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ss, Barbara."
"That's RIGHT," Barbara said, looking around. "I AM the BOSS. You'd all do VERY VERY WELL to remember who's signing your DAMN PAYCHECKS. Now leave me alone, Jay, I've got to talk business."
Jay split. Barbara turned back to me. "Do you see what I have to put up with around here? Now I know why Roseanne was so hard on her crew. You have to be. These folks are nothing but a bunch of lazy assed slackers. Do you know, that light almost killed me. Another two feet and it would have landed right on my head."
I strongly began to suspect it wasn't an accident.
"Now, enough about this," she said. "What's your problem, Tom? Something's up with you, and it has us worried. How can you be my son's agent if you're falling apart over there?"
"I'm not falling apart, Barbara," I said. "The Biz piece had nothing to it. Everything is fine. Really."
"Is it?" Barbara said. "I wonder. I've been thinking about where my son is at, and I truly wonder if this is where he should be at this juncture of his career."
"Well, hell, Barbara," I said, "He's got his own show on a national network. I say that's pretty good for a 23-year old."
"At 23, Eddie Murphy had made 48 Hours, Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop," Barbara said. "and his show was on a real network."
"Not everyone can have Eddie Murphy's career," I said.
"See, this is what I'm worried about," Barbara said. "I think Rashaad can have Eddie's career. You think he can't."
"I didn't say that," I said. "But now that you mention it, I don't want Rashaad to have Eddie Murphy's career. It includes Harlem Nights and A Vampire in Brooklyn, too, you know."
"But this is all academic, isn't it?" Barbara said. "Because the fact is, Rashaad's not even in film at all. All he has for himself is one little show on one little network."
I started to reply, but there was a rap on the railing. We both turned to see Rashaad, in a hooded sweatshirt, surrounded by his lackeys. Someone had apparently
