By Wayne Lerner

“DID YOU GET THE CALL FROM THE BOSS?”

“I sure did. Number One’s pissed at us. You think we did a bad job last time?”

‘“I don’t know. I thought we did okay but how they turned out, man, that’s a different story.”

“They really screwed up a lot of things, all the way from the beginning. And it kept getting worse as time went on.”

“We sent them signals so they could fix their mess, right their wrongs. They were so brazen and disrespectful, they couldn’t see the damage they were doing.”

“That’s for sure. Not just to themselves but to where they live.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have been so quick putting it all together. We should have begun small and seen what developed instead of jump-starting the whole thing all at once.”

“That may have been better but I doubt it. We just picked the wrong formula. They didn’t know how good they had it.”

“We can’t put it off any longer. We have to face the fire. Oops, sorry, bad pun.”

“That’s not funny. We’re still on trial. We have to execute the plans thoroughly to get promoted. Otherwise…”

“Don’t go there. I don’t wanna even think about it. We’ve worked too hard to get this far. Let’s go take our medicine and see if we can rectify the situation.”

✶

“I’M NOT HAPPY WITH YOU TWO. You guys missed the target altogether!  What you put together will soon destroy itself and now we have to start all over someplace else.”

“What do you mean it will destroy itself? We did exactly what you told us to do.”

“That’s right. They're the ones who screwed up, not us. After all, are we those brothers’ keepers?”

“That’s my line and the answer is yes. What you built has no sustainability, no viability, no humanity, no civility, and no vitality. That’s not a success from where I sit.”

“Can we talk? We warned you there would be too many and that they may get in each other's way.”

“That’s your problem, not mine. I gave you orders to fulfill and you failed. You're close to being demoted again, going back to the farm. One more failure and…”

“C’mon, we almost made it to the Bigs. Give us another chance, would ya? We may be able to fix that first one or start over in a new place.”

“Down there, in the mess you made, they talk about the five stages of death and dying. One of those stages is negotiation. Now, what do they call me? Allah. Yahweh. The Life Force, The Creator. God. Guess what? God doesn’t negotiate. You’re following my orders. I sure don’t need any suggestions from you two.”

“We’re not negotiating, Boss. We’re pleading.”

We thought we had them on the right path but we were wrong. We’re not sure they’re fixable.

“We can do better. I know we can. There’s lots of locations where we can execute your plan without fail. Let us have one more try.”

“You don’t want to go back to your failure and see if you can fix it?”

“No, Boss, we don’t. We thought we had them on the right path but we were wrong. We’re not sure they’re fixable.”

“So, you’ll just throw them away, watch them destroy themselves? That’s your solution. You start afresh while your bad work withers and dies.”

“You think they can make it with our input? We’ve tried for eons, to no avail.”

“Yes, I do and I think that is an appropriate challenge for you two. You don’t get to start in a new place. That’s the easy way out. Fix your disaster. Then you can be elevated to the Bigs.

Otherwise, it’s…”

“We know, it’s down to the farm. No telling how long it will take us to get here again, if ever.”

“That’s right. What’s your decision?”

“What if we can’t turn that place around? Get those people to change?”

“That’s the risk you’ll have to take, isn’t it? No more talking. I gave you a choice. What’s your pleasure?”

“We’ll go back. We’ve got to use all the tricks in our bag to fix this one.”

“You’ll need to find other strategies which have a chance to succeed.”

 “Will you give us a hint where we can find these new approaches?”

“What did I say? No! Negotiations!”

  “I’m not looking forward to dismantling that place, but I’ll do it. Before they damage it more than they already have. What a waste.”

“Now, be gone. Away with you.”