Chapter 1
Chapter 1
I graduated this year with my bachelor's degree. That glorious piece of paper, the one that opens all doors and guarantees a prosperous and happy life. Right? I also graduated with absolutely no forward plan whatsoever. I moved out of the dorms and in with a couple of married friends, Jake and Olivia Foster. My rent money helped ease their just-starting-out troubles. I wasn't ready to move home yet, so I figured I'd see what opportunities I could find here, based on my interests. Which are mostly, games.
I grew up on Dungeons and Dragons and other games like it. My stepdad started me on it in the second grade. With it, he helped teach me, reading, writing, and adding small numbers in my head which gave me a leg up in math. It also helped this awkward geeky kid find friends. Not long after my parents split, my stepdad opened a small hobby shop right next door to the ladies-only fitness gym, that my mom and aunt, own. That's how they met. So, you could say that I grew up in fitness and hobbies in equal measure. I hung about mom's gym until it was obvious that I'd reached the age to be "distracted" by the women in the gym. After that, I spent my weekends and after school in my stepdad's hobby store. When I reached employable age, he put me on the payroll and taught me the business.
I have great parents. Mark and Evelyn Carter. Both of them are in their second marriage. I was adopted as a baby, by my mother and her first husband. I was dropped off at a fire station by an unwed mother. I don't remember my adopted father, and he's got no interest in knowing me. That's fine. Mark has always been all the father I've needed. The first guy only signed some papers. Mark and Evelyn live about ninety miles north of the college in Bolton.
Mom and Dad told me that at some point both businesses would wind up with me, so some business education would be wise. So, with no other plans for my future, I pursued a bachelor's degree in business, specializing in entrepreneurship.
When I got to college, the first thing I did was scout out the local gaming and hobby stores within bicycle distance from my dorm. There were a few and when I had time, frequented them often. By senior year I'd moved up to a scooter and my range increased. So, when my schedule opened, I decided to check out the hobby stores further away. That was how I discovered Hobby Haven on a fine sunny Saturday.
It was an old brick, stand-alone building, built sometime before the first men landed on the moon. I noted the brand name logos on the front window. Lionel, AMT, Monogram, Estes, Parker Brothers. I went in and was struck by the smell of age. The walls were plaster and lathe and were covered with handmade wooden shelving, floor to ceiling. Terrific workmanship. After glancing around, my first thought was, "Geez, I just stepped through a portal into 1985."
From the front door, I did a quick look around. I saw model kits of all sorts. Planes, cars, spaceships, and wooden boat kits. There was an expansive model train section. Model rocketry was well represented as well as jigsaw puzzles. Not a collectible card game, figurine, mecha kit, or role-playing game to be found. Not even remote control cars, or planes. That stuff has been in hobby stores worldwide for 30+ years. This place was a real relic. And aside from myself and the woman at the counter, there was no one in the store.
I approached the counter and the woman looked up at me and smiled. I caught my breath. She was incredibly beautiful. Her lovely blonde hair was cut shoulder length and hung to frame her face just perfectly. Her makeup seemed minimal, but she wore pink eye shadow and lipstick. I had a hard time not staring at her lips. Every male instinct called for me to kiss her immediately. She had a lean athletic build but was just hippy and busty enough to avoid being called skinny. She was somewhere in her late 40's, I figured. And tall. In her two-inch heels, we were eye to eye. The thing I found the most attractive was that she was wearing a dress. A lovely pink day dress that had ruffles at the hem and the sleeves. That's something you just don't see very often anymore. It's odd to find an industry that hasn't gone to "business casual" attire, or something even more relaxed. The woman looked just terrific in it.
To my surprise, she was unboxing cartons of Pokémon cards.
"Wow. Those really look out of place in here." I said as I approached.
She looked up and me and smiled wistfully. "Don't I know it? I'm sure my husband is spinning in his grave. But I just HAVE to bring in some new customers."
I looked at the woman. Man, she was easy to look at. She had gorgeous blue eyes.
"Shouldn't be too hard. You are smack dab in the middle of suburbia. I passed two schools less than a mile from here. With a little marketing and updating your products, this place could be very successful."
The woman's face showed near desperate interest in what I had said.
"You know hobby stores?"
I smiled. "Oh yeah. I practically grew up in my stepdad's shop in Bolton. I worked there for six years and I just graduated with a degree in entrepreneurial business."
The woman smiled and extended a shapely hand. "I'm Lauren Sinclair. Hobby Haven, owner, and proprietor."
I shook her hand. "I am Ryan Carter. Recent college graduate." I spoke in a mock high society voice, with a smile, tipping an imaginary hat.
Lauren giggled charmingly. I liked her immediately.
"Very cute, young man." Lauren looked at me excitedly. "You don't perhaps need a job, do you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do."
Her face grew hopeful. "I've just gotten a small business loan to revamp this place and most of it is going towards new products. I couldn't pay much at first. Minimum wage and say... thirty hours a week?"
"I will agree to that for... the first two months," I responded. "After that, we can revisit the agreement, based on the revenue increase I help generate."
The woman smiled and stuck out her hand again. "Deal! I am very glad you stopped by."