Part 93 (1/2)
Suzanne was impressed. This wasn't the same guy whom Rat-Toothed Freddy had savaged. It wasn't the same guy that Death Waits had described. He had come a long way. Even Guignol -- whom, she suspected, needed to be sold on the idea almost as much as Lester -- was nodding along by the end of it.
Lester wasn't though: ”You're wasting your time, mister. That's all there is to it. I am not going to go and work for --” a giggle escaped his lips ”-- Disney. It's just --”
Sammy held his hands up in partial surrender. ”OK, OK. I won't push you today. Think about it. Talk it over with your buddy. I'm a patient guy.” Guignol snorted. ”I don't want to lean on you here.”
They took their leave, though Suzanne found out later that they'd taken a spin around the ride before leaving. Everyone went on the ride.
Lester shook his head at the door behind them.
”Can you believe that?”
Suzanne smiled and squeezed his hand. ”You're funny about this, you know that? Normally, when you encounter a new idea, you like to play with it, think it through, see what you can make of it. With this, you're not even willing to noodle with it.”
”You can't seriously think that this is a good idea --”
”I don't know. It's not the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Become a millionaire, get to do whatever you want? It'll sure make an interesting story.”
He goggled at her.
”Kidding,” she said, thinking, *It would indeed make an interesting story, though.* ”But where are you going from here? Are you going to stay here forever?”
”Perry would never go for it --” Lester said, then stopped.
”You and Perry, Lester, how long do you think that's going to last.”
”Don't you go all Yoko on me, Suzanne. We've got one of those around here already --”
”I don't like this Yoko joke, Lester. I never did. Hilda doesn't want to drive Perry away from you. She wants to make the rides work. And it sounds like that's what Perry wants, too. What's wrong with them doing that? Especially if you can get them a ton of money to support it?”
Lester stared at her, open-mouthed. ”Honey --”
”Think about it, Lester. Your most important virtue is your expansive imagination. Use it.”
She watched this sink in. It did sink in. Lester listened to her, which surprised her every now and again. Most relations.h.i.+ps seemed to be negotiations or possibly compet.i.tions. With Lester it was a conversation.
She gave him a hug that seemed to go on forever.
Sammy was glad he was driving. The mood Guignol was in, he'd have wrecked the car. ”That was *not* the plan, Sammy,” he said. ”The plan was to get the data, talk it over --”
”The first casualty of any battle is the battle-plan,” Sammy said, threading them through the press of tourist busses and commuter cars.
”I thought the first casualty was the truth.”
They'd spent too long at the ride, then gotten stuck in the afternoon rush hour out of Miami. ”That too. Look, I'm proposing to spend a tenth of the profits from the DiaB on this venture. In any other circ.u.mstance, I would do it with a *purchase order*. The only reason it's a big deal is --”
”That it carries enough legal liability to destroy the company. Sammy, didn't you listen to Hackelberg?”
”The reason I still work at Disney is that it's the kind of company where the lawyers don't *always* set the agenda.”