The humming under my skin wasn't just physical anymore. It was strategic.
Being a star quarterback was fun—it satisfied the primal, competitive side of the Peak Athlete Physique—but it was a short-term game. In 2009, I was standing at the edge of a gold mine. My Total Recall didn't just store sitcom plotlines; it stored a decade of economic shifts, tech booms, and missed opportunities. I looked at Jay's success with closets and blinds and saw a man who worked hard for every dollar. I wanted to be the man who made dollars work hard for him.
The problem? I was fifteen. I didn't have a bank account that wasn't monitored by Gloria, and I certainly didn't have seed money.
[INTERVIEW - MASON]Mason is sitting in the backyard, spinning a football on one finger.Mason: "Independence costs money. In the show, the kids are always broke or reliant on Jay. That's not going to be me. I know exactly when Bitcoin is worth pennies, I know when Netflix pivots, and I know which apps are going to change the world. But first, I need a 'buy-in.' I need to turn my current social capital into actual capital."
I started small. I looked for the gaps.
At school, the "cool" kids were obsessed with the latest tech, but they were also incredibly lazy. I spent my study hall periods in the library, not reading textbooks, but scouring local classifieds and tech forums. My first target: cracked iPhones.
In 2009, the iPhone 3GS was the king, and people were breaking them at record rates. Most people just threw them away or sold them for parts because they thought the screen repair was too complex. My Peak Athlete Physique gave me the steady hands of a neurosurgeon, and my Total Recall gave me the exact blueprints of every device from the next twenty years.
I walked into the kitchen where Jay was reading the paper. "Jay, I was thinking about getting a job. Something that doesn't interfere with practice."
Jay looked up, impressed. "A job? Most kids your age are asking for an allowance. What did you have in mind?"
"Refurbishing electronics," I said. "I've got a knack for it. I just need a little space in the garage for a workbench. And maybe a small loan to get my first batch of tools and broken units."
[INTERVIEW - JAY]Jay is leaning back, looking thoughtful.Jay: "The kid wants to work. He's not asking for a handout; he's asking for a loan. It reminds me of myself back in the day, before the closet empire. If he can fix a phone as well as he can throw a deep ball, he'll be fine. Plus, it keeps him out of trouble. Or so I thought."
Jay gave me five hundred dollars. "I want it back with five percent interest in a month. Consider it your first lesson in business."
"Deal," I said.
I didn't just fix phones. I optimized them. I used my knowledge of early jailbreaking to offer "custom" interfaces that wouldn't be standard for years. Within two weeks, the high school was buzzing. If you had a broken phone, you went to Mason. If you wanted a phone that could do things Apple hadn't authorized yet, you went to Mason.
[INTERVIEW - ALEX]Alex is watching Mason from across the cafeteria as he hands a sleek, perfectly repaired phone to a senior.Alex: "He's a technician now. I watched him take apart a 3GS in four minutes. He didn't even use a manual. And the way he handles the money... he's not spending it on comic books or shoes. He's counting it. He's recording it in an encrypted spreadsheet on his laptop. He's not building a hobby; he's building a treasury. What is a fifteen-year-old quarterback doing with three thousand dollars in a shoebox?"
By the third week, I had paid Jay back with ten percent interest, just to make a point.
But the "Big Move" came during a weekend trip to the mall with Haley and her friends. While they were browsing overpriced clothes, I was looking at a vacant storefront in a revitalizing part of town.
I knew that in two years, this specific block was going to be the center of a major development project—one that Phil Dunphy would eventually try to get a piece of in Season 4 of my recall. If I could secure a long-term lease now, or find a way to invest in the holding company, I could turn my phone-repair "seed money" into a real estate stake.
"Mason, are you coming or what?" Haley called out, holding up a bright pink dress. "Beth wants to know if you think this color makes her look like a highlighter."
"It's a bold choice," I said, walking over. I caught a glimpse of Haley's phone. It was the one I had refurbished for her—free of charge.
"Everyone is asking about the phones, you know," Haley whispered as we walked. "You're becoming like... the 'Fixer.' It's kind of cool. But also, you're becoming a nerd. Pick a lane."
"I'm building lanes, Haley," I said.
[INTERVIEW - HALEY]Haley is looking at the camera, looking genuinely confused.Haley: "He's making more money than I do from my allowance, and he's doing it by sitting in a garage with a tiny screwdriver. It's annoying. I tried to ask him for a cut of the profits because I'm the one 'promoting' him, and he just handed me a ledger and asked for my marketing strategy. I don't even know what that is! I just told him he was mean and took a twenty."
That night, as the house grew quiet, I sat at my laptop. I wasn't looking at homework. I was looking at a small, fledgling company called Square. They were just starting to figure out mobile payments. I knew they were going to be worth billions.
I looked at my shoebox of cash. It wasn't enough to buy a company, but it was enough to start a "consultancy" fund.
The miracle wasn't just that I survived the accident. The miracle was that I was the only person in 2009 who knew exactly where the finish line was. And I was already halfway there.
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