The Brass Statuettes

By: Autumn Writer

© Copyright 2007, 2009

Chapter 2—A Tangling of Vines

“Good grief!” Alvin exclaimed, glancing at the breakfast menu.  “Did you see the prices?  I thought we were eating breakfast, for crissake, not buying a car.”

“Another of the joys of New York City,” Frank agreed.  “I’m having a couple of eggs over easy with the trimmings.  I’m hoping it’ll last me until dinner.  I just had a sandwich and a beer last night from room service and watched the ballgame on TV.”

“It’s just going to be the fruit plate for me,” said Alvin.  “I hate flying when I’ve had too much to eat.”

“How did the dinner with the Senator go?”

“He sure knows how to order off the top of the menu when it’s on someone else’s tab,” Alvin said, letting his frustration show.  “Otherwise, I felt like I was talking to the wall.”

“We’ll have to bake those increased Superfund Taxes into our forecast, in that case.”

Alvin nodded.  “Changing the subject,” he continued, “are you still sure about the delay on the stock offering?” 

“Absolutely!” Frank replied.  “The stock market‘s just too unreceptive to a new stock offering right now.  We’d be selling a big share of the company for too little money.  We’ll notify the SEC and convert this to a shelf registration.”

“We had plans for that cash,” Alvin reminded.  “There’s the R&D facility and the acquisition plan.”

“I’m meeting with some bankers to talk about interim lines of credit,” Frank informed him.  “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“The Board will need updating,” Alvin said.  “You should get to the Finance Committee members real quick, before they hear about it through the rumor mill.  They’ll be okay with it if we keep them informed.  We’ve got good reasons.”

“I’ll get my secretary to arrange a conference call for tomorrow,” Frank assured him.  “Do you want to be part of that? 

Alvin shook his head.  “There’s nothing for me to add that you can’t take care of.  They’ve got to start listening to you.  You’re the CFO now; lay it out for ‘em.”

“I also need to get the auditors to change the 10-Q, and when you get back from Europe, you’ll need some prep for the quarterly phone conference.”  Alvin rolled his eyes, then nodded that he understood.  The quarterly phone conferences weren’t his favorite task.

“We should redo the forecast with this change in mind,” Frank added.  “We’ve got to stay on forecast.  Any slips will have a big negative impact.  The market will think we’ve delayed the offering for internal reasons.”

“Get that going right away,” Alvin agreed.  “Keep it to a need-to-know basis until I have a chance to get this meeting with the takeover candidate in Germany behind me.  I’m going to have to buy some time.” 

“Better move fast.  These kinds of secrets don’t stay secret for long,” Frank said.  He took a bite of his whole wheat toast and thought for a second.  “This could turn out to be a good thing.  We might want to reassess our position on this European deal.”

“You’re still opposed to it,” Alvin replied.  “I don’t understand…”

“I said that I would support it if it came to pass,” Frank countered.  “I just think that Europe is a tough market.  There are a lot of big, long-established companies there already and the regulation is even worse than in the States.  I’m nervous about acquiring the pharmaceutical division of the acquisition target.  It’s not our traditional business and it will require mountains of capital.”

“I agree with you on that,” Alvin nodded.  “The problem is that if we try to spin off that division the EU will block the merger.  They’re afraid of concentration in the drug sector.”

“Sometimes you’ve got to be willing to walk away,” Frank replied. 

“What would you do with the money?” Alvin asked.

“As I said before, I’d fund the R&D facility and buy out some of those old pension liabilities.”

“What about buying back those outstanding bonds?” Alvin asked.

Frank shook his head.  “I wouldn’t endorse raising equity capital to replace debt capital.”

“I’ll think about what you said on my flight over,” Alvin said.  “What’ve you got in store today?”

“A big day!” Frank exclaimed.  “I’m meeting with the underwriters and the lawyers to finalize the shelf filing for the SEC this morning.  I’ve got an interview at one o’clock with a candidate to take my place as Controller.  Our attorneys promised to lend me one of their spare offices for that.  I’m having an early dinner with Paul Riley from Citicorp about the interim credit lines.  Then, a quick cab out to JFK to catch the red-eye to Houston.”

“Sounds like you’re gonna need that big breakfast,” Alvin joked.

“Hopefully, I’ll have some time to buy Trudy something.  I called her this morning.  She said it’s been hot in Texas and she had to cool off in the pool.”

“Hey, speaking of Trudy,” Alvin spoke up, “how’d she enjoy your installment dinner last week?”

“Fine, I suppose,” Frank answered.  “Those big gala things aren’t really her cup of tea.”

“Well, she sure looked nice,” Alvin said.  “She was nice,” he corrected himself.  “She should spend some time with Gloria and the other wives more.  They get together around our pool quite a lot.   Gloria can get Trudy involved in her charity projects.”

“I don’t know, Alvin,” Frank protested.  “Trudy doesn’t…”

“It’ll be just the thing.  She’ll have a great time, and it’s good for our corporate image,” Alvin insisted.

“I’ll mention it to her.  It would be fine with me, but it’s really up to her,” Frank answered.

A waiter approached their table carrying a cordless phone.  “Mr. Alvin Warner?” the waiter asked.  “Call for you, sir.”  He handed Alvin the phone.

“That was the front desk letting me know my airport car’s ready.  Mind picking up the tab for me, Frank?  I need to get moving to the airport.”

********** 

Gloria arrived with the company car to pick Brenda up at her residence. The car was more than a sedan, but not quite a limo and came complete with driver.  Normally, it was assigned to Alvin when he was in town.  Since he was in New York, and then off to Europe, it was at Gloria’s disposal.

Brenda noticed that Gloria had a faraway look on her face as she approached the waiting car.  She decided not to mention it; Gloria’s moods were quite ephemeral and opening a can of worms didn’t seem like a very good idea.  She quietly slipped into the back seat with her as the driver held the door open.  They drove for a mile or more.  Brenda said ‘hello’, but Gloria didn’t answer.  She decided to be patient and let her hostess come around.

“I hope you didn’t get too dressed up for the dedication,” Gloria said, right on cue.  “It puts the children off if you’re dressed up too much.”

“I don’t know, what do you think?” Brenda asked.  “I thought with the press taking pictures, it would be better…”

“They won’t be interested in you,” Gloria snapped, “just in me; I’m in charge of this.  Of course they’ll really be most interested in the teachers—and, of course, the children.”

“Sorry,” Brenda mumbled. 

“Oh, Brenda,” Gloria pleaded, “please forgive me.  Alvin has me in a bad mood again.  I tried to tell him all about the dedication this morning when I called him in New York, but he wouldn’t listen.  He just kept on and on about business, business, business.  He doesn’t know how much this means to me.”

“It’s okay, Gloria.  I…”

“I shouldn’t take it out on you,” Gloria conceded, covering Brenda’s hand with her own.  “I’ll make it up to you with lunch afterward at the Continental Room.  Maybe we’ll have a swim at my house after that.”  She paused and gave Brenda that peculiar look.  “Anyway, you look just fine.”

“You’ve worked hard on this project, Gloria.”

“It was a real labor of love, I must admit.  I suppose I should be thanking Alvin for it.  He’s the one who arranged the funding from the Company.  He had the Western Chemical lawyers set up the Foundation and made me the Executive Director.  Look, here’s my card.”

She handed a business card to Brenda.  It read: Western Chemical Community Foundation, with Gloria’s name and title.  “Of course, it’s great PR for the Company.  I don’t care—I love the children and this preschool-daycare facility will be great for them.”

“Gloria, I’m impressed,” Brenda gushed as she fingered the card.  “How’s the pay?” 

“I only take a salary of one dollar a year.  I’m not in it for the money; I’ve got plenty, already.”

“For the prestige, then?” Brenda asked.

“Believe it or not, it’s because I know that I’m doing some good for those poor children.  The families can’t pay for it on their own.  This will give the children a good start for school.  Wait ‘til you see them—they’re so adorable.  Then, you’ll understand.”

“You’re surprising me, Gloria,” Brenda replied.  “I’ve never known this part of you.”

“At first, it was just something to do to stay busy,” Gloria said.  “Then the children got to me.  Once I had some contact with them, I couldn’t stop myself.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Brenda said.

Brenda noticed that Gloria shot back a questioning look, which made Brenda realize that the tone of her voice lacked sincerity.  She’d have to work on that.

“When Alvin was married to his first wife he got himself vasectomized after they had their two kids,” Gloria confided.  “This is a special chance for me.”

“You knew that there would be no children when you…” Brenda started to say.

“Yes—yes,” Gloria answered without waiting for the question, “it was an easy decision back then.  Having a family seemed to get in the way of what I wanted.  I’ve only started wondering about it recently.  Someday, you’ll find out.”

Brenda thought it might be a good opportunity to ask Gloria exactly how old she was.  She started to utter the question, but pulled back the words just in time.  She knew from experience that Gloria’s confidences had limits.  She might openly discuss her private feelings, but never a private number.  Brenda had learned long ago that Gloria dealt severely with attempts to pry.  Besides, Gloria’s age didn’t matter.  Alvin’s did, because that defined Gloria’s longevity in her position—and everyone knew that Alvin was sixty-two.

“I want to get you involved in the foundation, Brenda,” Gloria announced.  “Ashley and Darlene, too.  You’ll love it.  You won’t have to do much—just look sexy like you always do and ask the right people for money.  Western starts us with some money each year and we raise more with matching government grants and private donations.  Then, we dole it out.  We have a few other projects besides this Children’s Center.  We’ll have an Evaluation Committee.”

“Sure, Gloria,” Brenda answered, sensing a gentle twist of the arm.  “How much did Western come up with this year, anyway?”

“It was two million at first,” Gloria answered.  “At budget time I gave Alvin the blow job of his life and it got to be three million.”

“Gloria!” Brenda exclaimed.

“I told you yesterday that our work should be fun—and he hadn’t had one in a long time.”

The two women were laughing over the revelation when they spied the driver’s cheeks puff out as he overheard the comment.

“Fair’s fair!  Isn’t that right, Arthur?” Gloria called to the front of the car. 

“I wouldn’t know, Mrs. Warner,” the driver answered back without turning around.

“Good old Arthur,” Gloria quipped.  “He keeps hoping.  Someday, maybe he’ll get lucky.”

“Oh look, Gloria,” Brenda called out.  “We’re here already.”

************ 

The Continental Room was full with the lunch crowd, but Gloria was always assured a table whenever she showed up.  They were drinking a glass of Chablis and pondering the menu when Brenda spoke up to break the ice.

“I really liked the new wing of the school, Gloria.”

“We remodeled the existing portion, too,” Gloria said.  “It’s for the children.  Weren’t they cute?”

“They came to you so naturally,” Brenda replied.  “They really love you.”

Gloria looked down at her menu and blushed.  “Maybe the teachers told them they had to.”

“I doubt that little children are capable of putting on an act like that,” Brenda insisted.  “I think they really love you.”

Gloria didn’t answer; a small tear appeared at the corner of her eye and she raised the menu higher to cover it up.  Brenda noticed anyway.  After a half minute passed Gloria lowered the menu and Brenda could see that she was back to normal.

“What do you think of the name—‘Sunrise School’?  I thought it up myself.”

“Catchy,” Brenda answered, nodding her head in approval.  “I’m surprised they didn’t name it after you.  You know, the Gloria Warner School.”

“That idea came up, but it sounded slightly pretentious.  Besides, everyone might think I’m dead—and, of course, I’m not.”

The last little joke made the women laugh, signaling that the unpleasant emotional interlude was over, and Brenda was glad of it.

“I was serious about getting you and the others involved,” Gloria reminded her.  She leaned forward in her chair, closer to Brenda.  “With more of us we can pull in more funding.  We’ll be ready for the big time.  I have lots of ideas.”

“What kind of ideas, Gloria,” Brenda asked dutifully.

“A children’s wing at the hospital, for one,” Gloria whispered.

“That’s a far sight bigger than a wing on a daycare center,” Brenda protested.  “To get that kind of money out of Western Chemical, Alvin’s going to be walking around with a pretty big grin on his face all the time.”

“Alvin, and your husband, Blake, too.  We all have to do our duty” Gloria said with a wry smile.  Brenda cleared her throat.  “And that goes for Ashley’s and Darlene’s husbands.”   

“They might get too used to it after a while,” Brenda bantered back, but she was really trying to change the subject.  She knew Gloria well enough to know that she would not be deterred.

“Anyway,” Gloria went on, “I learned a lot about these kinds of things while doing this project.  All the money doesn’t have to come from Western Chemical.  We just need to have them get the funding started.  Once we demonstrate that we have some serious money in our till other companies will do almost anything to get to join in.  There’s a lot of government money around, too.”

“You’ve learned a lot, Gloria,” Brenda said as she sipped her wine.  “I’m convinced—this could be fun.”

“That’s the spirit, girl!” Gloria exclaimed.  “We need to speak with Ashley and Darlene to get this-here ball a-rollin’.  I’m so excited!”

“Careful, Gloria,” Brenda warned.  “Your accent is showing.  The Continental Room is the wrong place for that.”

“Oops!” Gloria mumbled.  “Thanks for the warning.”

“We’ll have Ashley and Darlene over to your house tomorrow and let them in on it.”

“It’ll have to be in the afternoon,” Gloria advised.  “I’ve got a salon appointment in the morning.”

The subject seemed closed for the time being so the two women resumed poring over their menus in silence.  Before long, a waiter came by to take their orders.  As he left, Brenda thought to bring up another point.

“Gloria, I had a thought about getting the girls involved.”

“I’m all ears,” Gloria replied.

Well,” Brenda began, “this would be a good way to bring Trudy Bennett into our group.”

“Huh?” Gloria replied, scrunching her nose, in either disdain or confusion.  Brenda knew that for Gloria, confusion was disdain.

“I was remembering what we said at the pool about how we had to get Trudy’s thinking more consistent with ours,” Brenda recounted.

“It was on the veranda, and I said it,” Gloria clarified.  Brenda paused, frustrated by the correction.  “Well, go on.”

“It’s simple,” Brenda continued.  “We’ll bring Trudy into our group.  When she gets to work on a project like Sunrise she’ll enjoy it so much that she’s bound to come over to our side.  The more she comes around, we’ll give her better jobs to do.”

Gloria’s face reddened to a palette of rage, which startled Brenda.  “No you don’t,” Gloria growled in a low voice through her clenched teeth.  “Don’t you dare let her near those children.  You know how she is.   They’ll love her—like they love me now.  She always takes over everything.  Even Alvin likes her better than me.  I’ll be out in the cold— she’ll move right in and I’ll have nothing.  I couldn’t stand that.  I need those children.  They’re going to love me, not her.”

“Children have simple minds,” Brenda assured her.  “They can love everyone at once.”

“No, I said!  Don’t make me say it again.”  Gloria’s eyes were wide and her cheeks were purple.  Brenda was afraid that she’d scream and create a scene.  “I won’t have that simple-minded bitch steal this away from me.” 

Gloria stopped speaking, but continued to stare at Brenda with all her anger intact and a few beads of perspiration formed on her brow.

“Easy, Gloria,” Brenda soothed.  “I didn’t mean it like that.  There will be lots of projects.  We’ll find a different one for her—something small.  There’s nothing to worry about.  Besides, her husband’s a senior executive in the Company.  It wouldn’t look right if she’s not invited.”

“Just make sure she stays away from the center and my children!” Gloria spat out.

************* 

It was nearly midnight when Frank picked up his luggage at the airport after his late flight from, New York.  He’d called the valet parking service right after deplaning and by the time he had baggage in hand, his car was waiting for him.  Soon he was clearing the airport parking lot.  Traffic was sparse at the late hour, so he could make it to the house in about fifteen or twenty minutes.

“I wonder if Trudy will be up when I get in,” he wondered to himself.

He reasoned that she wouldn’t be; it was late and Trudy usually was asleep when he came in late.  He hoped that this time she might be waiting for him.

“Maybe she’d go for some one-on one.”

The house was dark, as Frank expected, when he pulled up to the darkened house.  He left the car in the in the driveway instead of putting it in the garage to avoid waking Trudy and the girls.  He had all but given up on his earlier plan.  He grabbed his briefcase from the seat beside him, along with a small gift box.  He decided to leave his suitcase in the trunk until morning. 

He silently stole through the house, treading lightly up the stairs, careful not to make a sound.  He slipped into their bedroom; he could make out Trudy’s motionless form, a dark outline hunkered in the bed.

“Just as I thought, she’s out like a light.”  

He slid his clothes off in the darkness, trying not to make a sound.  He’d hang them up in the morning, if Trudy didn’t get to them first.  It wasn’t easy to be silent in the dark room, and Frank was proud of himself for doing it so well.  He carefully opened a dresser drawer where Trudy always put his pajamas.

“You won’t be needing those, Frank.”

It was Trudy’s voice piercing the silent darkness—too clear to have been just brought out of slumber.  She startled Frank for a moment, but after a second he began reviving his earlier plan. 

“Trudy, I didn’t know you were awake.”

“Now you know,” said the voice from under the covers.

“I brought you a present,” Frank answered.  “I’ll bring it over.”

“You won’t need that, either,” was the stern reply. 

“But, Trudy, I brought it all the way from New York.”

“I’ll open it in the morning,” Trudy answered.  “Now get in bed with me and I’ll say ‘thanks’ in advance.”

“It’ll only take a minute, and I know you’ll like it.”

“Frank, stop teasing me and get in bed. All day long I’ve been planning to get laid when you got home.  Now, you’re home.”

Frank didn’t answer.  In the dark, he stifled a chuckle, which he hoped that Trudy didn’t hear.

“C’mon Frank, I know you can handle it.” 

She opened the present in the morning.  It was a pair of earrings.

TO BE CONTINUED