CHAPTER TWO

Christopher

 

Chicago

 

“I hope nothing goes wrong this morning,” I thought to myself.

My Rolex wristwatch was silently screaming in my face: ten minutes to eight!

It was ironic, something so little saying so much. I needed to get to the meeting on time. I had personally scheduled it for 8:00 a.m., and there was absolutely no way I could excuse my late arrival.

I had woken up this morning like any other day, on the dot of 5:00 a.m., to the slow whining of the city and the distant dying sounds from night owls. Chicago, home of the Bulls, icon of Lake Michigan, and soul of Illinois, my home, my life, my all. It had given me everything, including Wonderland, my very own multibillion-dollar company. The only thing it had not given me though was a free highway to drive so I could make my meeting this morning on time; traffic congestion was really a killjoy.

    I could not afford to be late for this particular meeting, of all the meetings I had ever attended in my life. I had been working on this partnership for several months. It was a deal with Branson James & Co, big-time multibillion-dollar clients. There were three other companies involved in interior and exterior reconstruction who wanted to partner with them and, despite the stiff competition, I had gotten them to meet with my company and even agree on terms.

All I had to do at the meeting this morning was finalize the deal which would bring us lots of profits in the short and long run. That was the reason why, unlike how I normally delegated meetings such as this one to Larry Gray, my managing director, I had scheduled this meeting myself, due to the caliber of persons that would be around.

    I was just two streets away from my office building when I got stuck in another hold up. I was almost tempted to leave my vehicle parked on the streets and run on foot to my office but thankfully it cleared after two minutes, and I made my way to the entrance of my office building. I handed the keys over to Ray, one of the valets, to park my car properly.

I immediately took the elevator and rushed out with the speed of light. I was so hard-pressed for time that I couldn’t even acknowledge the greetings by some of my employees. My office was at the northeastern corner of the top floor and had a plaque bolted on its semi-opaque door with the inscription in clear bold letters ‘CHRISTOPHER GRAHAM’, and a less bold marking underneath that said ‘Chief Executive Officer.’ I swung it open without considering the possibility of a dent.

I entered my office and started searching for the files I would need for the business meeting, which would be held in one of the company boardrooms. I had barely spent three minutes inside when I heard a knock on the door.

“Please come in,” I replied. It was Larry, my managing director.

    “Good morning,” Larry said to me as I continued searching the cabinets for the complete documents.

    “Good morning ... Why aren’t you at the meeting already?” I asked as I stared at him. He was supposed to be with the clients at the boardroom and it was a surprise he was still here at five minutes past the hour.

    “Branson James called to say they will be running late by an hour due to a work emergency that came up and that we should please bear with them,” Larry said.

    “And you didn’t deem it fit to inform me of this development as soon as possible?” I asked as I paused my search and tried to catch my breath.

    “I called you immediately to inform you of the delay, but you didn’t pick up your cell and that’s why I came up to check you in the office,” explained Larry.

I dipped my hand into my pocket and brought out my phone. It had two missed calls from Larry on the home screen. It was then that I realized that my phone was on silent and that’s why I hadn’t known it was ringing. I had a habit of putting my phone on silent when I didn’t want to be disturbed and this morning had been one such time.

    “I can see your call now. My phone was on silent and that’s why I didn’t hear it ring. Hope everything is set for the meeting though?” I asked as I pulled out the files I was searching for.

    “Definitely. I looked over the details again this morning,” Larry replied.

“That’s good. I should not have even bothered asking. I know you never take anything for granted,” I said.

“It’s okay. I understand why you asked. This is a big deal for us. It’s one that will make us beat out any competition and it’s completely normal to be anxious. Truth be told, I’m quite anxious too. I’m just a bit calmed by the fact that we’ve impressed them thus far, and I intend to make sure they are continually impressed till we wrap up the deal,” said Larry.

“True enough. Thank you for the reassurance. I really needed that,” I said with a smile. Larry was one of the very few persons who understood me, and that was why our relationship had moved beyond that of owner and manager to that of friends over the past years. He understood my concerns and didn’t take it personally whenever I snapped at him. He had worked with me now for about ten years and he had never given me a reason to doubt his efficiency.

    “Do you need any other thing?” asked Larry as he made to leave the office.

“No. I’m good. See you soon,” I said with a smile as Larry stepped out of the office and shut the door behind him.

    I found the documents I needed and placed them on the table while I sank into my office chair. I couldn’t believe it had been ten years already since I first met Larry. My business had been about three years old and I couldn’t handle all the work coming in alone. He, on his part, had finished university and was looking for a company where he would be given hands-on freedom to showcase his artistic skills. We both clicked and, even though the pay wasn’t great, he still agreed to come on board. And together, we grew that company into an asset worth billions of dollars.

I was 28 and he was 25. Ten years down the line now, he was married with two kids and I was still very much single without a serious relationship at hand. Not that I was complaining anyway. I had more money than I could possibly spend and besides, I hadn’t found any lady that had impressed me enough to commit to that institution called marriage.

I was proud Wonderland was doing really well, and there was nothing more I could have asked for. I had started Wonderland against the advice of everyone except my mother. Even though she hadn’t understood the motivation behind my switch then, she had still supported me. I finished from the university with double honors in Advertising and Business Administration and was immediately hired by one of the top firms in the state. I was based on a salary of ten thousand dollars a month and everything seemed really fine. Everyone said I was destined for great things at the firm, but I felt otherwise. I felt very little satisfaction in the course of my work and I knew that the sooner I left, the better for me. I had always been interested in reconstructing houses, especially the interior parts, and when I left my firm one year later, that was exactly what I ventured into.

I took on the first contract, the second, the third, and on and on until Wonderland became a force to reckon with. One of the things that distinguished our work from the rest of the pack was our eye for details, which was one of the qualities I had and which I also saw in Larry.

I sat up straight to go through the documents in front of me to ensure I was not missing out on any detail and also put a call across to my secretary to get me a cup of coffee with sugar and milk. I had forty minutes before the meeting, and I intended to utilize every single minute.

 

******************

The meeting started exactly on the dot of nine and it was indeed a successful outing. We were contracted to reconstruct over a thousand units of low-cost houses. We were able to agree on the details and we exchanged contract agreements which would be looked over by both companies’ legal teams and incorporated accordingly.

Larry and I fixed a lunch date with Branson James and his team before heading off to our offices. We could barely contain our excitement as we entered into the office.

    “Wow! This is so awesome!!!!” Larry said as we hugged each other.

    “I ... Really ... I don’t even know what to say,” I said as I burst out laughing.

“Hey, Thena, tell the guys that they can close early today. Go and celebrate. Enjoy yourselves. It’s been a great day,” I said, poking my head out of the office door. Then I added rather mildly, “except you, Thena, of course.”

“That’s what I get for being your secretary, right?” Thena said with a roll of her eyes as she picked up the phone to pass across the instructions I had just given.

I smiled and re-entered the office to continue my talk with Larry. I had always had a way of compensating Thena for her work and she liked the arrangement as well. She might not get to always close early like the rest, but the compensation was always worth her while.

    The thrill of making money was something I was used to already and, especially for someone who had become a billionaire in his early thirties, I had seen quite a lot. What made me happiest about this deal, however, was the possibility of more freedom to do other things apart from work. And, of course, I would also become richer.

“How about a celebratory drink?” Larry said with a wide smile, almost leaning towards laughter.    

“Let’s make it tomorrow,” I replied. Larry laughed as he walked out of my office.     “Every time,” he said with a chuckle as he nodded in response to my secretary’s congratulations on his way out. I had just pulled ‘the post’ on him; it was the response I always gave anytime Larry suggested we celebrate any new headway in the company’s journey in any manner glamorous and overtly expressive.

“Let’s make it tomorrow,” I’d say. Then on the morrow I would say again, “Let’s make it tomorrow,” till we both get caught up in another load of work and the celebration was forgotten.

I sat down, pushed back my chair, slanted my head upwards on the neck of the chair, and placed my leg on the footrest beside the table.

    “Today is a good day,” I thought to myself as I stared blankly at the dotted punctures of the white plastered roof of my office, “so many tiny dots, almost invisible in themselves, together made this beautiful design.” A million random thoughts kept running through my mind.

“… sent you the invitation letter, sir.” I only heard the ending part of my secretary’s statement, her voice jolting me from my random thinking. She had apparently entered the office and said some words that ended with the phrase I’d heard. Stealth indeed, I thought. Being named Athena by her parents might not have really been a bad idea after all, even if she only let people call her Thena.

“Who sent what?” I asked with a composure that was sure to betray my earlier non-attentiveness.

“An invitation letter was sent to you about two weeks ago about a charity event slated for the weekend. Can you remember I told you two weeks ago and last week and you said you’d decide whether to go? Can you remember now? The Springs, at Green Lake? C’mon, you forgot, didn’t you?” Thena kept going on and on with so much resolve that I was tempted to think she was trying to make me feel guilty.

I had hired her for that spirit though, being the only one among the applicants for her job who had blatantly told me and Larry at her interview that building companies and furniture makers should be made to pay an eco-repair tax. She had been the only one who didn’t kowtow due to our conscience trap question, again, another attribute of the Greek Athena.

In her early thirties with well-tanned skin and brunette hair, Thena was more efficient than most secretaries I have come across.

    I stared at her as I tried to remember the invitation. With all the running around for the deal with Branson, how was I supposed to remember that a charity organization had sent me an invitation to their event?

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I forgot. It would have been kinda hard not to, don’t you think? With all the running around for the Branson deal. The fact that I forgot is not really a big deal anyway. With all the charity events I go to every year, I’m sure they would not mind my absence,” I replied.

“Maybe, maybe not, but they sent you the invitation already, and you didn’t communicate back that you wouldn’t make it … I know it’s not my decision to make, but you should strongly consider showing up, even if briefly, and if you cannot, make up for your absence. The type of making up that will make them forget you didn’t come in the first place. C’mon, they have a good cause. It’s not like you go out much anyway, ” Thena said in a manner that suggested she was most interested in my attendance at the charity event, and backed out of my office to her office opposite mine.

I’d think of the charity later. For now, let me savor the pleasantness of a good day’s work. A very good day’s. I rested my head back on my chair, returned my leg to the footrest, and let my mind drift again into random thoughts.

***********

 

About two hours later, I walked out of my office room clutching my briefcase in my right hand and folding my jacket over my left. The slow humming sound of Thena’s computer told me she was still around.

“I’m off,” I said, looking down at the light flowing out of her office.

“All right. So?” she replied.

“So what?” I asked, looking on in confusion.

“So, are you going to Green Lake?” she asked.

“No, I have no intention of going to a boring charity event this weekend,” I replied.

Thena, walking out of her office now, kept a cold gaze on me.

“Okay, okay … I’ll send my donation to them, but I have no intention of going. Are you satisfied?”

She nodded in a slow but not-so-satisfied manner and simply walked back into her office.

“What time is it tomorrow, by the way?” I asked as I started walking to the elevator

“Tomorrow? What do you mean tomorrow? It is tonight!” Thena replied in surprise

I spun back in surprise. “What, tonight? Didn’t you say it is this weekend?”

“Yeah, this weekend, the weekend that has started … today is Friday. It is after work hours. The weekend has started … unbelievable … this is why you need to go out more,” she replied.

“Pheeww,” I whistled silently as I remembered today was actually Friday. The day had been so full of business that it had seemed to speed away. At least the Branson deal had been successful today. I could send my driver there anyway. Unless there was an emergency, I wouldn’t make the one and half hour journey to Green Lake after a day like this anyway. At least that was the only reason I could give to sooth my guilty conscience.

“So you want me to take the two-hour journey to Green Lake after all the work today?” I called out to Thena as I approached the elevator and pressed the call button.

“Yes, and it’s actually an hour and half … you need to socialize more,” she called back, her voice fading as I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator closed and hummed down to the ground floor.

*************************

In the comfort of my penthouse, my mind kept mulling over Thena’s words … “You need to socialize more,” I chuckled. “If only she knew.”

I had gotten to my well-furnished penthouse less than thirty minutes after leaving the office. Surprisingly, the hellish holdups that characterized Chicago’s after-work hours were nowhere on the road. Maybe they had disappeared as I approached, or maybe nature was ensuring balance for the stress I had endured on the way to the office in the morning, that had made such a short journey run well over an hour for me. I had refused to live in the highbrow suburban areas surrounding Chicago, where the who-is-who of the city had choice properties. For that very reason, the traffic, I had instead opted for a penthouse in a building not so far from the office. In a city like Chicago, time was everything.

    And speaking of time, I have emailed Thena on my way home to send someone over to collect my donation for The Springs. I was not going to Green Lake tonight; not for a water spraying charity, anyway.     

“Hello, Thena, I haven’t seen the person I asked that you send to my house for the donation to that event at Green Lake?” I said, placing the phone between my ear and shoulder to enable me to pick up the journal on my shelf top.

    I heard a rather subtle but mischievous laugh on the other end.

“Didn’t you say they all should go home and celebrate? They’ve all gone … except you are suggesting I drag them out of whatever party they are currently in, or the arms of their families, my family…” she replied.

I knew what she was doing, reverse psychology. It was working though … I really thought they all needed the time off; we had all been working extra hours of late just to put everything in place for the Branson deal, and now that we had finalized the deal, I thought they deserved a little time off …

“So how do I get my donation to them this night?” I asked, half hoping she had a better answer than the one which I was sure was going to proceed from her next.

“Go there yourself,” she replied with some sarcasm, just like I expected.

“I already told you I cannot, I have not prepared for it, and the journey is far for the time,” I said rather tiredly.

“Well, you are the boss, boss … but I already told them you would be donating to them tonight … so … reputation is at …” she was saying, before I cut in

“… is at stake. Reputation is everything,” I completed. My secretary had just reminded me of the same line I recited to my employees whenever Wonderland was challenged to deliver on a project.

    “We are Wonderland. We have a reputation. In business, reputation matters most. Here, reputation is at stake, and reputation is everything… of course, keeping your word is an integral part of maintaining your reputation …”

“Seems your reputation is at stake, sir,” she continued

“What reputation?” I asked in feigned ignorance of what she meant

“The reputation of your integrity, sir … I don’t really think breaking donation promises to an organization that provides water to poor communities in Africa speaks so positively, sir,” she completed.

“I don’t even know the address in Green Lake!” I protested

“I do. I will text it to you … you don’t have to stay long there. I know you are not comfortable going, especially with the publicity and all … you can just hand them your donation and leave. It might not really be that bad anyway,” Thena said.

I cut the call but not before replying to her admonition with a simple “okay.” It seemed I had to make the journey to Green Lake after all, an hour and half under the starry skies of Chicago … what a day!

*************

 

Minutes later, the buzzing sound of my phone indicated a message had just been delivered as I made my way to the bathroom to shower … If I had to go to the event, at least I should look the part, I thought to myself as I stepped into the running waters of the shower … warm!