why didn't i think of that?

It was a cold winter morning in an extremely small town in Northern California.
They year was 1999. The town was named Cheektowaga. It was founded in the 1700s
and It had been an old Indian reservation, hence the name. The town was visited by few
and over looked by many. The town had a population of about three hundred and fifty
people. Most were business men and women in Seattle, Washington looking for a quiet
town to raise their children and get away from the everyday craziness of the city life.
Seattle, Washington was only about a thirty minute drive from Cheektowaga, California.
The town consisted of the Cheektowaga Towne Center Village. The Cheektowaga
Towne Center Village had a city hall, a library, two grocery stores, six gas stations, a
police and fire station, two school houses, and one family owned and operated
restaurant. There were also a few houses and apartment buildings surrounding the
Cheektowaga Towne Center Village. Most of the Cheektowaga, California residents
lived in the town and very few lived out in the country.

         One well known Cheektowaga resident lived out in the country side. His name
was Mortimer Harrison and he was a 40 year old man. He had a small single family
home who he shared with his dog Oscar. Mortimer’s house was high up on a hill,
isolated from the Cheektowaga Towne Center Village. Mortimer loved his small nit
community, so you can assume he liked his privacy. His house was in superb condition
on the outside but very cluttered on the inside. Mortimer’s house was extremely
cluttered because of the size of it. His house was cluttered with many overdue library
books, manuals, computer parts, a broken computer monitor, computer software, and
an apple computer from 1984. Mortimer was always trying to invent things. His motto
was “well, why didn’t I think of that?” To the  normal person, his collection might be very
strange. But Mortimer was big into technology and engineering, and the town’s people
were quite aware of that. He worked as a computer programmer with his own
successful business, which was located in Seattle, Washington. Technology and
engineering wasn’t just Mortimer’s passion, he also passed it down to his only son
Franklin. His son Franklin helped to engineer the first cellular phone. His family had
generations and generations of great thinkers and innovators.

         “RING! RING! SLAM! …… RING!” was the sound of Mortimer’s alarm clock going
off. He was running late for work, he thought to himself, “Maybe I shouldn’t have hit the
snooze button!” Even though he was the boss and founder of his company he hated
being late. Mortimer thought of being late as rude, unprofessional, and very
unacceptable. So Mortimer got dressed and jumped into his new blue Chevy truck, and
sped off to work. “BEEP! BEEP! CRASH! SCREAM! BEEP!” Traffic was very hectic!
Accidents all around, bumper to bumper traffic. It looked like if there was a big event
coming to town, but that was only the wonderful Seattle traffic. Then out of nowhere
Mortimer hears and loud “BANG!” Someone had just rear ended his new beautiful blue
Chevy  truck. He couldn’t believe it. As if he weren’t late enough, this is all he needed to
start his day.

         Mortimer’s office was very prestigious. It was the exact opposite of Mortimer’s
home. It had absolutely no clutter and everything looked like it was brand new. It was
well suited for his type of business. It was located in downtown Seattle where everyone
could see. Its prime location offered many customers their extraordinary computer
services. Advertising wasn’t a necessity. They were one of the best home grown
companies in Seattle.

         “Hey! Everyone I’m here, I’m really sorry for being tardy.” Mortimer yelled to his
employees. “It’s okay boss, just don’t let it happen again or you are fired!” replied his
employee Jim in an oxymoron kind of way. “May I ask why we are so slow today?”
asked Mortimer. “Well Mr. M. Harrison, our competition, F. Harrison’s Big House of
Computers and Junk, has created a faster processing system that he is charging half
the price of our slower processing system. Plus with free extras.” Replied his employee
Jim. “I have been working on that same problem for ages now. I guess I wasn’t on the
right track, why didn’t I think of that?” exclaimed Mortimer.
         
About 5 years later, unfortunately Mortimer’s business went out and got taken
over. F. Harrison’s Big House of Computers and Junk bought him out. The owner Frank
was really Mortimer’s own son. His son was younger then he was and had more
opportunities in the technology and engineering fields. Franklin had a degree in
business and a degree in engineering. Mortimer paid for his son’s college so he never
got a chance to go like he really wanted to. Mortimer’s house was filled with overdue
library books because he was trying to educated himself to compete with his well
educated son. But he obviously couldn’t keep up. His life mission was to be the next
innovator, engineer or inventor. He prided himself on his work, and never once gave up.
His business would of went under sooner than it did if he wasn’t a fighter. Mortimer
never thought of himself has an inventor, but he did contribute a lot to technology and
mostly to his home town of Cheektowaga, California.