TWENTY FIVE & SIX
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CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE The new school year started. A bus load of blindfolded volunteer art students were driven to the site in exchange for the privilege of getting the first glimpse of“ The Fear Factory”. In one day they transformed the drab gray exterior into a work of art, using the three color choices. Flat black, blood red and pale gray. Before the artists arrived, Eddie marked the center of where he wanted each of the thirty-six painted windows with a piece of chalk. Size did not matter as long as the students finished one before lunch and one after lunch. A collage of broken windows with hanging shutters lined the lower level. Everyone was encouraged to add their own flair. Gruesome faces peered out and bloody hands gripped broken shards of glass. Each artist was allowed to sign his or her work if they desired and it became a contest as well as a collaboration.
Lunch was taken beneath the huge spider web among the rocks and plastic cacti. As they finished lunch, Eddie turned on the black lights so they could appreciate the beauty of the web. When one of the huge spiders, manned by Armando, made it’ s maiden voyage across the webbing, the reaction was perfect. Screams from some and a look of pure amazement from others. Huge mandibles, tipped in red opened and closed with a loud clicks. The legs of the spider spanned ten feet. The hands and feet of the operator caused the body to become a rippling mass of shiny black fur. The group was sworn to secrecy. Eddie figured it would take about forty-eight hours for word to get out. There was no better advertisement than a secret among a bunch of high school students. It only took twenty-four hours for news of the giant spiders to leak. There was an added bonus rumor about one of the students being bitten. It did not matter how ridiculous the rumor seemed. When officials called to check on the possibility of someone importing giant man eating arachnids, Eddie knew he had a hit.
Rodney and Eddie were greeted as celebrities when they asked if they could put up signs for temporary employment for“ The Fear Factory” at the colleges. The speculated price of admission reached fifty dollars. The address was posted along with the fifteen dollar admission price which included a printed T-shirt. Frank ordered one hundred thousand each of five different sized shirts. He told the printer to hold an equal amount of unprinted shirts. Eddie was present for the negotiation and watched Frank write a check for one point five million dollars.“ I hope that didn’ t make you nervous,” Frank commented, as they climbed into his car.“ I’ m starting to feel the pressure,” Eddie admitted.“ I believe we are going to need at least part of the second batch of shirts. We will order according to what size moves the fastest. The first week should give us a good indicator. We have to give them time to print and deliver before we run out,” Frank said. Eddie agreed, as he put Frank’ s car through it’ s paces.
The first day of scheduled interviews hosted the oddest assortment of characters. Eddie called for help when he arrived to a line that already stretched half the length of the building. Sam and Rodney arrived just in time to keep a mob of Wolfmen, Frankensteins, Mummies and Draculas from becoming violent. Sam and Eddie held interviews. Tracy had been reassigned to keep track of applications and answer basic questions. The break room with the six tables each seating six applicants served as a place to fill out the forms. Rodney took over crowd control. He enlisted the help of a couple very large henchmen with the promise of a job and pay starting immediately. Everyone who arrived in full costume was hired. Rodney began interviewing but had to stop at noon and started turning away those who showed up after lunch. He asked them to come back in the morning if they wore a costume.