New Venture:
Shortie by Lone Wolf

	I like my job as an architect. It allows my imagination to soar as I 
design each individual building. I give each the Lone Wolf touch, adding in 
something that marks it as my work, but makes it different from each of the 
others I've designed. Many are for offices of the mega-corps of the day or 
apartment buildings. There are the occasional department stores and 
community centers, and the ultra-rare sport stadiums.

	The only problem with the job is that it takes a great deal of brain 
power. One false calculation, one incorrect figure, and your project will go 
from being a well thought out masterpice, to a steaming pile of scrap. 
Though one of the most rewarding of careers, it is also one of the most 
taxing: mentally and, at times, physically.

	I've always had my dream job: to be a nightclub owner. I've always had 
a talent for mixing up drinks (trust me, Samuel will confirm that) and a 
flair for the night life. But work, low savings, and a number of other 
factors (such as getting a liquor liscense, hiring staff, etc) have 
prevented it. The dream, for some reason, always seems out of reach.

	I arrived home one day. And it had been, unfortunately, a really bad 
day. I dropped my things in the closet, leaped over the couch, and planted 
my face into the pillow that was conveniently there. I stretched and put my 
hands under it - a very ancient habit in my family - hugging it like I would 
the one's I care for.
	Lucky for me, one of those people happened to follow me in, saw this, 
and came over.
	"Lone Wolf," Ashley's sweet voice said, breaking the very aura of 
despair around me. "Are you okay?"
	I pulled my face from the soft surface of the pillow to gaze upon her 
marvelous figure. "Nah."
	She sat down on the couch. "What happened now?"
	I sighed. "The boss was being himself at double strength today. He had 
to have everything done in exactly his way, and it needed to be done before 
he even mentioned it to us."
	She started to rub my back. "I'm sorry."
	"It's not your fault Angel. Don't worry yourself to death."
	She smiled. "I won't." She let her fingers dance across my neck - one 
of my soft spots. "You really should find a new job."
	"Mmm...I can't."
	"Why not?"
	"It's something I'm good at. The pay is excellent. And it's nice to 
see my work when it's built. The only problem is that asshole who runs the 
company."
	"So can't you get rid of him?"
	"He RUNS the company. It's basically his."
	"Oh..." She turned away.
	I sat up and wrapped my arms around her. "What would you suggest I 
do?"
	"You could do something fun. You know, open up a restaurant, a bar, or 
even a nightclub."
	I chuckled. "A nightclub has always been a dream of mine. But there 
are three big problems that stand in the way."
	"And what are they?"
	"Where will I find the money to open it, who would work there, and 
where would it be?"
	"It'd be at the edge of town. Samuel, the other girls, and I would 
work for you. But I don't know about the money..."
	I kissed her cheek. "We need more than just a bunch of hot women as 
waitresses. We'd need a house band, a bunch of bouncers, and, of course, 
someone to work the sound equipment."
	"I see." She sank into my arms. "So what are you going to do?"
	"Keep playing the lottery and pray for the best."
	Samuel came in as soon as I said that. "Dude! Guess what!"
	I looked at him he held one of those scratch off lotto tickets in his 
hand. "You won fifty bucks?" He came over and handed me the ticket. It was 
one of those tax-free things. I looked at the scratch off area and saw three 
areas scratched off - each one proclaiming 25,000 dollars! My eyes widened. 
"You know what this means, right?"
	Before I could say anything, Ashley hugged me. "You found the money. 
We should start looking for a place."
	Samuel looked at her, than at me. "What's she talking about?"
	I sighed. "Sit down. I'll explain."

	We had the next day off. Despite what Ashley begged us to do, we sat 
down, Samuel and I, and worked out a business plan. "What we need, first of 
all, is our liquor liscense," I told him. "If we're gonna be sellin' booze, 
we need to do it legally."
	"Okay, that's an easy $300 dollars off the bat." He tapped that into 
the calculator.
	"Then we need to spiff up the place we're going to get. Ya know, new 
paint, new lights, new chairs and tables...that'd come to about $10,000 in 
renovations." Samuel tapped that in. "And, of course, we'd have to stock up 
on liquor."
	"Knowing what you mix up, let's put it down as a $1,100 dollar 
expense." He punched that in.
	"What've we got? $11,400? Good we've still got money to play with."
	"So what are we going to do about staff?"
	"The girls are gonna wanna be waitresses, that's obvious. We're 
probably going to need more. Then there are the bouncers, and of course 
we're going to need a house band."
	"Waitresses, for now, can be the girls. Cheap labor since they just 
about live here."
	"At least in our beds anyway." He grinned. I chucked a pillow at him. 
"What about bouncers?"
	"We can always hire Luke and his friends."
	"Luke? Ol' rabbit ears Luke? That's like hiring an infant to build a 
pyramid by himself."
	"You haven't spoken with Luke in a while, have you?" I shook my head. 
"He's buffed up. Believe me. Last time I saw him, he tried to bench press 
me." He chewed on the end of his pencil. "Not a good feeling."
	I laughed. "We'll look into that. But if they don't work out, what 
should we do?"
	"We'll figure something out."
	"Okay. House band."
	"Don't ask. We'll hold auditions."
	"Done. I'll take care of it." He nodded. "What do we have so far?"
	"Well, estimating salaries for the bouncers and band if we need to 
hire, the first three month's rent, and actually getting the lease, we've 
got about $1,000 left to play with at the end of the quarter if we open at 
the beginning of it. That is, of course, without adding in profits"
	"Okay. Now all we need is a name and I'll get the data and type it all 
up."
	We heard the laughs of the four girls.
	"Perhaps we should ask them," Samuel asked. The door opened and in 
walked the four most beautiful sights in the world - Ashley, Diana, Shanon, 
and Jessica. They paired off and went to their respective guy, Shanon and 
Jessica going with their negahunk-skunk (as they have so passionately put it) 
and Ashley and Diana sitting on my lap.
	"Whatcha upto loves?" Jessica asked.
	"Business plan for the nightclub," Samuel said. "We're picking out the 
name now."
	"Oooh!" Diana said. "How about the Wolf's Den?"
	"Taken," I said. "That's a casino on the other end of town."
	"The Crystal Skunk?" Shanon asked in her quiet way.
	"Nah," Samuel responded. "It sounds like a bar from that Casablanca 
movie." The girls looked at each other. A flurry of suggestions were thrown 
out at us soon after, each one getting more and more abstract. Then, out of 
sheer brilliance, Ashley suggested something.
	"How about The Lone Wolf?"
	I ran the name through my head. "It hasn't been used," I said.
	"It's unique," Samuel said.
	"And it sounds good," Diana said. "Like a place you'd like to hang 
out."
	"Lone Wolf, I guess we've found our name."
	"Nah. We can't."
	"Why not? It was your dream to start a nightclub. Why not take that 
credit?"
	"It doesn't feel right."
	"Well tough," Diana said, kissing my cheek. "That's the name you're 
gonna use. Okay?"
	I sighed. "Fine."

	It took me a week to write up the business plan. To complete it, we 
had to pick out a suitable location for us to set up shop. We knew what we 
wanted: a location near our edge of town, preferably in the district with 
the most activity. Samuel and Diana came with me as we scouted for places 
for rent. We came upon building after building. But they were either out of 
our price range, too big, or too small. We stopped at the local pizza place 
for a bite to eat.
	"Nothing," I muttered as I took a bite out of my slice of pizza. 
"Absolutely nothing!" I took a sip of my soda and set it down. "We can't do 
this if we can't find a place to put it!"
	"Calm down," Diana said. "I can't calm you in public."
	"Let him vent," Samuel said. "This is his dream and it's being crushed 
by capitalist fat cats."
	"What's the use?" I continued. "Samuel, keep your money. I'm gonna 
abandon the nightclub."
	The cook that was there approached me. "A nightclub?"
	"Yeah. We were planning on opening one up, but we can't find a decent 
place."
	He pointed out the window at a vacant building. "Check out that 
place." I looked at it. It was obviously a single level thing, just what we 
needed. "It used to be the Eight-ball pub, but they had their problems, ya 
know?"
	"Yeah. Perhaps we should. Thank you." We got up and headed in that 
direction.

	We got permission to go inside and have a look around. The Eight-ball 
was one of the most exclusive pubs out there. It had everything we were 
going for, including the house band. A stage was there, ready to go. "This 
place is perfect," Samuel exclaimed. "Just like I invisioned it!" He went 
over to the bar and sat down at it. "I say we take it."
	"I don't know," I said, looking about. "It looks expensive."
	The broker that was with us chuckled. "$8,000 to get the lease done, 
$1,200 a month rent."
	"Well, it does cut down on renovations. What do you say Sammy?"
	"We'd have less than $1,000 in the bank after the quarter, but I say 
go for it."
	"Lone Wolf!" Diana's voice cried from the back room. I rushed over to 
see what was going on. I found her in the dressing rooms. "This place is 
perfect. We have our own office around here to take care of matters. The 
band will have their own room. I like it so much."
	The broker put a hand on my shoulder. "What do you say?"
	"What do I say? You have a deal."

	Thus was the birth of The Lone Wolf. My dream was finally coming true. 
With the help of my friends, we were able to spiff it up in less than a week. 
All we had to worry about was staffing and getting all of our liquor and 
liscenses. That would take a miracle. But that would also be for another 
story...

End
Lone Wolf, Samuel, Diana, Ashley, Shanon, and Jessica are © Lone Wolf and 
<([ Lone Wolf Studios ])>