Chapter 8

Russell and I gave each other a look, with him nodding his head and breaking into a smile.

A couple more green ideas occurred, taking almost thirty minutes to discuss.

“Any more Ideas, Ricky?” Mr. Brin asked.

I hesitated, but Rebecca squeezed my hand again.

“Actually, Mr. Brin – I do. It’s regarding Chrome.”

“Go ahead.”

“I have never used it, but I don’t like the name, Chrome. It’s too suited for men, it’s like you are saying, ‘Ladies, find another browser called Pretty or Lacey.’”

Mr. Brin chuckled and said, “Do you have a suggestion?”

That caused Mr. Page and Mr. Schmidt to snicker.

“Well, if you look back over the years at the different browser names, you find very few single syllable browser names that were successful. These days you have Opera, Firefox, Safari, and of course Internet Explorer. My idea is calling it Chromex, people hear the X sound, like Firefox or Explorer and it seems less abrasive. This all sounds rather silly, now that I have said it out loud.”

“That’s a valid point you have got there, Richard,” Russell said. “Outside of Flock and Links, and Grail way back in the 90s – there hasn’t been a successful brand with a single syllable.”

Phil raised his hand and said, “Can I work with Richard on a rename and Logo for Chromex? I’m certain we could have something to look at in a couple hours in the morning.”

Mr. Schmidt stood up and said, “Mr. Summers – it appears you have the right stuff to work at Google. Whatever you are making, I intend to double that as soon as this meeting is over.”

Rebecca and I looked at each other in amazement at this remark. The meeting went on, although I decided to hold off on my other ideas for now.

What do they say, ‘Always leave them wanting more?’

On the trip back to the hotel, Russell and I gave each other a high five, with Rebecca smiling and giggling the whole way.

“You know Richard, I wouldn’t doubt that at some point they might ask you to move to California. How do you feel about that?” Russell asked as we walked into our hotel’s lobby.

I saw Rebecca’s face drop and tears start from her eyes.

“How soon would you think they might ask, Russell?” I inquired.

“Who knows, possibly before the summer is over? That would allow you to move and find a high school in the area,” he said.

“What if I were to say ‘No,’ that I couldn’t move for three years, until after Rebecca and I were married.”

Becky’s whole countenance changed, when I said ‘married.’

He said, looking at me then his daughter, “I ... don’t know son, they might just throw money at you until you cave. You had two great ideas today -- that could mean millions to the company.”

“Daddy, until we are married, what could we do?” Rebecca said, now beaming, but with a tone of trepidation in her voice.

“When we get back to Omaha, we will all sit down and figure something out – how does that sound, guys?”

“Good idea Sir, what is planned for tomorrow?” I asked.

“You are working with Phil on the Chromex idea, aren’t you?” he reminded me.

“Oh yes, that’s right. Did you bring a swimsuit Rebecca, they have a spa here?” I said.

.

“You two work that out, I have got things of my own to work on,” Russell said.

“Thanks Daddy, I have got a red bikini, Richard – will that do?” she said, with a rather beguiling smile on her face.

“OK, meet you in five minutes outside our rooms,” I said in response.

Five minutes later I saw the bikini she had on. My dad would use the word ‘Wowser’ to describe the minimal two pieces of red fabric used. She had a t-shirt over it, but still. She was showing herself off to me -- and it was working. We grabbed hands and went down to the Spa. I had my phone in case I have a heart attack.

After the three hours of ‘ideas,’ this felt very comfortable. Wherever we are living when we get married, I’m getting a spa – with lots of jets.

“Richard, when Mr. Schmidt said he was going to double your salary, do you think he meant it?” my girl said.

“I don’t think he says anything he doesn’t mean, Rebecca.”

“That’s $160 thousand dollars a year, isn’t it?”

“Yes, my dear ... over $3,000 a week. More money than I can ever spend, that’s for sure.”

“Oh, I can help you spend it, if you would like?” she said, coming over and sitting on my lap.

“I am already putting it mostly in the bank. I have set up an account to buy a car from, when I’m old enough to drive by myself.”

“Richard?”

“What is it, Rebecca?”

“I’m scared that you’ll go off to California – without me!” she said starting to cry. I leaned her head against me and rubbed her back.

“Nothing has happened yet. I have actually had an idea if they do ask,” I said.

“What?” she said raising her beautiful eyes to meet mine.

“I’ll request a contract be drawn up, that promises them that we will come to California within ninety days of getting married.”

“Why ninety days?”

“We will have to have a honeymoon after we are married ... don’t we?” I said.

She looked at my lips, blushed and we kissed one another.

We all went off to Google the next morning. Rebecca observed while Phil and I talked about Chromex. I thought to start with a bolded X, with a C around the outside with the same line width. Then he filled in each of the three ‘closed in portions’ with the three main colors from the current Chrome Logo.

After getting frustrated after trying each of the colors in each of the positions, Rebecca got up and mentioned, “Why don’t you take the X out of the middle?” which Phil did.

“Now,” she said, “Create the letter C, using each of the three colors.”

Phil did, and then he resized each of the C’s and fit them inside the original black C, keeping the X tight up along the right side of the now filled in C. Phil tweaked the colors a little bit, making them brighter, then printed it. It looked pretty good. Phil then pushed a button on his phone and said, “We got it,” to somebody.