Chapter 21: An Ominous Phone Call

March 9, 1983, Chicago, Illinois

When Anna and I arrived at the Hancock Center on Tuesday morning, we rode the elevator up to 29 together, though that made her quite a bit early for work, as she didn't start until 7:30am rather than 7:00am. I made coffee as usual, then went to check with Rich about the overnight market.

"When Matheson finds out, he's going to have a shit fit!" Rich said, nodding towards Anna's desk.

"He knows," I said. "As does Mr. Spurgeon."

"No shit?"

"No shit. How are Japan, Hong Kong, and London?"

"No news is good news or bad news, depending on how you take that. Some volatility in European currencies, but otherwise, not much going on. I closed out the large USD/JPY position to complete the settlement for the merger Foulks is overseeing, as the funds are due today. I also took long positions in some Japanese and European electronics firms."

He handed me his paper transaction log that I'd use to update my analyst report for Mr. Matheson, and I went back to my desk to begin working on it. Very little had changed since Monday morning, so I made a few updates and added a section that would track the location of US Navy aircraft carriers, as that was a good proxy for what the US government currently felt was a threat or a priority.

The biggest risk, as it had been for several years, was Iran trying to close the Straits of Hormuz, thereby cutting off the flow of oil to the West and creating havoc in every industrialized country. In my research, I'd found plenty of reasons for Iran to have a legitimate beef with the US; I simply wished they hadn't chosen the fanatical religious option as their response to our meddling.

Once my report was on Mr. Matheson's desk, I went to see Phil in Information Services about the technical requirements for the Nexis system.

"I think the best solution, and really, the only one that will work," he said, "is to replace your 3278 terminal with an IBM PC/XT. They were literally just released yesterday, and with an SNA card, a 3278 emulation card, and a modem card, it would allow you to do everything you need to do, including what you do on your Apple II. That would consolidate you to one computer system, plus the Bloomberg terminal, rather than having two or three computers plus Bloomberg."

"How different is that from the Apple?" I asked.

"It depends on what you mean," Phil said. "In terms of using your spreadsheet and text editor or word processor, you won't notice much difference. There are technical differences, but I don't think they matter much to you. Your Apple can't talk to the IBM mainframe in any reasonable way, and that is going to be a problem if you want to try to load data automatically."

"Would you do the same for Tony?"

"Yes, though he doesn't have an Apple. But with an IBM PC/XT, he could do the same things you do. Your Apple could go to Mr. Nelson or perhaps the new Personnel clerk."

"How much is that going to cost?" I asked.

"You'd need the IBM PC to access Nexis, or at least a dumb terminal and a modem, so it's not really going to be outrageously more costly. It's something we've considered for new hires, and honestly, if you ask for this project, it'll be approved. You know Spurgeon is looking for any edge he can find."

I nodded, "True. Would you get the specs and the quotes? I'm sure you can get a better deal from our IBM rep than I could at the computer store."

"I will, but IBM set things up so that the PC division is separate from the mainframe division, so I'm not sure exactly how our purchase would work. But leave that to me. When did you need the equipment?"

"Is that a serious question?" I asked.

"I'll fire up the Spurgeon Time Machine and have them here yesterday, as required!" Phil said with a grin.

"Pretty much. Just let me know what you find out."

"Will do. And congrats on those big scores! I saw the weekly and monthly financials yesterday, and I think we're all going to be very happy come December!"

"Thanks. I hope so."

I headed back to my desk, wrote a short memo to Mr. Matheson about the equipment, and gave it to Anna. A few minutes later, Mr. Matheson called a staff meeting, so we all went to the conference room.

"Our new fixed income analyst, Joel Stein, starts on Monday," he said. "He's coming over from Continental Illinois. In addition, we're filling the second secretary position, which has been open since before we moved to 29. Mia Naismith will start on Monday as well, and this is her first full-time job out of High School. She's been temping since she graduated last June.

"Kane, Kirov, you'll need to get Stein up to speed on our procedures as quickly as possible. They do things differently at the bank than we do here, so he'll need some help finding his sea legs. Anna will be my senior secretary, and Mia will work for her, spending most of her time supporting Monroe, Foulks, and Chamberlin. Anyone except those three should continue to go to Anna for anything they need."

Neither of those things surprised me, especially hiring a guy, though I had wondered why Monroe's secretary hadn't been replaced after she'd left in November. What was interesting was that she wasn't his secretary, but a group secretary. I doubted he was in the doghouse and suspected this was just Mr. Matheson managing his P&L by not having private secretaries for each trader, as other teams had.

Mr. Matheson dismissed us, and I went back to my desk. About twenty minutes later, he called me in to discuss the memo I'd written. We only had a brief discussion, as we needed the details from Phil before he could ask Noel Spurgeon to approve the plan. When I left his office, I went back to my desk and made the phone call I'd put off but could no longer wait to make.

"Constituent Services, Marcia Blake," she said when she answered.

"Hi, it's Jonathan," I said.

"What do you want?" she asked snippily.

I didn't want to lie, but being blunt probably was not the best course of action. Kasia had, back when I'd first gone out with her after renting the house, asked me about tact, and I'd said it wasn't my usual style, but given my marching orders from Spurgeon, I had to find a way. And that way had to be truthful, even if I didn't share my motivation with Marcia.

"I felt, based on our friendship, I should give you another chance to talk if you're willing. If not, tell me to go away, and I will."

And then I'd have to find SOME way to get a contact in the Mayor's office to satisfy Noel Spurgeon.

"Talk about what?" she asked.

"Anything," I replied. "I thought our friendship was going well until you surprised me in Wisconsin."

"You still want me to answer that question," she said flatly.

"Yes, but not the way you mean. It only matters if you want something beyond friendship. If not, then I honestly don't care. But if you want more, then yes, the conversation is necessary. You're in complete control over that. Let's have lunch tomorrow."

"What is it you want from me?"

"Friendship. And you know the original basis for our relationship, which obviously hasn't changed on my part. I know you'll be working for the Mayor rather than a Congressman, but those contacts will still be helpful for me. In return, I'm still willing to manage your investments for you, if you want."

"Well, at least you're honest."

"I would hope you thought that because I try to be, even if that means I end up being a bit tactless. Let's have lunch; there's plenty to gain and nothing to lose. And if you don't want to speak to me or see me, just say so."

"West Loop Café tomorrow at 11:30am?"

I'd have to take a cab there and back to make it on time, but that would work.

"Sounds good. I'll see you there at 11:30am tomorrow."

We said 'goodbye', and I hung up, believing I'd put myself in a position for possible success. Of course, it very much depended on Marcia and whether she could be just friends. If she could, then I'd have my contact; if not, then I'd have to figure out a way forward that worked for me and for Noel Spurgeon.

As usual for a Wednesday, I ate at my desk, then joined Anna for our workout in the gym. I found it strange that now that I'd slept with her, I no longer had to fantasize about her body, but that actually made it worse, because I knew exactly what was under the tight white T-shirt and tight gym shorts! That, combined with her Swedish approach to relationships, convinced me I'd made the right decision to 'have drinks' with her the previous evening.

At the end of the day, I headed to Violet's for our usual dinner before class. She greeted me at the door, and then we went to the kitchen to eat at the dinette table.

"Is everything set for your new house?" she asked.

"It is. The inspection was completed, and everything is set for the closing on the 25th."

"Did you need any help moving or anything?"

"We pretty much have everything set," I said. "You're obviously welcome to hang out with us if you like, and I won't turn down the help. What about work?"

"I have vacation I haven't used, and it's not as if I'm going anywhere! What about you?"

"I may go to St. Martin in the Caribbean for a week," I said. "I was offered a trip for two there for the success I had with the currency and precious metals trades."

"I was super happy about how much money you made me! Who will you take?"

"One of the girls I'm dating," I replied.

"How many girls are you dating?"

"I'm doing what they called 'playing the field' back in High School. I see different girls at different times, some more than others, some only once or twice. You know my situation."

"You're still waiting on Bev, aren't you?"

I sighed, "That's actually worse than it was. Her parents hired a private investigator to try to find her, and when she found out about it, she freaked out and disappeared with Heather."

"Oh, my!" Violet gasped. "You don't know where she is?"

"No. I really want to help her, but she's not willing. And if I were to try to find her, she might do something even more rash."

"But how will she live?"

"I have no idea. She has some money, not a lot, but I'd estimate enough for four or five months. The problem is, as soon as she does anything like get a job, a driver's license, register her car, or have a credit check for renting a place, the investigator will be able to find her."

"But don't you care?"

"Yes, of course, I care, but there is literally nothing I can do unless she wants my help and allows me to help. I tried to get her parents to call off the investigation, but her mom flat-out refused. I warned them what would happen, and I was right. I wish I'd been mistaken in my analysis, but sadly, I wasn't."

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I'm not bothered by it. It's just there is literally nothing I can do at the moment except wait, and for me, that's tough."

"Would you take her back?"

"I won't say 'no', but I will say that I'd be very concerned that she'd run away at the first sign of adversity, and that would give me serious pause. If she'd run to me instead of away from me, that would make all the difference in the world. Changing subjects, I did get two tickets for the first Hawks home playoff game at Chicago Stadium. Want to go?"

"Is that even a question?!" Violet asked. "Yes, of course!"

"You know I never make assumptions, but I was reasonably certain you'd say 'yes'."

"What about if they go further?"

"That'll be tougher, but given my success, I can probably get tickets to the second round if they make it, which I think they will."

"I think so, too."

We finished eating, and I helped Violet clean up. As sometimes happened, we were finished earlier than we needed to be, so we went to her front room to listen to music. I sat down on the loveseat while Violet turned on the stereo and tuned to WLUP, then sat down in the large easy chair as she usually did.

"I was thinking," I said, "that once classes end, we should agree one evening a week to have dinner together. Not that we'll only see each other then, but we'll have one day together every week."

"YES!" Violet exclaimed.

She surprised me by jumping up, plopping onto my lap, and hugging me. I hugged her back, and she surprised me further by sighing and snuggling close. Not knowing what to do, I put my arms lightly around her and waited to see what happened.

"Uh, sorry," Violet said about fifteen seconds later, quickly standing up.

"It's OK! You were happy and wanted to show me. I didn't mind; I was just surprised."

Violet laughed nervously, "Me, too. I, uhm, shouldn't have done that."

"Honestly," I said. "It's OK. We hug when I arrive and then when I walk you home."

"Yes, but ... always at the door."

"It's fine, Violet. Honest!"

She sat back down and was mostly quiet for the next ten minutes, only answering questions I asked. She'd moved WAY outside her comfort zone of standing hugs and kissing me on the cheek to snuggling in my lap, and she was likely as confused as I was. I liked Violet a lot, we had a lot in common, and we got along really well. The thing was, her situation meant that anything more than friendship was a risky proposition at best and potentially disastrous at worst.

Doctor Lochner had been concerned that I'd push things 'too far' with Violet, but that concern was misplaced. The real concern was whether Violet would decide to test her own limits, and at that point, I'd have some difficult decisions to make. I didn't read anything more into what had just happened than Violet feeling comfortable enough with me to express her affection in a platonic way, but I couldn't know what she was thinking or feeling.

When we left the house to walk to class, Violet seemed to have relaxed, and we talked the way we usually did. When she went into her classroom, I was confident she'd recovered from surprising herself, and I was reasonably sure everything would be back to normal after class.

When I sat down next to Teri in the lecture hall, she said 'hello', and I returned the greeting, but the professor stepped up to the lectern, preventing any further conversation. While I understood Troy's point, I didn't think there was much chance of finding a way forward with Teri, given her belief about sex before marriage and my reluctance to enter into that kind of exclusive relationship where the prospect of sex was potentially years in the future. Anna's approach, and that of Keiko and Deanna, was much more conducive to how I saw the future unfolding.

I'd had several relationships turn sour in one way or another over the idea of commitment, including Phoebe, Huifen, Lily, and most importantly, Bev. That last one was complicated by my complete lack of understanding of the situation until long after the fact. I'd managed to restore things with Lily, but that was because she'd changed her mind on a number of things, something I didn't expect Teri to do.

After class, I met Violet at the coffee shop, and she seemed totally back to normal. We had our pie and coffee and our usual chat about the Hawks, the weather, current events, work, and school, and then I walked her home. I wasn't sure what she'd do, but she gave me a hug and a peck on the cheek as she usually did, and once she was safely inside, I headed home.

"My dad called and wanted to know when you plan to start on the floors of the new house?" Shelly asked when I walked in just before 9:30pm.

"I figured we start painting on Saturday, the 26th, and that we should finish that first, as well as get the new appliances installed before we work on the floors, so probably Monday the 28th."

"He actually suggested you have the appliances delivered after we do the floors so that we don't have to work around them. He suggested if you're trashing everything, you do that right away, paint, refinish the floors, then have the new stuff brought in."

"That makes a tremendous amount of sense," I said. "When we go to Abt on Saturday, we'll arrange for everything to be delivered on Friday, which is April 1st. I'll need to find out about disposing of the old stuff."

"You might want to try for Thursday because the 1st is Good Friday," Bianca said.

"Shows how much attention I pay! Are you going to church with your mom?"

"That little kabuki play is done," Bianca said with a smile, "so no."

"OK. Thursday makes sense."

"Dad suggested a scrapper for the old appliances and gave me a number," Shelly said. "Basically, it's a company that will haul it away for free because they can sell the parts or recover the metal, similar to what junkyards do with cars."

"That sounds like a good plan, too. I had planned to ask Abt if they had a service to haul them away."

"They might," Shelly said, "and that would work, too. We should ask, and then we have a fallback."

"When are we buying all the materials we'll need?" Bianca asked.

"I figured I'd do that on Friday after the closing. I have the day off work because, according to Nelson, a closing can take anywhere from twenty minutes to four hours, depending on any complications that arise, and that seems to happen quite often."

"Do you have a list of what you need? I mean, besides the stuff Shelly's dad said we need to get?"

"Yes. Basically, all the painting supplies, including drop cloths, which I'll offer to Deanna for her studio. The one thing I thought about that's important is two ladders. A step ladder for inside and an extension ladder that would let us get to the roof and second-story windows in the future. I'm sure there will be other stuff we think of, but Venture isn't too far, and there's an Ace Hardware nearby as well."

"That sounds good. Who all is helping?" Bianca asked.

"Besides the two of you, during the day, it will be Dustin, Violet, Keiko, Miranda, Kristy, Allyson, Deanna, Lily, and on the days he isn't on shift, Stuart. In the evenings, Jack, Costas, Trevor, and Archie. I think we have plenty of help, especially with Shelly's dad and his friend helping us on the first day with the floors. The only caveat is that I have my monthly dinner at Jeri's house on Tuesday evening of that week."