A year ago, Leonard Takimoto pulled up along side me at a stop sign. “Hey,” he yelled across his front seat, “I need to talk to you.” I nodded to him and drove to a McD’s and pulled into their lot. Leonard parked beside me and we got out.

Leonard came to this country six years ago determined to get rich. It hadn’t worked yet.

“Don, I bought a greenhouse. This time I’m gonna get rich.”

“Lennie, what do you know about growing flowers?”

“It’s in my genes. All orientals know about flowers.”

“And you heard that from?” I asked.

“The seller. But what I wanted to ask you is, would you like to be my partner?”

At the time I thought this was a goofy idea, and turned him down. It turned out I was right.

Today, as I was ordering breakfast, Lennie slid in the booth across from me. He was smiling.
“Guess what? he said, “I sold the greenhouse.”
“Wonderful. Who bought it?”
“A chicken farmer. He said he was gonna tear it down and build a chicken co-op.”
“I think you mean coop,” I said.