Implied Consent: Act I, Scene II

This is a part of Mr. Stolyarov's play, Implied Consent. To navigate through the various parts of the play, go here.

(Scene opens with EDWARD MARK and RAYMOND NEVILLE at bargaining table)

MARK: Then, it is agreed, Mr. Neville. (They shake hands.)

NEVILLE: Mr. Mark, I am pleased that the Estate of Grummond's offer for acquiring your company was to your liking. We understand that this business was your life's work, and we are naturally willing to give you a lifetime's worth of profit for it. In short, you need never again worry about your financial state.

MARK: And yet, I wonder, who shall operate the business; who shall now be the beneficiary of the profits?

NEVILLE: We are satisfied with your current business model and will keep it as is. Your employees will keep receiving their salaries, just as I, the Executor of the Grummond Estate, will keep getting mine. However, all the excess earnings shall be deposited into the Estate itself.

MARK: So, the Estate is, in this regard, like a corporation, a legal and financial entity in itself?
NEVILLE: Not quite like a corporation, though. There are no shareholders, and there is no board of directors. The Estate is a proprietorship, owned in whole by Quintus Grummond.

MARK (surprised): The same Quintus Grummond who is currently maintained on life support?
NEVILLE: The very same. All the permissible functions of the Estate are laid out in Mr. Grummond's will. He has determined in advance the Estate's operating budget, the salaries of its employees, its acquisition policy, its research and development track, its marketing policy, everything right down to the employee dress code. It is as if he himself were here to oversee its daily functions.

MARK: And, how long is this arrangement to last?
NEVILLE: Indefinitely. A good way, though not the best way, to make a man live forever is to have his accomplishments perpetuate themselves as if his mind were still somehow at work within them.

MARK: Then, what is the best way?