Tag: penny stocks

Swamped

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…fifteen or so big commercial ships anchored in the bay, and on the
far side of the water at beautiful Stanley Park and further off the Kitsilano
district and the UBC lands to their right, the green thickets of
trees, the roofs of houses, the big apartment buildings, and above
them the airplanes descending slowly as they approached the airport
in flat, distant Richmond, all such familiar sights and yet as fresh and
fascinating every day as if never enjoyed before. Eteo and Ariana
seemed to register the view in the logbook of their souls, tuned to
the same sounds and echoes, to the same relaxation methods and to
the same fiery lovemaking, to the same thoughts and wishes. Their
souls were in tune.
The following Saturday Eteo picked Ariana up from her apartment
and drove to BC Place and the private room Pacific Trends had
rented for the year. A few other people were already there: the vice
president of Pacific Trends, Lucas Stonewall, and his girlfriend, Isabel,
the head trader John with his wife Ekaterina, the head of the accounting
department Dean Magnusen with his girlfriend and two other
women. While the introductions were in progress, Bradley came in
with his girlfriend, a woman of South Asian heritage called Pari.
Other guests soon followed, and in a few minutes the room was full.
The drinks flowed freely and everyone had something in their hands
while they chitchatted and laughed. Eteo sided up to Bradley and
proudly introduced Ariana to him
“So you’re the one who has brought a smile back to Eteo’s lips,”
Bradley quipped as he shook Ariana’s hand. “I’m very pleased to meet
you.”
Ariana only smiled and blushed at his comment.
Before the game started, Bradley took a moment to address them
all.
“I wanted to inform you that this week’s success goes to Eteo,
who introduced Pacific Trends to a new venture, Platinum Properties,
which has made the firm some good money already, and we hope
will make a lot more in the weeks and months to come. Cheers to
Eteo, then. This has been his week.”
“Not bad for a Cretan immigrant,” Bradley called out with a
laugh, “and yes, recommend Platinum to all your clients,”…

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Swamped

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Day after day, page after page, Eteocles devotes all that summer,
fall, and winter, and almost the whole of the next spring, before he
finally has the book totally transcribed. During that year, he hardly
goes out to play and only just manages to find time for his homework.
This is his last year at the elementary level, and next year he will go
to high school.
When he has completed the last page of his hand-written version
of Erotokritos, he takes all the pages he has written and proudly shows
them to his mom and dad and to Nicolas. They don’t say a single
word. What could one say in such a situation? His parents don’t even
congratulate him. Only Nicolas says “bravo” and that is all. No fanfare,
no balloons, no cheers, just a smile from his dad and a smile
from his mom. Perhaps they don’t understand the enormity of such
an accomplishment. Perhaps the value of such work escapes them,
or perhaps they are just too tired from the daily struggle to find food,
to find work, to procure the necessities, to pay the rent. Eteocles’ family
has no house of their own at that time. They left Crete almost penniless,
and the daily labours of the father provide all they have.
Eteocles’ family has never owned properties, neither olive groves
nor grapevines, like most of their relatives had, nor any other income-
producing assets. Eteocles’s father grew in an orphanage, discarded
by his mother, who conceived him when she was seventeen
years while was working as maid in a rich man’s family in the neighbouring
village. As for Eteocles’s mother, his angel, she at least had a
dowry from her father, a Cretan who knew how to look after his
daughters, but he had five of them and could only give each one a
small part of his estate. And even that bit of property Eteocles’ mother
received from her father had been taken over by an auntie, who used
the old house in which Eteocles and Nicolas were born and lived during
their childhood years as barn for her animals.
What does anyone need in this life? It takes Eteocles many years
to understand how to measure his needs and how to decide what
comes first and what comes second and what people must do to have
what they wish for— and what they may miss in the process.
What does Eteocles’s family need at this juncture of their lives?
A house, perhaps, since having your own house is considered …

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Swamped

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up six more cents, leaving a good sixty thousand share purchase
order on the low end. Eteo turned to Logan with a grin, “They obviously
like the stock all of a sudden. Let them buy as much as they
like, but keep an eye out for when they look like they are going out
in case they plan to do that soon.” Logan just nodded and walked
back to his desk.
Eteo’s phone continued ringing all day long because of Platinum
Properties. Even Mario called again, almost at the end of the trading
session, to say how pleased he was that Eteo decided to stay with Platinum
for the long run. Eteo asked him to pass by for a minute or two
after the market closed and Mario agreed and said he would bring
the Nostra Ventures subscription forms with him. Half an hour later,
Mario Messini was sitting in Eteo’s office, his face gleaming with satisfaction.
He waved the forms at Eteo.
“How many copies did you say you needed? I only brought one
of each.”
“No worries, I’ll make some,” Eteo assured him. “Let me see,” he
mused as he studied the forms and thought about who to involve in
this. “Two for Robert and three for me, five altogether.”
“I have to admit, Eteo, that I liked your aggressive buying at the
end of the day,” Mario said. “It up-ticked the stock at once and left it
looking very good for tomorrow’s opening.”
“What can I say,” replied Eteo, smiling. “I like the company, and
I certainly like its trading pattern over the last two weeks. I’ve talked
to my people, and most of them will stay. Some even bought some
extra stock today, but I should also let you know something. Just between
us two. I have your word, right?”
Mario nodded yes.
“The boss is buying most of it.”
“Connors? Hell no! Are you sure?”
Eteo told him about his meeting with Bradley Connors while
Mario shook his head.
“I don’t know whether to take that as good or not,” he finally
replied.
“I know what you mean, but look at it this way. Even if the boss
has a short fuse, as everyone says, at least for the next few days…

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Swamped

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the process. Then she went to the bathroom and emerged a moment
later looking professional and businesslike again. She sat down next
to him and talked business as if nothing but business had ever happened
between them. Eteo listened carefully and agreed on what
needed to be done for his new company, now registered under the
name Alexa Ventures. While Rebecca talked business, Eteo played
with her combed-up hair and neck and ears to the point of giving
her goosebumps, and Rebecca loved every moment of this but without
giving any hint of her awakening desire.
But when she had finished talking business, she let him undress
her to nothing and let him place her on top of him and ask her to
make him feel as wild as he had felt earlier, and Rebecca did her best
and rode his firmness deep inside her and like an amazon gave him
the utmost sexual pleasure once again. They both went to heaven and
back numerous times until they couldn’t have anymore, and then
rested in each other’s arms until the time came for Eteo to drive to
North Vancouver and Rebecca to her husband and child in Kitsilano.
Over the next few days Eteo’s work kept him busier than ever.
Golden Veins was getting a lot of attention, and its price had risen
into the fifties. This enabled Eteo to unload some of his clients’ stock
and use the funds to buy shares in Wheaton for them. Platinum Properties
was also doing very well, trading at a dollar and a half now and
with good volumes every day. John from the trading desk had gone
in and out of it a number of times as the stock moved upward, and
Eteo had sold many of the shares he held, getting good profits for his
personal accounts and his clients. Even Helena made a few dollars
on Platinum Properties. This delighted her, since as a conservative
girl she usually stayed away from risky penny stocks, except of course
when Eteo advised her to take the plunge.
One morning Eteo asked Mitch to meet him, and within half an
hour, he entered Eteo’s office, wondering what this was all about. He
didn’t have to wonder for long.
“Have a seat, Mitch,” Eteo said without any preamble. “I had a
meeting with Rebecca Horton. She has put the wheels in motion for
a new company incorporated for me with the name Alexa. You’ll
serve on the board of directors along with Peter, the engineer…

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Swamped

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Eteo planned to spend the weekend with Ariana, including the
nights. In fact, he wanted to take Ariana to Harrison Hot Springs for
the weekend. It would be the first time, except for some business
trips, that he had slept outside the house since the divorce. He
arranged with Jonathan what to do about their food, left some money
for them, and after Alex and Jonathan told him he could go and they
would be fine for two days, he decided to proceed with his plans.
Then he talked to Ariana again. She was elated that they could get
away for two nights.
He drove to the Ambleside, went upstairs to Ariana’s apartment,
and found her almost ready for their first weekend together. A few
minutes later he was carrying her small overnight bag down to his car.
“Where are you taking me, my love?” she asked him
“I’m not telling you. It wouldn’t be a surprise if I did, would it?
Ariana smiled and kissed him. “Okay then, I’m all yours; take
me anywhere you wish,” she said, then added, “and do anything you
wish with me,” her voice husky with desire.
In silence, he drove east along Lougheed Highway, passing Port
Coquitlam then Mission, through the farmlands of the Fraser Valley
to Harrison Hot Springs in Agassiz. The parking valet at the big hotel
by the lake where they stopped took his car and the doorman carried
their bags to their room, beautifully decorated with fresh flowers and
a bottle of wine with some finger food already laid out on the table.
Ariana smiled and gave him a look of approval. She knew him well
enough by now to know he was man of good taste who enjoyed going
out of his way to make her feel great.
Ariana was eager to show Eteo in her most personal way how
much she appreciated him, and they were soon making passionate
love. Only afterwards did they sample the wine and food and then
spent some time walking along the lakeshore in the evening and
again the next morning. The next evening they enjoyed a candlelight
dinner in the Copper Room, the special hotel restaurant where the
Jones Boys played hits of the sixties, seventies, and eighties.
At one point while they were dancing in the Copper Room after
dinner, Ariana looked into Eteo’s eyes and said, “I’m falling in love
with, Eteo Armen, and though I don’t want to make you …

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Swamped

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money we have should be placed on that … just for now though. Recommend
it to whoever you think can wait a year or so to get results.
Frankie is a patient man, but he does things right. Remember that.”
“I’ll work on that, Dad” Logan said, getting up and going back
to his desk.
As soon as his son left the office, Eteo’s phone rang. Richard
Walden was on the line and sounded excited, talking of an oil deal
he was planning to get involved in. It was a prime southern Texas location,
and a deep well with indications of plenty of reserves.
“Come over and bring what you have on it,” Eteo suggested.
Richard had not had much success with oil up to now, but Eteo was
always ready to listen if a deal sounded promising.
Half an hour later Richard walked in with a map and a letter of
intent he had already signed. Eteo glanced at the letter and saw that
Richard had agreed to contribute 20 percent of the drilling expenses
to earn ten per cent participation in one deep well.
“This all looks good, as far as I can see,” he said. “Ten percent is
a respectable piece of the well, if it’s a good one.”
“They’ve been very successful with other wells in the same area”
Richard pointed out.
“So far so good then. Just a couple of words for caution’s sake
though. Make sure before you sign the final agreement that they have
enough other participants signed up. You don’t want them using your
paper to sell the rest of the well. Second, find out who their operator
is in Texas and what he has been involved with over the last, say, five
years. I’ve come across horror stories about some of the operators
down there.”
“Don’t worry, Eteo. It’ll all be fine. I’m flying to Calgary this
weekend and meeting the brokers again on Monday morning. I expect
lots of buy-in soon.”
“That’s great, then” Eteo said, raising his coffee mug to toast the
prospect. Richard marched out with his map and a broad smile on
his face.
Eteo chuckled to himself at Richard’s optimism. He wasn’t quite
as sanguine, but he hoped the promoter would return from Calgary
with some good news. Then he turned his attention to Golden Veins.

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Swamped

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Eteocles in grade two and Nicolas in grade four. It doesn’t
take them long to gang up with other kids, but because they are newcomers,
some of the other children start picking on Eteocles, choosing
him because he is the smaller of the two. Sometimes they push
him against a wall or block from going down the stairs before others.
Sometimes they try to intimidate him with threats. This goes on until
Nicolas discovers what is happening, and after he finds out who the
ringleader is, he rewards him with a few good punches on the stomach
and head. These make the third grader start howling, and Nicolas
ends up in the principal’s office and is suspended from school for two
days. It is his first suspension, but more will follow as the days and
years go by.
Within only a couple of weeks, the two brothers have done all
their exploration of the immediate area, made new friends in the
neighborhood, and become familiar with all the surroundings. They
like their new neighbourhood, but especially the water pump they
call touloumpa. Eteocles loves to work its lever and draw water from
the depths of the earth. He loves the freshness of the cool well water
and with some practice gets good at working the lever with one arm
while drinking the refreshing water out of the palm of his other hand.
Another favorite spot is by the two big trees about a hundred meters
from their house where all the boys and girls of the neighborhood
play their favorite characters, Tarzan and Jane, Gaour, and Tatambou,
and all the other heroes, the detectives, the resistance fighters during
the German occupation, all the daring characters they know so well
from their comic books.
Every Sunday afternoon their parents take the boys down to the
promenade by the Gulf of Salonica where they walk from west to
east, usually stopping near the White Tower where their dad buys
them ice cream during the hot summer days or roasted chestnuts
during the cold days of autumn and winter. This is the only entertainment
they can afford, but the boys love it every time, even if the
scenery is always the same and the long walk tires them out especially
on the uphill walk back to their suburb of Sikies.
Today, like any other Sunday, after they attend mass at the local
church and have their noon meal at home, their mom tells them …

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Swamped

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boys their usual beers, while Patricia wanted grapefruit juice and
Alex had a coke. Appetizers were ordered. Eteo as usual had the mussels
his friend George cooked in wine sauce, George’s specialty and
Eteo’s favorite appetizer. He suggested Ariana try them and she loved
them so much he ordered another plate, which they both relished to
the last mussel and the last drop of sauce. Soon their main meals arrived,
and they all enjoyed them too. The night went by nicely. Eteo
oen caught Logan’s eyes on Ariana, and he noticed too that Logan
was talking to her so much that his own date was beginning to feel
lonely. He subtly made Logan aware of this and soon the atmosphere
was balanced again.
Their mood was very jolly and at one point George the cook
came out and greeted them. Eteo introduced Ariana to his old friend
and noticed that George gave her a couple of glances of admiration,
reminding Eteo that soon everyone in the local Greek community
would know about the relationship, since George would most likely
mention it to his wife Stefania, who would go out of her way to pass
it on to all the Greek women she knew, including Eteo’s ex-wife who
was still a good friend of Stefania. Eteo imagined the expression on
his ex-wife’s face when she found out and a devious smile spread over
his own face. Suddenly he leaned over and kissed Ariana on the lips.
The others smiled but said nothing, and Ariana’s cheeks reddened,
though she loved his spontaneity.
At the end of the evening, Logan took the boys home and then
Patricia to Coquitlam, where she lived with her parents, while Eteo
and Ariana went for a ride to Horseshoe Bay. There he drove to
Whytecliff Park and parked. They kissed for a while and then, excited,
moved to the back seat, equally hungry for one another. It was the
first time she had climbed on top of him and ridden her sensuality
to the peak of pleasure, her low moaning driving Eteo even crazier
for her body than ever. As they made love, it seemed like all the celestial
bodies and constellations paired off in the firmament and sang
erotic cadences as each heavenly lover coupled with their mate:
Perseus with his Andromeda, Uranus with his Gaia, Zeus and Hera,
Rhea and Kronos. All played out their erotic games just as Eteo and
Ariana did in a car by the side of the road in Whytecliff Park.

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Swamped

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“Sounds good, Eteo.”
“Okay George. How expensive is this going to be?”
“For you, Eteo,” George replied, smiling, “for you, you know …
I could do it for 16,500. I have to cover the prospector’s expenses,
that’s about 2,500, and 8,000 for my office expenses. That leaves a nice
chunk for the good guys.”
“Sounds good to me,” Eteo replied, smiling back. “Go ahead and
prepare the papers and send them to Rebecca.”
“I can have an agreement ready for your lawyer within a week.
Will that work for you?”
“A week sounds fine,” Eteo agreed, and the two men shook hands.
Alone in his office Eteo checked the prices of a few stocks. Platinum shares
were trading nicely, with good volumes and steady buying
slowly driving the price up a few cents a day. A classic case of
what they called “healthy” trading. Eteo hoped it would carry on like
this for a while longer, but he also knew that all good things come to
an end. The key was to know when to get out. As for Golden Veins
the price was stale. Eteo had had a couple of offers, which he was selling
through a different brokerage company so that no one would
know he was the seller, but he didn’t expect anyone to buy them anytime
soon.
At that moment Logan came in to his father’s office with a broad
smile on his face.
“Sam regrets selling some shares the other day,” he announced.
“It never fails, does it? Even when we sell something at a good profit,
if the stock goes up even a little bit after that, Sam regrets selling.
Now he wants to buy it back. What should I do, Dad?”
“Do what he wants. There’ll be some profit in it even at this level,
and he also has some of the cheaper stock, so his average won’t be
that bad. Go ahead and buy it back for him.”
A few minutes later Eteo noticed a buying order of 6,000 shares
bought by his house. Sam’s stock was in hand. On impulse, he dialed
Ariana’s phone and caught her doing her morning errands.
“Hello, sweet baby, want to hook up later?”
Ariana laughed and said, “What a question, but of course I want
to. Come and get me as soon as you’re done.”

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However, Mario wanted to have a bigger
piece of the pie than his partners, so he made a side deal with a shady
promoter and the trustee released all the stock to the new purchaser
on Mario’s instructions alone, and without the deposit that was customary
in any financial deal. The promoter ended up running around
downtown Vancouver with a briefcase full of certificates that didn’t
belong to him, and after he wasted a few certs on some of the scummiest
people in VSE circles without being able to raise the funds to
pay for the shell company, he went back to Mario and together they
concocted a story that the certs had gotten lost.
One of the scumbags the promoter dealt with was Jimmy Hall, a
character Eteo had met once, who was probably the shadiest promoter
in Vancouver. Eteo remembered how this man had called him
son when they met like some kind of mafia don, and he had not been
too surprised when Hall was later gunned down for unknown reasons,
like another famously scummy Vancouver promoter, Bobby
Hanover, who was also killed a few years later.
When, after this debacle, the three partners met to discuss their
next move with Richard Walden, another investor on Robert’s side,
and coincidentally the current president of Golden Veins, Walden had
been furious and threatened to go to the authorities. Eteo had argued
for keeping VSE officials away from the issue and instead going after
the trustee who had “lost” the certs. Mario had vehemently objected,
not surprisingly, since he was the one who had instructed her to release
the stock to the promoter in the first place, though Eteo only
discovered this later. Walden had continued to insist they go to the
VSE and report their share certificates stolen and had almost persuaded
the others until Eteo asked, “What do you expect the VSE to
do? Issue new certs to us?”
Nobody knew what to say to this.
“Look,” Eteo explained, “there’s a way to get all our shares back,
though it will take time.”
“Okay, how?” Walden demanded.
“We declare the certs lost one at a time and issue a new cert each
time, but we can only do this gradually, one cert at a time.”

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