Secondo Il Dio-Rivalry

Oh, Australia and it's pedophiles.
(just kidding, we're all vanilla over here, even the convicts! [as if there's anything but])

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“So, how are we going to handle this?” Ron Radford, a scruffy man in his mid forties hunched over a large mahogany desk. He held his reddish face groggily, fingers sinking into the extra fat around his eyes. Director of the Australian National Gallery, 5 years running. Impressive if not for the fact it was his mother’s generous ‘contribution’ that got him that position. Generally the job wasn’t too hard for the unmotivated man, but also sub-heading Customer Services became, as of late, more tedious than his stuffed head could deal with. Running on four hours of sleep, three cups of coffee, two donuts and one aspirin, the only thing he wanted to do was solve the problem, and fast.
Today was not a day for art.
“Well…we could just eliminate the problem.” Second chairman David Hennings, mid thirties, relatively handsome and dangerous old-fashioned. His great grandfather had been a previous Director, and he was not going to see his family’s established values go down the drain without a fight.
“No, no. It would cause too much upset. This must be treated reasonably.” Co-Head of Customer Services, Andrew Bailey. Served for 15 years, it showing heavily in the wrinkles around his mouth. He would have looked Santa-like if not for these frown lines- they took away any jolliness anyone might have perceived from the pleasantly plump 53 year old.
“Cause too much upset?! Are you mad? It’s because of all these upset people that we’re even here right now! We have no choice but to take down the exhibit.”
“Oh, do try to be sensible, David. It’s only your ‘high-class’ clientele that have been making a fuss; everyone else loves him.”
“And it’s those ‘clientele’, Andrew, that keeps this business running. Do you know how much we received in donations from this ‘high class’? Do you?”
“This isn’t a business, it’s a museum…”
“Fifty thousand, Andrew. Now if five hundred grand doesn’t qualify a little catering to their needs, I don’t know what does.”
“Now look here, I—“
“Gentlemen, please.” Daniel held out his hands, silencing the bickering men. As Ron’s official assistant, he took the role as mediator in these types of discussions. He being the perceivably wise person he is, he could usually bend the situation to an outcome most profitable to him. An opportunity he would not miss out on now.
“Thank you Daniel. This meeting is giving me a migraine.” The Director rubbed his grubby fingers all over his face. “You three come to a decision and call me about it this afternoon. I’m going back home to sleep.” The businessmen sat quietly as their superior stood groggily and left the room, then came back again to retrieve his forgotten briefcase. As soon as the door clicked shut, the bickering continued.
“Gentlemen, please! We have much more important things to do than have a hissy fit over such a trivial matter.” Daniel stood from one of the chairs facing the expensive desk and began to pace, holding the attention of the other two closely.
“You heard Mr. Radford. We have to have this resolved by the afternoon.”
“How can we come to a decision by then?”
“Well, it’s true we can’t just pull the exhibit; we have no reasonable grounds to. As much as the public may hate it, unless one of them threatens harm on the establishment or anyone else, it stays.” He covered his mouth to hide the grin that was rapidly growing. “However…”
“However what?” David furrowed his eyebrows and tried to see the idea behind his colleague’s contemplative face.
Daniel continued. “Do you remember the last modern exhibit we had—the one by the twitchy Canadian?” The two nodded.
“Yes, he was banned from the Gallery because they found evidence of subliminal sexual messages in his work—mostly pedophilic—but what does that have to do…”
The lights went off in their heads simultaneously, looking at each other then back at Daniel.
“Let’s get that evaluator back in to ‘analyze’ Zee’s work. I think, if presented with the right…considerations, he might read into it just the way we want him to.” The grin was full-blown now. He couldn’t help it.
Maybe God was looking out for him after all.
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