“We propose starting in Florida,” said Jeronica, gently tapping her pen against her notepad. Looking only out of the corners of her eyes at her audience she noted that Madame Celeste was observing this action with interest and Dr Enogi was pretending not to watch but any slight change in where she tapped caused him to adjust his head slightly to allow him to see it. Terrence Pennifrock appeared to be ignoring it, though he was systematically trying his fingers, starting with his thumb, in his ear to see if he could dislodge whatever was irritating him. “We took the liberty of running a couple of focus groups at the advice of our futures division — no cost accrues to you for this, of course. This was advance research so that we could position ourselves aspirationally in this market stratum.”
“Excellent,” said Madame Celeste. “Florida is a… an interesting choice of state, might I opine?”
“One would have thought of perhaps Kentucky, first,” said Dr Enogi. He watched as Jeronica wrote that down too, and his eyes narrowed. Jeronica wondered if he was starting to be curious that she was writing things down where they could see her. “Or even Iowa.”
“They’re all Republican,” muttered Terrence. “I don’t see what matters much outside of that.” Jeronica wrote down ‘Republican’ as well to see who responded to that and was intrigued that none of the three seemed interested.
“We considered Louisiana,” said Jeronica, which was an outright lie. All three of her clients had some background connection to that state though, so it gave her another opportunity to assess reactions. “However we felt that there were strategic disadvantages inheriting directly from historic continental influences.”
“You mean the bloody alligators?” asked Terrence. He had cleaned his ear to his satisfaction and was now inspecting his finger to see what he’d removed.
“I suspect she’s thinking of the capital,” said Dr Enogi. “We have, naturally, done our own research, Miss Jeronica, and in the area of that particular state we felt that the capital would be slow to accept our ideas and that developing a grass-roots movement in the more rural areas would be too slow.”
“The alligators were a concern,” said Jeronica, deliberately speaking slowly to allow her to hide her surprise that they had come up. “And my name is simply Jeronica, thank-you, Dr. Enogi.”
“Are they?” Madame Celeste sounded uninterested. “Well. Florida is… well, as I said, an interesting choice, but certainly not one we would shy away from. Providing sufficient evidence is provided that this is, indeed, the best place to start.”
“There are four states that I think we could recommend launching Guncare in,” said Jeronica. “Florida is the top of that short-list, but we have a case for each state and we will present that to you. When you leave there will be a briefing pack for each of you so that you can review our findings ahead of our next meeting. If you decide that there should be a next meeting.” Madame Celeste and Dr Enogi looked at each other, clearly considering who should answer that, but Jeronica continued without giving them the chance to speak. “But in brief, there is an adequately trained workforce, there are significant opportunities to influence the state legislature, and… mishaps? Let’s call them mishaps; if they were to occur in the early stages of the project it is likely that they would be considered more acceptable than in other parts of the country.”
“You mean like the hospital falling down?” said Terrence. Jeronica, who was aware that he had been behind the construction of six hospitals that had either collapsed of their own accord or had to be demolished for public safety, carefully didn’t smile as she met his gaze.
“I was thinking more of patients being eaten by alligators,” she said. “After all, residential Guncare patients should have the opportunity to shoot at things, and if they miss there is a chance that some of those things will fight back.”
Dr. Enogi’s eyes gleamed suddenly. “Ah, so we could have hunting grounds as part of the hospital?” he said. “I like that, that will sell well. I can picture the brochures now; we can offer a range of elective surgeries with two-day safaris! Recuperate with a rifle! Or maybe, Improve your aim and your health with our two-day intensive care offering!”
“I like recuperate with a rifle,” said Madame Celeste. She sounded thoughtful. “I wonder… I wonder if we should extend this a little further to clinics, as well as hospitals? Health-care is such a broad-ranging word; we could increase its gamut just a little further, no?”
“Just tell us how far you’d like to roam,” said Jeronica.
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