17. Metallic Money.

Charles Marshall always had money on his mind; perhaps it started when he went to the US mint on a school field trip and he felt the same wonder and excitement as Charlie touring the chocolate factory and he watched in awe at the intricacies of the minting process. This fascination was further cultivated by his grandfather who had a very special coin collection that he shared with Charles so to this day, he could recall in specific detail the history of every one of those coins.

As Charles got older and realized the value of money, he was determined to make as much of it as he could. His incredible work ethic wasn't taught to him by his parent, but rather it was due to his own desire to earn copious amounts of money. It was because of this that he was steadily employed since the age of 12 when he obtained a paper route, then started his own "landscape" company where he went around the neighborhood soliciting work to trim hedges and mow lawns, and then became the neighborhood dog walker until he was 16 and able to earn a real paycheck as pizza delivery boy. By that time Charles had amassed a small fortune for a teenager in the sum of about $1,000.00, but rather than spend it foolishly on sports magazines or baseball caps or any of the other delights for boys his age, he kept all his bills and coins in a shoe box under his bed knowing that someday this money would come in handy.

Despite his passion for money and obtaining wealth, Charles was a simple man who wanted nothing more in life than to have a loving wife and a healthy family whom he would nurture and care for and nothing would make him happier. He had no ambition to go to college after high school and wanted to maintain his constant but menial work, perhaps not as a delivery boy, but something where he could make an honest living and stay close to home. So when Charles started dating Linda Baker at the age of 17 and found himself falling in love with her after she seduced him into bed, he began imagining spending the rest of his life with her.