The Tokens

Chapter 11Profit by Failure

Eric awoke early and waited impatiently until it was a respectable time to call Max. Both excited and nervous, he couldn't wait to pass his idea onto him and hear his partner's opinion. At 8 a.m. sharp, he made the call.

“Max, do you have a minute? I think I just might have a solution to our historic battlefield problem, and I'd love to hear your opinion,” he said.

“Well, you sound excited. Sure, I've got a few minutes. Go ahead.”

“Okay. Keep in mind that we want to respect our service members and veterans and their sacrifices. According to everything I've heard, the best way to do that is to make sure the land remains undeveloped and the site is undisturbed. We already know what that means—we cannot develop that property,” Eric explained.

“All right. I get that,” Max replied.

“Now, we also know that neither of us wants to abandon the project. It will be a huge financial loss for you and a major career setback for me. There is the possibility that we could create a buffer zone and build around the site. We'd have to take our losses and figure out how much profit margin we have left. By reducing the size of the lots, we could make up some of that loss, but I think that would be less appealing to potential buyers,” Eric continued.

“I can see you've thought this out, so what do you propose?” Max asked.

“I say let's make this battlefield a focal point and build the development around it. We'd erect a fence and create a buffer zone to protect and preserve ...