enterprise. He pumped Bidden’s hand vigorously, jumping the gun
with “I really hope we can work this out, Mr. Bidden.”
“Of course we can,” Morris said stoically. “I believe my lawyers
have already presented you with their proposal.” They all sat down.
Thompson flushed. “Yes. Yes they did. But as we explained to you
in the last correspondence, we just aren’t willing to sell. You see, The
Coffee Vine has a philosophy that we must remain independent and
true to our roots, providing specialty coffee to a small subset of…”
“Of course you do,” Bidden cut him off, “Unfortunately, that
philosophy conflicts with ours. On the bright side, I think you’ll find
that the terms of our acquisition agreement are fair. In fact, we here
at Biddenbrooks believe we’re doing you a favor by offering to buy
you out.”
“A favor?” Thompson cried out despite himself. “You must be
joking.” Biddenbrooks had launched a war of attrition upon them
ever since they opened their first store in Oregon. Every time they
opened a franchise, a few months later a new Biddenbrooks store
would open to great fanfare no less than fifty yards away. As the
bigger company repeatedly drained the lifeblood out of them, they
went through most of their investment capital merely trying to stay
alive. Now The Coffee Vine faced bankruptcy.
“The numbers show that you have yet to pull a significant profit
in any of your stores, Joe,” Bidden explained, “Your company would
of course be a hard to sell to any investor concerned with the bottom
line. Nevertheless, we figure that if we rework them to Biddenbrooks
standards, we might be able to turn them around in a year or so.”
“Biddenbroo…?” Thompson tried to protest, but it got caught in
his throat. He tried again, “Biddenbrooks standards? For God’s sake,
Mr. Bidden. We sell the same exact coffee as you do. And we sell it at
the same price. And people like it.”
Bidden laughed freely. “Oh come on now Joe. Really. What—you
don’t think we’re selling coffeehere, do you?” Thompson blinked.
Bidden leaned forward. “Let me ask you this,” he said
conspiratorially, “Are you a religious man?”
He looked down at his hands. They were clasped together as if in
prayer. “Why yes, I am,” he replied.
“Good. Now tell me. What are the differences between the major
world religions nowadays?”
Thompson shrugged, hesitated, replied, “Well, I guess, ah,
Christians believe in Christ as their savior, and the Muslims believe
ABYSSINIA
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