Grandpa's Request - Writing Prompt from Manchesterite
#5 of Writing Prompts
A writing request from Manchesterite at FurAffinity. While not explicitly furry or even the slightest bit sexual I liked it enough to add it here. I was worried that I added too much business jargon but the prompter assured me that it was beneficial not detrimental.
The prompt was "The dilemma of choosing between your family which could guarantee your success in lieu of your self-worth, or your friends, of which there are many unknowns but with much promise."
"Listen, Jo-Jo, sweetheart. I want you to think this through." Even with the liver spots and veins, Grandpa's hand still sung with grizzled strength as it easily engulfed both of hers.
"You're not as talented as Cheryl. She commands the respect of the board in ways that even I can barely achieve. And I'm not worried about Robert. He's still young and good-looking, full of energy. He'll weasel his way through life like he always has."
Joanne's lip slowly quivered but she said nothing.
"You're getting older, Grandpa is getting older too. And I can't promise how long I'll still be around to keep you safe."
His free hand rummaged through a stack of binders before he whipped out the dreaded sheaf of papers.
"You were always my favourite, the whole family knows that. But to Hell with them, this is about you. And I want to make sure you're taken care of, even after I'm long gone."
He coughed once, shaking his entire frame.
His suit didn't even fit anymore, when did that happen? It was like she was finally truly seeing him, as opposed to what she remembered him to be. His broad shoulders now hunched forward. The bald spot on his head was no longer a spot, but an entire desert? What would you call such a large patch of skin?
Joanne snapped back to reality as Grandpa clicked a pen and slid it towards her.
"I'm sorry your last few, ah, business endeavors didn't-".
"The last one WOULD have if Cheryl hadn't sabotaged the deal at the last second!"
She suddenly found herself standing, and for the first time in her life she was towering over her grandfather. When did he get so small? Was he always this sad? She felt the dread creep into her stomach as Grandpa did another first.
Instead of arguing he just sighed.
"I sabotaged it."
"You, wha-what? Bu-" Wordlessly her Grandfather pulled out another binder, fanning out report after report.
"Your business acumen is abysmal. Your friends are idiots and I will NOT have them drag you down again. Absolute idiocy, assuming optimal client conversion rates, you'd have your first customer in 8 months. In the meantime, idiot friend 1 has an expired business license, idiot friend 2 cannot legally work with you due to a conflict of interest in his government position, and you're paying idiot friend 3 to be uh," Grandpa adjusted his glasses and glared at the paper, "What the Hell is an "International Accountability Facilitor"? This bullshit model won't even last long enough to see a second office, let along go overseas."
Grandpa was towering over her now. This was how it was supposed to be, this is how she remembered him. But not this angry, never this angry.
"You'd know this if you could plot out a decent business runway. Maybe I was too soft on you, but I couldn't have my Jo-Jo be embarrassed again. So Grandpa called in a few favours. Council did some re-zoning, deported that one gu-"
"YOU caused Greg to get sent back to Poland?!"
"He's a pothead, won't be missed. Bad influence anyways."
Joanne just stood, frozen in place as her grandfather took another folder out and slowly pulled out its contents until she realized what they were.
"Where did you get those? Those are confidential an-"
"Again sweetheart, your friends are idiots. If I can pay some garbage PI 20 bucks an hour to break in and make a photocopies maybe you should reconsider who you partner with."
Another painful minute passed before Grandpa delivered his judgment.
"More garbage Jo-Jo, but I'm glad I could stop this one too before you got in too deep again. What were you thinking? Any marketing monkey could tell you the market was saturated 16 months ago."
"I could revolutionize the industry with this, I know it. And it's not saturated, look." Joanne pushed her phone across the redwood desk. "We're going to tap into this niche, given the demographics of the cit-"
"10% of the city sounds good until you account for the fact that only a half percent of that actually has the income to even consider buying your service. So you're looking at what? 150 clients a year?"
"That's plenty! By focusing on a few select customers we can deliver better and more reliable servi-"
"No bank would give a loan for this, not with your credit record. You've never successfully applied to even the smallest grants, and if you weren't my granddaughter I wouldn't have invested in the past. Tell me, how else did you plan to get the $250,000 capital for the next 5 years?"
"Ruth has $45,000 sav-"
"Not even enou-"
"Let me finish! And if I sell my car that will be enough to convince an incubator to take us on an-"
"That's NOT how incubators work! And this?" He stared at her phone again, "Is this how you do feasibility studies? Buzzfeed articles?"
"It was the first one the popped up!"
"So when I won't invest in you anymore you think this magical incubator is going to connect you to some angel investor? With your track record?"
"Ruth is going to be the front woman."
"Oh, so the girl with no reputation or brand recognition."
"She was Valedictorian AND she-"
"Valedic-nothing. No one cares, even you know that. That's why people are suddenly interested in you when they learn your last name. You're connected to me, to the family, to the company. Even if you're not part of the company."
"But, that can change." The familiar sheaf of papers was pushed forward again. "It's not a hard job Jo-Jo, they're called desk monkeys for a reason. But you'll be paid better than the rest; we can give you stock options after 2 years, 6 months if you can get promoted. Which won't be hard, just play nice with Cheryl. You'll have access to the family side of the benefits and I know your lease expires in 2 months so we can just designate one of the remote apartments as your new living accommodations."
Joanne began to protest but stopped as she stared into her grandfather's eyes. The bags were getting deeper, the rings ever darker, and he just, he just looked so sad.
"I know that you wanted to make something of yourself. Grandpa knows. But you've had your chance. Even if your newest venture somehow succeeded, you wouldn't see a profit until that 5 year mark. I might not be around by that time and we know the family will claw back every bit of your share of the inheritance."
"Please, just sign the paperwork. For Grandpa?"
Joanne paused, and then limply sat down pen in hand as Grandpa finally allowed himself a small sigh of relief.