The Silent Minority
Page 26
care of it if need be. I will send him and his wife for a month's vacation in the Greek islands. I think he needs it, too."
"How can we use the same trailers for different issues?" the executive officer asked.
"The issue is going to be the same. The trailers are going to be for the same issue. Simply, we won't disclose the name of the guest. We will publicize only the story but we will have two guests, the A and the B."
"And who is going to be the B guy?" the CEO asked.
"The guy who is the B guy in the original story."
"You mean..."
"Yes I mean the chairman of the WCFET."
"That sounds all right. I understand you two have some kind of friendship together. Do you think you can persuade him to do it?"
"Yes I know him, but I don't think it will take much to persuade him. He has been pelted with so much mud lately I am sure he would like to say his bit."
"Are you going to tell him he is going to play second fiddle?"
"No, as I said already, we going to send him for a vacation if need be, but it may not be necessary. If things turn out well, we may have a sequel to this saga with him as number A this time."
"For some reason I feel better now," said the CEO, "but what about this twenty minute bit? How are we going to solve this problem?"
"I don't know either," said the presenter, hearing the question as he walked in. "This twenty minutes is too much of a slack to cover."
The Teacher and his friend went straight to the cafeteria and served themselves some food. They sat on a corner and not long after, the rookie representative arrived with a plate in his hand."
"May I join you?" he asked politely.
"Please do," answered the teacher.
"How is the food?"
"You have a very good cafeteria here; the managing director is right about that."
"How about for the other? Are the negotiations leading to anywhere?"
'I feel the twenty minute point I mentioned to you back at the house is the obstacle. I am not sure how things are going to end."
"I was afraid it is too much to be swallowed." Then suddenly he dropped the knife and fork on the table and said, "I got it."
"What?"
"Four five six."
"What do you mean?"
"Five minutes of your writings, six minutes debating them, then four minutes of commercials to add up to one hour."
"What do you mean by debating it?"
"That means the presenter will have to query your writings and you will be able to answer. Is not this what you want after all?"
The Teacher thought for a minute and said, "It sounds even better than what I thought. I am in for that."
The rookie sprang up and said, "The cookies are in the oven and they start to smell good. Excuse me. I will see you soon."
As the presenter was talking about the twenty minutes gap and how unsolvable it was, the rookie knocked at the door and without waiting he entered the room and said, "I got it. Four five and six!"
"What are you talking about? Who is this guy?"
"Different format, different approach, no interview."
"Go on."
"Five minutes of his writings, then six minutes of the presenter disputing them. Four minutes of commercials by four makes one hour."
"Who is this guy?" asked again the CEO.
"The baker who is going to bring you the dough," answered the Teacher, entering the room as the door was open.
"Well how about that! Sit down Teacher; how was the meal?"
"Very good thank you. You have a nice cafeteria here."
"I told you so."
"You can interrogate the Teacher relentlessly. You can grill and cross-examine until you squeeze all the juice out of him. Isn't this all right, Teacher?"
"By all means, provided the five minutes of writings proceeds of course."
"So gentleman, we have a new base to proceed with now thanks to our junior representative from here," said the managing director, pointing to the rookie. "And I better watch my chair from now on."
"Me too," said the CEO, amused. "And how long have you worked with us, Senior Representative?" asked the CEO.
"I am not a senior representative sir," said the rookie. "I am a ju—"
"Are you disputing my judgment?" the CEO said, smiling.
"You mean..."
"Yes, and as a senior representative you can participate in these further discussions. You certainly earned it."
"Thank you, sir, and I will make sure never to let you down."
"I am sure about that," said the Teacher, and congratulated him with a warm hand shake for his unexpected promotion. After that they all congratulated the young rookie and settled down to finalize the deal.
"Teacher," said the presenter, "I don't suppose you are afraid of me querying of what the writing's saying?"
"Certainly not!"
"In that case I will be able to intervene whenever I feel fit?"
"Of course you can. I want you to do that, as this is the purpose of the whole project to be a lively discussion which will help many viewers to understand things better. I'd love you to do that. I just don't want a beautiful opportunity like this to be lost in insignificant verbal attacks and quibbling."
As the two parties did not have any differences on how to solve the time-dividing problem, the final deal did not take long to come.
"We can sign a declaration form of what we have agreed in this room," said the managing director. "It won't take long. My secretary will have this ready in few minutes. It is just a formality."
"No need of that," said the Teacher and started to shake their hands. "My handshake is as good as my signature and you can rely on that. Can I rely on yours?"
"Yes," everyone answered as with one voice.
"It is nice to do business in the old fashioned way. It is my pleasure to meet all of you gentlemen and I will see you all at the day of the show."
The chairman of the WCFET Adam Clarke, was enjoying his wife's company in a way that reminded them of the days when they were young. They still had the phones and the television switched off. The chairman was enjoying a glass of wine with some cheese in the garden when a courier with a bike brought him a letter. It was from the managing director of the international television network based in that city, and asked him if he could switch the phone on as it was urgent.
The chairman was acquainted with that man but not to the extent that he would do this for a casual reason. He was wondering what this was all about, and so finally he decided to ring him back.
"I am so glad to hear from you," said the voice from the other end. "I will come straight to the point. "We have decided to make a show about the way WCFET handled the whole issue of the hearing the last two or three days. You will be the honored guest and you will have sufficient time to defend yourself from all this dirt they have thrown at you."
"I will think about it," said the chairman. "I will ring you back either way."
"Don't take too long, please, as there are not much time left for it, and please don't take it too lightly for it is a good opportunity to straighten things up."
"I will do that thank you, and I will ring you back either way."
His wife was in the shower and was not aware what happened but when she came back into the garden she noticed something had changed in the mood of her husband.
She asked, "Is there something wrong, honey?"
"Yes..." he said jokingly. "Someone wants to sanctify and the devil won't let him."
"What do you mean? What happened?"
"I had a telephone call from someone I know from the television network. They want me to appear on a television show."
His wife started to worry as he had behaved a little strangely the last few days since all this drama in the WCFET. Besides, how could they ring him when all the telephones were switched off? But she did not say anything. She was watching him. He was in deep thought when all in a sudden he turned to her and said, "What do you think,
dear? Shall I take part in it?"
"Take part in what, honey?"
"I already told you, my dear. In the television show."
"Oh... and who is going to star in it, honey?"
"I will. I will have the biggest part."
"Then definitely you should, my honey."
"Well I suppose I'd better ring them to let them know that I will appear on the show."
He got up and went into the house to make the phone call. His wife picked up some empty plates, pretending she was going to take them in the kitchen so she could watch him.
He went to the phone, switched it on and dialed.
"Is this the office of the managing director?"
"Yes it is."
"Can I talk to him?"
"He is not here sir."
"Will you tell him that I accept his offer to participate in the show please?"
"Who shall I say called, sir?"
"He knows, thank you."
His wife, not knowing what to make of this call, left it at that.
A few hours later someone knocked at the door. It was a young man saying he was a courier and handed a letter to her.
Her husband asked, "What was that?"
"It is for you, honey, from the television station."
"Oh...open it up, dear, to see what it says."
She opened the letter and read it loud: "'I am pleased that you are going to participate in the show. We will send you an early reminder on the day, and two hours prior of the show we will send a limousine to pick you up. Sincerely. Managing Director.'
"So...that is all fixed then!" she added. "You actually are going to star in a show!"
"Of course I am dear. I told you so."
She burst into a hearty uncontrollable laugh, and with tears running down her cheeks she grabbed her husband and started to kiss him; his cheeks, his ears, his hair; saying how happy and proud of him she was. Her laugh was so catchy that he started to laugh too