“That’s a six, not a fucking nine. It even has a line under it!”
Margo laughs, “Oh come on, they’re like the same thing.”
“Take it back. Find another way to match my yellow six,” Zoey shot back with mock seriousness.
“We’re big girls you know. Why are we playing kids' card games like Uno? You know, James Bond would be ashamed of you,” Margo put, wryly.
“I’m guessing every hot guy within a decade of my age, from here to Wake Island would not be impressed by me. I’m 33, my passions are cookies and Disney.”
They both giggled, as Zoey took another swig of her hot cocoa.
“What every happened with that Disney World trip you took by yourself?”
Zoey smiled and thought. “I didn’t like the part where I was waiting in line. I was by myself, and you’ve got these mothers who give you the evil eye, as a childless millennial.”
“What did you think of that Land ride we saw on TV,” Margo wondered. “I mean, you think this hydroponics idea has a chance?”
“I got to do the backstage walking tour of it. The gardens didn’t seem that big. They get huge volume though, the way it’s built. Like 30 thousand tomatoes and 20 thousand heads of lettuce annually. It all goes into their kitchens, about 200 of them over their 43 square miles. 50,000 visitors each day, till now.”
Reality set in though. “We’re all locked in though. With this Corona-crisis, we’re not going to be able to do anything, nor build anything, much less bringing door-to-door Mary Jane anytime soon. We’re so far behind in logistics today. The Chinese have a massive delivery-to-your-door infrastructure of dudes on motorbikes. Getting stuff same day is expected, whether it’s KFC in 20 minutes or sneakers by the afternoon.”
Margo looked down, once proud being a second-generation Asian-American, now not so much. “We really suck at a lot of stuff here in the States, now. What the hell happened to us being a real-world power?”
“It’s hard to beat a place that rips off your best IP, has mastered central planning and has no labor laws. They’ve used more concrete in the last decade then we have ever. They build factories overnight that takes us years to get a permit for. They can copy a new Jack Nicholas golf club to a nanometer in less than a day and roll out production of thousands in a week in a purpose-built factory, then get them to ports around the world.”
Margo looked even more defeated.
“Somebody here will step up to the challenge; we’ll catch up. It’s the American way. We lead. Somebody will step up,” Zoey tried to reassure her.
Margo knew Zoey’s idealism too well. “You think that person is you, don’t you?”
“Stop reading my mind, asshole.” Zoey chuckled.
“So, we’ve got to do what we can with what we have, where we are.”
“Software.” They both said in unison.
“Let’s get white-boarding,” Zoey replied.
Comments