Wheels (13 page)

She had the attitude it took, Brett thought. All she needed was the
talent, plus some extra push to overcome the industry's prejudice
against women who wanted to be more than secretaries.
He asked the youth, "How about you
.”

The pensive young man shook his head uncertainly. He was frowning. "I'm
not sure. Okay, everything's big time, there's plenty of bread thrown
around, a lot of effort, and I guess it's exciting all right"--he nodded
toward the girl"
just the way she said. I keep wondering, though: Is it
all worth it? Maybe I'm crazy, and I know it's late; I mean, having done
the design course and all, or most of it. But you can't help asking: For
an artist, does it matter? Is it what you want to give blood to, a
lifetime
.”

"You have to love cars to work here," Brett said. "You have to care
about them so much that they're the most important thing there is. You
breathe, eat, sleep cars, sometimes remember them when you're making
love. You wake up in the night, it's cars you think about-those you're
designing, others you'd like to. It's like a religion
.”

He added curtly,
11 If you don't feel that way, you don't belong here
.”

"I do love cars," the youth said. "I always have, as long as I remember,
in just the way you said. It's only lately . .
.”

He lef t the sentence
hanging, as if unwilling to voice heresy a second time.
Brett made no other comment. Opinions, appraisals of that kind were
individual, and decisions because of them, personal. No one else could
help because in the end it all depended on your own ideas, values, and
sometimes conscience. Besides, there was another factor which Brett had
no intention of discussing with these two: Lately
he had experienced some of the same questioning and doubts himself.
The chief of Color and Interiors had a skeleton immediately inside his
office, used for anatomy studies in relation to auto seating. The skeleton
hung slightly off the ground, suspended by a chain attached to a plate in
the skull. Brett DeLosanto shook hands with it as he came in. "Good
morning, Ralph
.”

Dave Heberstein came from behind his desk and nodded toward the main
studio. "Let's go through
.”

He patted the skeleton affectionately in
passing. "A loyal and useful staff member who never criticizes, never asks
for a raise
.”

The Color Center, which they entered, was a vast, domed chamber, circular
and constructed principally of glass, allowing daylight to flood in. The
overhead dome gave a cathedral effect, so that several enclosed booths-for
light-controlled viewing of color samples and fabrics
appeared like
chapels. Deep carpeting underfoot deadened sound. Throughout the room were
display boards, soft and hard trim samples, and a color library comprising
every color in the spectrum as well as thousands of subcolors.
Heberstein stopped at a display table. He told Brett DeLosanto, "Here's
what I wanted you to see
.”

Under glass, a half-dozen upholstery samples had been arranged, each
identified by mill and purchase number. Other similar samples were loose
on the table top. Though variously colored, they bore the generic name
"Metallic Willow
.”

Dave Heberstein picked one up. "Remember these
.”

"Sure " Brett nodded. "I liked them; still do
.”

"I did, too. In f act, I recommended them for use
.”

Heberstein fingered
the sample which was
5 pleasantly soft to the touch. It had-as had all the others-an attractive
patterned silver fleck. "It's crimped yarn with a metallic thread
.”

Both men were aware that the fabric had been introduced as an extra
cost option with the company's top line models this year. It had proven
popular and soon, in differing colors, would be available for the Orion.
Brett asked, "So what's the fuss
.”

"Letters," Heberstein said. "Customers' letters which started coming in
a couple of weeks ago
.”

He took a key ring from his pocket and opened
a drawer in the display table. Inside was a file containing about two
dozen photocopied letters. "Read a few of those
.”

The correspondence, which was mainly from women or their husbands,
though a few lawyers had written on behalf of clients, had a common
theme. The women had sat in their cars wearing mink coats. In each case
when they left the car, part of the mink had adhered to the seat,
depleting and damaging the coat. Brett whistled softly.
"Sales ran a check through the computer," Heberstein confided. "In every
case the car concerned had Metallic Willow seats. I understand there are
still more letters coming in
.”

"Obviously you've made tests
.”

Brett handed back the folder of letters.
"So what do they show
.”

"They show the whole thing's very simple; trouble is, nobody thought of
it before it happened. You sit on the seat, the cloth depresses and
opens up. That's normal, of course, but what also open up in this case
are the metallic threads, which is still okay, providing you don't
happen to be wearing mink. But if you are, some of the fine hairs go
clown between the metallic threads. Get up, and the threads close,
holding the mink hairs so they pull out from the coat. You can ruin a
three-thousand-dollar coat in one trip around the block
.”

Brett P.Tinned. "If word gets around, every woman in the country with
an old mink will rush out for a ride, then put in a claim for a new
coat
.”

"Nobody's laughing, Over at staff they've pushed the panic button
.”

"The fabric's out of production
.”

Heberstein nodded. "As of this morning. And from now on we have another
test around here with new fabrics. Rather obviously, it's known as the
mink test
.”

"What's happening about all the seats already out
.”

" God knows! A
nd I'm glad that part's not my h
eadache. The last I beard,
it had gone as high as the chairman of the board. I do know the legal
department is settling all claims quietly, as soon as they come in.
They've figured there'll be a few phony ones, but better to pay if
there's a chance of keeping the whole thing under wraps
.”

"Mink wraps
.”

The studio head said dourly, "Spare me the lousy jokes. You'll get all
this through channels, but I thought you and a few others should know
right away because of the Orion
.”

"Thanks
.”

Brett nodded thoughtfully. It was true-changes would have to
be made in Orion plans, though the particular area was not his responsibility. He was grateful, however, for another reason.
Within the next few days, he now decided, he must change either his car
or the seats in his present one. Brett's car had Metallic Willow fabric
and, coincidentally, he planned a birthday gift of mink next month which
he had no wish to see spoiled. The mink, which undoubtedly would be worn
in his car, was for Barbara.
Barbara Zaleski.

Chapter S
ix

"Dad," Barbara said, "I'll be staying over in New York for a day or two.
I thought I'd let you know
.”

In the background, through the telephone, she could hear an overlay of
factory noise. Barbara had had to wait several minutes while the operator located Matt Zaleski in the plant; now, presumably, he had taken
the call somewhere close to the assembly line.
Her father asked, "Why
.”

"Why what
.”

"Why
, do you have to stay
.”

She s
aid lightly, "Oh, the usual kind of thing. Client problems at the
agency. Some meetings about next year's advertising; they need me here
for them
.”

Barbara was being patient. She really shouldn't have to
explain, as if she were still a child requiring permission to be out
late. If she decided to stay a week, a month, or forever in New York,
that was it.
"Couldn't you come home nights, then go back in the morning
.”

"No, Dad, I couldn't
.”

Barbara hoped this wasn't going to develop into another argument in
which it would be necessary to point out that she was twenty-nine, a
legal adult who had voted in two presidential elections, and had a
responsible job which she was good at. The job, incidentally, made her
financially free so that she could set up a separate establishment any
time she wanted, except that she lived with her father, knowing he was
lonely after her mother's death, and not wanting to make things worse
for him.
"When will you be home then
.”

"By the weekend for sure. You can live
with
o
ut
me till then. And take care of your ulcer. By the way, how is it
.”

"I'd forgotten it. Too many other things to think about. We had some
trouble in the plant this morning
.”

He sounded strained, she thought. The auto industry had that effect on
everybody close to it, including herself. Whether you worked in a plant,
in an advertising agency, or on design, like Brett, the anxieties and
pressures got to you in the end. The same kind of compulsion told
Barbara Zaleski at this moment that she had to get off the telephone and
back into the client meeting. She had slipped out a few minutes ago, the
men assuming, no doubt, that she had left to do whatever women did in
washrooms, and instinctively Barbara put a hand to her hair-chestnut
brown and luxuriant, like her Polish mother's; it also grew annoyingly
fast so she had to spend more time than she liked in beauty salons. She
patted her hair into place; it would have to do. Her fingers encountered
the dark glasses which she had pushed upward above her forehead hours
ago, reminding her that she had heard someone recently deride dark
glasses in hair as the hallmark of the girl executive. Well, why not?
She left the glasses where they were.
"Dad," Barbara said, "I haven't much time. Would you do something for
me
.”

"What's that
.”

"Call Brett. Tell him I'm sorry I can't make our date tonight, and if
he wants to call me later I'll be at the Drake Hotel
.”

"I'm not sure I can . .
.”

"Of course you can! Brett's at the Design Center, as you know perfectly
well, so all you have to do is pick up an inside phone and dial. I'm not
asking you to like him; I know you don't, and you've made that clear
plenty of times to both of us. All I'm asking is that you pass a message. You may not even have to
speak to him
.”

She had been unable to keep the impatience out of her voice, so now they
were having an argument after all, one more added to many others.
"All right," Matt grumbled. "I'll do it. But keep your shirt on
.”

"You keep yours on, too. Goodbye, Dad. Take care, and I'll see you at
the weekend
.”

Barbara thanked the secretary whose phone she had been using and slid
her full, long-limbed body from the desk where she had perched.
Barbara's figure, which she was aware that men admired, was another
legacy from her mother who had managed to convey a strong sexuality
characteristically Slavic, so some said-until the last few months before
she died.
Barbara was on the twenty-first floor of the Third Avenue building which
was New York headquarters of the Osborne J. Lewis Company-or more
familiarly, OJL-one of the world's half
-
dozen largest advertising
agencies, with a staff of two thousand, more or less, on three
skyscraper floors. If she had wanted to, instead of phoning Detroit from
where she had, Barbara could have used an office in the jam-packed,
creative rabbit warren one floor down, where a few windowless,
cupboard-size offices were kept available for out
of-town staffers like
herself while working temporarily in New York. But it had seemed simpler
to stay up here, where this morning's meeting was being held. This floor
was client country. It was also where account executives and senior
agency officers had their lavishly decorated and broad
loomed office
suites, with original Uzannes, Wyeths, or Picassos on the walls as well
as built-in bars-the latter remaining hidden or activated according to
a client's known and carefully re
membered preferences. Even secretaries here enjoyed better working
conditions than some of the best creative talent down below. In a way,
Barbara sometimes thought, the agency resembled a Roman galley ship,
though at least those below had their martini lunches, went home at
nights, and-if senior enough-were sometimes allowed topside,
She walked quickly down a corridor. In the austere Detroit offices of
OJL, where Barbara worked mostly, her heels would have "tip-tapped," but
here, deep carpeting deadened their sound. Passing a door partially
open, she could hear a piano and a girl singer's voice: "One more happy user Has joined the millions who Say Brisk!-please
bring it briskly; It satisftes me too
.”