— His yes which would of course secure her control with roughly thirty-one percent barring a surprise from other quarters, by which I refer of course to your own status in the matter regarding which I have been making every conceivable effort to reach you for what seems an eternity and which would, of course, assume substantially more complex proportions should it prove in turn related to the intentions of the conglomerate I have just spoken of as these become clarified by the parties to its reorganization with the wealth of possibilities for protracted litigation its rather spectacular dissolution will undoubtedly present, to say nothing of the effect already apparent on the market insofar as this unprecedented downturn which shows no indication of reversing itself, most especially in terms of the overwhelming loss of confidence that has led to the headlong flight of the small investor, is ascribed by growing numbers of market analysts to the events stemming from this particular corporate situation which has filled the papers this past week as I take it under the circumstances you may well have been unaware? Mister Bast? I, I thought you spoke…?
— Have you got a pencil?
— Why why, yes, yes I should have thought of it of course here, yes I mention this simply in passing Mister Bast because the remote possibility that the right hand might be ignorant of the left hand’s activities suggested itself to me in these news stories to which I refer, where I came upon an elusive company officer bearing the same name whose activities appear to have provoked at least one lawsuit and I even saw pictured in the midst of a disorderly episode where unfortunately his features were obscured by a feathered headdress in somewhat…
— This the room that asked for the newspapers?
— Par…? oh, oh that bed there I think yes, thank you. Yes it even occurred to me Mister Bast during the negotiations I…
— That’s a dollar ten.
— The, oh? oh I see all right yes, yes here, in these corporate negotiations I just discussed it had even occurred to me that this coincidence might have inspired their part in General Roll’s divestiture of.its longstanding major interest in the Nathan Wise Company through a bill sponsored by a Senator whose family happens to be among the original stockholders, providing family planning assistance to our prolific neighbors on the Asian subcontinent, and in turn enabling Nathan Wise to write off at retail its vast inventory accumulated since pharmaceutical measures to deal effectively with this historic dilemma have gained such popularity here among our own popula…
— Still here Cohen? good…
— Heavens I, that was quick…
— Technician broke his glasses how do you like that, careful there Waddles…
— I see yes well, yes some newspapers just arrived for you there Mister Duncan I’m sure you’ll find plenty to interest you while Mister Bast and I finish up here in terms of fixed assets you see Mister Bast, the Nathan Wise divestiture leaves the company with only the Astoria plant and its appurtenances, however you may be unaware of the enormous ramifications in terms of extensive damage suits throughout the data processing and punched card industries that may be expected to follow upon final resolution of a lawsuit originating well before my own connection with the company against a firm called JMI Industries then known as the Jubilee Musical Instrument Company, relating to applications of the Jacquard loom approach to information storage and retrieval in the form of punched holes as in the player pi…
— On the hole business is very good, is that the one Cohen? That’s the message you asked me what was on those novelty rolls?
— I see yes I, thank you Mister Duncan returning to your own position in this situation Mister Bast especially as viewed in terms of the possibilities we have just discussed, I am of course fully aware that, were you guided by strictly mercenary considerations, you would hardly have disdained your original opportunity to lay claim to a share of the estate in question against which no doubt you could have borrowed forthwith, particularly since recent changes in the law would appear to obviate any problems regarding your emancipation…
— Like me to send you a few of those novelty rolls when I get back to Zanesville Cohen? The top man in the company he had cases sent out to all the division heads, sort of an encouraging word when you’re in the middle of…
— No no thank you no, I wouldn’t…
— Wouldn’t deprive anybody there’s a whole case there, just get fixed up and get back to Zanesville…
— I would heartily support that Mister Duncan yes, now Mister Bast if we could clear up this one essential point which has been a major obstacle to the logical and satisfactory conclusion of this entire matter since my initial confron, my first meeting with your aunts…
— Say Cohen, before you get into…
