Before I was born, my dad lost everything on “Black Friday” in 1929, when the stock market crashed and the United States spiraled into the Great Depression. Dad was a class-taught Christian Scientist. I have a packet of his letters to my mother from those years that give a lot of insight into his prayerfulness. He was sure he would come out of the Depression a stronger person and a better Christian Scientist—and he did. In the mid-1930s he emerged as a successful drilling contractor in the Texas oil fields.
Years later, I had what felt to me like my own Black Friday. I received a call from an executive of the large construction company I was joint venturing with informing me they had decided to invoke the “kick-out” clause of our contract. He told me the papers would be ready to sign the following Friday. That afternoon and weekend I was overcome with anger and disappointment. I’d never experienced such injustice. The idea that my old friend, the owner of the construction company, would step aside and allow this to happen was devastating. He knew how much I had invested over a tough two-year period to get our project designed and approved. Now he didn’t return my calls.
On Monday I met with my attorney, who explained that even though the owner had promised me the kick-out clause would never be used except for gross negligence on my part, the contract itself contained no such language.
