"What meeting?" Decker asked.
"You're scheduled for a meeting with the Secretary-General this morning. It was supposed to start about fifteen minutes ago. Jackie has already called twice to find out where you were."
"Oh, no! Why didn't you check to see if I was here?" Decker asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Call Jackie and tell her I'll be right there." It was only about thirty yards to Secretary-General Hansen's office, so Decker was at the door only seconds after Mary reached Jackie Hansen on the phone.
"They're waiting for you in the conference room," Jackie said as Decker altered his course toward the adjoining room and opened the door.
"Surprise!" about three dozen voices suddenly yelled in unison.
In the center of the crowd stood Secretary-General and Mrs. Hansen. Both seemed to be enjoying the surprised look on Decker's face. It was incumbent on Decker to laugh, but all he could manage at first was a pained moan and a disbelieving shake of the head. Finally an appreciative smile broke through. Behind Decker, Mary Polk entered the room to join the party. "You're in big trouble," Decker told his secretary as he caught sight of her.
"Don't blame her," interrupted Hansen. "She was just following my orders."
"Don't you people know that surprise birthday parties are supposed to be in the afternoon?" Decker asked.
"If we had done it that way we might not have surprised you," Jackie said with a laugh.
On the table were several dozen doughnuts stacked tightly together to look like a cake, with about half the candles Decker was actually due, waiting to be lit. "You guys are nuts," Decker said.
"What's that?" Hansen asked in mock offense.
"You guys are nuts, sir," Decker answered.
"Much better," Hansen joked.
But there was still one more surprise for Decker. In a corner of the room was a guest who at first had been concealed behind the others. "Christopher!" Decker said. "What on earth are you doing here?"
"You didn't think I'd miss your birthday, did you?" Christopher, now twenty-two, answered.
"You're supposed to be on a cruise around the world."
"I decided to take half now and half later," Christopher said. "So I flew back."
"Hey, are you going to blow out the candles or not?" Mary Polk asked.
Decker blew out the candles and everyone dug into the doughnuts and coffee. As with most office parties, a few people stayed only long enough to make an appearance, others just long enough to get seconds of the goodies and take a couple of doughnuts back to their desks. Others stayed on and told jokes or gathered in small groups to talk business. Decker positioned himself close to the door and made sure to thank each person for coming. Christopher circulated among the attendees, adding his jokes to the till and, where they were welcome, offering his opinions on the topics of conversation in each of the clusters he visited. Decker watched, pleased at how well-accepted Christopher was by Decker's colleagues, and at how well he handled himself with these people. Among the well-wishers were three Security Council members: Ambassador Lee Yun-mai of China; Ambassador Friedreich Heineman of Germany, representing Europe on the Security Council; and Ambassador Yuri Kruszkegin, formerly of the Russian Federation and now of the independent Republic of Khakassia, representing Northern Asia. They had grouped on one side of the room and were discussing a recent vote on trade barriers. Christopher seemed just as comfortable with them as he had been with the administrative staff.
Finally the crowd began to thin and Secretary-General Hansen came over to talk with Decker. "I want to thank you again, Decker, for the spectacular job you did with this year's United Nations Day celebration," Hansen said as he gave him a pat on the back. "Thank you for saying so, sir."
"I think you're due for a little time off, so I told Jackie to put you down as being on vacation for the next four or five days. I think your staff can hold the world together in your absence."
The offer was a surprise but, like the party, it was a welcome one. "I believe I'll take you up on that, sir," Decker said willingly. "It would be nice to spend some time with Christopher."
"That's quite a boy, you've got there," Hansen said, motioning with his coffee cup in Christopher's direction. "Yes, sir," Decker said, with fatherly pride. "Someone else who thinks so is Bob Milner. He sent me a letter – a very favorable letter – recommending Christopher for a position with ECOSOC," Hansen said, referring to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
"Yes, sir. The former Assistant Secretary-General has been quite supportive of Christopher's endeavors. He even flew down to Costa Rica last month for Christopher's graduation from the U.N. University's Doctoral program." Decker said this more to brag on Christopher than anything else. He was always willing to tell anyone who asked that Christopher graduated first in his class, simultaneously earning both a Ph.D. in Political Science and a masters degree in World Agricultural Management. At this moment he was supposed to have been on a cruise around the world, taking a well-earned vacation before starting to work at ECOSOC in the position for which Milner had recommended him.
"Well, with friends like Bob Milner, he'll go a long way," Hansen said.
"Have you heard anything recently about Secretary Milner, sir?" Decker asked. "Someone said he wasn't feeling well."
"Jackie tells me that he checked into the hospital three nights ago for observation because of his heart, and he's still there."
"I've been so busy I didn't know that," Decker said, obviously both surprised and concerned.
"He's 82 now, you know," Hansen said.
"That's not so old," Decker responded, thinking about the recent addition of a year to his own age.
Hansen laughed. "Christopher can probably tell you better than I can about how Secretary Milner is doing. I understand he went to see him this morning before coming to the party."
"Oh," said Decker, a little surprised, but now understanding more fully why Christopher had cut his trip short.
When the party broke up, Decker went back to his office to tie up some loose ends and clear his calendar. It was nearly noon before he was ready to leave. "Where do you want to go for lunch?" Christopher asked. "I'm buying."
"In that case, there's a hot dog stand downstairs," Decker joked, as he gathered up a few papers and stuffed them into his briefcase.
"I think we can do a little better than that," Christopher answered.
They finally settled on the Palm Too, a nice but reasonably priced restaurant on Second Avenue near the U.N. "So," Decker began after they had ordered, "are you ready to start putting that education of yours to work at ECOSOC?"
"Ready, and anxious to get started," Christopher answered. "I'm not supposed to start work for another two weeks, but maybe I could spend some time reading through their archived literature." If it had been anyone else, Decker might have complimented his enthusiasm, but from Christopher he had come to expect it.
"I spoke with Louis Colleta last week," Decker said, referring to the head of ECOSOC. "He asked me about you and said he was looking forward to having you on his staff. He told me two or three times how pleased he was to be able to hire someone of your caliber. I'm sure that if you called him and let him know you're available, he'd want you to start right away."
"I'm glad to hear that. I'm just as pleased to have gotten the job."
"I think you made a wise decision in pursuing it. The expansion of ECOSOC's role is a major part of Secretary-General Hansen's plan for greater centralization of authority during his current term." Decker tapped his finger on the table to make his point. "As the role of the U.N. expands, ECOSOC is going to be more and more on the leading edge of world policy."
"When you look at the growth Secretary-General Hansen has brought about over the last seven years and the spirit of cooperation he inspires among the members of the Security Council, as well as the other member nations, it's hard to imagine how we could get along without him if he were ever to retire," Christopher said.