"Nineteen," she said. "What's the problem?"
Nineteen! Jesus, no wonder she was so volatile. _What's my excuse,
then?_
"It's not a problem, Kim, it's just something I wanted to discuss with
you. The people you-all have been bringing down to work for me, they're
all really great castmembers."
"But?"
"But we have limited resources around here. Not enough hours in the day
for me to stay on top of the new folks, the rehab, everything. Not to
mention that until we open the new Mansion, there's a limited number of
extras we can use out front. I'm concerned that we're going to put
someone on stage without proper training, or that we're going to run out
of uniforms; I'm also concerned about people coming all the way here and
discovering that there aren't any shifts for them to take."
She gave me a relieved look. "Is _that_ all? Don't worry about it. I've
been talking to Debra, over at the Hall of Presidents, and she says she
can pick up any people who can't be used at the Mansion -- we could even
rotate back and forth!" She was clearly proud of her foresight.
My ears buzzed. Debra, one step ahead of me all along the way. She
probably suggested that Kim do some extra recruiting in the first place.
She'd take in the people who came down to work the Mansion, convince
them they'd been hard done by the Liberty Square crew, and rope them
into her little Whuffie ranch, the better to seize the Mansion, the
Park, the whole of Walt Disney World.
"Oh, I don't think it'll come to that," I said, carefully. "I'm sure we
can find a use for them all at the Mansion. More the merrier."
Kim cocked quizzical, but let it go. I bit my tongue. The pain brought
me back to reality, and I started planning costume production, training
rosters, bunking. God, if only Suneep would finish the robots!
#
"What do you mean, 'no'?" I said, hotly.
Lil folded her arms and glared. "No, Julius. It won't fly. The group is
already upset that all the glory is going to the new people, they'll
never let us bring more in. They also won't stop working on the rehab to
train them, costume them, feed them and mother them. They're losing
Whuffie every day that the Mansion's shut up, and they don't want any
more delays. Dave's already joined up with Debra, and I'm sure he's not
the last one."
Dave -- the jerk who'd pissed all over the rehab in the meeting. Of
course he'd gone over. Lil and Dan stood side by side on the porch of
the house where I'd lived. I'd driven out that night to convince Lil to
sell the ad-hocs on bringing in more recruits, but it wasn't going
according to plan. They wouldn't even let me in the house.
"So what do I tell Kim?"
"Tell her whatever you want," Lil said. "You brought her in -- you
manage her. Take some goddamn responsibility for once in your life."
It wasn't going to get any better. Dan gave me an apologetic look. Lil
glared a moment longer, then went into the house.
"Debra's doing real well," he said. "The net's all over her. Biggest
thing ever. Flash-baking is taking off in nightclubs, dance mixes with
the DJ's backup being shoved in bursts into the dancers."
"God," I said. "I fucked up, Dan. I fucked it all up."
He didn't say anything, and that was the same as agreeing.
Driving back to the hotel, I decided I needed to talk to Kim. She was a
problem I didn't need, and maybe a problem I could solve. I pulled a
screeching U-turn and drove the little runabout to her place, a tiny
condo in a crumbling complex that had once been a gated seniors'
village, pre-Bitchun.
Her place was easy to spot. All the lights were burning, faint
conversation audible through the screen door. I jogged up the steps two
at a time, and was about to knock when a familiar voice drifted through
the screen.
Debra, saying: "Oh yes, oh yes! Terrific idea! I'd never really thought
about using streetmosphere players to liven up the queue area, but
you're making a lot of sense. You people have just been doing the _best_
work over at the Mansion -- find me more like you and I'll take them for
the Hall any day!"
I heard Kim and her young friends chatting excitedly, proudly. The anger
and fear suffused me from tip to toe, and I felt suddenly light and cool
and ready to do something terrible.