FIRST DRAFT OF MAIN ASSIGNMENT ~ 20TH JUNE ~ 2015
The scandal was breathtakingly widespread and affected many many people. Small investors who had entrusted their life savings in this company were ruined overnight. The returns were advertised as astronomical and a sure-fire way to pay for a very comfortable retirement. Then came the crash that destroyed the hopes and dreams of everyone.
Maxie was a gambler, he had made a huge fortune from cyberspace and was a ruthless unprincipled dot.com, millionaire, having sold his very profitable on-line business to a large competitor. Sadly the gambling traits in his character rose to the surface and before very long he had lost everything, to horse racing, roulette and he was a major investor in the stock of this crashed company.
Maxie was happily married to Mary, a very loyal wife who looked after his every need and she soon realised she was the only person who Maxie ever really trusted implicitly. Mary and Maxie had met through an on-line dating site and immediately clicked. Mary had her own interests and was steeped in witchcraft and the occult. Maxie was vaguely aware of this and took a worldly view of her influences without any close involvement in this side of her life.
Their world was suddenly turned upside down as Maxie owed hundreds of thousands of pounds to some very shady characters.
Mary was furious when she realised the lovely old house they owned together would have to go.
'Why didn't you let me know a little about your business affairs? I could have helped you before it was too late.'
'Don't shout at me! I had to keep up with your expensive tastes, and I am sure your witchcraft would not have helped' Maxie replied.
'You have a gambling nature, Max! We will have to do something fast before your unsavoury friends come knocking on the door searching for you.'
Then Maxie produced two airline tickets for a flight to France. 'My brother Ferdinand will put us up for a while until things begin to settle down.'
Mary reluctantly agreed and they fled to Paris to live on the good nature of Ferdinand for a while. One uneventful day the local patisserie owner M. Boulez, mentioned a mysterious visit of two Englishmen asking questions and showing a great interest in the newcomers. Ferdinand immediately became eaten up with a fearful dread of something happening to his wife and children and asked his brother Maxwell to leave and make other arrangements.
Mary then pulled an ace from her magical deck of cards,
'Max, my sister in Colchester has e-mailed a copy of an advertisement for a couple to run a large estate in Scotland as an estate manager and housekeeper, these people are part of our mutual circle of friends and we have an excellent chance of getting the job. There is a tied cottage that comes with the job. We will never be traced there by anyone.'
'Mary, that is wonderful news, we must contact the owners immediately and respond, I am sure I will be able to handle a job of that nature and I will have time to clear my debts and get out of trouble.'
The interview was a formality as Mary was very well known to the owners of the estate from her extensive circle of mutual acquaintances.
Six months passed very rapidly, and things seemed to be settling down to a mundane safe routine. One day Maxie informed Mary that there were two very unsavoury characters on his trail. One was a very wealthy stockbroker, Clarence Hall, who was chasing them for a hundred thousand pounds in unpaid stock deals that had been accumulated during the good old days. The other person hounding him was Joey Brown a very nasty piece of work who masqueraded as a bookmaker, he was very dangerous and had a reputation for violence that preceded him wherever he went.
Maxie had settled in to his new employment and environment very well indeed and the estate was making a profit, mostly due to his excellent administrative skills. Although Mary was somewhat doubtful, he assured everyone that he had now stopped gambling totally. There was a strong suspicion in Mary's mind that he had hung on to a very large part of his fortune simply by not paying his debts. Paper fortunes do not take up very much space.
Maxwell kept himself to himself and was very rarely seen in public, although they were seen together around the locality and attended church together and were members of the local community centre and attended functions on a very sporadic basis.
(772 Words)
The scandal was breathtakingly widespread and affected many many people. Small investors who had entrusted their life savings in this company were ruined overnight. The returns were advertised as astronomical and a sure-fire way to pay for a very comfortable retirement. Then came the crash that destroyed the hopes and dreams of everyone.
Maxie was a gambler, he had made a huge fortune from cyberspace and was a ruthless unprincipled dot.com, millionaire, having sold his very profitable on-line business to a large competitor. Sadly the gambling traits in his character rose to the surface and before very long he had lost everything, to horse racing, roulette and he was a major investor in the stock of this crashed company.
Maxie was happily married to Mary, a very loyal wife who looked after his every need and she soon realised she was the only person who Maxie ever really trusted implicitly. Mary and Maxie had met through an on-line dating site and immediately clicked. Mary had her own interests and was steeped in witchcraft and the occult. Maxie was vaguely aware of this and took a worldly view of her influences without any close involvement in this side of her life.
Their world was suddenly turned upside down as Maxie owed hundreds of thousands of pounds to some very shady characters.
Mary was furious when she realised the lovely old house they owned together would have to go.
'Why didn't you let me know a little about your business affairs? I could have helped you before it was too late.'
'Don't shout at me! I had to keep up with your expensive tastes, and I am sure your witchcraft would not have helped' Maxie replied.
'You have a gambling nature, Max! We will have to do something fast before your unsavoury friends come knocking on the door searching for you.'
Then Maxie produced two airline tickets for a flight to France. 'My brother Ferdinand will put us up for a while until things begin to settle down.'
Mary reluctantly agreed and they fled to Paris to live on the good nature of Ferdinand for a while. One uneventful day the local patisserie owner M. Boulez, mentioned a mysterious visit of two Englishmen asking questions and showing a great interest in the newcomers. Ferdinand immediately became eaten up with a fearful dread of something happening to his wife and children and asked his brother Maxwell to leave and make other arrangements.
Mary then pulled an ace from her magical deck of cards,
'Max, my sister in Colchester has e-mailed a copy of an advertisement for a couple to run a large estate in Scotland as an estate manager and housekeeper, these people are part of our mutual circle of friends and we have an excellent chance of getting the job. There is a tied cottage that comes with the job. We will never be traced there by anyone.'
'Mary, that is wonderful news, we must contact the owners immediately and respond, I am sure I will be able to handle a job of that nature and I will have time to clear my debts and get out of trouble.'
The interview was a formality as Mary was very well known to the owners of the estate from her extensive circle of mutual acquaintances.
Six months passed very rapidly, and things seemed to be settling down to a mundane safe routine. One day Maxie informed Mary that there were two very unsavoury characters on his trail. One was a very wealthy stockbroker, Clarence Hall, who was chasing them for a hundred thousand pounds in unpaid stock deals that had been accumulated during the good old days. The other person hounding him was Joey Brown a very nasty piece of work who masqueraded as a bookmaker, he was very dangerous and had a reputation for violence that preceded him wherever he went.
Maxie had settled in to his new employment and environment very well indeed and the estate was making a profit, mostly due to his excellent administrative skills. Although Mary was somewhat doubtful, he assured everyone that he had now stopped gambling totally. There was a strong suspicion in Mary's mind that he had hung on to a very large part of his fortune simply by not paying his debts. Paper fortunes do not take up very much space.
Maxwell kept himself to himself and was very rarely seen in public, although they were seen together around the locality and attended church together and were members of the local community centre and attended functions on a very sporadic basis.
(772 Words)
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