Agent to the Stars Read Online Free PDF

monopolized by Ben, who loathes you and would not ask about you even if he could get a promotion out of it. Why?”
    â€œIf anyone asks, I was just out to get a bagel, okay?”
    â€œYou’re killing me,” Miranda said. “I don’t normally threaten my bosses, but if you don’t tell me what happened in there, I may have to hurt you.”
    â€œI can’t , Miranda. You know if I could tell anyone, I would tell you.” I gave her my best I’m-utterly-helpless look. “I just
can’t. Just trust me for now, please, and just forget that meeting ever took place?”
    Miranda looked at me for a minute. “Okay, Tom,” she said, finally. “But if we’re not going to talk about the meeting that didn’t take place, why did you call me in here?”
    â€œI need you to get my files on everyone I represent. Also, give me the names of the latest agents up from the mailroom, and their client lists, if you can.”
    Miranda jotted on her notepad. “All right,” she said. “Anything in particular I should look for in the new agents?”
    â€œI want someone who is so new that he still could do his mail route with his eyes closed. Someone who doesn’t know anything. Me, about three years ago.”
    â€œYoung and naive. Got it, Tom. Actually, I know just the person.”
    â€œGreat. Give me about an hour with my files and then have them come for a visit.”
    â€œFine. Anything else?”
    â€œYes. I’m going to need one of those watercooler bottles. And a dolly.”
    Miranda looked up from her notepad. “A watercooler bottle?”
    â€œYeah. One of those Arrowhead Water bottles. The five gallon ones.”
    â€œAnd a dolly.”
    â€œIf you can find one. They have them in the mailroom, I think. You can have the new agent retrieve it.”
    I could see Miranda debating with herself whether or not she wanted to ask what the water bottle was for. She finally decided against it. What a pro. “Do you want the water bottle empty or full?”

    â€œDoesn’t matter,” I said.
    â€œIt does to me,” she said. “I have to lug the damn thing to your office.”
    â€œEmpty, please.”
    She stopped writing. “Okay,” she said. “You’ll have your files in just a minute.” She stood up and walked over the two steps to where I was. I stopped leaning on the desk and stood up. “Tom,” she said, “you can trust me; I’ll never speak of that meeting in front of anyone. But whatever happened in that meeting, congratulations.” She reached over and tousled my hair. It was an old-fashioned and matronly move from someone who was my assistant, and a year younger than I was. It made me grin like an idiot.
    Â 
    Miranda dropped the files on my desk. It was now time to play everybody’s favorite game: ditch the clients.
    â€œThis thing is going to take up all of your time from now on,” Carl had warned, right after I had signed up for the ride. “You’re going to have to formulate a plan and execute it. You’re going to have to be an aide to Joshua, as well. Which reminds me: he needs to stay at your place.”
    â€œWhat?” I said. Visions of slug slime coating my upholstery leapt, unbidden, into my mind.
    â€œTom,” Joshua said, “it’s not exactly an easy commute between here and the ship.”
    â€œWe can work out the details later,” Carl said, getting back on track. “But what you need to do now, Tom, is go through your client list and as quietly as possible, offload as many as you can. Joshua is your full-time job now.”
    I stared at the files and had a weird tingling in my head. On one hand, this was an agent’s dream—get rid of the truly annoying
clients! Cut the dead weight! Unload the ballast! Every agent who was not running an agency had clients they’d rather be without—and here I was being