Was it a success?
“Was it a success?” The sun felt good on James’ face, but he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the Cowboy Think Tank was a colossal failure. The only projects that got any funding were Tank’s and Curly’s and Randy was the one fronting the money. None of the other investors did anything.
Samson spoke first, “Definitely.” The tiny park ranger took a long sip of lemonade and closed his eyes against the sun, allowing the yellow skin that had hid under his ski goggles all winter to absorb the light.
John was less enthusiastic. “Don’t know why you bothered at all. None ‘o those big wigs were even interested at all.” The three men sat on the porch at the Thunder Brothers Ranch. The crops were planted. The water had been moved less than thirty minutes ago. The sun had finally come to Mount Zen to stay for a holiday.
After a couple of quiet, sun-drenched minutes, Samson argued, “In this economy, VCs are skittish. Plus, they’re all computer guys. I’m surprised they didn’t invest in Dora’s computer recycling thing, though.” He took another gulp of lemonade. James could see the undissolved crystals floating in the glass. Samson continued, “Her project seemed like it was right up their alley.”
James looked out across the field and smelled the wet earth waft across the porch. He wondered what Bree was doing in her room. “So it WASN’T a success?” John answered immediately, “That’s what I’m sayin’. It was a big pain in the butt for nothin’.” Samson disagreed, “No, John. You’re wrong. It wasn’t for nothing. First off, Curly and Tank got Randy to kick start their projects. Second, Dora got lotsa advertising for her thing. I heard she got five computers on her doorstep the very next day.” The truth of the matter was that only two of them could be reformatted, the other three would have to be salvaged for parts, but Samson wasn’t going to mention that.
“Last off, everybody got to brag a little bit. I thought it was really cool to see what everyone was working on. I feel like I know everyone in the town just a little better now.”
James looked at his own glass of lemonade. The ice made only a sparse condensation at the top of the glass. The humidity was too low. They should give the crops extra water today. “So it WAS a success?” Samson nodded, looking across the porch. John took a long drink of his lemonade before finally answering, “Yep.”