(Note: Copywronged is a 13 part blog of the backstory behind the 2019 Orphan Works Trial. You have come in the middle of story. Click back to beginning for the FULL story )
2014 was a seriously rough year. The economy, in my opinion, was still in the dumpster, the Edge Video stores were struggling, and I caught some kind of avian flu. I went to the hospital around the end of January and fell into a coma that lasted for several weeks. When I woke up around the beginning of March, one of the first things I asked Heidi was, "How are the stores doing?"
She replied, "They're gone."
I didn't blame her, for anything because I had told many times, if anything ever happens to me like I die or (somewhat joking), go to prison. Just sell everything and move on with your life. We had no substantial debt and even at liquidation prices the cash out of Edge Video would be enough to start a new beginning. Still, hearing those words for the first time really stung.
At first, I was crushed, mainly because I never give up on anything, and sometimes, to my detriment, I never give up on anyone. But after a while, I felt this incredible relief and freedom to explore new ventures, and my mind was already racing with possibilities.
The only store that remained was the downtown location, which was only still open because my mother had contacted the landlord and paid the rent while I was knocking on heaven's door (or the other place, depending on who you ask). And so, with a small group of very loyal employees, we tried to rebuild the EDGE "empire." While I had a long recovery period, we were having some success. One profitable aspect of the downtown EDGE was taking in trades and reselling them online and elsewhere. We came up with this idea: EDGE Mobile Trading, or EMT. My plan was to buy old ambulances and, using the internet to advertise and locate items, travel the state buying and reselling. It was quite fun and had a lot of potential.
Then, out of the blue in September 2014, the downtown landlord asked us to move out. We weren't behind on rent or causing any problems (that we knew of), and he wouldn't even tell us the reason. It's his building, so fine. Just another thing to adapt to.
We brushed it off and focused on growing the EMT project. Then, in October, there was an interesting article in the newspaper. There had been a huge, multi-agency law enforcement bust in Bucksport, just 20 minutes from Bangor/Brewer towards the Maine coast. According to the article, it was a major theft ring that had targeted Walmart, Hannaford, and many other corporate stores. Some lines from the news story, like "a Frankfort woman, Jane Tardiff, was arrested Thursday after she brandished a handgun at state troopers and federal agents who were serving the search warrant" and "Tardiff wasn't involved in the theft ring, but related to someone who was," really made me think. The more I read the article, the more I realized, "This is Johnny Pockets!"
(Cue music: The Imperial March [Darth Vader's Theme])
To be continued...
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