Page 18 - Effable Encounters

Krud

high-rise condominiums, on piles of law books, on freezers full of
fruit-flavored frozen yogurt. Bompity-bomp-da-bomp-a-bomp!
Bompity-bomp-da-bomp-a-bomp! I can see the whole thing: a great
five-minute rock video! Now, that’s big bucks for you, Vince.”
Lazaretto stroked his well-shaven chin. Here at last was something
he could work with, something too vague to bring down the wrath of
parents and fundamentalists upon Squirt Records.
“I guess it might do well, at that. Those kids understand only one
thing: mindless destruction. Why not give it to them?”
Krud’s reaction immediately told Vince he had said the wrong
thing: “Mindless? What the hell do you mean by that, Vince? Don’t
you get the message? It’s all a big lie, the pie in the sky. The stupid
rich who want to get it all now are still trying to tell the stupid poor
they can get some of it later. But God is dead. Nature is dying. The
future is pulled out from under us to feed the debts of the past!
Mindless? When the barbarians take the stage, they’ll trash the props,
the audience, the theatre: no more performances. They’ve been
denied a future, so they’re going to blow away the past. All of it!
Good, bad, and indifferent! Why? To get what they can before it’s
too late—and because it is too late!”
Lazaretto couldn’t help responding.
“But they’re going to destroy everything of value! Like throwing
the baby out with the bath-water! It’s self-defeating! What are they
going to get?”
Shel Schacht glared at the businessman, his expression oscillating
between pity and contempt. “Revenge,” he said softly. “Isn’t it
obvious? Maybe Squirt Records doesn’t appreciate what my music is
all about.”
The arrangements slipped out of Vince’s hands. He bent over to
pick them up, conscious of his bald spot. When he sat up again, his
face was red.
“All right, Sheldon,” he croaked. “I’ll go back and tell them it’s
your way or no way. I tried to keep the relationship viable. God
knows I’ve tried. I don’t think it’s going to fly. You want to burn
your bridges: good luck. I don’t know if any other label will touch
this stuff, and you haven’t the money or the backers to start your
own company. I’m not asking for much. Really, I’m not.”
Krud leaned back against the dressing table.

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