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.He stood, eyes squinted against the electric effect of the red outer metal jacket seen against the pale-green walls of the room.Damn it, how was he going to move this thing?W.W.Sanson eyed the trio of blocky-looking objects, and silently asked himself, "These slabs are what we saw the sketches of? What the hell happened?" Aloud, he said, "These are the Cartwright stoves I phoned about?"The salesman said, "Yes, sir.As a matter of fact, these are a lot like the standard old Superdee coal stoves we used to carry.Only this model has a tricky gimmick in it that's supposed to turn the coal into gas, and burn it up atomically, with nuclear destruction of the pollution."Sanson got a feeling of chills and fever.With that description, the customer could get nervous and look around for another make."H'm, yes," he said, peering into the dark interior.The salesman said, "Run you about three thousand for the biggest model.You could heat a church with that one.""I wasn't thinking I needed anything that big." Sanson reminded himself he was, after all, paying for the thing, out of a totally natural irritation with Ravagger.Damn it, he asked himself, why should we go out and buy these things when the market research people had handed in their assessment, and everything was going according to plan? On the other hand, he had already discovered that the design, in reality, had all the appeal of a claw-foot bathtub turned inside-out and stood on end.The price, met in reality, not in a report on paper, gave him a fiercely possessive grip on his checkbook.If it did that to him, it was going to hit other customers the same way.And the pale-blue enamel on this batch of stoves was way too light, as if he were looking at several monster chunks of blue cheese.The salesman was saying, "The middle-sized one is $2,200.The little one is $1,600.You can knock half-a-buck or so off all these prices."Sanson moodily considered that there went all the crafty calculation of laying out a price line-up of $2998.49, $2198.59, and $1598.69."I'll take the small one," he said.The salesman shook his head."I wouldn't.That spare buoy they stuck in the center to eat the pollution takes too much space.Even in the old Superdees, that little model wouldn't hold a fire overnight unless you damped it way down.Then the fire stays warm, but you freeze.What's the point?"Sanson stared at him.If the damned thing wouldn't hold a fire overnight, what was the point? Why sell it? He said, "The little Superdee wouldn't hold a fire? Since when?""Not if you wanted heat out of it on a cold night, it wouldn't.What you had to do was get up in the middle of the night and load her up again."Sanson grunted."You ever tell the company about that?""Why waste breath? They were happy.It sold because it was cheap.They were well made, those old Superdees.""How about this job? What is it for quality?""Same as the old Superdees.I'll give them that.They didn't skimp on the metal.—As you'll find when you come to move it."Sanson squinted at the salesman."I'll take the midsize one.""Good choice.You just give me your address, and we'll send her around.You pick out where you want it put, and get it right the first time.You don't want to have to move it.Now, you're going to want some other stuff to go with it, and we have to work out the details.Where's the flue opening? How much pipe you want? How far from the wall? What—"Sanson gave a grunt of disgust.He had come in here out of a sense of defiance.After all, what could be wrong? And before the stove had even been delivered, he was already fed up with it.Who approved this guy to be a dealer, anyway?Cyrus Cartwright II looked thoughtfully at the display.Well, there they were.Of course, there was no sense of urgency, no crowd around, no background of an oil crisis.What stood out now was the dowdy style and the price.But why had the style seemed attractive and the price reasonable in the plans?A salesman materialized at Cartwright's elbow."Interested in a stove, sir?"The board of directors settled grumpily into their seats, and under the wary guidance of Cyrus Cartwright II, who held one hand in his lap while he kept a cautious eye on Ravagger, the meeting proceeded in routine boredom until Cartwright glanced coolly at Schwenck."Mr [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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