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The Con - Part 12

Started by otter, March 20, 2013, 09:54:58 AM

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otter

 Martin was as good as his word. Father Brennan helped carry in the purchases from Martin's little van and secreted them away in his fly tying room. A quick cup of tea and a chat about the weather, politics and off course how M.P. was getting faster by the day. When Martin left, Father Brennan hurried upstairs and opened the various parcels, checking each item off against the list, everything that he had ordered was there.

For the next three weeks Father Brennan was busier than one of Santa's elves, every spare minute was spent in the fly tying room and in the shed at the bottom of his garden. When he had completed his mission he gave Liam a call and invited him over that evening.

He laid everything out carefully on the floor in the sitting room and opened a bottle of wine. He had not had a drink in weeks and reckoned that a small celebration was required. Stage one of operation "Vengance" was almost completed and he hoped that Liam was on schedule with his end of the bargain.

Liam arrived a bit later than expected so a second bottle had to be uncorked. While the slightly merry priest poured two glasses of the finest that Chile had to offer, Liam set up his laptop on the kitchen table. 'Well Liam, how is progress on the website, are we on schedule'; Father Brennan glanced at the Laptop screen. Liam had done many demonstrations over the years and was very skilled on playing his audience.

'James, the format was a problem but I robbed some ideas from other sites and I have a working site ready. Would you like to see it ?' Liam placed the mouse over an icon, index finger ready to click.

Father Brennan nodded, licking his lips in anticipation as Liam clicked with the mouse and up she came. "The Popes Angling Emporium – Purveyor of Angling Products for the expert fly angler."

Father Brennan yelped like a dog about to be fed; 'Brilliant Liam, it looks like she is ready to have the blanks filled in. Follow me'; he led Liam into the sitting room, revealing the treasure trove that he had accumulated.Liam surveyed the items laid out on the floor and whistled in delight; 'God almighty could not decline a chance to buy some of that. James Brennan, you should have been a con artist, I mean a seller of fishing tackle.'

Looking rather smug, Father Brennan read from his prepared list. 'The Popes Dry Fly Rods, 8 and 9 foot. The Pope's French Nymph Rods 9,10,11,12 foot, The Pope's Czech Nymph Rods, 10,11,12 foot. The Pope's Trout Net. The Pope's Fluorocarbon. The Pope's French Leader. The Pope's Dry fly line, Wet Fly line, Nymph Line and Specialist Line. The Pope's Secret Nymphs, Secret Dry's, Secret Czech Nymphs, Secret Spiders and Secret French Nymph's and at least another twenty items.'; taking a deep breath and pausing;' The Popes Secret guide to catching large Trout. I have a bit of typing to do for that'; taking a rather large sip of the wine he waited for Liam's reaction.

Liam was in convulsions, completely unable to speak but eventually asked; 'How poor are the fly rods James.'

'Let's just say that my one and the first one we sell Jimmy are excellent quality but we will not have enough stock to fulfil the Lifetime Warranty. Caveat Emptor, let the buyer beware.'

The rods were all matt black and looked identical except for the colour of the ring whippings and size. The fly lines were matt black, fly boxes, yes you guessed right, matt black. The net was matt black, in fact every single item was matt black. All items carried the Pope's logo, a simple hand painted Celtic cross in gold and despite its simplicity, boy did it stand out. Even Father Brennan had surprised himself at how well the kit looked.

Liam took out his camera and took a photo of each item that would go into The Pope's catalogue. When finished, he peeped into The Popes Secret Nymphs box. What he said next could not be repeated, not even in adult company

Returning to the kitchen they sat down and discussed pricing. Father Brennan reckoned that cost price multiplied by a factor of twenty was about right for the first item purchased. That would set the 8 foot Dry Fly rod at €1200 and €300 extra for the 9 foot version they decided was a fair price.

'James, have you showed The Popes stock to Sean yet?' asked Liam.

'I have not told him, Sean has disappeared of the face of the earth. He went on holidays over two months ago and apart from a post card from Jamaica and another from Hawaii I haven't heard from him in three weeks. No doubt he will be back in time for Christmas.' Father Brennan was not overly concerned about Sean but another postcard would put his mind to rest.

'Once you finish the website , the packaging and marketing leaflets and we get the fish tank installed at the back of Sean's pub that will be everything complete, roll on the first of March.'

'To the first of March, Caveat Emptor'; raising their glasses they toasted what they knew would be the most interesting trout season ever.

to be continued

scotgillespie

Oh deep joy... Keep it rolling on.

bushy palmer


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