Advice

"Now, then! Supergenius, what advice could you give to this troubled corporation that we have?"

The young boy was once again in a tough spot. If he chose the safe route, he would have lied all the way and acted as innocent, naive, and preciously as possible.

Now that his elders were giving him an open seat in the adult world, he decided to risk it all and come off as an unnaturally mature kid.

Alexander gave out a cough as he readied his throat for the speech it is about to give. "I am not too clear about business matters but from what I can tell, with regards to the toy stores, it is better to cut losses and recycle it to other means of profit!"

"Oh... do tell!" Sullivan had his brows raised with the kid's overblown proposal.

Young Alex knew that his grandfather had grand plans with proliferating his stores all around the nation. The very notion of erasing all his years of effort with his little advice is nothing short of preposterous to the old man.

He had to come up with proposals to crack the old man's stubbornness. "Well, with the way things are at the moment and the fact that the robberies would likely occur again. Isn't it better to minimize risks and get rid of a loss-making business?"

"Not bad!" His grandfather had a smile plastered on his face after he heard those replies. "Your father and I have the same thought as you, little one! This should be the second time that we have the same strategy."

"Merging film and toys were one and this is the second! I hope you weren't just eavesdropping when we were discussing this because that would be disappointing!"

Alex had his mouth agape at this moment and it was not because of trying to take in a mouthful of his food. "Grandpa, are you actually planning on stopping your grand plans of a nationwide enterprise?! I was just making conversation with the whole minimizing risks and cutting losses thing!"

"Haha! You do know that this grandfather of yours is not that stubborn, right?" Old Sullivan chuckled at his grandson's overreaction. "Business is meant to make money! If it derails from that, then what is the point in being stubborn with keeping it."

Mark was just silent throughout the conversation, however, this gave him the chance to truly observe the absurd shift in personality that his baby boy has.

It made him question how and when it all changed. With his son's inherent quietness and docileness, it made him wonder whether it was all a facade and whether his innocent boy was maturely calculating all his interactions from up until now.

It worried him even more that their undisguised business talk probably skewed the boy's personality to be oriented on money making.

The poor father lamented his lack of time to watch his son's true growth and just silently accepted that the boy is now practically a young adult.

An adult trapped in a boy's body is what those poets would say in this situation.

Alexander was unaware of his father's mental struggle and acceptance because he was too caught up and excited about talking business with his grandfather.

"Grandpa, what are you going to do with all those stores, then?! I have not thought that far ahead with contingencies of other money-making ventures."

"The remaining merchandise in the inventory would be sold off in sales while the Cosmic sign would be taken down. It would then be just a matter of picking which building should be kept and which should be sold off."

"The kept properties would be up for rent as an income hauler in the long run. Prime properties such as the factories and the manufacturing building would be repurposed."

"Repurposed for what?"

"Things related to filming, of course! Even though the Cosmic toy stores are out of commission, your father and I still plan to have the Cosmic brand be among the ranks of United Artists, MGM, and all those stuck-up Hollywood studios!" For some reason, Sullivan was drunk with euphoria as he excitedly babbled.

It was not because of the wine in his hands but because his grandson was currently shaped up to how he envisioned him to be... albeit too early.

When he saw the boy read and write about filmmaking, he was devastated! But with this little talk, he was ecstatic that the little guy was talking money with him.

Supergenius or not! His grandson was the best there is and it was not just the familial bias taking precedence.

It did not matter how the boy impossibly learned to read and write on his own. What mattered was that he was taking the best path that Sullivan expected of him.

Alexander felt that this dinner talk was the best among the many dinner talks that they'd had. He reveled in the fact that the talks from now on would not need to inconvenience his elders by having them take interest in his childish matters.

He was feeling this way because the weird Creed dynamic of a businessman, a filmmaker, and the artist was slowly converging into a common goal.

Mark got out of his melancholic mood and joined in on the conversation with the intent of training the now-adult mentality of his son.

"Alexander, you still haven't commented on those frozen film-related companies! Your business savvy is not up to par with your grandpa but I know from your notes that your knowledge of film is still inexplicably exceptional."

The duo's goal of making another Hollywood studio was clear at this point and that was undeniably positive in the young boy's books.

Alexander sorted out his excited thoughts and answered with great intent. "First to tackle is the distribution company which has no work to distribute. All I could suggest is to have them distribute independent films. It is the same strategy that most companies outside the major studios have been doing."

"Major studios don't care too much about films that aren't produced by them, so they mostly do minimal effort into the distribution of experimental films. If the right strategy is employed, the company could make use of that flaw and earn money without the constant pressure to produce films."

His words made Mark nod in appreciation but the next suggestion made him confused.

"With regards to the unstable and impermanent staff of the production company, the perfect plan would be to keep such instability and impermanence." Alexander had a big grin on his cute face when he reached the end of his sentence.

"Why though? Wouldn't that cripple film production entirely?" Mark ran his production company since the theatre became separated from the major studios and knew the need for a comprehensive group effort to finish each and every film.

His son's suggestion warped the very logic he lived by and it made him itch to know what was behind that grin.