[Success, Investigate]
I was up early again, I jumped to Juliet’s World and authored today’s free food for the marketplace, then portaled it to the warehouse portal where the gnomes took over. I jumped back to Juliet’s world and authored ten cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. I portaled these to the bookstore. Then one last time I jumped to Juliet’s World I authored sixty Kobo e-readers and portaled back to the tower library.
“Good morning Elmer, Doug, Daisy, how are you three today?”
“Good Rose, from both of us.”
“Fine Rose.
“Great Doug, I’d like you to fill up these sixty e-readers with books that trees might enjoy then just fill them up with different popular and classic novels and great non-fiction. Try not to put too many of the same books on all the readers, it’ll be nice if one reads a book loves it and trades his e-reader to his friend.”
“They won’t have to trade Rose, I’ll make the books DRM free, then if Elmer loves book A he can just send a copy of the book to Elma. Then if Elma happens to hate the book she can just delete the copy from her Kobo.”
“I don’t know what DRM for free even means, Doug.”
“It’s just DRM, not DRM for free and it’s horrible stuff. It’s baked right into the book and what it does is it makes sure that if you buy an e-book you don’t really own it. The people who sold you the book can take it back anytime they want and they don’t have to give you your money back.”
“Why would a reader ever agree to that, Doug.”
“Earth people are stupid Rose, it’s not just books, it’s music and movies and tv shows, video games. It’s all loaded with DRM, but don’t you worry I’ll strip the DRM and the books will be able to be sent to whoever wants them.”
“Thanks Doug, and Elmer, not a word of this to your fellow trees, I want to surprise them, understand.”
“If you don’t blow the surprise, Doug will give you the first one and show you how to use it, Elmer.”
By the time I’d finished breakfast Doug had all of the Kobo’s fully loaded. I took the box of Kobo’s and Doug and portaled to the book store.
“Hello EG, hello Elma.”
“Good morning Rose.”
“Elma, how would you like to read any book you like and never have to touch paper?”
“What did you do, Rose?”
“I asked Doug to load up all these Kobo’s with e-books, the trees love stories and there is no better way to tell a story than through print. But the trees understandably don’t want to flip through the skin of a dead relative just to read those stories. They saved my, Lu and Dogberry’s lives last night. The least I can do is give them the one thing they might actually enjoy.”
“Elma, not a word about this to the other trees, I want to surprise them. Alright?”
“Alright Rose, but I can’t talk now, I’m reading.”
“Come on Doug, we have to jump to the farm site. EG if anyone is looking for me, I’ll be back in about twenty minutes.”
Doug and I jumped to the farm site and I saw Woody in the distance so I waved him over. Yesterday when they thought I was going to make them itch, the only one brave enough to approach was Woody. But today he had the same small grove of trees in his wake.
I introduced Doug to the trees while I handed out the Kobo, Doug explained how they worked, how to send each other books and if they wanted a book that no one had just ask Elmer for it and Doug would put the e-book on Elmers and then he could send the e-book to whoever wanted it. Meanwhile I talked to Woody.
“Rose, What did the tree wear to the pool party? Swim trunks! Hoot, Hoot.”
“Woody, thank you so much, you saved our lives last night. I know these e-readers don’t come close to paying you back but it was the only thing I could think of that you all might enjoy. Personally I just love to read, or have my girlfriend read to me.”
“Rose you don’t have to pay us back, if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even be conscious. It’s us that owe you. But having said that, I'm looking forward to reading about the hobbits in the old forest. If I didn’t do what my parents instructed me to do, they used to threaten me that Old Man Willow would come and make me obey.”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“It was but I also knew that it was just a story, so only half terrifying.”
“Where’s Ashley, I wanted to thank her again."
“She went out to the hills to try and stir the trees up against the cartel.”
“They are dangerous people, she shouldn’t be out there alone.”
“We’re trees Rose, unless we are in the way or bearing fruit, most people just ignore us. Which is almost as good as an invisibility spell or ring.”
“Well thank her for me and give her a Kobo and tell her to be careful.”
I portaled Doug home then portaled back to the bookstore.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Harvey was waiting.
“Hi Harvey.”
“Hi, Rose. I just came from court.”
“Yeah, another Harris in trouble, this one was really helpful though, confessed and everything.”
“Rose, I had to submit a motion to suppress that magic device that could have been faked.”
“It could have been Harvey, but it wasn’t. Plus he confessed to myself and my girlfriend we’ll be happy to testify, then we have Kristi Noem who’s being blackmailed by the Harris’s. You aren’t representing her too are you? I have a gift for you.”
“No Rose, I’m not representing Kristi Noem, that would be a conflict of interest and Rose I can’t accept any gifts from you that would be a conflict of interest too.”
“Relax, Harvey, it's not a bribe, I’m giving hundreds, maybe thousands of these away for free.” I handed him a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. “It’s very good wine Harvey. Do you represent the entire cartel Harvey or just the Harris’s”
“The whole cartel, Rose.”
I handed him another bottle.
“Would you please give that to Sophie Evans, and tell her I’m prepared to make a very generous offer on her property, today. But the offer goes down every day, by the hour. So she’ll never get more for the place after five pm today. She can come with or without you to the store to negotiate. I’ll purchase sight unseen, as I’m a little afraid to leave town without being murdered. If you see the Harrises tell them I’ll be happy to give them their free bottle if they’d like to swing by. Otherwise they can get it for free in the marketplace.”
“Rose, don’t do this, I genuinely like you.”
“I like you too. But first your clients tried to intimidate the town, then me, then they beat farmers, women and children. Then their own vendor, then last night nine men tried to murder me Harvey. I spared Harris's son but those other eight are gone for good. I’m getting sick of the fight. I also haven’t had any time to write and that really makes me edgy. The offer still stands Harvey, doesn’t a writing retreat sound heavenly.”
“Rose I can’t once this gets resolved, I’d love to.”
“Well Harvey, help me resolve it.”
“Rose, you are escalating, not trying to resolve.”
“The head of the cartel doesn’t care at all about selling food in town, it was a power grab pure and simple, and while I may be ruining the other members of the cartel with the free food. So after junior gave me the key piece of information that his family hasn’t lost a dime, I thought of a way to make a five hundred gold bottle of wine worthless. First I was going to put a spell on it to turn it all to vinegar. But then I thought that’s going to take too long. I mean who opens five hundred dollar bottles of wine just to make sure they are still good. But a guy can’t sell a bottle of wine for five hundred when I’m selling the same bottles for one gold, can they? Harvey.”
“They can sue you for putting their label on your bottle of wine.”
“That’s the beauty Harvey, that is their bottle of wine. Open drink it test it for yourself. Get wine experts to try and distinguish if they do prefer one it’ll be mine because it’s magic. Everybody loves magic, find a kid anywhere who doesn’t gape in pure wonder when the magician makes something appear or disappear. I have a very good attorney Harvey, I hear he’s never lost.”
“It would be better for all parties to stay out of court.”
“Sounds good to me Harvey, I think it’s time we upped the stakes. First I’ll ruin their present stock by giving it away, with their wine cellar worthless. We’ll end any new production, you also can’t make more wine if your grape vines no longer produce grapes. I showed you my fields Harvey, if I can make them grow like that, just imagine how easy it will be for my demon friend to make sure those vines never produce another grape.”
“What exactly do you want, Rose?”
“Tell the Harrises they have three days, both their sons will plead guilty to the crimes they committed. They will cease all hostilities. If I’m killed it won’t matter, my friendly demon will curse their vines in three days, if I’m dead she very well might curse everyone and everything on or associated with their property. My friend Draco the red dragon wanted to handle this whole matter from the start, but I stopped him. Of course if I’m dead or one of my friends is dead, there will be no stopping him. He’ll burn the hills and everything in them to ash. Then the war will be over and the town will have won. You tell these idiots Harvey, money can not beat magic.”
“I’ll try Rose.”
“Don’t try, Harvey, succeed. Have Sophie Evans here by the end of the day with paperwork of what she owes and to who. I mean it, the price I’m willing to pay drops by the hour I already have her land earmarked for a project.”
“Rose, you used to be nicer.”
“Having someone try to murder you, the woman you love and a good friend is bound to cause me to be in a bad mood. Now get out of here I have wine to give away. Do you want a case? It really is very good wine. You’d think someone who could produce such good wine would have done a better job raising their kids.”
Harvey left, I sighed, I was really tired of this. I want Sparky back, I want to forget about farms and snobs but right now I need some workers.
“EG, Elma I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“Ok, Rose”
“Bye Rose”
I portaled to the library.
“Hi Rose, I haven’t seen you in a long time, how are the farms coming along?”
“Great Eldara, once we get it all resolved we are going to have a big party to celebrate. But I have to put up a job notice I want to hire ten to twenty guards”
“You're in luck, take a look at the jobs wanted board, I saw three or four just pull down the cards and give them to me, and when they come in to check for offers I’ll send them to the store for you to interview them.”
“Thanks Eldara, did Groucho come back today for story time?”
“Yes thank the gods, the kids would come in everyday waiting for him and when I did story time, they’d just kind of sit there.”
“Groucho is a tough act to follow, I don’t envy you having to do it. Well I gotta get back, I hope to see you soon.”
