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Mary marveled at how Weed could sound like two entirely different people, depending on whether he was trying to hide his brains and his heart. She was relieved too. Weed wouldn’t ask if he weren’t half convinced she would keep her word.
“You have my word,” she said, matching the solemn demeanor surrounding her.
Van nodded gravely. He shifted his gaze to take in all of them at the table and spread his hands. “I’ll give you the good news first. Our potential investor is as dazzled by our Superwood as we dreamed he’d be.”
Weed whooped, stood up so fast he almost knocked his chair over and threw his long limbs into an energetic jig. “I knew Martin could do it!”
Lola Rose drew Mary closer and whispered into her ear to make herself heard over Weed’s high-decibel dancing. “Martin is Weed’s son. He got the first of the company scholarships for employees’ kids. MIT for Martin, all expenses paid, right through to a PhD he brought home a few years ago.”
“I think paying for his education will turn out to be the best money this company ever spent,” Van said with a smile. “He let me hire him the minute they put that degree into his hand.”
Weeddampenedhisexcitementenoughtositback down, although he drummed the fingers of both hands on the table.
Mary thought she might get a word in edgewise now, although only one. “Superwood?” she asked.
“Let me, let me!” Lola Rose shouted. “I fed Martin all the chili he could eat one night last week and made him explain it to me.”
Weed and Van both half-bowed and waved her to go on.
“You know those 3D printers? You feed them a pattern and they can go on making whatever you want day and night until you tell them to stop.”
Mary nodded. “They’re amazing. You feed plastic into them, don’t you?”
“Metals and plastics and other pol — poly — ”
“Polymers,” Weed said.
Mary was no longer surprised to hear such a word coming out of Weed’s mouth.
Lola Rose nodded her thanks in his direction. “Those things are all well and good,” she said, “but we can’t keep using them up forever, and we’re making a mess of the environment while we’re doing it.”
Weed couldn’t hold back any longer. “Let’s hear it for Superwood,” he crowed. “It may not grow on trees,” he added with a chortle, “but it istrees, with a little addition from my son's lab, and we can keep growin’’em’tilkingdomcomes!It’sstronger,lighter, easier to work with — ”
“Less expensive?” Mary asked.
Weed’s face fell. “Nah. Not the Superwood, nor the big sucker machines we’ll need to make the most of it.”
So, it was working in the lab, but nowhere else at the moment. Mary’s mind raced a mile per nanosecond. The process wouldn’t stay in the lab, though, she was sure of it. As the material and machines started invading the factory floor, they’d bring back an enormous chunk of the economy that had flown abroad for decades. Who would need cheap labor in Third World countries when machines could do the workfornexttonothing?Peoplewouldstillhavejobs here,butthey’dbeskilledjobsrunningthemachines and paying accordingly.
Revolution, here we come.
“You ready for the bad news?” Van asked.
Heads with somber expressions swung his way.
“Thenewinvestorwantsmetostayon.Ijustfound out this morning.” He paused.
“I’m sorry, but you know that’s not in the cards. It never was. You know I started this whole thing because I wanted out once we got the place turned around.I’mtryingtopersuadethemtogoaheadwith the original deal we all had planned, but right now, I don’t know.”
Weed rubbed at the back of his neck. “None of us have asked before. Figured it was your business. But why do you want out?”
Van kept his look locked too intently on Weed’s. “I don’t want the responsibility anymore. I want to live my own life. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
It was the truth. Just not all of the truth. Mary knew from Cyn that his artist’s soul was yearning to break out as well. If he ever trusted her with that truth too …
Lola Rose’s sunny expression dimmed. Gus slumped back in his chair, his big belly sagging to the fore. Weed sighed.
“Okay, Boss Man. I guess we’ll see what happens. If we can help keep this deal afloat, let us know.”
