2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [111]
“The olds?” Mark asked.
“That’s the name for anyone over seventy.”
“Oh.”
Max waited a moment before he spoke further to see if he had gotten any kind of a rise out of the son of the great scientist. It would be so helpful to have a family member on board. But the boy didn’t bite. He didn’t even seem interested, and he actually argued a little with Max. “My life is going to be better than my dad’s. My dad was poor.”
“I understand, but you don’t count.”
“Why? Why don’t I count?”
“Because you’re the richest fucking kid in the world.”
“You don’t have to swear.”
“I’m sorry. But you’re immune.”
“Like my dad’s company?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, Immunicate.”
“Right. Like that.”
“Are you poor?”
“No.”
“So why are you so upset?”
“Because I care about people and you should, too.”
This was beginning to sound like a parental scolding and Mark wasn’t too thrilled about it. And at that moment the front door opened and Sam Mueller was standing there. He was shocked to see a stranger holding a drink and talking to his child—shocked and angry. “Who in God’s name are you? And why are you here?”
“I met you downstairs.”
“Put your drink down and get out of here or I’m calling the police. What is your name?”
“I just want to talk to you. It’s about something important.”
“I asked you what your name is.”
“Max.”
“Max what?”
“Listen, sir, would you just talk with me for five minutes? You’ll understand everything if you give me five minutes.”
“Max what?”
“Max Leonard.”
Sam Mueller walked directly to the intercom. “There is a gentleman who has come into my suite who was not invited and I need security up here immediately.” Max was getting upset and frustrated.
“You don’t have to call security. I’ll leave.”
“Then leave.”
Max started to lose his temper. As he walked toward the door he turned to Mueller and yelled, “Do you know the suffering that young people are going through because their hopes and dreams are now buried under the debt of keeping old people alive? Do you know they do not get to have the same life their parents had? Do you know that? Why don’t you work to make things fair for everyone instead of making all that money helping the olds?”
“That’s what he calls the people over seventy,” Mark told his father.
Mueller was livid now. “Get the fuck out of my suite or you will never reach an old age. I’m not kidding. I will prosecute you for breaking and entering and I will see that you are put in prison.”
“Why can’t you just listen to me? Do you understand what is happening with our country or are you too blinded by profits?”
At that moment two security guards appeared. “This man broke into our suite and he will not leave! I want you to arrest him!” Mueller said.
“I didn’t break in, your son invited me.”
“I didn’t invite you, you said you knew my dad.”
The larger of the two security men took Max’s arm. “Let’s go, sir. Now!” Max shouted as he was being led out.
“I’ll see you at the stockholders’ meeting! I own a thousand shares of your corrupt company!”
Mueller shouted back, “If you try and come to the meeting you’ll be arrested! Do you hear me?” And then he slammed the door in Max’s face.
Outside in the hall, when the guards realized that Max was also a guest in the hotel, they made a quick deal with him: Check out, go home now, and they would not call the police. And that’s what happened.
Max and Kathy left the Imperial Hotel and he went back to Indianapolis with his tail between his legs, angrier than ever. Maybe Sam Mueller wasn’t the right person to confront, or maybe he was. Max needed time to think. Now he was seriously confused.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
A real feeling of success pervaded the West Wing. The polls on China were remarkably good, with sixty-seven percent saying it had been the right move. Only thirty percent disagreed, and three percent simply didn’t understand or care about the question. Bernstein was pleased but still surprised by how many people welcomed this. He had underestimated how beaten down America had become.
There