THOMAS: `Would you do it on spec?' And he said, `Well, I won't do it on spec, but if you can raise $5,000 as a retainer, I'll do it.' So I said, `OK.' So I went out to all my credit card machines and started...

HATTIE: Oh, you mean ATMs? You went to the ATMs and got some cash?

THOMAS: ATMs and whatever, got some cash, and I gave him $5,000. And he did it all on spec. Now keep in mind also, once this process started, I needed to come up with money to...

HATTIE: Oh, my gosh.

THOMAS: I didn't even...

HATTIE: You haven't even started!

THOMAS: Right.

HATTIE: The $5,000's nothing!

THOMAS: I said to Don and Sally, `I don't have any money, you know. But I'm gonna do this, really. Believe me.' And they had the confidence. They had the confidence that I was going to be able to pull it off. And I gave them $5,000.

HATTIE: From the ATM machines?

THOMAS: From the ATM machines, from my credit cards, yeah.

HATTIE: You spent this money and you still don't have any ownership yet.

THOMAS: Yeah. I still don't have any ownership. It was a big leap of faith for me. It was a big leap of faith for the attorney. It was certainly a big leap of faith for the Schmidts, because they're going into a position where now they're gonna close their restaurant because they believe that I'm gonna buy it, and...

HATTIE: So they're goning to lose opportunity.

THOMAS: They're going lose opportunity and revenues!

HATTIE: And if you don't come through....

THOMAS: Yeah. But everybody believes that it's gonna happen. Nobody knows how long it's going to take, and nobody knew it was going to take 18 months. I mean, we had many dates where, you know, the deal....I was supposed to sign...

HATTIE: You missed them! You missed those dates!