Soon after, Mary and Sally arrived home and
we watched the television together that night, but there was little
new information. I remember that I was stunned at Sally’s
appearance that night. She wore an elegant red dress and was so
obviously readying to become a mature modern business woman, yet
still gorgeous, provocative, and even alluring. I hid my feelings
even though she made eye contact with me all night and smiled like
an enchantress. I wanted badly to respond, but was afraid of my own
longings. Why reopen that wound? Stan phoned Janice Edwards, but
there was nobody home and he had left a message of our
condolences.
Before we had heard the news, we had planned
on having a family conference tonight, with everyone including
Isaac, Dad’s assistant, but I seriously wondered if it would be
canceled. I didn’t know it at the time, but already Stan believed
that The Family of Truth was behind Rick’s death and wished Sally
would drop her plan of suing them.
Una cooked one of my favorite dishes,
macaroni and beef pie which was like a shepherd’s pie, but with
ground-beef, pasta, and tomato sauce. It was scrump-delicious.
Afterwards, we congregated in the living room. Isaac dressed in a
light golden silky shirt with black dress pants. He looked fabulous
from his shining black shoes to the tip of his blond-streaked hair.
He was tanned and smiled naturally. For the first time since
knowing him, I thought I might seek his counsel on a new wardrobe
for work.
“So here we are,” Mary said when we had sat
down, “all together and healthy. Thank goodness. Cheers.”
We saluted with our glasses of Chianti and I
felt full of love for everyone at the table, but especially
Sally.
“Congratulations Sally and Christian,” Mary
continued, raising her glass. “As you must by now be aware, the
company was restructured recently. Consolidation will take place in
two areas, management teams and between overseas and continental
investments. Sally is being trained on the oversight management
team and by Lloyd Mills in investments. Starting tomorrow,
Christian you’ll report to Lloyd at Tappets Electronics, and soon,
with Hiroyuki Nakamura, you’ll be studying business under the
finest man known to Tappets, excepting your father, of course. I
expect, a fast rise into the Tappets Electronics and Poss
enterprises, and we’ll go from there. Let’s say in a few years, you
can work with your dad, which I know is what you really wanted, but
the thought of you two working together, voting together, and
planning your future with Tappets so concerned Una and I that we
vetoed it. Some day, I think you’ll see the reasoning behind it.
Remember, with a business organization, patience is one of the key
elements of success, and following instructions! Right Una?”
Una winked at me. “Christian will get along
just fine with Hiroyuki Nakamura, in fact, they are much the same
temperament.”
“Thank you so much,” I said, completely
hiding my disappointment and the table erupted in laughter, and
like a fool, I joined in.
It wasn’t until well after our meeting, I
had a chance to talk to Sally alone and congratulated her. I caught
her in the kitchen, and I desperately hoped we wouldn’t be
interrupted.
“You’re so beautiful, Sally,” I said, “I
know what I did when I first became a member of this family was
wrong and I’m sincerely sorry.”
I saw my words made her cry and I hugged
her, then she kissed me on the mouth and held me like not a second
had gone by since our last sexual embrace. It was like she had
slapped me in the face with a force that woke me up. I pushed her
away and stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs, my heart
pounding in fear for my life. Despite my bewilderment, and the
stress I felt, I slept well in my own bed and left early for
work.
Tappets Electronics worked out of a building
sold to them by IBM. I imagine this was before they knew the Nexus
and Fast-Disc Divisions were going to build personal computers and
business machines. We weren’t using our in-house name, which was
Mary’s usual practice, and we were importing many of our parts from
the Sursheita Company in Japan.
When I caught sight of the cluster of
box-like low-rise buildings, The Carewell Complex, my heart sank.
It was so low-rise, that because of so many apartment structures
near West-Eleventh and Hudson, I wouldn’t be able to see The Twin
Towers, the statue, Seagram’s, or any modern architecture. I’d have
used the tunnel but decided to take the transit the first few days
and walked from the main corner to the front gate. It was a fine
summer morning, although the noise was bothersome. Lloyd was as
lean and tall as ever, but I hadn’t seen him in a few months. He
was attractive enough, but I found his hair too short, his face too
narrow, and skin too pale.
“You look good without the weight,” he said.
“With the short hair and the suit, you finally look like a banker.”
He laughed nervously. I’d no security pass and had to sit and wait
for Lloyd to clear the matter up. “Come this way, I’ll buy you a
coffee,” he said when he had gained my clearance. “We’ve a meeting
with the old man this morning.”
I knew he meant Hiroyuki Nakamura, the
President of Tappets Electronics, who wasn’t only one of the
Stanroids, but also a staunch supporter of Mary. He’d the best of
both worlds. He was the most powerful person in Tappets beside my
parents and Una.
To my surprise, the building had no
cafeteria. Mary’s no-frills philosophy had become ingrained. I
feared the worst and decided I’d best keep my identity to myself.
The employees might lynch me. When we exited the building at the
back, security people scanned us both with electronic wands. A huge
sign on the door said, ‘Stop for security check. No exceptions!’ We
bought coffee from vendors on wheels. Lloyd offered me a
cigarette.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” I said and
refused the offer. I’d never even tried one. Picnic tables had been
set along the wall and the property looked westward on a small
woodlands which was divided by a ten story apartment complex
overshadowed in turn by a high Holiday Inn.
“Did you sincerely like math?” Lloyd asked.
I nodded. “I think you’ll be working for Bill Stanton, a controller
who worked for Modal and Factory Bright. He is a cool guy. It’s
just a suggestion at this stage, but the old guy usually follows my
advice. I thought a bit of continent-hopping might do you some good
after all that expensive ed-u-ca-tion. Stanton was with Denison’s
team back then. Jack Denison is still comptroller and Senior Vice
President but everyone considers Hiroyuki the operational VP now.
Stanton was sicced on Tay Mines and Tappet Holdings by him against
Denison’s wishes. It’s still managed by Gordon Whitley, but Mary
wouldn’t call off the dogs. Then the old man kicked Stanton over to
Constant Batteries to do the same to Graham Roberts. Something’s
up, so keep the blood off your knife.” I must have looked puzzled;
I didn’t have the slightest idea of what he meant. “It’s just that
anybody looking on Tappets from the outside,” he continued, “would
say your mom and dad are at war.”
“It’s peculiar,” I admitted, not
understanding it myself.
We’d to use our cards to get back in and
Lloyd had the security guard explain to me about the cameras,
monitoring devices, phone-recordings and other invasive security
equipment. I didn’t know how to feel about this issue. Lloyd gave
me a tour of the building. In one part, I stopped to look at a
poster of Tappets’ Divisions. No acquisitions had been made for
five years and I wondered about that. It was most peculiar. We took
the elevator to the third and top floor and followed the sign down
the plush carpeted hallway without seeing a single soul. The
hallway gleamed in a silver-colored metal and the light was bright.
Wood trim accentuated the edging, and the uniform effect fell away
and became as though a statement of refinement. Evergreen Bonsai
had been strategically placed here and there, and I stopped to look
at a couple of them. The idea of artificially dwarfing trees by
planting them in small urns, then starving them of nutrients,
limiting the space for root growth, and pruning the shoots to
create the gnarled appearance of a full-sized tree, seemed to me
weird. It was a perplexing thing about Japanese culture, like the
Haiku poem or Gagaku music. Several places had wall mirrors, also
bordered by thin varnished beechwood, some with stands holding
vases of a variety of cut orchids from around the world.
By the door to Nakamura’s outer office,
stood two statues of enormous Great Danes on their hinds with their
male genitals showing. As we approached, the doors opened
automatically. I could see that Hiroyuki obviously didn’t much care
for Mary’s austere business philosophy.
“Good morning Mr. Mills,” a plump
well-dressed middle-aged woman said from behind her desk. “Hello,
Mr. Tappet.”
“Call me, Christian,” I said and shook her
hand.
We didn’t have to wait and were greeted at
once by Hiroyuki. It seemed that his features had softened since
I’d last seen him, but otherwise he was the tall and elegant man I
always remembered. His suit was the peak of sophistication and I
felt under-dressed. Four large wildlife paintings, I imagined as
extravagant as Tappets ever allowed, by a celebrated New York City
artist, Caley Quarrellé, hung on his office walls.
“Lloyd, could you see to Mrs. Read,” he said
before Lloyd could sit. “She’s in the Conference room with Kyoto
and Mike. Make sure they’re comfortable and that the
vision-statement brochure is finished up. Stan’s office has
inquired after it twice today.”
They shook hands and Lloyd left, but I
sensed some tension there or maybe disappointment in Lloyd, but
couldn’t put my finger on it. The old man, as Lloyd called him,
studied me a moment as I stood there. “Forgive me for staring,” he
said.
“When I look at my own reflection now, I
feel I barely know myself,” I said softly. “I’ve lost considerable
weight and have worked out at the gym, perhaps, one too many
times.”
“Few of us, do know ourselves, maybe none of
us do. No one has a monopoly on wisdom, Christian. Your father and
I debate politics continually. He’s a conservative who promotes
fiscal restraint and economic liberalism, many of his ideas aren’t
far from Reagan’s. My views wholeheartedly endorse the state, but
I’m called a liberal and he isn’t. I believe that without
regulation, business would eat itself. However, I greatly admire
your father, but neither his nor my view of politics has much to do
with running a large non-bureaucratic modern industrial
conglomeration that your mother and Una have crafted over
decades.”
I caught his eyes and he saw my surprise at
such an appraisal. “You and your sister, Sally, who I also greatly
admire, must learn the secret to their success. You have access to
every level; to Stan, Mary, Una and everyone else. I can tell you,
Christian, I don’t envy you the challenge of mastering Tappet
Industries. However, I’d like to help you with it, if you so
desired.”
My heart-beat began to pick up. He was
giving me an inside track, a big break to compete with Sally who
was working directly with Mary, but was it too good to be true? Now
was the time for courage. Better to be sharpening pencils for Lloyd
than to be used as a tool against my family. “Why?”
“It’s no big secret that I’d like to manage
the whole enterprise. A possibility exist in the decade before you
and Sally are qualified. Mary and Stan may wish to retire early and
they trust me. Do you see?” This was as honest as I could expect. I
rose and formally bowed, as Stan had taught me. “What has Lloyd
told you about your position here?” he asked.
I told him about the Stanton idea. “Bill
Stanton is a fine man. He reports strictly to me, as will you. Can
you keep confidences from your family until our investigations are
complete?”
I swallowed. “I could never betray my
family.”
“On the contrary, Christian, this is about
helping them.”
“In that case I can report to you in
confidence.”
He gave a lightening quick nod of his head.
“You understand that you’ll not be working for Bill Stanton, he’ll
be working for you.” Again I couldn’t keep the surprise off my
face. “If everything goes well, you’ll be a working VP within
months, but for now you have the title anyway.”
That night I decided to throw my lot with
Hiroyuki Nakamura. When Mary heard about the title I could tell
that she was furious, and Una didn’t like it either. The next day,
I returned to his offices, to find I’d an office of my own. On the
door, Christian Donald Briner Tappet, Vice President, was printed.
It felt good. It wasn’t true yet, but I was damn-well going to try
to be one. I fumbled with the door. The office had a view of
West-Eleventh and the day was bright, so it wasn’t too depressing.
The walls were painted in a very light aquamarine and were bare
except for a print of the New York City skyline taken from a
northern angle. Bill Stanton arrived. He was forty years old or so,
and fit and trim. I made coffee and we sat. “So where to from
here?” I asked.
“My team’s wrapping things up at Modal. That
will take two more days, maybe less, then on to Tonal-Flex, ‘They
make verdy-verdy g-o-o-o-d speakers,’” he said mocking a popular
jingle.
“Is any of the work here?”
He shook his head. “We have to go to Phili,
boss.”
“Call me Christian. I’ll try not to call you
boss. If you would help me not to fall flat on my face, I’d be
indebted, and you would be richer.”
That afternoon, Bill brought me in the
reports on the completed audits for Modal Oil, Factory-Bright, Poss
Fast-Discs, Mutual Real Estate, Sursheita, and Spectrum Sound.
There were six more divisions to go. I read the Factory-Bright
report and it seemed everything was fine. I interrupted Bill’s work
to say so, and I’ll never forget his response. “Wrong answer. Keep
reading. The old man expects you to find it on your own.”