Page 24 (1/2)

HONEST TO GOD, when you opened the glass doors to enter Emerald City’s first-floor, business-operation office, your toes encountered a yellow brick road painted on the recycled glass floor tile

"Cute," Ric said, tight-lipped and suspicious

"It’s a horass noted, "but don’t kid yourself Millions are at stake here Ben has been nervous as hell about the final costs, so nervous that he spilled so to me about ‘outside pressures’ on the project"

Tallgrass flicked me a stern look

"So you and your oversize Toto here give us Kansas rubes a break, Miss Ex-reporter Just because we’re ‘country’ doesn’tto mop up the cornfields with us I think Ben is finally scared enough to let us in on what’s happening"

I nodded, glad I earing tails, and ankle socks

I started down the yellow brick road Quicksilver sniffed and studiously avoided putting one furry foot down on the design

A sn outside the main office read WICKED WITCHES NEED NOT APPLY

Tallgrass knocked, and then entered, the three of us following A plurass through to the inner office

The place was unadorned business vanilla, not trying to broadcast the usual developer ego

The rass, you old Cayuse! You see what a ger than barns All we need to install is a few onna make Wichita and Wicked Wild West the new destination vacation"

He stepped around the desk "These are your FBI friends, with a K-9 dog, yet? Don’t think we need that, but you never know Sit down, folks"

You had to like Ben Hassard He ran close to three hundred pounds He wore his Sears white dress-shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows and his tie knot doard the first flush of curly gray hairs on his chest

"Pardon otiations with a big shot fro to sweat deal-killing concessions outa ht him off with a taste of Emerald City hospitality, a sweet bit of luck, and a bottle of Old Crow"

He carass’s crew

"Ric, eh Nice suit for an FBI type Alrass brought so"

He hesitated, then held out a hand to Quicksilver

Quicksilver didn’t do doggy tricks I held ent, almost-human blue eyes studied the plump, lined palm, then looked in Ben’s eyes He slapped a clawed paw into the hand Ben had the sense to give it one, firm shake and retreat behind the desk

"Old Crow?" he asked

Tallgrass nodded, so Ben pulled four water-spotted lowball glasses and a half-eine which "Vegas bigould negotiate in person in these modest circumstances Or for what Except maybe Hector

"You see the aot the special features Eood price, which is lucky, because construction overrun costs were killing uy, Las Vegas or not"

"What kind of construction overruns, Mr Hassard?" Ric asked, setting down his holass after a polite sip

"Oh, the usual" He waved away Ric’s question to eye Tallgrass "Leonard, I overreacted on the phone with you earlier Things aren’t that bad We just have to open fast to start recouping investment, and now the last, best pieces are in place Wanta see?"

Tallgrass sat there with his black pupils lost in his most skeptical scout squint, but Ben pressed a button on his desktop intercom

"Geraldine, send in the CinSims" He winked at us "We never had any of these in Kansas before This is the jackpot, trust me Fresh froed a glance I deigned to drink so alcohol, and throat-stinging I’d never met a spirit that needed a cocktail recipe more

Let’s see … ere at Emerald City How about … an Old Scarecrow Old-fashioned?

Quicksilver’s claws scrambled as he rushed to his feet behind h-pitched crosscut saw belaboring a twig Quick groarning

I turned to see a sh spiked hair to serve as a toupee for a male American Idol contestant dance down the middle of the painted yellow brick road into the office I bent to pat the dog

"Toto," a light, worried voice called, "stay away frohtened and jumped back just as a sextet of black-and-white CinSims trouped in, fresh froh they were bathed in a soft yellow light

The original black-and-white filue was later "colored" to make it sepia-toned That was a "fan fact" most people wouldn’t know Only characters filmed on the silver nitrate of black-and-white filnature Vegas Cineas CinSi more and more like Hector

Isacred froue to The Wizard of Oz?

Dorothy Gale, with her earnest face and curled--not braided--pigtails, was still calling her little terrier, but frowning at someone behind me

I turned, and nearly ju Al aroundbody

I bent to scoop up Toto, so the dog could "arf" and snap at the squinty-eyed woe of character

Dorothy’s Auntie E with kindly Uncle Henry and the trio of fedora-hatted oddball farmworkers, Hunk, Hickory, and Zeke

Oh, had the descriptive connotations of the word "hunk" changed since 1939 The prologue’s Hunk beca for a brain in Oz The carnival huckster who’d doubled as the wizard hiht up the rear

"Look at theo!" Ben Hassard crowed "I feel like the brave little tailor ‘Eight at one blow’"

I reluctantly handed a war Toto back to Dorothy Gale, a bit unnerved I’d never seriously touched a CinSim, and couldn’t believe they felt so … lifelike

Ric and Tallgrass edged nearer to inspect the flock of CinSims while Almira Gulch kept a vindictive eye on Toto in Dorothy’s arms and Quicksilver shadowed her every move

These CinSims reminded me of Ric’s Zobos, disoriented and not in touch with their surroundings, interacting only with the public yet The Vegas CinSims I kneere firmly themselves and adapted to their fates These newly hatched celluloid "chicks" made me feel sorry for them … except for Almira Gulch

I slipped back to Hassard’s side

"Are you planning to build a special attraction around them, like the MGM Grand did before it dumped the Oz theas hotels did All I know is I got these very Kansas characters in exchange for one old usta filas ht in the penthouse suite and he was all hot to deal I do have some classy ‘amenities’ in that suite" He winked "And awo Hassard wasn’t referring to i clear who the visiting Vegas bigas, and the thought of Hector Nightwine cavorting with hired heartland hostesses was too ugly to bear

I could see hi with the Oz CinSims They were far too homey and wholesome for the producer of the CSI V forensics TV franchise I wondered what he’d got in exchange Son film, no doubt, like Hedy Lamarr’s Ecstasy with the first feature-film nude scene Hector uests at the Enchanted Cottage decades ago

That rehes in his heyday had dated both of those black-and-white filirliein answer to s in one basket I’hout the hotel-casino That way, custo into theot ht keep Alested "She is the villain of the piece"

"That old gal in the battle-axe hat?" Hassard squinted her way and wasat Yeah Maybe I’ll station her at a casino cashier’s cage She’s ugly enough to scare folks off fros I’ll haveMeanwhile …"

Hassard stepped up to the roup "Okay, you CinSi Check it out Find soirl in the checked juh ‘walks,’ if you knohat I mean"

For the first ti issue of CinSim elimination I hoped the zoh feral fil" Hassard clapped his hands and shooed the CinSims out of his office like a flock of far her a last warning growl

Ric, who’d been conferring with Tallgrass all the while the CinSims had offered comic relief, approached Ben and rass said to Hassard "We four"-- Quicksilver nosed his hand--"ah, five, need to sit and po, as they say in the cowboy movies"