did not have as big a house. Their boat was a twenty-one foot center console and mostly sat in the back yard on its trailer. Jake was a bank manager and Mabel owned a hair salon. They had a good income, and since they started young, their two children were in their early teens and mostly took care of themselves, there was a lot of time left for Jake and Mabel to play.

Jorge and Margarita Conejo lived between the March’s and the Frulen’s and had a nice house but no boat. They had the pool, patio and hot tub that everyone wanted to mimic but couldn’t, or just didn’t have the money or style to pull it off. Jorge was a lawyer and Margarita was a manager at a women’s fashion store in the mall. Their daughter was living with relatives in Campeche, Mexico for a year to gain cultural perspective and learn better Spanish. They had the time and money to do almost anything and everything they wanted.

Besides being neighbors, the three couples interacted in various social events, school functions and had all done business with each other in some manner. The real link was the military though. The men had served in the Middle East together and were closer than triplet brothers were. The three couple’s absolute favorite thing to do was to be voyeurs at a local sex and swingers club. They had all seen each other having sex but had not graduated to swapping partners. Drunken, cocaine fueled weekends had gotten them close but the situation always broke down before sex actually occurred.

On this particular Friday night, they were all lounging about at the Conejo’s. An eight ball of cocaine and an ounce of weed had been obtained from their favorite dealer, Mr. Z, and everyone was having a good time drinking margaritas and consuming the goodies. Soon after dark it got chilly and they ended up in the hot tub talking about how they all wanted more money.

The following weekend they were out on Jim and Sue’s boat and the topic of more money came up again. All day they were throwing around ideas and thoughts about how to get extra income in the door. Jorge and Jake said they would like more cash, as opposed to more money, since the government was already in their business enough. That changed the direction of the ideas and caused a lull in the conversation.

Jim said that Mr. Z had a good thing going and maybe they should talk to him about forming a business arrangement. The men were immediately in favor but the women were not as convinced it was such a good idea. They had used Mr. Z for over a year and if this didn’t work out, they would have to find another source. The men dismissed this and said they had a supplier before Mr. Z and would be able to find one after him. By the end of the evening, the men had agreed to proceed with the proposal.