It wasnt sad and sickly now. The most enthusiastic homeowner wouldnt have disdained it. There wasnt a single bare spot visible in the whole lush, healthy expanse. And it was green. Green. Not just here and there, but over every inch of soft, undulating surface; a pale applegreen where the blades waved to expose its underparts and a rich, dazzling emerald on top. Even the runners, sinuously encroaching upon the sidewalk, were deeply virescent.
The Metamorphizer worked.
The Metamorphizer not only worked, but it worked with unbelievable rapidity. Overnight. I knew nothing about the speed at which ordinary fertilizers, plant stimulants or hormones took hold, but commonsense told me nothing like this had ever happened so quickly. I had been indulging in a little legitimate puffery in saying the inoculant worked miracles, but if anything that had been an understatement. It just went to show how impossible it is for a real salesman to be too enthusiastic.
Nerves in knees and fingers quivering, I walked over to join the group curiously inspecting the translated lawn. I, _I_ had done this; out of the most miserable I"d made the loveliest--and for a paltry five dollars. I tried to recapture the memory of what it had looked like in order to relish the contrast more, but it was impossible; the vivid present blotted out the decayed past completely.
"Overnight," someone said. "Yessir, just overnight. Wouldnt of believed it if I hadnt noticed just yesterday how much worse an the city dump it looked."
"Bet at stuff"s ten inches high."
"Brother, you can say that again. Foot"d be closer."
"Anyhow it"s uh fattestlookin gra.s.s I seen sence I lef Texas."
"An the greenest. Guess I never did see such a green before."
While they exclaimed about the beauty and vigor of the growth, my mind was racing in high along practical lines. Achievement isnt worth much unless you can harness it, and in today"s triumph I saw tomorrow"s benefit. No more canva.s.sing with a pump undignifiedly on my back, no more manual labor; no, bold as the thought was, not even any more direct selling for me. This was big, too big to be approached in any c.o.c.kroach, build-up-slowly-from-the-bottom way. It was a real top deal, in a cla.s.s with nylon or jukeboxes or bubblegum. You could smell the money in it.
First of all I"d have to tie Josephine Francis down with an ironclad contract. Agents; dealerships; distributors and a general salesmanager, Albert Weener, at the top. Incorporate. Get it all down in black and white and signed by Miss Francis right away. For her own good. An idealistic scientist, a frail woman, protect her from the vultures who"d try to rob her as soon as they saw what the Metamorphizer would do. Such a woman wouldnt have any business sense. I"d see she got a comfortable living out of it and free her from responsibility. Then she could potter around all she liked.
Incorporate. Interest big money. Put it on a nationwide basis. A cut for the general salesmanager on every sale. Besides stock. Take the patent in the company"s name. In six months I"d be on my way to being a millionaire. I had certainly been right up on my toes in picking the Metamorphizer as a winner in spite of Miss Francis" kitchen and her lack of aggressiveness. Instinct, the unerring instinct of a wideawake salesman for the right product--and for the right market. I mustnt forget that. Had I been content with her original limitation I"d still be b.u.mbling around trying to interest Farmer Hicks in some Metamorphizer for his hay.
"Ja notice how thick it was?"
"Well, that"s Bermuda for you. Tell me they actually plant it on purpose in Florida."
"No kiddin?"
"Yessir. Know one thing--even if it looks pretty right now, I wouldnt want that stuff on my place. Have to cut it every day."
"Bet ya. Toughlookin too. I rather take my exercise in bed."
That"s an angle, I thought--have to get old lady Francis to modify her formula or something. Else we"ll never get rich. Slow down the rate of growth, dilute it--ought to be more profitable too.... Have to find out how cheaply the inoculant can be produced--no more inefficient hand methods.... Of course the fastness of growth wouldnt affect the sale to farmers--help it in fact. No doubt she"d had more than I originally thought in that aspect, I conceded generously. We could let them apply it themselves ... mailorder advertising ... cut costs that way.... Think of clover and alfalfa--or werent they gra.s.ses? Anyway, imagine hay or wheat as tall as Iowa corn and corn higher than a smalltown cityhall!
Fortune--there"d be a dozen fortunes in it.
I began perspiring. The deal was getting bigger and bigger. It wasnt just a simple matter of cutting in on a good thing. All the angles, which were multiplying at a tremendous rate, had to be covered before I saw Miss Francis again; I darent miss any bets. I needed a staff of agricultural experts--anyway someone who could cover the scientific side. Whatever happened to my freshman chemistry? And a mob of lawyers; you"d have to plug every loophole--tight. But here I was without a financial resource--couldnt hire a ditchdigger, much less the highpriced talent I needed--and someone else might get a brainstorm when he saw the lawn and beat me to it. I visioned myself cheated of my million....
Yes ... a really fast worker--some unethical promoter willing to stoop to devious methods--might pa.s.s at any moment and grasp the possibilities, have Miss Francis signed up before I"d even got the deal straight in my mind. How could he miss, seeing this lawn? Splendid, magnificent, beautiful. No one would ever call this stuff devilgra.s.s--angelgra.s.s would be more appropriate to the implications of such a heavenly green. Millions in it--simply millions....
"Say--arent you the fellow put this stuff on?"
Halfadozen vacant faces gaped at me, the burdening pump, the caudal hose. Curiosity, interest, imbecile amus.e.m.e.nt argued in their expression with the respect due the worker of the transformation; it was the sort of look connected with salesresistance of the most obstinate kind. They distracted me from thinking things through.
"Miz d.i.n.kman"s sure looking for you. Says she"s going to sue you."
Here was an unfortunate development, an angle to end all angles.
Unfavorable publicity, the abortifacient of new enterprises, would mean you could hardly give the stuff away. My imagination raced through columns of newsprint in which the Metamorphizer was made the b.u.t.t of reporters" humor. Mrs d.i.n.kman"s ire would have to be placated, bought off. Perhaps I"d better discuss developments with Miss Francis right away, afterall.
Whatever I decided, it was advisable for me to leave this vicinity. I was in no financial position to soothe Mrs d.i.n.kman and it was dubious, in view of her att.i.tude, whether it would be possible to sell any more in the immediate neighborhood. Probably a new territory was the answer to my problem; a few sales would give me both cash in hand and time to think.
While I hesitated, Mrs d.i.n.kman, belligerency dancing like a sparkling aura about her, came out of her garage with a rusty, rattling lawnmower.
I"m no authority on gardentools, but this creaking, rickety machine was clearly no match for the l.u.s.ty growth. The audience felt so too, and there was a stir of sporting interest as they settled down to watch the contest.
Determination was implicit in the sharply unnatural lines of her corset and the firm set of her gla.s.ses as she charged into the gently swaying runners. The wheels turned rebelliously, the mower bit, its rusty blades grated against the knife, something clanked forcibly and the machine stopped. Mrs. d.i.n.kman pushed, her back arched with effort--the mower didnt budge. She pulled it back. It whirred gratefully; the clanking stopped and she tried again. This time it chewed a handful of gra.s.s from the edge, found it distasteful and quit once more.
"Anybody know how to make this d.a.m.n thing work?" Mrs d.i.n.kman asked exasperatedly.
"Needs oil" was helpfully volunteered.
She retired into the garage and returned with a lopsided oilcan. "Oil it," she commanded regally. The helpful one reluctantly pressed his thumb against the wry bottom of the can, aiming the twisted spout at odd parts of the mower. "I dunno," he commented.
"I don"t either," said Mrs d.i.n.kman. "You--Greener, Weener--whatever your name is!"
There was no possibility of evasion. "Yes, mam?"
"You made this stuff grow; now you can cut it down."
Uncouth guffaws from the watching idiots.
"Mrs d.i.n.kman, I--"
"Get behind that lawnmower, young man, if you don"t want to be involved in a lawsuit."
I wasnt afraid of such a consequence in itself, having at the moment nothing to attach, but I thought of Miss Francis and future sales and that impalpable thing known as "goodwill." "Yes, mam," I repeated.
I discarded pump and hose to move reluctantly toward the mower. Under my feet I felt the springiness of the gra.s.s; was it pure fancy--or did it truly differ in quality from the lawns I"d trod so indifferently the day before?
I took the handle. If oiling had improved the machine, its previous efficiency must have been slight. It went shakily over the first inch of gra.s.s and then, as it had for Mrs d.i.n.kman, it stopped for me.
By now the spectators had increased to a small crowd and their dull humor had taken the form of cheerfully offering much gratuitous advice.
"Tie into it, Slim--build up the old muscle." "Back her up and take a good run." "Go home an do some settinup exercises--come back next year."
"Got to put the old back behind it, Bud--give her the gas." "Need a decent mower--no use trying to cut stuff like that with an antique."
"Yeah--get a good mower--one made since the Civil War." "No one around here got an honestoG.o.d lawnmower?"
The last query evidently nettled local pride, for soon a blithe, beamshouldered little man trundled up a shiny, rubbertired machine.
"Thisll do the business," he announced confidently as I relinquished the spotlight to him with understandable readiness. "It"s a regular jimdandy."
It certainly was. The devilgra.s.s came irreverently above the wheels and flowed with graceful inquisitiveness over the blades, but the brisk little man pushed heartily and the mechanism revolved with a barely audible clicking. It did not balk, complain or hesitate. Cleanly severed ends of gra.s.s whirled into the air and floated down on the neat smooth swath left behind. Everyone smiled relievedly at the jimdandy"s triumph and my sigh was loudest and most heartfelt. I edged away as un.o.btrusively as I could.
_4._ I have no sympathy with weaklings who complain of the cards being stacked, but it did seem as though fate were dealing unkindly with me.
Here was a good proposition, coming just at the time I needed it most and it was turning bad rapidly. Walking the short distance to Miss Francis" I was unable to settle my mind, to strike a mental balancesheet. There was money; there had to be money--lots and lots of it--in the Metamorphizer, but it was possible there was trouble--lots and lots of it--also. The thing was, well, dangerous. What was the use of expending ability in selling something which could have kickbacks acting as deterrents to future sales? Of course a man had to take risks....
The door, after a properly prudent hesitation, clicked brokenly. Miss Francis looked as though she"d added insomnia to her other abstentions, otherwise she had not changed, even to her skirt and the smudge on her left nostril. "If youve come about the icebox youre a week late. I fixed it myself," she greeted me gruffly.
"Weener," I reminded her, "Albert Weener--remember? I"m selling--that is, I"m going to sell the product you invented to make plants eat anything."
"Oh. Weener--yes." She produced the toothpick and scratched her chin with it. "About the Metamorphizer." She paused and rubbed her elbow. "A mistake, I"m afraid. An error."