A Carpenter in NYC

While I was staying in NY, my host needed a little privacy screen installed in her apartment. There was a small living room and right off of it was her child's room. I can't remember where I got the 2x4's or the plywood. There are only small neighborhood hardware stores, but apparently I got the supplies and cobbled together a very basic "L" shaped screen. It was a mess and nothing to get excited about.

But my host was very appreciative and thought that I as a genius. Apparently New Yorkers are not very handy around the house. Anyway, she told a friend of hers about my work and he came over and offered me a job, working upstate for a few weeks. Since I wasn't working for Larry for several more weeks, I accepted.

His job was in upstate NY and they got paid for the hour or so travel time. He was working on the house of the foreign ambassador from Nigeria. He had a big house and we were converting the unfinished basement and turning it into a finished entertainment center. I was in charge of furring out the walls and installing very expensive wood paneling.

One night, on a work night, by hosts introduced me to "Speed" or Meth Amphetamine. It was the first and last time I ever tried that. I stayed up all night jabbering away at about a hundred miles an hour. The next morning, without any sleep and crashing, massively, I went in to work. I spent all day trying to fit a piece of paneling around a door frame. The ambassador's wife came in frequently and when she saw how little progress I had made, told me that I was fired and not to come back the next day. I couldn't blame her. I would have done the same thing.

Just before we left, the ambassador came home and when I told him what happened an apologized, he told me not to worry and to come back the next day. He said he had something special in mind for us.

The next day, he called us into his study and laid out his plan. He asked us if we would like to make large amounts of money. Well, we didn't think too long about that and replied "yes". So he proceeded to explain that he would send us to his country and set us up in a business. Mining, timber harvesting clothing manufacturing and energy production were mentioned. He would provide housing for us and of course, servants, as it wouldn't be proper without them.

Naturally, we let him know that we didn't know anything about such endeavors. We were just simple carpenters, and probably not much good at even that.

"Don't worry boys, all you need to do is run the business," he told us. "You can hire professional to set up the businesses. All you need to do is sit back and take care of the profits."

He discussed lots of details and then sent us back to work. Presumably this would all take place as soon as the work was completed on is house. As it turned out. I would leave NY before any of this came to fruition. I never found out if my friend ever went.

I do remember this. At the time there was a Nigerian Civil war taking place and a conflict with Biafra. Also, foreign ownership of businesses was usually more stable in African countries where leadership can change at a moments notice.

So, if I had stayed and gone ahead with the plan, would we have ended up as millionaires, or would our bodies have been found in the bush somewhere and our deaths blamed on Biafran rebels. Who knows.... but probably better that I never found out.