The 'Cousins'

Part Ninety: A Sting in the Tale!

Greg’s near loss of self control scared Wayne. They had spent some time in very close proximity to each other at the outset of their business affairs two years ago and had been through some challenging moments, more serious than this, but never once had he witnessed Greg lose his temper; until now. It all added fuel to Wayne’s nagging fear that rolled in and out of his consciousness like the tide on a beach; Greg had changed and was not the man he once was after all. 

Wayne rolled over the bed to leave it between him and Greg before responding. Now the breach between them had happened he felt confidence returning and shouted back at Greg.

“So how do you go about provin’ this binding new deal you said we made at the diner?”

Greg pointed a finger at Wayne and shouted louder.

“The court will prove it.”

 “And just how the hell they gonna do that? They weren’t there fer Chrissake.”

Greg cooled instantly and replied in a near normal voice. “No, it’s for our sakes! They will examine us and question us...”

'Wayne interrupted by bawling, “You mean they’ll ask us if a contract existed or not. Mr Mitchell was there a contract? 'Yes!' Now you Mr. Fisher, it’s your turn, was there a contract? 'No, just ideas, that’s all.’ So how does that prove anythin’?”

“The court moves to the next stage and will examine the facts. It will go through our actions and dialogue to find where we were at the beginning of the relationship and where we are at the end; and, if a new agreement came into being; the fact that we shook hands on a new deal will clinch it.”

Wayne outstretched his hands. “And if I can’t remember exactly what I said or if I deny it, what then?”

“You can put 'Opportunist Liar' on your resume, that’s what you can do.”

Wayne shook a finger at Greg. “Never mind about me and what I can do; you were talkin’ about this court. What will they do?”

Greg shrugged. “If the court finds a new contract was agreed between us it will execute its judgement accordingly and that will be the state of the relationship between us. If it cannot determine that a new deal was in fact created and our relationship has irretrievably broken down because of it then the judge will try to put us both back in the position we were in before this new, alleged, contract came into being.”

Wayne screwed up his face in confusion. “And what the hell does that mean?”

Greg brushed back his hair with his hand and smiled thinly at Wayne standing tense and alert with a light, nervous tick throbbing under his eye as he waited for an answer.

Greg replied as if he found the question tedious. “It means the court will recognize the pre-existing contracts between us as valid and when you and Goldman’s go to the next court to have them set aside, it will find that this court’s judgement will be a powerfully persuasive authority against setting them aside.  The moral of the story is know what you’ve done, learn to live with it if you don’t like it and don’t waste your money on lawyers.”

Wayne shrieked, “NO! NO! They can’t do that. That has gotta be wrong,” and spun around, stretching his arms above his shoulders and hammered his hands violently against the adjoining wall with the next room. “NO, No, you can’t do that. It’ll ruin everything.” 

Wayne sat down heavily onto the bed, burying his face in his hands and sobbed through his fingers. “It’s not right that anybody can do that. It could kill the IPO.”

Greg stifled the sneer that came readily to his face as he surveyed the pathetic sight of Wayne avoiding reality by hiding his head in his hands. Wayne was now silent, but the rise and fall of his shoulders betrayed the sobs that would be heard in his voice if he spoke. Greg picked up Wayne’s vibes,