Parking, Unlimited By Noel Loomis _It was a wonderful plan, a boon to humanity. And solving the parking problem would make a fortune for Slim and me. But when the secret got out ..._ [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Future combined with Science Fiction Stories May-June 1950. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] I could have taken that three hundred dollars and gone to school for a year, by washing dishes two hours a night. I had worked for that money, too; shocking wheat for twelve hours a day in the August sun is no vacation. But Slim Coleman convinced me that we could run that three hundred into enough to take us both for four years. I hadn't even had time to get a haircut--and I did want a haircut; now it was pretty shaggy. But Slim, diplomat that he is, didn't even seem to notice my hair. "I've got a real deal," he said, and his deep eyes were shining with enthusiasm. "Have you got any money?" "Some," I said cautiously. "It takes three hundred. Have you got that much?" I had intended to say no, but Slim has a way of fixing his deep, somber eyes on you that gives ineffable dignity even to a touch. "Okay," I said hopelessly. "What's the bite?" "Well, you see, it's like this." We went into a drug store and ordered cokes, and Slim characteristically insisted on paying for them when he probably couldn't have bought a package of cigarettes. I let him pay, too. I had three hundred and one dollars, and I had no intention of parting with a nickel of it--except a dollar for a haircut. "I was using the brain-finder and I ran across the owner of this unused garage in the Loop. His name is Richard LaBombard and he's got a lot of parking lots through the Loop, and you know what he's doing?" I saw the waitress stare at me. I swallowed and tried to listen to Slim. "No." Slim was staring at the waitress. "He loads them up with used cars every day so those who are hunting a parking place can't get in," he said absently. "You know what he wants?" "Well, no." I never could figure those things, but Slim could see the angles a mile away. He was always good at that. "He's made an application for a permit to build a parking ramp that will cover a solid block down in the middle of the Loop. Now, if he can build a place to park eight or ten thousand cars, naturally that one spot is going to be the best business spot in the city. And Richard LaBombard holds leases or options on half the store space around that block. He stands to make millions." "Where does my three hundred come in?" Slim ignored the acidulousness in my voice. "Well, as I say, I followed him with the brain-finder and found him holding hands with the mayor's wife at a skating rink--and the next day I--ah--persuaded him to give me an option to lease this building on the edge of the Loop."