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A young man with oiled and slicked hair above a bow tie approached the walk-in, and shook his hand with vigor as he introduced himself as Solomon Barnes. “Walter Bayer,” Wally allowed as he returned the handshake. Barnes took Bayer’s completed questionnaire in hand and motioned for him to follow to his desk sitting against a sunny and partially opened window. “Have a seat, Mister Bayer. I see that you live up in Monroe.” “Yes, I’m here on business,” Wally explained as he took the seat at the end of the desk. “I thought I’d do a little investing before heading home.” “One thousand dollars as a ‘little investing.’ I’m impressed, sir. The dairy industry must be doing very well these days.” “Very well, indeed,” Wally replied with a straight face. “And I see that you know just the stocks you want.” Barnes leaned back in his chair. “Could I interest you in a cigarette?” After Wally gave a negative shake of his head, he reached to the box on his desk for his own smoke. “I always appreciate a man who knows what he wants.” The cigarette burned brightly, and an exhaled cloud of smoke drifted into the spring outside the window. “But I think I might have a few suggestions for you.” “Thanks in advance, but I’ll stick with my picks, if you don’t mind.” Barnes turned from joviality to somberness in the space of a second exhalation. “With all due respect, Mister Bayer, your stock picks are very questionable.” He looked down once more at the neatly completed form. “Gillette, Philips Petroleum, Kellogg, Sears.” Then he looked up. “Sears. I can tell you that’s a company with no future, trying to sell by mail-order when the whole country’s moving to the cities.” His eyes returned to the paper. “AT&T, Ford, General Motors.” Barnes dropped the form on the desk a final time and leaned forward after setting his cigarette in an ashtray. “Mister Bayer, let me give you some advice. I’m a professional, and I know what stocks have a future. There’s this terrific automobile company out in Indiana, Stutz. Have you heard of it?” |