of chalk for another or consider shading or perspective.
“Ten minutes! You have ten minutes left of your challenge.” I looked over to see that Teal had cracked the door and stuck her head in the room.
Shit! Where had the time gone? I stepped back and looked at my eggplants as a whole. I’d designed them around the “Sale! Eggplants $4.99 per lb” lettering. There were a few shading gaps that needed to be filled. I stepped up to the blackboard and worked double time.
When the buzzer went off, Teal cried, “That’s it! Step away from the blackboard! Put your chalk down!” I stepped back, holding my hands up instinctively as if she was a robber and I a store clerk. I turned to look at the blackboard, entirely covered in swollen eggplants shaded a dozen colors of deep purple, with glistening green tops. If Topher Doyle didn’t like them, and if I didn’t get the job, I might get thrown back in jail for failing to pay my court fines. I might lose my house. But whatever happened, I told myself, I had shown up and done my best with the guidance of Venus. Whatever happened, so be it.
“Have a seat,” Teal said, gesturing to the table that held the tray of chalk. I sat down with my back to the glass wall, as it would be entirely too disconcerting to sit staring at Topher Doyle as he stared at me. Teal disappeared and a moment later, Topher Doyle and Annie entered. Topher Doyle sat down facing the chalkboard. He took in the eggplants in silence for a long time as I waited with bated breath. Then he spoke abruptly. “I’ve been thinking about it.”
“Thinking about what, sir?” I asked.
“Please don’t call me ‘sir.’ ”
How should one address the CEO Lite of a health-food empire? I wondered.
“Topher. Call me Topher.”
I nodded. There was another long, uncomfortable silence. I wondered if I should repeat the question. Annie made the slightest gesture with her hand, which I took to mean that I should wait it out.
Finally Topher Doyle spoke. “I’ve been really thinking about what you said at your protest regarding the intersection of Sixth Street and Lamar Boulevard.”
“Oh?” It was astounding, really, to imagine Topher Doyle had been mulling over the very thing I’d been obsessed about all these months.
“Can you tell me a bit more about your philosophy of the intersection?”
“Of course,” I said. “The intersection has historically been a hub of both local business and tourism. Whole Foods, BookPeople—such an amazing independent bookstore!—Waterloo Records, Waterloo Video, Amy’s Ice Creams. People come to this intersection because it’s bursting with what makes Austin unique and original. Keeping the intersection full of local businesses is what will keep people coming here. And the more people that come to the intersection as a local tourist destination and hub of cool, the more people you will have shopping at your flagship Whole Foods.”
Topher Doyle nodded. “You’ve convinced me. I’m going to make a personal call to my friends at Lululemon and offer them relocation fees to an alternate location, as well as several months rent.”
Everett, you can’t imagine how I felt in that moment! After my certainty that my protest had been a failure, it was like a dream. I clapped my hands over my mouth in astonishment. For a moment, I was literally speechless. “Oh my Goddess! Really? Would they go for it?”
“People don’t want to get on my bad side,” Topher Doyle said with a devilish grin. “But I can only do it if I have a convincing argument for an unstoppable new venture in that location. Ideas?”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Are you suggesting I propose an idea for a small business?” I asked.
“I want you to pitch what would replace the Lululemon. But it has to be something even the Lulu execus couldn’t argue against.” Topher Doyle paused dramatically. “Ideally, your idea would be for a venture that transcends capitalism, a venture even a true villain could not oppose without risking annihilation in the mind of the collective conscious (i.e., the shopping public). We want Lululemon to know implicitly that it’s in their best interest to comply.”
“I like your style, Topher,” I said. “Do you work with the planetary deity Mars by any chance?”
“I’ve been making offerings to Mars every Tuesday for the past seventeen years.”
“Nice,” I said. I made a gesture that I hoped encompassed the fifth floor, the flagship Whole Foods store, the entire health-food empire Topher Doyle helped