Nicholas DiBiase
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Poster: Nicholas DiBiase @ Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:19 am
In the end, Hape’s presentation won Danny over. After some price haggling (Hape, as was his wont, budged only two percent, saying that “cost is through the roof on carbon fiber”), it was agreed that Danny’s Sports Authorities would carry the presented Head product, minus most of the apparel, which Hape conceded after Danny showed him a spreadsheet indicating that 70% of the previous year’s line had been sold at clearance prices due to lack of demand. Hape printed out the contract that they had edited together on Hape’s computer, and Danny signed it. Danny had made no correction to his name before printing. Hape had to know :
“Thanks, Danny; we really appreciate it. How’s your last name pronounced?”
Danny fixed Hape with the look that women give to people who ask if they’re pregnant when they’re not :
“It’s ‘Dracula.’ Like the vampire.”
And that was that. Hape could tell that he had best ask no more.
Hape had teetered a little during his encounter with Dracula, and he knew it. That kind of psychological stutter is the kind that breaks deals. Danny had really clocked Hape with no problem, and here was Hape, driving down the road tormenting himself with the mysteries of Dracula. As Hape dwelled on the meeting, his thirst for details took a firmer hold. What was the deal with the earlobe? The stained shirt? There had to be something to it. But now, the deal was made and Hape didn’t have any legitimate reason to go back there, at least not until it was time to start shilling the next season’s gear. With a stinging twinge of unsatisfied curiosity mixing with his slightly bruised ego, Hape was in a foul mood pretty soon. He put a little more pressure on the gas as he came up on the overpass. A photo radar camera flashed him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. As he motored his way back to the office, he noticed a big ‘90s model white Lexus pulled over on the shoulder. As Hape’s car approached, the trunk of the Lexus popped open and the driver, a tall man in a big Panama hat, got out the driver’s side door. The man then opened the passenger door and pulled another guy out by his hair. As Hape sped past them, the driver forcefully shoved and flopped the passenger into the trunk and slammed it shut. Hape barely avoided veering his Toyota into the guard rails as the scene receded into his rearview mirror. What had he just seen?
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Nicholas DiBiase
@Hepnova
(10,031)
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