Page 131 - Just Deserts

Chameleon Dress Tips

started throwing those things at him. Then it got really crazy, and I
didn’t see much of what was going on.”
“Executing a strategic retreat, I expect.” Anita smiled, with her
mouth only.
“Well, I’m trying to give you a firsthand account of what
happened. But everybody knows the rest of it from the newspapers.
Not only were several art critics there from the dailies, but this mob
had a few reporters with them, too. It turns out that Frisko had taken
this chameleon thing to a whole new level. At the same time he was
selling his limited edition at big bucks to the upper-class collectors,
he was also mass-marketing the things to kids in a low-rent chain of
toy stores. The material they were made of was a very inexpensive
grade of plastic, not the allegedly rare and precious substance he
called meliorite—which doesn’t exist. So he was really putting one
over on the folks who paid twenty thousand each! But it was even
more brilliant than that.”
“How?”
“The shape of the chameleon, when viewed from above, was like
the numeral six, because the tail curled back to the body. Frisko had
packaged the toy version with three chameleons in a row, so they
formed the number six-six-six—anathema to all good Christians, as
you know.”
Anita nodded. “Right: the number of the beast, the Antichrist’s
password, the area code of the devil. But that could have been a
coincidence.”
“Not a chance. The name of the product, ‘Chameleon Dress Tips,’
is an anagram of ‘Demons Please Christ.’ Now the average semi-
literate purchaser of toys is not going to figure that one out in a
hurry, but the mob was organized and the press were tipped off by
some itinerant evangelist, who could not be found later. Anyway,
they were howling for Frisko’s blood. And it didn’t take long for the
upmarket crowd to join the chorus, demanding their money back.
Chameleons were free for the taking at that point.”
“But what happened to Frisko?”
“Well, for a couple of days he laid low, giving interviews by
telephone to a few journalists. For some reason he denied setting up
the whole thing as a sort of ‘happening’ designed to ridicule the art
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