Why Didn't I Think of That?

There once was a man named Mortimer Ravioli. Yes, just like the pasta. Mort, as his coworkers called him, was a lonely forty year old man. He was never married, and never had any children. He left his family, who lived in Maine, right after he graduated from high school. Mort lived in a small town in California, where all it ever did was rain. One day, while wearing his favorite turtleneck, Mr. Ravioli braved the cold as he sipped tea on his front porch.
Suddenly, he heard the quiet ringing of his new cell phone. Not sure who would be calling him on such a gloomy day, Mort hesitantly picked up the phone. “Uhh..hello?” he said. “Hi, this is Nancy from the library downtown. We have in our records, that you have two library books that are well over due. You owe twelve dollars and fourteen cents. It would be greatly appreciated if you would return the books, as soon as possible.” “Two books? Oh, I’m sorry, I completely forgot. I will bring them back before the day is over.”
After combing his hair and putting on his loafers, he double checked his appearance in the mirror before heading downstairs. His bright blue truck was parked on the other side of the street in an extremely deep puddle. As Mortimer tried to climb over the puddle to get into his vehicle, he slipped on the running board and ruined his beloved loafers. “Nooooo! Not the Italian leather!”
After deciding that a shoe malfunction wouldn’t stop him from returning his books, Mortimer headed to the library. His cold, squishy loafers squeaked every time he pressed the gas. Luckily, the town he lived in was no larger than a postage stamp. It was one city block, and the “downtown” consisted of one lonely two-story building. That was it. Fortunately, the library was in this building, which was less than three minutes from Mort’s house.
When he returned from his library book adventure, Mortimer immediately took off his wet shoes and headed upstairs to his office. This was his favorite room. You see, Mortimer was a computer nerd. He loved everything that had to do with technology, computers, and programming. That was actually his job. He worked as a computer programmer for a private company, where he learned all sorts of coding and software production information.
After sitting in his office chair, he began to get more upset and annoyed over the fact that his favorite shoes got ruined. “If only I hadn’t forgotten to return those two books, I wouldn’t have had to leave the house! Especially, in this darn weather,” Mortimer thought. That’s when it hit him. He had just come up with the greatest idea. What if you could check out books online, and never even have to leave your house? That was it! He already knew how to create software and computer applications. All he needed was to create a prototype of his computer program idea.
Creating the program was the first step, so Mortimer turned his chair to face the desk where his computer and monitor sat. Little did he know, that while he was driving the short distance to the library earlier, lightning struck and fried his computer monitor. Without the monitor, creating the program was impossible. So he decided to go to his neighbor, Steven, who lived in the house next door. He was also a computer nerd. Mort explained everything that had happened since he had rolled out of bed that morning. “Wow, sounds like you had a crazy day!” said Steven. “You better believe it,” replied Mort, “but I was hoping that you might consider helping me with this software idea.” “You want me to help you??” asked Steven. “Well, of course I do! You’re the only one I could trust. However, we’ll need to use your computer,” Mortimer explained. “Oh? You mean my 1984 Macintosh antique?” asked Steven. “Yes! That’s the one!” answered Mort.
The program was completed the following year, and both Mortimer and Steven looked for companies that would buy their product. After marketing their software in an attempt to find a buyer, they found a tiny start-up company named Amazon. Amazon took their idea and developed it even further. Today, when you read a book online, on your Kindle, or on your Kindle App, you can thank Mortimer Ravioli and Steven Kessel.