“No! What the hell? They were only running the PowerPoint.
That can’t be.”
“They must have had a camera rolling and somebody leaked it.
Every morning show in the country is running it.”
“Oh, shit!” Nick turned and jogged to his office with Jerry in tow. Each person they passed commented on the news: “Nice job.” “What a pitch!” “Three billion dollars, wow!” “Man, can you raise some money or what?” Nick was frenzied. He needed a minute to think.
Just as they arrived at his office door, Bongero’s voice filled the
halls.
“Harris!”
He turned to see the man, red faced and bulging eyed, marching toward him.
“Yes, sir?” Nick asked.
“I thought you were sick yesterday, Harris!” “I sort of had to do a thing for my dad.”
“What did I tell you about the free foundation shit?”
“Well, yeah, but, uh, I thought it would be great PR for us. Besides, Jerry filled me in on the important points from yesterday.” “He did, did he?” asked Bongero. “I’d be real curious about what he told you, because he slept through most of it.” His eyes
burned a hole through Jerry.
“I was awake during the important stuff, sir.”
“Please, Jerry. Just shut up. Harris, would you mind telling me why every major news organization is babbling about you raising three billion dollars for some dipshit’s charity over here?”
“It’s a foundation, sir,” Jerry chided.
Bongero raised his hand in front of Jerry’s face for quiet, staring at Nick, waiting for an answer. Nick knew the two of them were fatuously punching their tickets out of AdWorks, but he really didn’t care anymore.
“Well, I planned to have a press conference in a couple of days and …”
“A few days?” interrupted Bongero. “I got news for you, Mr. Harris. CNN, NBC, and FOX are on their way over here. And guess who they want to talk to?”
“Me?”