Greed + Fear (Part I)

It’s dark and crowded in The Bamboo Lounge, and you can barely see the faces right in front of you. Exotic beauties surround me, in all colors and fashions of tight-fitting dresses, shimmy-shaking to the music.

I’m sweating heavily through my dark blue button-down, and sipping a vodka cranberry.

“COLIN!” I scream to my buddy standing nearby. “What was that stock you were telling me about?” Colin’s been a close friend of mine since middle school, but I haven’t seen him in about a year. He’s been ranting and raving all night about an investment his dad alerted him to, telling me it’s a very lucrative opportunity.

He smiles and glances over at me. “Azerexior Pharmaceuticals! AZXR!” He yelled, pumping his fist slightly for emphasis. “It’s a lock! Completely foolproof!”

Like most of Colin’s assertions, I take it with a grain of salt. He’s always been a little out there with his “investment schemes,” and I’m used to alcohol making his proclamations just a tad-bit too grandiose.

“If you don’t believe me, put 500 bucks in. Just to see what happens. Worst case scenario, you lose half of it. But you’re not going to lose. I guarantee it.”

He seemed intensely certain. I was starting to come around. I could afford $500. I couldn’t envision the stock going down to 0, so I figure I’d lose a few hundred dollars at most. I could use a little excitement in my life. In addition, I’d always wanted to dabble in the stock market. I find it incredibly cool to buy small parts of companies I believe in, and give myself the chance to make money, essentially by doing nothing but standing by that belief.

On top of all that, Colin’s tone implied he knew something more than he was telling me. His certainty was rock-solid, as if the final result was already a foregone conclusion. It made me extremely curious what that something was.

I started to ask the obvious question but he waved me off before I could get it out.
“I can’t say any more, alright? You just gotta trust me on this. It’s a guarantee.”

Shit. Now it was getting hard to say no. The possibilities danced in front of my eyelids. Piles of money we’d surely make distracted me from the wild scene going on around me in this South Beach den of debauchery.

I sipped my drink and scanned the room of pulsating bodies, knowing that I’d made my decision.

I was in.