September 23, 2005
Week 21 - The Quest 1
Episode 5
Rantz talks with Hal in the den. "So mom says you can buy the new version, as long as you use your own money to pay for it."
Hal shakes his head. "Great, dad. Where am I supposed to get seventy five dollars?"
"You could get a job..."
"A job! I'm thirteen years old! What sort of job could I get? They won't give me working papers for, like, three years."
"Well, as a matter of fact... School's closed next week and I happen to have a big filing project at my office... There's a whole bunch of old spreadsheets from before I became Circulation Director. Five or six years worth. They're all, sort of, just shoved in cartons... Every time I try to refer to one, to check some history, it's a nightmare."
"Old spreadsheets?"
"Yeah, circulation reports... You know, results from direct mail campaigns, renewal response rates, that sort of thing."
"Your life's just filled with excitement, isn't it dad?"
"Listen, do you want that stupid game or not? I'm trying to help you out here."
"All right, I'm sorry."
"I've had Shari... my assistant... going through them all. But she bitches to me even more than you do, and this is setting her off full blast. And I don't really blame her. She's got other work to do and this filing's eating up all her time... You come to my office and take care of it, I'll have the company pay you seventy five dollars, off the books and tax free. I checked with my publisher, he said it's okay. I'll even do you a favor, pay your train fare. Should take, two, three days."
"Could I stay in the city, hang out a little, after you head home?"
"Absolutely not."
"Can't blame a guy for dreaming." He shrugs. "All right. Fine. For Death Zone 3, I'll put up with a couple of days of idiotic drudgery."
"It won't be so bad. Maybe you'll like magazine circulation. Maybe you'll decide to follow in your dad's footsteps."
"Absolutely not."
"Can't blame a guy for dreaming."