Page 68 of Besties
Dr. Malone shook his head. “I swear, that man is—sorry. What were we talking about?”
Growing up, I’d known some scatterbrained people, but Dr. Malone took the cake. I went through the reason we’d called and he sat there humming the entire time. I wasn’t even sure he was listening to me.
“So someone is screwing with your company? I see. Well, I went through your program with a fine-tooth comb, and beyond one minor bug, I can promise you it’s a genius piece of software. Everyone involved in its creation should be really proud. And we’ve already discussed ways to make it better.” He frowned. “We did, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Richie replied. “You said you were sending some things to help bring better cohesion to the suite.”
“I did?” He picked up what looked like a high-tech iPad with its sleek black shell and stunningly bright screen, which he tapped a few times. “Yes, here it is. Sent overnight yesterday. You should have it this morning.”
“Great, thank you so very much.”
“No problem at all. I’m all about helping the kids. So what can I do for you today?”
I sucked in a breath, then told him about my idea. His eyes widened behind his glasses and a playful grin split his face.
“You’re devious. I like that.” He grabbed his pad again, then tapped several times before he said, “Help Max Henry with his brilliant idea.”
I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to have someone—a veritable genius at that—say your idea was brilliant. Yes, Richie had said it, but Dr. Malone didn’t know me or anything about the person I was, and he’d still said it was good.
“It won’t take long,” he said. “Give me a day or two. Three, tops.”
“Thank you, Dr. Malone.”
“No, Josh, please. I’ve been informed by Mr. Cross that if I want to be called by name, I need to tell people.”
“Okay, Josh. What do we owe you?” Richie asked.
He frowned. “You’ll let me make a donation.”
We didn’t really take donations from anyone, because we didn’t want to be beholden. “Sir, while we appreciate it, we don’t—”
“No, not money. Let me send you some of my pads. I’ll have them programmed to work for Teaching Time much the same way ours works for CrossBow. There won’t be anything on them that you don’t approve of. No trackers, no viruses, no worms, nothing.” He chuckled. “These are the ones that Apple, IBM, and Microsoft offered their firstborn for. No one other than us and some schools have them.”
The offer was beyond generous. I peered up at Richie, who stood there, his eyes wide and mouth open.
“Yes! We’d love them,” he gushed, his cheeks stained red. I’d never seen Richie with a boy crush. It was awesome.
“Great. I’ll program them this week and ship them off to you. How many employees do you have?”
“At our main campus we have about a hundred at any given time.”
“No, I mean worldwide. How many people work for your company?”
“Seriously? That’s a lot of money, sir. We have about fifteen hundred right now.”
Dr. Malone smiled big. “Man, you guys are rocking it!” He jotted something on his pad. “Okay, it’ll take me a bit longer to come up with that many, but I’ll get them set up as soon as possible. You have Michael Kennedy’s email address, right?”
Richie nodded, apparently too dumbfounded to speak.
“Great. Send me a mail, copy it to Michael Kennedy to make sure I don’t forget, and let me know the languages they speak. I’ll program the pads to make it easier for non-Americans to use them.”
Richie’s fingers flexed. “Dr. Malone—”
He held up a hand. “Josh. Please.”
“Josh. Why are you doing this? You don’t really know us, and you’re spending a lot of time, energy, and money.”
He smiled. “In my wayward youth, I did a lot of stupid stuff. Most of it could be technically considered illegal. I still believe I was doing the right thing, but I went about it the wrong way. I’m doing my best to make restitution for it where I can, and if spending a few bucks to simplify a kids’ life—and keep them from doing the things I did—does that, then I’m onboard with it. I already donate equipment and money to schools, so don’t think it’s just you. I…. Well, I like to help out. Let me do this, okay?”
