We Get Diplomatic Immunity, Right?

by Pascoite

Chapter 4: Monday

All Berry Punch could think about on her way through the door was that she’d gotten in over her head, and she hadn’t even begun yet. She took the empty seat in front of the desk and peered out over the Baltimare skyline.

“Ah, yes, Miss Berry Punch,” said Mayor Greased Palm. “I saw your name on the meeting agenda today. I must say I was surprised to get a visit from you. It seemed you were doing quite well for yourself. Is there something I can help you with?”

Nothing she hadn’t thought of already. Maybe she should just leave well enough alone. “It occurred to me that selling so close to home would make it rather easy to track me down.”

“True, true.” Palm rubbed his chin. “I had a sample of your product the other day, actually. Good stuff. I didn’t know what to expect, but that wasn’t it.”

“Oh? When did you—?”

“In Ponyville. My associate Pile Driver picked up a couple of your free samples.” A drawer rumbled open behind the desk, and Palm levitated an empty bottle out. “It was… different. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe we can help each other, but have you thought out the logistics of all this? Like these bottles—” he jabbed a hoof toward it again “—aren’t exactly inconspicuous. You’d have a hard time keeping ponies from seeing them in the dump.”

What, did he consider her a rank amateur? “I take them back with me, where I got them. They even pay me for the empties. The glass is reusable.”

With a squint, he eyed her with a little more respect. “I see. And you have storage space lined up?”

“Right here in Baltimare, on the docks.”

“Presumptuous to book that already, before you knew if I’d go along with it.” He swiveled his chair around and surveyed the dust-covered buildings along the waterfront.

“Why wouldn’t you though? It’s a win-win. I get to throw ponies off my trail, and you get bits in your pocket.”

That made his eyes light up. “How many bits?”

Berry hadn’t really thought about that. “Thirty percent?”

“How much you selling it for?”

“Ten bits a can.”

He swung back around and grabbed a quill. “Let’s see, four cases a day, thirty-six bottles per case… gotta be at least sixty percent for my trouble.”

“Trouble?” Berry replied through her hearty laugh. “You don’t have to do anything. Just look the other way. Think of it as a business. You want me to give over a controlling interest that easily? Without me, there is no product. And I’m not even asking for an investment.”

His quill’s scratching ceased, and he looked up from his paper. “You’re asking for my influence. That isn’t free.”

“It also doesn’t cost you anything.”

After a quick breath out, he gave her an appraising look. “The cost isn’t always in bits.”

He wouldn’t budge but so much. And he could spread the word to a rather large customer base. “Forty-five percent, last offer. In cash, every week.” Greased Palm would take it. Cash? He’d barely stayed in his seat at the mention of it, and he was even starting to nod. Yes, something told her that conversation she’d overheard yesterday would prove useful…

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well, she was able to keep it going for a work week. Enterprises have certainly crumbled faster than that.