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Things don’t always go right for Harding, at least when it comes to business. For one thing, he has trouble getting and keeping a good job. He did come close once, when he worked for Five Star Genes, a start-up bio-tech firm in Newport Beach, California. They had a good lead on a solution to the problem of corn borers, and they planned to go public. Everyone was going to be rich.
As it turns out, they were not alone in the race, and Crop Genetics International, of Hanover, Maryland, announced a breakthrough five days before Five Star’s IPO. Once CGI announced that little tidbit, the investment bank dropped Five Star’s offering.
Fast.
Five Star got the news before lunch, and one week later they realized that they were goners and filed for bankruptcy. Harding never did get his final paycheck.
He wasn’t bitter about it, though. As he put it, “I was looking for a job when I found that one,” and he believed it. He lived life like many people, looking for and finding decent paying jobs. He lived comfortably in the mild chaos, because some things do go right for him, but he never did find another great opportunity like Five Star.
His story is little different when it comes to women. Like work, he never really has trouble finding a girlfriend, because he enjoys looking for one almost as much as having one. And when the relationship breaks up, he doesn’t get bitter about it. There’s plenty of fish in the sea, as the saying goes, and Harding likes those odds.
The difference between his love life and work life is that he has never had the one great love that would change his life. He came close once, though. Her name was Miriam, and she worked as a waitress at Earl’s Grill, in Orange. “God bless your heart, Miriam,” was the toast he would make to himself when he had one too many at the bar.
Miriam no longer works there, but even so, Earl’s is the kind of place that if you happen to find yourself in Orange, you will be glad you took the time and stopped in for a bite. It is easy to find, because just about everyone in Orange knows where it is. Also, the sign that says “Open 25 Hours” is pretty obvious.
Earl’s has great prices, and good food, but a big reason for their success is that they have a smoking section. It is actually a screened-in patio, and since it is separated from the rest of the place by a door, they can legally allow cigarette smoking in that section. Readers familiar with California know that a smoking section is not allowed in restaurants, but Earl’s found a way around that law, and they have many customers that appreciate that.
This story starts at Earl’s Grill. It was during Harding’s romance with Miriam, so it was convenient for him to be there. It was also convenient because he had a suspicion about some of the customers there, two in particular, and he wanted to see if the proof he needed would turn up.