Page 2 of Guess Again
Cherryview, Wisconsin Thursday, May 22, 2025
THEY SKIPPED THE CAFETERIA COFFEE AND OPTED FOR A STARBUCKS drive-thru, both ordering venti black coffees.
Back on the road, Ethan commented on Christian’s coffee choice.
“No skinny vanilla with soy for the California transplant?”
Christian smiled.
“Black coffee all day for me.”
“All day?”
“It’s all I drink.”
“If you want to avoid another kidney stone, I’d suggest adding some water to your diet.”
“I’ll take it under consideration.”
Christian pointed.
“Take a right up there.”
Ethan twisted his Jeep Wrangler onto a winding road that snaked through a tree-lined area along the water until he emerged a mile later at the edge of Lake Okoboji.
“There I am,”
Christian said, pointing.
Ethan looked across the lake to where a massive home sat at the water’s edge.
The morning sunlight reflected off the large windows that made up the back of the house.
A set of stairs spiraled down from each side of the back patio and cut through the emerald-green grass to meet the man-made beach area that sprinkled down to the water’s edge.
Ethan had seen the house before.
Everyone had.
It was the largest on the lake.
“That’s your house?”
“Yes sir.”
Christian pointed through the passenger-side window.
“Head around to the north, it’s easier to get in through the back entrance.”
Ethan hesitated a moment before turning the wheel and heading around the lake.
Ten minutes later he pulled through the gate at the rear entrance of Christian’s home and parked in the driveway, counting five bay doors on the garage.
“You feel okay?”
Ethan asked.
“Unfortunately.
My buzz is just about gone.
Come inside and finish your coffee.
I’ll show you the house.”
Ethan followed Christian through the massive double-doors at the front and shook his head at the enormity of the home.
The interior was a combination of cutting-edge innovation and Northwoods Wisconsin.
“We’ll sit out back,”
Christian said.
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, you lose freedom 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.”
“Safe travels.
And when you get back, stop over someday.
I don’t know many people in town yet, and this big house scares everyone away.”
Ethan smiled.
“Maybe I will.”