"Fine, if that's true, then I'm sorry," he said, catching me off guard. "Just eat your breakfast. You've got to be starving."
"What the fuck, Bugsy?" I muttered as I picked up a fork and dug into the eggs.
"Look, I didn't mean any harm, Adam," he said as he slid more eggs into the pan and turned the heat down. "I honestly thought I was doing you a favor, but I can see how it might have been the wrong way to go about things, and, for that, I'm sorry."
I ignored him, but continued eating his peace offering.
"Adam, we have a huge weight on our shoulders right now," he said as he turned back to the stove and stirred the eggs. "Honestly, I'm a little worried that we're not going t
o be able to make this idea work unless you are able to quickly negotiate a deal with the farm folks down south. We need to secure enough space for at least twenty turbines to land the manufacturing contract, and I'm not entirely certain that there's going to be enough interest for us to do that."
"So? If we don't land Corner Grove, we move to the next farming community," I said.
"You don't get it, do you?" he replied as he flipped the second omelet onto a plate and offered it to me. I shook my head and he picked up a fork and began shoveling food into his mouth as he spoke. "The next potential farming community where we can actually make a profit after Corner Grove is outside of Topeka fucking Kansas! You read the DOE report, too, Adam. Don’t play dumb with me now."
"And the problem with that is?"
"We're talking increased supply chain and installation costs because of the distance," he said. "And the maintenance and upkeep visits are going to exponentially increase our cash needs. Plus, it's not rated as highly as Corner Grove in terms of wind levels."
"So, I need to sell the idea in Corner Grove," I said flatly. "This still doesn't explain why you hired a hooker to fuck me in a broom closet last night."
"Jesus, are you ever going to let that go?" he sighed. "Look, you and I both know that you're in desperate need of a woman's touch."
I winced as Bugsy stated the obvious, but said nothing.
"You're a red-blooded American male! You needed a release! You deserve to have a good time!" he insisted. "Why can't you just thank me for the effort and let it go?"
"Because fuck you, that's why," I said as I stood up from the counter and shoved my plate across the surface. "Thanks for the eggs. I appreciate you not hiring breakfast out."
"Dammit, Adam!" Bugsy shouted as I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to take a shower.
#
As usual, Bugsy and I resolved our differences through a complex mechanism of silence, peace offerings and falling back on business talk to smooth over the rough edges, and after a week of camping out in his guest bedroom, I'd gathered all the information I would need for the trip to Corner Grove.
Ten days after I’d moved in with him, I decided it was time to head out and get to work. I caught a cab to the car rental office and signed an agreement for weeklong rental of a black Mustang. Despite Bugsy's warnings about costs and keeping a low profile in Corner Grove, I figured that if he could afford to hire hookers for me, then we could also afford the cost of the car that I wanted to drive.
"What the hell, Wallace?" Bugsy yelled when I tossed the receipts for the car rental on his desk. "I told you we don't have this kind of money to be throwing around!"
"Yeah, but you had enough to rent a hooker for me?" I shot back. Bugsy said nothing as he fumed in silence for a few minutes.
"Fine, the car is it, though," he said sternly. "We seriously do not have a lot of money, Wallace. We have to conserve resources if we're going to land this deal and make it generate a profit."
"Understood, boss," I said giving him a mock salute as he handed me the paperwork for the bed and breakfast I'd be staying at in Corner Grove. "What is this? Don't they have online check in?"
"You've got to be shitting me," he said shaking his head. "You're going down to Amish country, Adam. You'll be lucky if you can find a phone down there. Forget about online check in and anything related to the modern world. Speaking of which, don't forget your phone charger."
"Oh please, I've read about the Amish in those communities, Bugsy," I said giving him a skeptical look. "They're not nearly as backward as you think they are. How the hell do you think they do business down there?"
"I think you're in for a major surprise, my friend," he said shaking his head. "But, whatever."
We spent the next hour hashing out the possible appointments I'd have over the next two weeks. Our goal was to land enough farmland to be able to install the twenty turbines, and in order to do that we'd need at least five farms to agree to sign on. I was optimistic that I could sell the technology based on what little I knew about the Amish and their way of life.
"I hope you're right about all of this," Bugsy said as he rubbed his chin.
"C'mon, man, they hate government involvement and they don't take energy from the electrical grid," I said trying to convince him I was right. "There's nothing here that says they wouldn't give it back to the grid and make some money from it. Look at all their businesses in this area! Furniture manufacturing and grocery stores, forget about the farming they do. It's gonna be like shooting fish in a barrel!"
"I hope you're right, Wallace," Bugsy repeated with a worried look.