“Oh, yeah,” Shelly said, slowly finding her bearings. Petey curled on her lap as she sat up and leaned back against her red, padded headboard. “The conference. So how did it go?”
“Well, I didn’t get the hundred companies I set out to get—” “Nick,” she consoled him, “you can’t expect people to fork over
that kind of money. But you tried and that’s something to be proud of. I know I am proud of you.”
No response.
“Are you still there?” she suppressed a yawn.
“I wasn’t finished. I got three hundred of them.”
“Three hundred of what?” she asked, still groggy and in no
mood to play games.
“Three hundred companies pledging ten million dollars apiece.”
Shelly sat up, almost knocking Petey from his perch. “Say that again?”
“I said I just raised three billion dollars to find a cure for cancer!
That’s what I said.”
“You better not be playing with me. This isn’t a joke.”
“Rest assured, this is no joke. Would you let Wall know? I’ll be
on a plane in the morning.”
“Of course I will!” she shrieked. “How were you able to do this so quickly?”
“It was easy, really. My dad said a few things after I had left the room that I’m sure helped. Of course, they won’t give us a dime until we find a cure, but that’s the agreement. Now you, Wall, and your friend, Barry, are going to have to start figuring out how to monitor the contacts and the people in the industry. The Million Dollar Roundtable will do the legal work, which will take a couple of weeks, but, in general, it’s a go.”
“Nick, I can’t believe this. When can I give you a big hug?” “I’ll call you tomorrow when I get in. Now go back to sleep.”
“Sleep? Yeah, right. I’m up now!” she said, then paused as the
magnitude of this moment started to sink in. “Nick?” “Yes?”
“Thank you for everything.”
“You can thank me when we find what we’re looking for.”
Smiling, she suppressed another yawn. She popped out of bed and made a beeline for the shower.