charles’s “little more private place” was a small 24 hour coffee shop a couple of blocks away from the berkeley bank.
There were no customers in the place, and nobody behind the counter, when charles and magnus and johnny entered.
after charles called out, a little old man came out from the back and they each bought a cup of coffee. then the little man disappeared, leaving them alone in a booth near the door.
charles proceeded to give magnus and johnny a very brief account of his history with the berkeley bank, and then made his proposition to them.
“so there you have it,” charles concluded. “what do you think?"
“uh - it’s a lot to take in,” magnus told him.
“i understand that,” said charles. “but consider the possible payoff. come, gentlemen, you are both gamblers, are you not?”
“i gamble sometimes,” magnus agreed. “but i consider myself basically a sage.”
“of course, of course,” charles quickly reassured him. “i didn’t mean anything negative by calling you a gambler - just the opposite, ha ha!”
charles turned to johnny, who had remained silent and expressionless throughout charles’s spiel. “and how about you, young fellow, what do you think? “
“i’m only a gambler when i need to be, myself,” johnny answered “i’m basically a religious guy.”
this surprised charles a little bit but he tried not to show it. he nodded, “i see.”
“i’ve spent my whole life thinking about the end of the world and the collapse of civilization,” johnny continued. “so what you say interests me. how sure are you, of what are you telling us?”
“pretty sure,” charles said, as confidently as he could.
“so why don’t we go over to this place - this bank - right now, and do it.”
“it’s probably closed for the night,” charles answered.
“probably?” johnny raised his eyebrows. “why don’t we go over and check it out. you say it’s only a couple of blocks away, right?”
“he’s right, boomer,” magnus said. “why not check it out now? it seems a fortuitous time of night for such an undertaking. and who knows what tomorrow may bring? and if we can’t get in, we can make other plans."
“all right,” charles agreed. “in that case, there is no sense waiting around. let’s get on with it.”
they got up and left.
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