EmporMogulWiki

Story date

Aug 1, 2000

Tuesday 1 August 2000 is the third chapter day of the prologue, seventeen days after the second. It is a weekday: Dad opens his shop at nine. The kid walks downtown with Frank Dawson, learns what it costs to send money at QuickTransfer, and earns five dollars cleaning up the front of Dad's shop. The day is about Main Street commerce, neighbourly bonds and the hidden costs of cash.

Hour by hour

Breakfast

07:30. After the same morning routine as on 15 July, breakfast with Mom and Dad: toast and eggs, and talk of the August heat. Dad has a full workday ahead and tells the kid to do something productive. At 08:15 he drives the family's worn sedan off to his shop on Main Street. Coming down late after 07:35, or in pyjamas, gets a word from him first. The clock waits at 08:00 for breakfast.

Frank's armchair

After breakfast. Next door, Frank Dawson sits in his living room armchair, his cane against it and Tank on the rug at his feet. He is walking down to Dad's shop for a heavy canvas tarp and some boot grease, and asks the kid to walk with an old soldier. The clock waits at 09:00 until the kid has checked in on him.

The walk downtown

Frank leads, at his own pace, his cane in his right hand: out of his house and along the sidewalks to Main Street. If the kid falls behind, he stops and waits. On the way he talks about the Main Street he came home to in 1946: a hardware store, a five-and-dime, two diners and a picture house, the Rialto, now a furniture outlet. "Things change, whether you're ready for it or not." The clock waits at 10:00 until they reach QuickTransfer.

QuickTransfer

A main mission. At the yellow sign the kid remembers what Rick said about a transfer counter, and goes in while Frank waits on the sidewalk, with a message about his cane. Behind the glass, Artie Finch explains the wire fee: 2.5% off the top, at least $2.50 a transfer, so a reseller has to build it into the price. Wiring $50 costs $52.50. The kid learns the fee and sends nothing today. The clock waits at 10:45 until the kid has asked.

Dad's shop

Frank leads the kid on down the block to Carter Army-Navy & Surplus. Dad sells him the six-by-eight canvas tarp from the window: $20 less his ten percent veteran discount, $18. Then he offers the kid a job: delivery trucks and the wind have scattered trash round the shop, and it looks run-down. The clock waits at 11:15 until Dad has asked.

The storefront job

Dad hands over three trash bags, and the goal reads "Clean up the front of Dad's shop". Fifteen pieces of trash lie round the shop: on the Main Street curb, in the side alley (where Earl lives once he is built), on the cross street and in the yard. The kid takes a bag in hand and fills it; a bag holds 20, a can, wrapper or cigarette pack takes 1, a bottle, newspaper or burger bag 2, a box or hubcap 4, and G drops what the kid holds. A full bag goes in a garbage bin, which pays 5 cents a piece. Then the goal reads "Back inside to Dad", and Dad pays $5: "Now that's a storefront I can be proud of." The clock waits at 11:30, the time of Frank's walk home, until Dad has paid.

Still to come

Not built yet: Earl beside the shop, the walk home with Frank, an afternoon of research, and dinner, where Dad notices the clean shop front.

Missions

  • Main mission: QuickTransfer, how to send money.
  • Breakfast, checking in on Frank, the walk and Dad's shop lead the way there, each with a hold time.
  • The storefront job, $5 from Dad; the clock waits at 11:30 until he has paid.

People and places

In the game

  • Breakfast_Tuesday (07:30): A weekday breakfast before Dad opens his shop at nine: Mom serves toast and eggs, and the radio says ninety-five degrees by noon. The kid made it down dressed and on time. At 08:15 Dad drives off to Main Street.
  • Breakfast_Tuesday_Late (after 07:35): The same breakfast when the kid comes down after 07:35: Dad has a shop to open.
  • Breakfast_Tuesday_Pyjamas (07:30): The same breakfast when the kid comes down still in pyjamas: Dad calls it out at once.
  • Frank_Tuesday (after breakfast, before 09:00): Next door, Frank sits in his living room armchair, his cane against it and Tank on the rug. He is walking down to Tom's shop for a canvas tarp and some boot grease, and asks the kid to walk with an old soldier.
  • Frank_Walk (on the way downtown): Frank leads at his own pace along the sidewalks to Main Street, talking about the shops that stood there when he came home in 1946.
  • Frank_QuickTransfer (about 10:00): Outside QuickTransfer's yellow sign the kid remembers what Rick said about a transfer counter and asks to go in. Frank waits on the sidewalk, with a message for Artie Finch about his cane.
  • Artie_Fees (before 10:45): A main mission. Behind the glass at QuickTransfer, Artie Finch explains the wire fee: two and a half percent, at least $2.50 a transfer, to be built into the price. The kid works out that wiring $50 costs $52.50, and passes on Frank's message.
  • Frank_AfterQuickTransfer: Back on the sidewalk the kid tells Frank about the fee and Artie's answer, and Frank leads on down the block to Tom's shop.
  • Tom_Shop (before 11:15): At Carter Army-Navy & Surplus, Dad sells Frank the six-by-eight canvas tarp from the window at $18, with his ten percent veteran discount. Then he offers the kid the storefront job: three trash bags, fifteen pieces of trash, and $5 from the register.
  • Tom_JobDone: Back inside once the shop front is clean: Dad pays the $5, and Frank is ready to be walked home.