By the end of the night Freddy had managed to fill up eleven empty glass bottles with the leftovers of the party.
Eleven bottles filled to the brim with golden G-Juice.
Wuan was very impressed. 'You have done well Freddy!' he said when the two men met in the gas station later the next day.
'Now to work! This is where the real magic begins... we are going to turn these ordinary bottles into expensive collectable items desired by the richest tastes in town! Unlabelled these bottles are worthless, of course, but once I have finished weaving my spell these worthless dregs will sell for a fortune at auction. You will see. My plans do not fail in this business,' said Wuan confidently. 'But before we start tell me how did the party go?'
'It was...well...' Freddy started stammering he just didn't know what to say. 'I suppose you could describe it as interesting? A little strange... perhaps? There were a lot of Franks cronies there, boring old businessmen talking gibberish went over my head. I even manged to get into a fight as well, somehow, even though I was quiet and well-behaved all night. This one chap started on me and I never even said thing to him! But well, whatever, its done and over with now thank goodness.'
The two men made their way down into the basement.
It was time to get to work and prepare the juice!
Wuan worked all day through into the night!
He was like a machine, never pausing, hands always moving, eyes darting back and forth as he shifted between his different tasks. Next to his bubbling cauldron of molten wax he looked like a magician! There was a huge pile of labels in the middle of the room, and Wuan started gluing these very carefully onto the bottles. When this was done he sealed the bottles with the wax. And then under the light with a magnifying glass in hand Wuan checked and rechecked and triple checked the labels, examining the seal and the stamp and the signature - everything had to look authentic or the deal was off.
He was like a machine, never pausing, hands always moving, eyes darting back and forth as he shifted between his different tasks. Next to his bubbling cauldron of molten wax he looked like a magician! There was a huge pile of labels in the middle of the room, and Wuan started gluing these very carefully onto the bottles. When this was done he sealed the bottles with the wax. And then under the light with a magnifying glass in hand Wuan checked and rechecked and triple checked the labels, examining the seal and the stamp and the signature - everything had to look authentic or the deal was off.
Wuan explained that the collector labels were massively important to his business model. 'As I have explained to you before these labels are fakes. They have been printed off from a photocopier! Crazy I know. I contaminate the paper I used for these labels to make them appear old but that is only the start of the process. The key to selling these bottles is my personal performance as an actor. Yes. You heard me correctly, Freddy. It is all about acting. I have to lie to the people I do business with and I have to lie well enough so that my lies become the truth. If I stammer or let my guard drop then my business partners in the G-Juice trade will quickly figure me out and then everything will be over for me. Completely over. Really OVER. And I am talking about prison time here.'
'Really?' Freddy sounded totally surprised, and he started shaking a little when this dark truth had been revealed to him.
'Yes Freddy. What we are doing here is COMPLETELY ILLEGAL... This is forgery in its highest form. We are selling a fake drink for a fake price! We are committing a little crime called fraud Freddy.'
'Fraud? Gosh! You have got me scared now, Wuan! I...I didn't know we might end up getting arrested doing all of this?'
'Yes Freddy. If I were to ever be caught out and my business was exposed to the public it would be prison time for the both of us. And a LOT of prison time as well. Ten years possibly...'
'I don't understand why I would go to prison as well? None of this was my idea. I didn't know what you were doing here until about three days ago! Why would I be in trouble I don't get it?'
'Because you are my accomplice, Freddy. You stole the drink. And you helped me seal these bottles. You are part of the fake G-Juice business now Freddy whether you like it or not. There is no way out for you. If the universe decides to drop its favour for us then we will both be serving a sizable prison time.'
'O no! I don't like this!'
'Calm down Freddy. You have that look about you again!'
'What look?'
'Like a man in front of a firing squad!'
'Well I kind of am! I mean I know I am not facing guns right now but a prison sentence is just as horrible! Look at it from my point of view, Wuan. If you cock this thing up I could end up being put behind bars with the lads! Look at me! I am the kind of man who would get killed in prison... or worse... all sorts of things go on inside prison that I don't want to talk about. No! I think I would rather face a firing squad if I am honest with you if given the choice!'
'Get a grip, Freddy,' Wuan replied with a chilly calmness. 'We are not going to lose. Not with me in charge of things. I never lose Freddy. I have been in this business for six years and have never been caught and I have been working all over the world and I am happy to say that the people living here in Fenwick have proven to be the most stupid and the most easy to lie to. We are going to win, Freddy. We are going to become very rich! Be happy. These are going to be good times for us, you will see. Now calm down. Your negative energy is unsettling. Breathe. Relax. Close your eyes. Forget about the past. Forget about the present. Think about the future, for that is where the present place will always be... block out all sounds in your ears and fill your mind with one thing... Money, Freddy, the one thing we are going to have a lot of very soon...'
'It's not working, Wuan! I am still really scared right now... I think I want out...!'
'That is impossible, Freddy, for two reasons. ONE. You need to pay off your debts. You are in debt to a lot of very dangerous people, Freddy. TWO. If I fail and go to prison I will make sure you have a nice little prison cell of your own to enjoy. A nice small jail cell filled with one, maybe two very dangerous men in need of a very gentle punchbag with a name starting with F.'
'Wuan! I thought you were my mate?'
'I am your friend, Freddy. I am going to help you grow rich. But you have to believe in my skill as a forger and a liar. Now quit your negativity before it brings us both down!'
'Okay...uh...I might need a drink before we really get started with this...'
'Have a glass of gold, Freddy, on me.'
'Thank you.'
With a quivering hand Freddy brought the drink up spilling most of it before it reached his lips.
So what was going to happen next?
It was time for Freddy to find out.
'I am inviting some friends over tonight for a drink tasting session. I think it would be a good thing for you to be there and experience the process in its fullness,' said Wuan.
Freddy agreed to stay for the tasting session.
Wuan had a room in the back which was reserved for guests. The room was equipped with several chairs and a bar loaded with bottles of drink, mostly G-Juice of course. Wuan later described the room as a set created on purpose to allow him to act and entertain the crowd. 'It is a stage made for me to strut and fret my hour, as Shakespeare once wrote!'
One by one the guests started to arrive.
Wuan seemed to know them all by their name, shaking their hands and exchanging pleasant words as they came in, these people seemed to be his personal friends.
They were a colourful bunch: tall, thin, short, bolding, bulging, smart, sharp, blunt, silly, stupid and whimsical.
As odd as they all were they were united by ONE thing, their love for the G-Juice. Freddy was very soon to learn that these people were true G-Juice connoisseurs of the highest order, the elite among the lovers of that particular drink.
As everyone started carousing Wuan took Freddy to a quiet corner and started whispering these words into his right ear:
'Most of these people are part of a club known as The Juicers. They are as arrogant as they are rich. all of them own businesses selling G-Juice. There are one or two souls here who inherited their wealth, but the bulk of them are professionals with a stake in the G-Juice trade. They covet the purple drink more than they do their own health, and they are indeed an unhealthy bunch as you may observe; drunks and smokers all... Look at that fat man over their with a cigar in his mouth - he should have died long ago! But somehow the juice keeps them going. These people here with us tonight will spend a true fortune on a bottle of the purple, and they will NEVER drink it. Think about it! They are buying literal blackcurrant juice that they will never drink! But there is an old saying: fools money and separation, which is something you are about to bear witness to! Now if you don't mind Freddy I must return to my guests! They need drinking and entertaining (And then Wuan whispered one last whisper - watch me at work Freddy!).'
And work he did!
All night.
He didn't stop.
What an incredible actor Mr Wuan was. A true poet!
Wuan knew how to talk and how to entertain. He had a natural talent for it. The words just flowed out of him like water from a well. And he was managing to sell the juice right and left, placing bottles of the stuff in peoples hands left and right.
It was a remarkable scene to see!
It was more than business it was more than work - it was art!
Freddy was truly impressed. In fact if an outsider ever asked Freddy what he thought about Wuan he really would not know what to say other than, 'He is the best actor I have never seen on television!'
Wuan even managed to sell a bottle of alcoholic Ribena to the master vintner and renown G-Juice collector James Weston. James later described the contaminated fruit juice as - delectable and the finest of its kind.
'The world is full of fools and geniuses and foolish geniuses,' said Wuan later that night after the party was over and all the drunks had cleared out back to their brothels and bars. 'Think about Mozart,' Wuan continued, 'the man was deceased at 35. Dissolved into the ground!'
'O well Yes. I suppose there is that,' Freddy replied. Freddy felt like Wuan was drunk and talking nonsense - but yet he did not remember seeing the man put a single drop of liquid to his lips all night... How strange?
Wuan continued with his strange speech:
'And yet the spirit of Mozart still plays on to this day. This mere thought just amazes me,' he said.
'The idea of life being life is just an idea, and the idea of life lives in dreams. Tonight was a dream, Freddy, what happens next is life.'
Good Lord! What was Wuan talking about? Freddy was deeply confused but for the sake of peace he pretended that he could understand what Wuan was talking about and agreed with him saying, 'It's all true my friend.'
'This is life,' Wuan went on. And then he opened a safe to reveal that it was full of cash: notes. 'We made ten thousand tonight, Freddy,' he said. He talked in a cold almost robotic voice. Freddy was happy to see the money but the fraudsters robotic voice and mannerisms sent a chill down almost all parts of his body (But that might also be because he had forgotten to put a vest on that morning). 'And we will make the same amount again next time,' Wuan continued. 'Here is your share my friend. You are four grand closer to paying off your debts, Freddy. Enjoy.'
'This is amazing Wuan!' Freddy exclaimed. 'I can't believe you made all this money in one night just by selling blackcurrant juice to people! Mr Robinson would be proud!'
Wuan returned with a sly smile and then he said, ominously, 'It is the dream, Freddy. And life is just the spectator of the dream...'
(Remember! All spelling errors and grammatical mistakes are intentional - the author 😆)
Previous part here
There is a prequel to this story. Check the link below if you would like to read it: Jim's Subway part 1
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