“What do you think?” Tony asks. “Is it worth investing
in?”
We’ve been driving for a while in relative silence because Benjamin was on his cellphone. He speaks in Chinese, and I’m struck by the long vowel sounds of the language.
But Benjamin has been off the phone, and when he doesn’t answer right away, I look over at Tony to find him staring at me. Surely he wasn’t directing the question at me?
“Drumm wants ten million for the golf course alone,” Tony says.
I look over at Benjamin, awaiting his response.
“He’s asking you, Virginia,” Benjamin says.
I start. What?
“Should I invest in Drumm’s luxury resort and golf course?” Tony rephrases.
“I don’t know anything about business,” I reply. Why the hell is he asking me?
“Regardless, tell me your impression.”
I realize both cousins are listening to me. I take a moment to think so that I don’t come off sounding like a complete idiot.
“I don’t know much about the resort business,” I qualify again, “and even less about golf courses. But given that there are a lot of options for golfing—in prettier places along the coast—I wonder that people will travel here for that. Unless it’s a spectacular one-of-a-kind golf course. I don’t know what goes into making one golf course more attractive than another.”
“What else?”
“As for the resort component, Eric said the spa would be for the women. As with the golf, there are a lot of options to choose from down near the Bay Area. In other words, there’s a lot of competition. Unless the plan is to draw from the population around here.”
“Not enough rich people here. The entire county is smaller than a lot of suburbs. Any other considerations?”
“Well, what is your goal? If it’s to be buddies with the Drumm family, then that’s a consideration.”
“I know your father wants those defense contracts,” Benjamin says to Tony, “but they’ll never let a Chinese company get their hands on anything substantive. Just look at the limitation in the telecomm industry. And the senior Drumm is no fan of China.”
“Father knows it’s a long shot,” Tony replies, “but it doesn’t hurt to cultivate a relationship with the Drumms.”
I inadvertently clear my throat, making Tony look my way.
“You don’t think so?” he inquires.
“No. I didn’t say anything. I don’t know.”
“Let’s return to your analysis of the development opportunity. Putting aside the potential political benefits, do you think I should do business with Drumm?”
Hell, no.
“I can’t really say,” I deflect.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know enough about how he is in business. I’ve heard things about the family business, how they don’t pay their contractors sometimes and that they contract with companies that use undocumented workers. But maybe it’s not true. Or maybe it doesn’t matter in business?”
“Drumm projects are never on schedule,” Benjamin adds, “because they do contract with companies that use unskilled labor, which is cheaper but not as efficient.”
“Which is kind of ironic. You’d think a luxury resort would be built by the best workers to be had. Even if the labor drives up costs and you have to charge your customers more, given the type of clientele Drumm wants to target, couldn’t they afford the higher rates? Their price elasticity of demand would be less than one—inelastic.”
Benjamin glances over his shoulder at us. “You should hire her. If you don’t, I might.”