"What are you working on Freddy? Is it another school project?" Freddy had been working at the back booth all morning. He now had a lap top and was typing away diligently. I guess he was taking this whole creative writing thing seriously.

"It started out as a short story for class, but Lupin gave me some ideas that I think I can turn into something longer either a play or maybe a paperback novel."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Sure. You know Lupin has had a very interesting life. Did you know he once owned his own construction company? He had his own heavy equipment, a lumber yard, and a dozen crews everything from plumbers to framers to electricians. It was quite a building empire."

"I did not know that," I confessed looking suspiciously over at Lupin who was sitting at the bar with a grin on his face.

"Anyway, he was planning to retire and split the empire up between his three daughters. His plan was to give the largest piece of his business to the child who professed to love him the most, thinking that his favorite daughter, Cory, would win the challenge. Gabby and Ruby, laid on sappy and excessive declarations of affection. Cory, however, refused to engage in Lupin's game, and replied simply that she loved him as a daughter should. This pissed him off, and he disowned her completely. One of Lupin's foremen and close friend, Kent, tried to speak up for Cory, so Lupin fired him.

"Meanwhile, Frank, one of Lupin's competitors from another town across state asked Cory to Mary him. She accepted and moved in with him leaving Lupin with her two cunning sisters. Kent, although fired, hung around to try to protect Lupin from the evils of his two remaining children. Kent disguised himself and took a low-level job in the construction office. Once Lupin turned the business over to Gabby and Ruby, their true natures surfaced. Lupin soon figured out Ruby was conspiring with Gabby against him.

"There's a lot more to it, but basically what happened was the two evil sisters both fell in love with the same guy, Edmund. He was the son of another construction magnate. They combined forces to compete against Cory and Frank's company for a major government contract. The competition became so fierce, they underbid everything. Both groups won partial contracts, but their bids were so low it resulted in both going into bankruptcy. That's Lupin's story. All I have to do now is write it up. I'm leaning toward making it into a paperback novel."

"Sounds like a real soap opera," I said trying to sound encouraging, but I kept thinking there was something familiar about the story.

"Yeah, there's an idea. Maybe I should write it as a script for a TV miniseries." Freddy was really excited about it and went right back to his typing.

It wasn't until later that afternoon that the reason Freddy's story seemed familiar came to me. A Beatles' song was playing and I was listening to the words. I may have misheard them, but I suspect so did Lupin and it was how he got the idea for his story. This is what I heard:

"Hey old man, will you read my book? /

"It took me years to write, will you take a look? /

"It's based on a novel about a man named Lear/

"And I need a job, cause I want to be a paperback writer, /

"Paperback writer."

Lupin's story that Freddy was writing sounded a lot like Shakespeare's King Lear.