Bet the Farm

Well. I officially signed my contract for The Glass Penny. Things aren’t quite set in stone yet, though.

Hazel and Eddie are still negotiating the sale of his theatre and, according to Zeke, Eddie hasn’t been as open to the sale as we were all hoping.

“He’s asking for double what it’s worth. It’s absurd!” Zeke yelled.

He had called me to see if I’d signed my contract and we got to talking about the progress being made with everyone else.

“Why is he being so difficult?” I asked.

“Because he thinks he thinks he can get that much. The thing is, if he tried to put it on the market, it wouldn’t even get half of what he’s asking. He’s basically sabotaging the sale!”

“Well, to be fair, it’s not like selling benefits him in any way. He’s not going to be part of the new company and he’s too young to retire.”

Zeke sighed angrily, it was a frustrating situation all around.

“Hazel won’t pay him what he’s asking, no one will! And we can’t afford to even meet him half-way because we want to renovate the theatre after we buy it.”

“What if we offered him a position on the board of directors?”

“He’ll want to keep ownership of the theatre if we did that. I’m sure of it. And it’s integral that ALL of us own part of it as per the contract.”

Zeke was right. All of us were expected to put forward five thousand dollars. It was painful, but I cashed out my savings account and a few bonds my grandmother had purchased for me when I was born to do it. It was necessary to make sure I had a bigger stake in the company and basically buy my way onto the board of directors and own a piece of the theatre. All of us had to do it. I’ll make the money up by working overtime at Bruno’s for awhile but as soon as I’ve gotten a good money buffer in my savings account, I am OUT of there.

“Maybe. But maybe not. We should at least offer him something; he’s the only person who isn’t going to be part of this new venture. I mean, Joe is going to be brought on as an employee and all of the regular artists Eddie hires are moving to the new company, as well. It’s understandable that he feels like he’s being screwed over.”

“Hazel’s already offered him an incredibly generous offer. If he’s not willing to take it, he could ruin this entire venture for all of us.”

I didn’t know what to say. Zeke was right. Eddie had pretty much all the power here and he could ruin this opportunity for me if he didn’t sell. I’d like to believe it’s not because he’s being vindictive but I have a feeling that’s not exactly true. I can’t imagine Eddie would be happy with Zeke basically poaching his best employees, past and present, and then being asked to sell his bread and butter. But I also don’t know if I’d want someone who is basically willing to screw all of us over on the board of directors with us. How amenable and easy to work with would Eddie be if he’s purposefully trying to botch this deal out of anger?

It’s a tough situation and, unfortunately, there’s really nothing to do but wait to see if Eddie will come around.

I hung out with Suzy and Amber over the weekend. I’ll tell you all about it next time!