"Norman Spinrad - Mouse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spinrad Norman)

THE YEAR OF THE MOUSE
by Norman Spinrad

"Mess not with the Mouse."
"Mess not with the Mouse? We fly you to California business
class and install you in a luxurious hotel in Anaheim and when you are
summoned to give an account of the situation, you spout degenerate
Taoist crypticisms?"
Xian Bai managed to resist the impulse to tug at the tight collar
of his dress shirt, so uncomfortable after two weeks in Southern
California, where even high level executives felt free to attend
meetings in casual attire.
"This is not a Taoist epigram," he explained. "It is a precept
common in high American corporate circles, where it is thought highly
unwise to arouse the ire of the Disney Corporation."
Had the Deputy Minister for Overseas Cultural Relations been a
Long Nose, his pale white skin would no doubt have turned crimson with
rage. Despite the handicap of the lack of this Caucasian ability, he
managed to make his displeasure clear enough by banging his hand on
the desk with sufficient force to rattle the tea service.
"And what is the People's Republic of China, some Banana Republic
owned by the United Fruit Corporation?" the Deputy Minister shouted.
"We are a billion and a quarter people! We are the largest and
fastest growing market in the world! We have the world's largest
army! We have nuclear missiles! How dare the Mouse presume so
outrageously to mess with us!"
He calmed himself with a sip of tea and regarded Xian Bai with a
colder species of outrage. "You did make this clear with sufficient
force?"
"Indeed I did!" Xian Bai was constrained to reply firmly.
But he was dissembling. Two weeks in Anaheim to obtain a meeting
with a Vice President in charge of overseas marketing and the results
of that conversation had been enough to convince him that such force
did not exist.
"Get real, Xian," that individual had advised him. "The idea
that the Yellow Peril was gonna storm the beaches at Orlando went out
with Ronald Reagan. What are you gonna do, nuke Pirates of the
Caribbean?"
"But China is the largest consumer market in the world--"
"And you guys have been screwing us out of it since that Dalai
Lama film dust-up that cost Ovitz his job and us a bundle for the
golden parachute! You guys made a real bad career move."
The Disney Vice President glanced heavenward.
"You pissed Michael off."
"And this film is your vengeance?"
The Disney Vice President grinned like the Lion King.
"The bottom line," he said, "is always the best revenge."
The minions of the Mouse had not been reticent in allowing Xian
Bai to attend a preview screening of THE LONG MARCH, though at the
reception afterward--white wine, simple dim sum, lo mein noodles,