I see you're still pushing your agenda of optimism and a way out of the mess :-p I will probably return to the Inspectral story next week, so I may just have to subvert your prompts in the name of literature... well, story-telling maybe. I'm a long way off literature in my writing still :)
Hope springs eternal "ARG Healthcare is, as of today, the leading healthcare provider in fourteen states." Manguy smiled with his mouth, and his eyes remained blank. They had classes three times a year on maintaining emotional neutrality and only showing expressions that encouraged the right response from clients. "As you can see from the chart, this is not a local phenomenon, but that the states form a loose circle in the middle of the USA. This is not a coincidence either; we have focused particularly on getting this kind of spread." "We lost in Florida," said David Brightbeard, CEO of ARG Healthcare, whose carefully concealed (for the moment) motto was 'Guns-for-all'. "That was unexpected." Manguy sighed very, very gently. Across the the table from him Jeronica tapped a key on her laptop and took over the presentation. "It was expected," she said, bringing up a map of Florida on the screen. "As we outlined during October's strategy meeting, Florida is a difficult state to win over as most rational approaches are dismissed by the state's inhabitants and the crocodiles, whilst arguably the most intelligent residents there, choose not to vote." "Crocodiles can't vote," said the CFO, a grey-haired woman with piercing grey eyes and a two-piece navy blue suit. "We managed to get legislation passed three years ago granting crocodiles the vote," said Jeronica. "Getting the crocodiles to vote has proven harder. Nonetheless, as we explained, the strategy in Florida is to lose first, and then win after that." "That's not a strategy!" David's face flushed, and his hand contracted into a fist. "That's an excuse when you lose!" The slide changed to show a construction site. Some large white walls were already up, and yellow JCBs were digging out other areas. Men and women in overalls and hard-hats moved around carrying blueprints, bricks, and other tools. "This was Florida's newest and largest hospital in December," said Jeronica. "It was opened two days ago." "Hope Springs, Eternal," said Manguy. "We had to spend a little to get Weston to change their name to Eternal, but it was surprisingly cheap to get the edge of the Everglades there renamed to Hope Springs. This hospital is, naturally, run by ARG Healthcare and all the nurses are Armed by Caduceus. It contains several state of the art facilities." "And?" David's feet were tapping on the floor.
"And with ARG Fast Transport we're already stealing hospital traffic from 14% of the whole state." Jeronica's words landed into the tension like scissors, snipping efficiently. "Wait," said the Chairwoman. David tried to speak, she waved a hand at him to silence him. "We're going to dominate the state healthcare anyway? Is that what you're saying?" "You're going to be so unmissable that on the next ballot we're the only choice," said Manguy. "For now we are suggesting that we initiate Operation Angelic Guidance. The next ballot is due in September; by that time we should have take Texas as well." "Operation Angelic Guidance?" David unclenched his fist, and his foot stopped tapping. "We use tiger teams to hijack other healthcare provider's ambulances making them seem riskier propositions. We then have our security teams 'save' those ambulances and deliver patients to Hope Springs, Eternal," said Manguy. "And we introduce the crocodiles to the hospital morgue," said Jeronica. "We're hoping that by selling it to them as an all-you-can-eat buffet service we can persuade them to vote." "You are remarkable," murmured the Chairwoman. "A light in the shadows, truly."
Greg - well, I think I've scheduled a week of prompts that should lend themselves to a return to the Inspectral story. So I am looking forward to catching up and seeing what you're doing with them!
Though obviously this tale continues to entertain. Some great details in this one, and I liked the Everglades explanation for the location as well :)
3 comments:
I see you're still pushing your agenda of optimism and a way out of the mess :-p I will probably return to the Inspectral story next week, so I may just have to subvert your prompts in the name of literature... well, story-telling maybe. I'm a long way off literature in my writing still :)
Hope springs eternal
"ARG Healthcare is, as of today, the leading healthcare provider in fourteen states." Manguy smiled with his mouth, and his eyes remained blank. They had classes three times a year on maintaining emotional neutrality and only showing expressions that encouraged the right response from clients. "As you can see from the chart, this is not a local phenomenon, but that the states form a loose circle in the middle of the USA. This is not a coincidence either; we have focused particularly on getting this kind of spread."
"We lost in Florida," said David Brightbeard, CEO of ARG Healthcare, whose carefully concealed (for the moment) motto was 'Guns-for-all'. "That was unexpected."
Manguy sighed very, very gently. Across the the table from him Jeronica tapped a key on her laptop and took over the presentation.
"It was expected," she said, bringing up a map of Florida on the screen. "As we outlined during October's strategy meeting, Florida is a difficult state to win over as most rational approaches are dismissed by the state's inhabitants and the crocodiles, whilst arguably the most intelligent residents there, choose not to vote."
"Crocodiles can't vote," said the CFO, a grey-haired woman with piercing grey eyes and a two-piece navy blue suit.
"We managed to get legislation passed three years ago granting crocodiles the vote," said Jeronica. "Getting the crocodiles to vote has proven harder. Nonetheless, as we explained, the strategy in Florida is to lose first, and then win after that."
"That's not a strategy!" David's face flushed, and his hand contracted into a fist. "That's an excuse when you lose!"
The slide changed to show a construction site. Some large white walls were already up, and yellow JCBs were digging out other areas. Men and women in overalls and hard-hats moved around carrying blueprints, bricks, and other tools. "This was Florida's newest and largest hospital in December," said Jeronica. "It was opened two days ago."
"Hope Springs, Eternal," said Manguy. "We had to spend a little to get Weston to change their name to Eternal, but it was surprisingly cheap to get the edge of the Everglades there renamed to Hope Springs. This hospital is, naturally, run by ARG Healthcare and all the nurses are Armed by Caduceus. It contains several state of the art facilities."
"And?" David's feet were tapping on the floor.
"And with ARG Fast Transport we're already stealing hospital traffic from 14% of the whole state." Jeronica's words landed into the tension like scissors, snipping efficiently.
"Wait," said the Chairwoman. David tried to speak, she waved a hand at him to silence him. "We're going to dominate the state healthcare anyway? Is that what you're saying?"
"You're going to be so unmissable that on the next ballot we're the only choice," said Manguy. "For now we are suggesting that we initiate Operation Angelic Guidance. The next ballot is due in September; by that time we should have take Texas as well."
"Operation Angelic Guidance?" David unclenched his fist, and his foot stopped tapping.
"We use tiger teams to hijack other healthcare provider's ambulances making them seem riskier propositions. We then have our security teams 'save' those ambulances and deliver patients to Hope Springs, Eternal," said Manguy.
"And we introduce the crocodiles to the hospital morgue," said Jeronica. "We're hoping that by selling it to them as an all-you-can-eat buffet service we can persuade them to vote."
"You are remarkable," murmured the Chairwoman. "A light in the shadows, truly."
Greg - well, I think I've scheduled a week of prompts that should lend themselves to a return to the Inspectral story. So I am looking forward to catching up and seeing what you're doing with them!
Though obviously this tale continues to entertain. Some great details in this one, and I liked the Everglades explanation for the location as well :)
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