CH171 - California

A woman's temper is much like the weather by the sea: now shrouded in dark clouds, now clear skies as far as the eye can see.

When Ethan declared that he had absolutely no plans to go public, letting those fools on Wall Street be green with envy, Evelyn, previously sullen due to the capitalists' scrutiny, found her smile again.

Not only that, but she also actively started discussing what gifts to take to Washington with Ethan.

"Barbara mentioned she knows a lot of colleagues at the Department of Justice (DoJ) who have children. They're all big fans of our games. How about we prepare some autographed photos to take over?" she suggested.

"No, wait..."

"The kids like our games, not us. So, maybe autographed photos won't be much use. How about this: we turn the cartoon images of 'Snake,' 'Pac-Man,' and 'Star Wars' into postcards, and then sign those?"

"I think the kids might like that, and, if done well... could we turn these game characters into merchandise like Disney cartoon characters?"

"Sss... if this idea really takes off, wouldn't it infuriate those green-eyed monsters?"

"Oh, that's not right; we can only do 'Pac-Man' and 'Snake.'"

"'Star Wars' isn't ours."

Evelyn's initial remarks sparked a light in Ethan's eyes.

Because what she was talking about, merchandise development, was indeed the root of Disney's success.

Definitely intriguing.

But her conclusion...

Was somewhat petty.

What had Wall Street not seen? To think they could be irritated by some IP development?

That's really—

"Probably."

Ethan gave a noncommittal answer. The reason for his vagueness was that he wasn't sure if Evelyn would continue on this never-ending topic.

Although he was vague, Evelyn didn't mind and immediately started pondering the feasibility of her idea. Upon returning to the company, she even took out paper and pen and began to sketch.

Before long, a green snake and several ghosts leapt onto the paper.

After coloring them and handing them over to Eulise Noble to try printing on cardstock with a color spray, when Ethan got the postcard with the Destiny Game logo a few days later, he was momentarily stunned, then smiled.

Because the first postcard depicted this scene—

On an open field, a green snake chased four ghosts, while the four ghosts chased Pac-Man. Perhaps due to the urgency of the situation, Pac-Man had grown limbs.

And there were sweat drops beside him.

The scene, dripping with sweat, was adorably cute.

The second postcard depicted this—

On an open field, a cartoonish green snake with its jaws wide open had Pac-Man in its mouth, and Pac-Man, having grown limbs, was defiantly stepping on the snake's lower jaw, refusing to give in.

The four ghosts were staring at this with their eyes wide.

Their shock made them incredibly cute.

"Well, well, looks like the snake is the real top of the food chain, huh?"

"This is too cute, isn't it?"

Ethan hadn't expected the IP postcards his sister mentioned to turn out like this, the adorable and captivating style reminiscent of Disney animations.

And if they were to develop IPs in this manner, perhaps there was something to it?

However, even though Ethan found this anthropomorphized setting interesting, he didn't immediately act on it but instructed Eulise Noble to register the copyright, and then headed to Apple.

When the date reached June 21, the APPLE 2 officially went on sale.

Thanks to Ethan's advertisement on "The Tonight Show," the computer, once launched, received many inquiries. When people learned that the accompanying game postcards were free, the five hundred machines laid out offline in California sold out in just three days.

Meanwhile, Apple Computer Company's order line was overwhelmed, with nearly a thousand mail orders marking a performance many computer companies could only dream of.

This result made Ethan, accompanying Jobs to sell the product, breathe a sigh of relief.

If Apple couldn't achieve a revenue of two million in three days after his advertisement, then he would really start to doubt the extent of his fame.

After witnessing the normal sales of APPLE 2, Ethan, with his mind at ease, and his sister flew to Washington, D.C., to start their planned visits according to the scheme.

Meeting Barbara, they talked about their company and asked about her work.

Only then did they learn how busy Barbara had been since starting her job—

"Working here really isn't as comfortable as teaching."

"I'm dealing with tricky cases all day, every night is restless."

"This month's situation in Florida has been particularly headache-inducing!"

"You know Anita Bryant, right?"

"Her 'Save Our Children' campaign has nearly turned Florida upside down! No, wrong! It's nearly turned America upside down!"

Although these external activities were unrelated to the DoJ, the change in Miami's legal regulations was an undeniable fact. They needed to coordinate discussions with the other party to ensure no conflict with federal law.

For matters unrelated to him, Ethan naturally wouldn't comment.

He and Evelyn expressed concern for Barbara's health, advising her not to overwork herself. After all, work is endless, but one's health is paramount.

After touring the DoJ and distributing gifts, the siblings then headed to the Department of Defense (DoD).

When Vinton Cerf learned of their desire to tour the Pentagon, the professor from Stanford didn't hesitate to agree, warmly guiding them inside.

As Ethan and Evelyn wandered around for social visits, in Santa Clara, California, in a spacious central flat, a phone was ringing incessantly.

A middle-aged man in pajamas walked over barefoot, leisurely picking up the call.

After a brief greeting, a resigned voice came through the phone.

"I've been fired," said the caller, having just completed the procedures.

"I saw," replied the receiver with a laugh.

But his laughter provoked an angry roar—

"Warner is really inhuman! It wasn't even my fault this time!"

"I know, but what can you do?" the receiver hummed, "I advised you before, just sell the company and quit being CEO. You wouldn't listen..."

Before the receiver could finish, the caller immediately countered—

"That's because I thought I could win!"

"And my product indeed had no issues! Only Apollo could compete with me in the market!"

"But they came up with 'Star Wars,'" the receiver replied lightly.

Such words, like an invisible hand crossing time and space, strangled the caller.

The angry, pleading voice from the phone was a display of rage but also a portrait of helplessness. After a long pause, the caller on the phone gave up arguing.

"Where are you? I want to see you."

"Why see me? We're not on the same side anymore."

"Oh! Sxxt! Don't think I don't know what you've done! You're in Southern California, right?"

The ambiguous words silenced the receiver for a moment.

Seconds later, he smirked, "Oh, Nolan, how did you know?"

"Because you lost five million! Don!"

Such words made the middle-aged man look out the window.

As the golden sunlight spread across the earth, brushing his cheeks...

A familiar face emerged from the shadows.

"Fine, come to Santa Clara..."

Don Valentine gave out his address.

"I'll wait for you."

TL/n :-

Save Our Children, Inc. was an American political coalition formed in 1977 in Miami, Florida, to overturn a recently legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation.

The coalition was publicly headed by celebrity singer Anita Bryant, who claimed the ordinance discriminated against her right to teach her children biblical morality because the ordinance specifically required parochial Christian schools, like the one her children attended, to hire openly homosexual teachers.

It was a well-organized campaign that initiated a bitter political fight between gay activists and Christian fundamentalists. When the repeal of the ordinance went to a vote, it attracted the largest response of any special election in Dade County's history, passing by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

In response to this vote, a group of gay and lesbian community members formed Pride South Florida, now known as Pride Fort Lauderdale, an organization whose mission was to fight for the rights of the gay and lesbian community in South Florida.