The Con Sets Up His Mark

I'm a pretty good judge of character and I usually can spot a criminal a mile away.  But I just didn't see this one coming!  The excitement of creating a new musical play along with the upcoming first meeting of the two drag actors I had chosen to originate it, was all-consuming.

On September 24, 2013, I picked up my old friend, Marvin Nathan, from the LV airport.  He had been in Wilton Manors, Florida for the past year and a half, and was very happy to be back in Vegas.  Being that his new apartment would not be ready for move-in for two days, it was decided that he would stay with Gene and me in our home.

Marvin spoke as if he could not wait to get his things out of his LV storage and begin his new chapter as one of the principals of this new musical starring myself, him and the wonderful Randy Roberts.  But he realized that the apartment he had on hold in the Northwest was much too far away from me and everything else.  So, he ended up changing his mind and procured a new apartment with a sister property just a few miles from my home.  However, this apartment would not be available for move-in until the 3rd of October.  This meant that Marvin's two-day stay would extend to nine.

Since Marvin was waiting for his disability check, he was broke.  Gene and I were on a tight budget ourselves, but kindly paid for all of Marvin's food while we put a roof over his head.

The first red flag that should have waved frantically in front of my face was when Marvin said he had borrowed a few thousand from his friend, B.B., in Florida to move out here, but that he gave it back because he did not want this person to meddle in his business.  Marvin was always speaking negatively about his circle of friends in Florida.  The only person he spoke highly of was "Father Jamie," his last roommate and confidante.  I was taken back by his critical nature, but justified it off as being residual negative energy left over from his protested life in Wilton Manors.

I worked hard to get a rough outline of the new play ready for when Randy Roberts graciously took time out of his busy show schedule in San Francisco to spend a few days working with Marvin and myself.  Marvin was supposed to have moved into a temporary residence by the time Randy came to stay at my home so that Randy could take over the guest room.  But Marvin was not going anywhere.  So, I moved him onto the couch in the living room so that Randy could have the spare bedroom.

We went over the script, sang together in the recording studio and hashed over the ideas I had set in motion.  It was a bit tense to have Randy and Marvin and myself come together in a group dynamic.  I wondered if I had made the right choice.  Was Marvin not up to the task of keeping stride with me and Randy, or was Randy just not aware of my abilities or of Marvin's potential enough to feel confident of this project?  I didn't know.

I explained to a critical Marvin who was concerned about Randy, that Randy and I were very similar.  We were both leaders who had been in charge of our own projects.  I further explained that I would react just as Randy did in a similar situation.  I would doubt the project until I saw it unfold into something in which I could align.

I told Randy that I was tense over Marvin's reliance on Gene and me for everything but that he had a natural comedic talent.  I was in between a rock and a hard place, but I kept on going. 

Randy went back to his gigs on the road and Marvin remained, either fixed upon the couch or upon his bed talking on his phone, writing emails or playing on Facebook.  Oh, he would take five minutes to load or unload the dishwasher.  But that was his only productive moment of each day.  I justified this by thinking to myself that he needed time to unwind and adjust.  After all, he was not as physically well as the rest of us.  He had been hospitalized with a stroke a year prior and was on heart medication.  Thus, the reason for his disability check each month, which was scheduled to arrive by October 3rd.

This check arrival also meant Marvin's ability to depart into his new apartment.  It had been a long ten days now.  But, there was a problem.  According to Marvin, the check did go into one of his accounts at the City County Credit Union in Wilton Manors, Florida.  However, he needed to transfer it from one account to another in order to keep his disability money separate from his second account.  The check disappeared with this transfer.  His money never posted in the other account.

After another three days of this, I suggested to Marvin that he have an attorney check out the problem with the Credit Union.  Enter his fictitious long-time lawyer, "Howard Newman."  I heard Marvin speaking to Howard about the problem with the Credit Union.  He even imitated Howard's gruff voice to make the illusion more realistic.  I still didn't see the con unfolding, but unfold it did much like a volcano spews its hot lava, harming all in its path.

(To find out what happens next, please join this blog by hitting the icon at the top right near the little pictures of the "followers" and let the prompts guide you.  By doing this, you will receive an email every time I write a new post.  I hope you'll join me.  This story gets really good...)