Page 3 of Guess Again
Ethan walked through the home, noticing the tablets on the walls throughout that put everything from the thermostat to music at Christian’s fingertips. Lights came on as they walked, although he never saw Christian touch a light switch. The back of the home was an uninterrupted sequence of floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a majestic view of the lake.
“This is pretty amazing.”
“You should see it when it snows. The only time I like the snow is when I’m sitting in this room and every window is filled with falling snowflakes.”
Christian pushed through a tall glass door and walked out onto the patio. Ethan followed and they sat at the patio table.
“The heat this year is nearly unbearable,” Christian said.
“It’s only predicted to get worse,” Ethan said.
“The heat is okay. It’s the humidity that’s killing me.”
“So how does a tech guy from California end up in Wisconsin?” Ethan said. “You’ve got to tell me that story.”
Christian took a sip of coffee and looked out over Lake Okoboji. A few sailboats tacked at different angles, the morning wind filling the sails. A speedboat hauled a water skier behind it.
“I founded an online file storage and sharing company. It started out primarily as files but expanded to include photos and videos and basically anything you want to store securely in the cloud, share with other users, and have access to across all your devices.”
Ethan squinted his eyes. “Like CramCase?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“CramCase is your company?”
“It was. I sold it.”
Ethan slowly nodded his head and raised his eyebrows. “I read about that last year. Didn’t it sell for . . .”
Christian nodded. “Billions.”
There was a short pause before Christian made a slight correction.
“Well, billions and billions.”
“Damn. And you owned the whole thing?”
“No, just fifty-one percent. I wrote the code for it in my college dorm room. Back then it was just my roommate and me. He’s still at the company. But I couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone thinks they want to be filthy rich, but there’s this threshold of wealth not many people know about. Once you reach it, especially through a publicly traded company, youlosefreedom rather than gain more of it. I got sick of stuffy, Ivy League nerds telling me what to do with my money and my company. The whole situation beat me down and stole my passion. So I sold my portion and got the hell out of Silicon Valley.”
“And landed in . . . Cherryview, Wisconsin? How did that happen?”
“By way of Chicago, but that’s a whole other story.”
Ethan nodded. His life had taken a similar trajectory, minus the billions. He once had a job he loved, but lost his passion for it.
“You look like you’re doing fine,” Ethan said. “Both in life, and since my nurse shot you up with morphine. If you want us to analyze the stone when you pass it, we can. Tell you what it’s made of so that you can change your diet and try to avoid another one.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll just let it slip out to sea after it exits my body. But thanks.”
“Add some water into your daily routine. Trust me, it’ll help.”
“Got it. Thanks for the ride home, Doc.”
“Sure thing.”
“You headed back to the hospital?”
“No. I’m heading out of town. I’ve got a few days off for the long weekend.”
