moleslog06182007

I know why Earl kept my number. He wants me to buy a house.

The problem's not that I have no money or income. Earl can solve that. The trouble is the house is not for sale.

We've drawn up all the papers; the bank will take it. No one's been by the place for weeks. We need a buyer. You have no record."

"I can't buy a house."

"Oh, sure you can. You have to get a job, so you can get credit. But you need to find a job anyway; this just lets you leave early. I'll trust you with the down payment; I trust you to actually buy the house. I mean, if you don't do it, I can be nasty, but you can hide, and I have no legal recourse. I trust you because I observe that you understand, and this is something in which we can help each other.

"I provide the down payment. You buy the house from me. Go ahead and move in. Of course, someone does own the house. In three days or three months, the owner shows up and kicks you out.

"You're going to play dumb. After all, all you did was buy a house. Oh, someone suspects; they'll ask. But I figure you know better than to confess. You default on the loan; your credit is ruined, of course. But what can that mean to you?

We arrange to meet somewhere, say, a cafe in Tunis. They speak French, but that won't bother you. I wouldn't travel earlier than six months, maybe eight. It looks suspicious. We meet. I pass you your share of the money, and we never see each other again.

No hard feelings, you understand. That's just safer for each.

Right. Here's the trouble. I turn this down, I turn down the opportunity to write this book, my lousy book. From my end, the money looks like this:

To write even a small book, to even pretend I"m doing what can be done, I need six months relatively free. For continuity, I need the time together if I can get it.

1 Room Westside $750-
General utilities 50-
No car.
Food 150-
Cell 50-
ISP 50-

So think 1,000/month for six months = $6,000 up front. I'm easily $2500 short, minus whatever else goes wrong, so figure about 7k.

I could get a job, but that doesn't leave me much time to deal with the package, no more than it ever did. Gazeau says he went to Nicaragua in the 1980's, when the Sandinistas were there.

On the other hand, one could wait in a cafe in Tunis a long time.