I ordered a couple of cannoli to go. I’d eat them with coffee over our game of THE CONFRONTATION. With full stomachs and nervous hearts we headed out to the law firm where The Barrister had been working, back to the office we had met him at a few weeks before. It was strange, sitting down in his office, realizing that we were at the precipice of a termination. The nature of that termination was going to be decided there, in the next few moments, in that chair at that desk. It was awkward, almost surreal. The Barrister tried his best to adopt an authoritarian role, almost like an adult overseeing the affairs of children. We sat there quietly for a few minutes, not saying anything. No small talk whatsoever. I wanted to cry.

“Well, what are we going to do guys?” said the Barrister.

It was all very clinical, in a way. I explained all of the store’s existing liabilities, current financial situation, and operational status. The Barrister once again enumerated the extent of his debts and his overall financial burden. A lot of numbers were dragged out, found to be haunting the heart and soul of a place that could never be summed up in a bottom line or a profit margin. An ephemeral something that could never exist as a spreadsheet or on the yellow legal pad on which The Barrister was taking notes.

He didn’t even consider the offer. “Why do you expect me to take a lower offer than you gave me a month ago? We’re just going to have to liquidate.”

It was such a hollow statement of superiority, a false position of control- we knew, and he knew, that he was fucked if he didn’t take our deal. If we somehow managed to liquidate every item and every asset in the store, he’d still be in tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt. If he took our deal, he’d be home free. But he was squeezing us, trying to figure out the PIN number to Dollar Bill’s wallet and using me as the emotional fulcrum for his master plan. He flatly refused, and again stated that he wouldn’t accept less than what he had tried to sell us on before.

Dollar Bill looked me and I shook my head, just barely concealing tears. We both knew that there wasn’t going to be a deal made. Our last hope was to push The Barrister to the absolute brink of desperation, to corner him into capitulation.

Dollar Bill stood up and I followed.

We walked out.

Questions or comments for Michael? Send them along to gameshark.feedback@yahoo.com .

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