Hard Money [antikvár]

HARD MONEYI suppose I looked as startled as I felt. I know I didn't say anything for a moment. X seemed to study my amazement with high good humor, waiting for me to say something. Finally, I did.^ 'What about Abner?' I asked mildly. f What about Abner indeed? I thought. It was Abner's company now. It wasn't Granite ^ Broadcasting Group any longer; it was | AbCom. It was Abner's glory, pride, obsession, life. X wasn't even a memory around the company any longer, not according to the people I talked to. Abner had waited for his chance, and when it finally came, when X gave it to him, he seized it. Forget that he'd effaced X, that he'd put his own stamp on the company, elected his own board, purged the management. The important thing was that Abner had transformed the company, given it new, wider horizons, brought it to new heights of wealth and profitability . . .X knew all this as well as I did. He watched me gnaw on these considerations. No one knew better than I how Abner had hungered to be out of his father's shadow. Finally, his father had gone and taken his shadow with him. I could hardly imagine Abner would consider stepping aside for his father now. I doubted he would even let X in the building.