"Hey, are there any raspberry doughnuts left... uh... say, why's everyone so glum in here? The doughnuts are gone?"
"Of course not, ninny! We can always buy more doughnuts!"
"Assuming, of course, we have any
money to buy doughnuts..."
"True, too true..."
"Hey, will you all quit talking in circles, and tell me what's going on?"
"Well, we've heard from the market, and the market says it's going to continue to steal our books and put them on the torrent sites."
"...
What?"
"Not only that, but they'll continue to fight against any laws that would protect our copywritten works."
"...We are royally, unstoppably, irrevocably f**ked."
"That's
it! I can't
take it anymore! I'm
ending it now!..."
"Blake,
wait! Not the
window! Not..."
"... Oh,
man... that was
horrible..."
"Yeah. Imagine the mess he would've made if we hadn't replaced that with shatterproof glass after Hudsucker jumped."
"
Oohhhh.... I think I landed on my keys..."
"Oh, get a grip, Blake. I am not holding your hand at the unemployment line."
"Unemployment?"
"Yeah, well, what choice do we have? No one will allow us to make a living here. We have to go get real jobs now."
"Like accountants."
"And paper pushers."
"And fast food workers. Better brush up on my Spanish..."
"And doughnut makers. Damn, I'm fat enough already!"
"Well, Steve, I guess this is it. I'm sorry you pinned so much on a freelance writing gig... it looks like the world has passed you by--"
"Yeah, and spit on you on the way."
"Shh, shh."
"--I hope you have something you can fall back on... y'know, something that will get you through retirement."
"Are you kidding? This
was my retirement."
"Oh.
uh, well. I hear there are still opportunities in waste management..."
The Verdant Skies sequel.
Indefinitely postponed due to market hostility.
And just when he was getting to the good part...