— Then I think you realize the…
— And they wouldn’t mind the money either of them honestly, I’d almost marry them both just for that…
— Exactly yes I think you can understand your father’s, that as guardian under your mother’s will you realize he has certain obligations to what would have been your mother’s wishes to see that the trust doesn’t become an attraction to, leading to another unfortunate marriage and so naturally he…
— Asks Dick Cutler to take me to the horse show… she’d folded her glasses again — that would be like, like marrying your issue of six percent preferreds… she opened her bag to thrust them back in, — avoidance payable semiannually… she snapped it closed. — I’m sorry Mister Beaton I, I shouldn’t talk to you like this but there’s simply been no one else… her hand fell empty, only half closed on the desk between them to close suddenly seized there in one even whiter — what…
— You, you must understand that I, that your father that, that for anything to happen to you would be, because you’re such a a stunning woman a stunning young woman I I, I…
Her hand turned that sharply on the tremor enclosing it — please there’s, Mister Beaton there’s nothing you can…
— No no I, all I can do honestly… he stared there where his hand lay hidden, and then it fled hers for the phone — hello Bea, Beaton… he cleared his throat. — It’s Senator Broos I’d better, hello…? Yes sir yes I… he called a few minutes ago yes sir if you could hold on for one moment I… he no sir his daughter is here she…
— No please Mister Beaton go ahead, there’s nothing else is there?
— Yes wait no there’s a form, there yes if you’d just sign it and, yes just one moment sir where it says age last birthday it’s just a formality, you can write over twenty-one if you, sir…?
— Right here? Twenty-seven, it’s still just a formality and thank you Mister Beaton…
— Sir…? Yes no sir no I believe it’s cleared up, General Blaufinger’s statement in the foreign press urging intervention was apparently made on the assumption that we would support the secessionists but when it was made clear to him that Washington sediment sed, sentiment favored the joint resolution backing the Nowunda regime the General immed… not a no sir not a retraction no a clarifying statement simply saying that the press had distorted his pos… his position yes sir exac… yes exactly sir your position on Chile regarding Kennecott during the… yes sir sir? If you could excuse me one moment Mrs Joubert? Thank you for coming in, please call me if there are any sir…? Yes sir she’s… yes sir Mrs Joubert? Senator Broos sends his… on which matter sir…? No sir I’m drafting the legislation on the banking bill now for him to… Oh I see yes sir no I don’t think you need to be concerned, it’s the state senate he’s running for sir, not your… just the state yes sir I’m certain he… I’ve never met him no sir but… no sir it’s c, c, i an Italian name not, not peachy no sir…
The door closed behind her, freeing one hand from the other she turned — oh…!
— I think we’re all set and, oh Miss Bulcke we’re going to camp out in the chief’s office here so Mrs Joubert can run through these proofs, we…
— But Mister Davidoff I…
— No trouble oh and Miss Bulcke tell Carol to put my calls through here, tell her to screen them I’m waiting for one from Washington and the, call Florence and tell her to tell Mister Eigen I want him on this speech draft for General Box ask him where the captions are for this Annual Report feature that we, sorry…! he’d made an abrupt end to a glide from a lost dance step. — One of us has an electric personality lady, he steered her — right in here, we can lay them all out. Static electricity, it piles up in the carpet you touch a doorknob and, you want to sit right here? he came on rounding the clear expanse of the desk still settling the acrylic sheen on his shoulders, put down the pictures and shot his cuffs to display gold simile coins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. — You can sit down right there if you…
— But I am in a hurry Mister Davidoff, I…
— Right, this will save you a trip to my office.
— But, there must be a hundred of them.
— Two eighty-six, I know how important this project is to you that’s why we want you to make the picture selection yourself, now I thought we’d lead off with that one on top there, one second… He stabbed the button-studded console and picked up the phone as he sat, his feet parting from the floor. — Pretty classy looking guy, am I right? Your Dad really, oh Miss Bulcke get the Waldorf, tell them the General won’t be back till the twentieth and I’ll be using his suite… he came forward hanging up the phone, feet treading air. — Your dad really comes across doesn’t he, a real statesman of ind…
— This looks like a picture of a, a nun cutting up a frog.
— What? What’s that. There’s no caption on it? I gave this top priority… he stabbed at the console, — make it clear we’re backing your educational effort with these youngsters getting a foot in the door of this whole field of visual literacy and they send up pictures with no captions as though Eigen? Hello? Where’s Mister Eigen… At lunch? now? What man from Thailand… no just tell him to call me, is somebody typing the captions for this Annual Report story…? can’t find what…? No, just tell Mister Eigen to call me.
— All your pictures look very nice Mister Davidoff, I’m sure you can select…
— Now this one here, we have to have Crawley of course but we’re angling your story more along the lines of the share itself, corporate responsibility to this one, must have been when Crawley was picking up the coins one second, I’m expecting a call from Washington, Senator Broos hello…? No tell him I’ll call him back now there, that one’s not bad, not bad of Crawley but it looks like that pig is climbing in the window over his shoulder wait, here’s my call now, hello? Senator? Mollenhoff? What does Mollenhoff want?… No that was his memo to me not my memo to him… what? Wait a minute… He was pushing buttons as though playing an instrument — who? No this isn’t the maintenance department… Hello? Where’s that call I had in to Senator Broos? Miss Bulcke? Who’s this? Eigen? What’s this about somebody from Thailand… Taiwan? No, that’s a Chinese medical relief group he was supposed to come over for the fifty cent tour before lunch, did you check his hotel?… No a donation, just take him out to lunch and tie, one, on, I said tie… never mind, look. This Box speech for Gandia you’ve got a delicate situation, you’ve got the defense minister Doctor Dé and President Nowunda both up there on the platform, work them both in but so one of them can come out at the last minute… Yes it’s top priority the General’s in Bonn waiting for it now, one of us may have to go over there and spoon feed it to him we can’t have him pull another one of those Plato rhymes with tomato… Oh Mrs Joubert? Wait you don’t need to leave, just a couple of brush fires but you can tell your dad when you see him what it’s like tending the store here with no executive officer on board. They’re typing those captions up now, if we run out for a little lunch we could look over the whole package when we got back there’s a little place…
— Oh I’m afraid not Mister Davidoff I, that’s why I must leave now in fact, I have to…
— Don’t worry about it I’m too busy to leave the shop myself, we’ll just get something sent in… he had the phone again. — Oh Miss Bulcke send out for a couple of, what would you like? The ham, cheese…