Post by rocketmanedh on Jul 11, 2021 23:01:11 GMT -5
The camera focuses on the clock. The time is now 7:36. Five minutes have passed since we last saw Ed Houston and Bob Black but as the camera zooms down from the clock, the hotel hallway has transformed. Minutes before it served as a place for charitable people to take a break from spending their hard-earned money, but somehow Ed and Bob have roped an entire section in the middle of the hallway off and it seems to be effective. When people walk up to the red rope blocking the hallway, they turn around and go around through the conference room like Roller Coaster Tycoon patrons. In the middle of the roped-off area is a folding table and two chairs. Ed and Bob have created an office in the middle of the silent auction.
Ed sits down with a huff at their quick, hard work. “This is good, Bob. Now we just need to go through some of our contacts. I think we’ll have our money in no time. And in the worst-case scenario, we now have weapons to get our way.”
Bob: “That’s not what we’re going to do.”
Houston: “Being suplexed through a table and hit with a steel chair in the middle of a hotel has to be a special embarrassing even for him. For a plan C, I don’t think we could draw up anything better if we tried.”
Bob: “Well let’s hope plan A works. Who should we call first?”
Houston: “We have to call Hank first?”
Bob: “From the farm?”
Houston: “Yeah, Hank is my guy. He’ll definitely give us some money.”
Bob: “He just gave us a ton of money not even a month ago.”
Houston: “He’s loaded. Let’s call him and see what he’s up to.”
Bob rolls his eyes. “I think this is a waste of time and we don’t currently have a lot.”
Houston: “The longer we argue about it the less time we have.”
Bob sighs and takes out his phone.
He dials the number and hands it to Ed.
Houston: “Hank! How have you been?”
Hank: “Who is this?”
Houston: “Your best farmhand!”
Hank: “This don’t sound like Rusty.”
Houston: “Rusty!? Who’s Rusty? No, I'm talking about Ed Houston!”
Hank: “Ed, how did you get this number?”
Houston: “Don’t worry about it. Listen, I’m kind of in a time crunch right now and I need some help.”
Hank sighs. “What do you need?”
Houston: “I need some more money.”
Hank: “I just gave you some money.”
Houston: “Well I need a little more.”
Hank: “I’m not giving you any more money right now, Ed.”
Houston: “Damn, fine. How quickly do you think you could get some animals to the Hilton in downtown Miami?”
Hank: “What?”
Houston: “If you will not help monetarily then maybe you can help with some animals.”
Hank: “Like an hour or so.”
Ed looks at the clock. “Okay, Hank. I’ll see you in an hour.”
Bob: “What’s going on? Did I hear you ask Hank to bring his animals?”
Houston: “I did.”
Bob: “Why?”
Houston: “We can have a little petting zoo here. Or maybe if things are going terrible we can create a diversion.”
Bob: “You’re going to have a petting zoo at a hotel in downtown Miami?”
Houston: “Only if we have to, Bob. I’m trying to have as many things in play as possible here.”
Bob: “Great. So what do we do now?”
Houston: “I still have the number of a community outreach guy at NASA. I might be able to work something out so we don’t have to raise a shitton of money in an hour and a half. Hank really let me down.”
Bob: “Good luck.”
Ed stares at the phone. He sees it is now 7:43. He dials Dan Masters, the head of community outreach at NASA.
Houston: “Dan! How’s it going?”
Dan: “Who is this?”
Ed rolls his eyes. “You all should really save my number. It’s Ed Houston.”
Dan: “Oh man! Hey Ed. How are you doing? It’s been a long time. Like almost a decade.”
Houston: “It has been. Congratulations on moving up the ranks like you did. I’d love to catch up but I’m kind of in a time crunch right now.”
Dan: “What’s going on?”
Houston: “I’m at this silent auction and I saw you had this prize set up for a tour and space camp.”
Dan: “Oh yeah! I’m pretty proud of that one! Should raise a lot of money for charity.”
Houston: “Yeah that’s my problem. I’m trying to run this non-profit to help kids that are interested in a career in science and this kind of thing would be perfect for them. But I don’t have the funds to compete with some whales out there. It’s wild what they’re dropping on this thing.”
Dan: “So what do you want me to do about it?”
Houston: “I want you to create another event for me. We can discuss pricing or whatever. It would be great pr. It would help local underprivileged kids. It would be a win-win.”
Dan: “Ed, I like you.”
Houston: “Think it through, Dan.”
Dan: “I have. I can’t do that for you. Sorry, man. I know it has been a long time and I wish I could but a NASA working with Ed Houston headline is toxic. We’re still fighting for our image every day with Elon and Jeff Bezos trying to go to space. They’ll look into the past and it won’t end well for us. I’m sorry.”
Houston: “Well you can’t blame me for trying, Dan.”
Dan: “Not at all. Wish I could’ve been more helpful.”
Houston: “Me too.” Ed hangs up the phone. He turns to Bob and shakes his head.
Houston: “He said he couldn’t do anything to help. So I need some whales of our own. Do you have a list of big-name donors you can pull?”
Bob looks down at his phone. “Yeah. Give me a few minutes. I’ll see what I can get together.”
Houston: “I will be right back.”
Ed walks into the large conference room where the silent auction is taking place. He walks over to the NASA area and sees that the lawyer still has the high bid. Ed then saunters over to where the Meteor poster is. He looks down and smiles. Someone has outbid Ed and while it is magnitudes less than the NASA high bid, it isn’t a small chunk of change either. Ed walks out of the conference room with another idea.
Bob turns to Ed as he crosses the red rope and steps into the makeshift office. “I have that list.”
Houston: “Perfect. I have another idea.”
Bob: “What is it?”
Houston: “It looks like the Meteor watch party has gained some steam.”
Bob: “It’s not time for an ego stroke.”
Houston: “I’m not trying to. We can leverage that too. Make a sign. Put a price on it. It doesn’t matter but try to do something that makes sense and won’t drive people away. We’re going to an impromptu autograph and meet and greet session.”
Bob: “Do you think that will help?”
Houston: “It can’t hurt. We’re up against the clock as is. Might as well try everything we can. Give me the list.”
Bob hands Ed the list.
Ed takes the phone and dials the first number as Bob works on a sign.
Houston: “Hey there! This is Ed Houston with The Rocket Foundation. I’m sorry to call so late but I’m trying to raise money for a unique opportunity that I found out about approximately 45 minutes ago. We have a chance to give kids an inside experience at NASA. Is there any way I could get you to make another donation?”
Voice: “You know what? Sure. Put us down for another thousand dollars.”
Houston: “Could we get $5,000.”
Voice: “That much for NASA?”
Houston: “It’s a behind-the-scenes tour and space camp too.”
Voice: “We’ll throw in $2,000.”
Houston: “Perfect. Thank you so much.”
Ed writes the donation on a piece of paper. “We got one, Bob.”
Bob: ”I have the sign done.”
Ed looks at the sign. “20 bucks!?”
Bob: “I think that’s a pretty good price. It’s not like you’re doing a Cameo or anything.”
Houston: “Okay fine.”
A young kid comes up and sees the sign. He turns to his parents and walks over with a twenty-dollar bill in his hand.
Ed leans over and takes it. He signs a piece of paper.
Kid: “Ed! You’re my favorite. Do you think you can beat Thad when you fight him?”
Houston: “I do, kid. Thad seems to think OCW is a poverty federation because he hasn’t heard of it and it is a little different with Who’re in charge, but OCW is big time. It’s been all around the world. It has attracted top talent throughout its history. It’s fine if he wants to be along for the ride but to act like he is the savior of OCW is ridiculous. Have you ever watched basketball?”
Kid: “Yeah!”
Houston: “It’s like Steve Ballmer acting like he’s a genius for taking over the Clippers who were already on the upswing and taking them from the Western Conference semi-finals to the Western Conference semifinals. It’s like someone latching on to Apple two years ago and acting like they were the one that invented the iPhone. It’s fine if he wants to be on the spaceship. There are plenty of seats but to act like you’re building the spaceship is something entirely different.”
“And I still think he’s overlooking me. He acts like he’s fully focused but you can’t call the roster a baby roster and then act like you have the same focus that you’ve already had. It’s not how any competition in the world works. You could ask Team USA how they were feeling having to face Nigeria. They all said they were focused but you can’t focus at the same level when you’re playing a team you beat by 80 last time you faced off. It’s not like he’s facing off against some nobody either. I’m the leading merch seller in OCW over all those people with belts around their waists. I led GCWA from its reinvention to the period where every star in the world wanted in. Just because Thad was too busy living off of his father’s reputation in XWF doesn’t mean that he knows what it's like to work for a company trying to establish relevance. I know what kind of fight that takes and I’m going to show Thad the amount of fight it takes. I don’t care if he makes the most here. I'm going to show Who’re that spreading her metaphorical legs for him was a mistake. All he’s going to be is overpriced bloat on the company after our match and that’s a shoot if you were wondering kid. Everything I say is.”
Kid: “Well good luck! I’ll be rooting for you.”
Houston: “Thanks, kid. I appreciate it!”
The kid walks back to his parents. The high-rolling lawyer walks out of the conference room. He makes eye contact with Ed. Ed stares him down and rubs his fingers together, letting the lawyer know they are coming for him and that NASA trip. The lawyer rolls his eyes. The camera moves to the clock on the wall. It reads 8:09 as the scene fades to black.
Ed sits down with a huff at their quick, hard work. “This is good, Bob. Now we just need to go through some of our contacts. I think we’ll have our money in no time. And in the worst-case scenario, we now have weapons to get our way.”
Bob: “That’s not what we’re going to do.”
Houston: “Being suplexed through a table and hit with a steel chair in the middle of a hotel has to be a special embarrassing even for him. For a plan C, I don’t think we could draw up anything better if we tried.”
Bob: “Well let’s hope plan A works. Who should we call first?”
Houston: “We have to call Hank first?”
Bob: “From the farm?”
Houston: “Yeah, Hank is my guy. He’ll definitely give us some money.”
Bob: “He just gave us a ton of money not even a month ago.”
Houston: “He’s loaded. Let’s call him and see what he’s up to.”
Bob rolls his eyes. “I think this is a waste of time and we don’t currently have a lot.”
Houston: “The longer we argue about it the less time we have.”
Bob sighs and takes out his phone.
He dials the number and hands it to Ed.
Houston: “Hank! How have you been?”
Hank: “Who is this?”
Houston: “Your best farmhand!”
Hank: “This don’t sound like Rusty.”
Houston: “Rusty!? Who’s Rusty? No, I'm talking about Ed Houston!”
Hank: “Ed, how did you get this number?”
Houston: “Don’t worry about it. Listen, I’m kind of in a time crunch right now and I need some help.”
Hank sighs. “What do you need?”
Houston: “I need some more money.”
Hank: “I just gave you some money.”
Houston: “Well I need a little more.”
Hank: “I’m not giving you any more money right now, Ed.”
Houston: “Damn, fine. How quickly do you think you could get some animals to the Hilton in downtown Miami?”
Hank: “What?”
Houston: “If you will not help monetarily then maybe you can help with some animals.”
Hank: “Like an hour or so.”
Ed looks at the clock. “Okay, Hank. I’ll see you in an hour.”
Bob: “What’s going on? Did I hear you ask Hank to bring his animals?”
Houston: “I did.”
Bob: “Why?”
Houston: “We can have a little petting zoo here. Or maybe if things are going terrible we can create a diversion.”
Bob: “You’re going to have a petting zoo at a hotel in downtown Miami?”
Houston: “Only if we have to, Bob. I’m trying to have as many things in play as possible here.”
Bob: “Great. So what do we do now?”
Houston: “I still have the number of a community outreach guy at NASA. I might be able to work something out so we don’t have to raise a shitton of money in an hour and a half. Hank really let me down.”
Bob: “Good luck.”
Ed stares at the phone. He sees it is now 7:43. He dials Dan Masters, the head of community outreach at NASA.
Houston: “Dan! How’s it going?”
Dan: “Who is this?”
Ed rolls his eyes. “You all should really save my number. It’s Ed Houston.”
Dan: “Oh man! Hey Ed. How are you doing? It’s been a long time. Like almost a decade.”
Houston: “It has been. Congratulations on moving up the ranks like you did. I’d love to catch up but I’m kind of in a time crunch right now.”
Dan: “What’s going on?”
Houston: “I’m at this silent auction and I saw you had this prize set up for a tour and space camp.”
Dan: “Oh yeah! I’m pretty proud of that one! Should raise a lot of money for charity.”
Houston: “Yeah that’s my problem. I’m trying to run this non-profit to help kids that are interested in a career in science and this kind of thing would be perfect for them. But I don’t have the funds to compete with some whales out there. It’s wild what they’re dropping on this thing.”
Dan: “So what do you want me to do about it?”
Houston: “I want you to create another event for me. We can discuss pricing or whatever. It would be great pr. It would help local underprivileged kids. It would be a win-win.”
Dan: “Ed, I like you.”
Houston: “Think it through, Dan.”
Dan: “I have. I can’t do that for you. Sorry, man. I know it has been a long time and I wish I could but a NASA working with Ed Houston headline is toxic. We’re still fighting for our image every day with Elon and Jeff Bezos trying to go to space. They’ll look into the past and it won’t end well for us. I’m sorry.”
Houston: “Well you can’t blame me for trying, Dan.”
Dan: “Not at all. Wish I could’ve been more helpful.”
Houston: “Me too.” Ed hangs up the phone. He turns to Bob and shakes his head.
Houston: “He said he couldn’t do anything to help. So I need some whales of our own. Do you have a list of big-name donors you can pull?”
Bob looks down at his phone. “Yeah. Give me a few minutes. I’ll see what I can get together.”
Houston: “I will be right back.”
Ed walks into the large conference room where the silent auction is taking place. He walks over to the NASA area and sees that the lawyer still has the high bid. Ed then saunters over to where the Meteor poster is. He looks down and smiles. Someone has outbid Ed and while it is magnitudes less than the NASA high bid, it isn’t a small chunk of change either. Ed walks out of the conference room with another idea.
Bob turns to Ed as he crosses the red rope and steps into the makeshift office. “I have that list.”
Houston: “Perfect. I have another idea.”
Bob: “What is it?”
Houston: “It looks like the Meteor watch party has gained some steam.”
Bob: “It’s not time for an ego stroke.”
Houston: “I’m not trying to. We can leverage that too. Make a sign. Put a price on it. It doesn’t matter but try to do something that makes sense and won’t drive people away. We’re going to an impromptu autograph and meet and greet session.”
Bob: “Do you think that will help?”
Houston: “It can’t hurt. We’re up against the clock as is. Might as well try everything we can. Give me the list.”
Bob hands Ed the list.
Ed takes the phone and dials the first number as Bob works on a sign.
Houston: “Hey there! This is Ed Houston with The Rocket Foundation. I’m sorry to call so late but I’m trying to raise money for a unique opportunity that I found out about approximately 45 minutes ago. We have a chance to give kids an inside experience at NASA. Is there any way I could get you to make another donation?”
Voice: “You know what? Sure. Put us down for another thousand dollars.”
Houston: “Could we get $5,000.”
Voice: “That much for NASA?”
Houston: “It’s a behind-the-scenes tour and space camp too.”
Voice: “We’ll throw in $2,000.”
Houston: “Perfect. Thank you so much.”
Ed writes the donation on a piece of paper. “We got one, Bob.”
Bob: ”I have the sign done.”
Ed looks at the sign. “20 bucks!?”
Bob: “I think that’s a pretty good price. It’s not like you’re doing a Cameo or anything.”
Houston: “Okay fine.”
A young kid comes up and sees the sign. He turns to his parents and walks over with a twenty-dollar bill in his hand.
Ed leans over and takes it. He signs a piece of paper.
Kid: “Ed! You’re my favorite. Do you think you can beat Thad when you fight him?”
Houston: “I do, kid. Thad seems to think OCW is a poverty federation because he hasn’t heard of it and it is a little different with Who’re in charge, but OCW is big time. It’s been all around the world. It has attracted top talent throughout its history. It’s fine if he wants to be along for the ride but to act like he is the savior of OCW is ridiculous. Have you ever watched basketball?”
Kid: “Yeah!”
Houston: “It’s like Steve Ballmer acting like he’s a genius for taking over the Clippers who were already on the upswing and taking them from the Western Conference semi-finals to the Western Conference semifinals. It’s like someone latching on to Apple two years ago and acting like they were the one that invented the iPhone. It’s fine if he wants to be on the spaceship. There are plenty of seats but to act like you’re building the spaceship is something entirely different.”
“And I still think he’s overlooking me. He acts like he’s fully focused but you can’t call the roster a baby roster and then act like you have the same focus that you’ve already had. It’s not how any competition in the world works. You could ask Team USA how they were feeling having to face Nigeria. They all said they were focused but you can’t focus at the same level when you’re playing a team you beat by 80 last time you faced off. It’s not like he’s facing off against some nobody either. I’m the leading merch seller in OCW over all those people with belts around their waists. I led GCWA from its reinvention to the period where every star in the world wanted in. Just because Thad was too busy living off of his father’s reputation in XWF doesn’t mean that he knows what it's like to work for a company trying to establish relevance. I know what kind of fight that takes and I’m going to show Thad the amount of fight it takes. I don’t care if he makes the most here. I'm going to show Who’re that spreading her metaphorical legs for him was a mistake. All he’s going to be is overpriced bloat on the company after our match and that’s a shoot if you were wondering kid. Everything I say is.”
Kid: “Well good luck! I’ll be rooting for you.”
Houston: “Thanks, kid. I appreciate it!”
The kid walks back to his parents. The high-rolling lawyer walks out of the conference room. He makes eye contact with Ed. Ed stares him down and rubs his fingers together, letting the lawyer know they are coming for him and that NASA trip. The lawyer rolls his eyes. The camera moves to the clock on the wall. It reads 8:09 as the scene fades to black.
