Chapter 29

It was only a week before Christmas when Cindy called April and asked what the Division was going to do for a party. Hanging up the phone, April immediately called the dining room and asked about scheduling a Christmas party for the division. By now the unit numbered sixty people and it was still growing rapidly.

The initial response was laughter. She was told in no uncertain terms that all facilities had been booked for over six months. Hearing the news, April was ashamed. It was the first thing she had overlooked in the nearly six months she had been working with Cindy and she knew her friend would be crushed.

Thinking she would try some local restaurants, she idly mentioned to the hostess that she would like to leave her name in case there was a cancellation or something.

The woman laughed and said it was most unlikely but then she asked, "To whom am I speaking? What unit do you represent?"

"I'm April Jefferson, vice president and deputy head of the Special Lending Division," April replied, giving her extension number.

Suddenly, there was a pregnant pause at the other end of the line. The woman said, "Oh, dear! I'm terribly sorry, Miss Jefferson. I didn't recognize your voice. When would you like to have your party? I'm sure we can accommodate you."

April was amazed, but asked the date of the senior officer's party. Told it was at noon on December 23, April asked for five o'clock that day. The woman said, "Oh, that will be fine! May I send up a menu recommendation? We're so looking forward to having you."

Being the girl she was, April called Cindy right back. "Cin, something very strange is going on." Then she reported the strange conversation with the manager of the officers dining rooms. "First, she as much as laughed me off the phone. Then when I told her who I was, suddenly she could handle us any time we want — or at least that's the impression she gave. What's going on?"

Cindy chuckled and said she would check. Hanging up, she called Dan's number. Now that the truth was out, she delighted in teasing him about being a credit analyst. Nevertheless, he always picked up if he was in his office. Today he was and he did. Picking up the phone he said, "Hi, doll!"

"I beg your pardon, sir!" Cindy said imperiously. "To whom do you think you're speaking?"

"A blue-eyed, golden-haired cunt," he replied in a bored tone of voice. "They're the only ones with this phone number. On the other hand, which one are you? There are a significant number these days."

"I'm the one with the scarred ass and circumcised clit. Does that sound like someone familiar?" she asked acidly.

"Oh, sure! I remember," Dan exclaimed. "Let's see ... I'm pretty sure your name begins with a C ... Charlotte? ... No. Candy? ... No! Cindy! You must be Cindy!"

"Right," Cindy replied, drawing out the word. "Daniel Patrick Burke, you do know I'm going to get even, don't you? I still owe you for pretending you were still an analyst...

"Incidentally, I went to a NOW meeting. It was a waste of time," she finished.

"Why was it a waste?"

"Because you hear so much chatter about women as a receptacle for a man's fluids? Well, I went to find out how a girl does it. I'm tired of being made to destroy myself with my orgasms. When I told them that you keep me in orgasm for over fifteen minutes at a time and then finally persuaded them it was true, the meeting broke up. The women bailed out to try to find you, I think. And they never answered my question, either," she pretended to grump.

Dan laughed at her story and said, "I'm sorry, hon. Seriously, though, why the call? What's on your mind?"

Cindy quickly told him about April's report and he laughed again. "Well, what do you know?" he exclaimed. "I think we must finally be getting through. Your father and I have been on a two-man campaign to try to get you and your unit some recognition. I guess someone must have been paying attention. Anyway, are you all set?"

"Yes we are. The reason I called was there are two questions: First, can we get a combo in to play if we pay for it ourselves? Second, we scheduled it for five o'clock on the twenty-third and I want to invite you to come, assuming we get some music. You know, Burke, I can't remember you ever dancing with me. You do dance, don't you?"

Dan chuckled and replied, "I sure do. With all the grace and charm of a trained bear dancing on its hind legs. It's what I remind people of, too. Incidentally, knock off the shit about paying for the band. It's a bank charge. As far as dancing is concerned, are you sure you want to take your life in your hands?"

"I'll take the chance, darling," she replied and hung up.

The evening before the parties, Cindy received a call from Mary Martin. She said, "Cin, would you do your father a big favor tomorrow? Please wear your division uniform to the senior officers' party. I guess you'll be there with April, Kathy, and Kelly, won't you?" Cindy said she would and was asked to tell the girls to wear their uniforms, too. Finally, she was puzzled when she was told that there would be assigned seating at the luncheon. The hostess would have the seating chart.

The next day the four girls looked at each other and started to laugh. They were identically dressed complete with their matching slave collars. When they arrived at the executive dining room, expanded to its largest capacity for the occasion, Cindy was a little embarrassed to see everyone else dressed up while her group was wearing their customary Levi's and work shirts. They found themselves seated at a table immediately in front of the head table. As the luncheon was being served, Cindy was surprised to see Jan Stewart and Jennifer Chapman come in and take seats at the head table. Her father was sitting between them. When she was seated, Jan looked over at Cindy and winked at her.

When the meal was finished, Don tapped his water glass for attention and then stood up behind the rostrum. When the room quieted, he said, "Welcome and Merry Christmas! Today we're doing a number of things that are different from what we have done in the past. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that the bank is now a very different institution than it was as recently as last year.

"First, I want to announce that this year is shaping up to be the most profitable year in the bank's history. Second, on your tables under the centerpiece you'll find envelopes with each of your names on them. Please pass them out and open them now. They represent year-end bonus payments."

Cindy reached under the flowers and found envelopes and passed them out. Opening her own she grinned wryly as she saw that she had qualified for a bonus of 200 percent of base salary. Since the base salary was zero, so was her bonus. From the looks on the faces of the girls they were receiving comparable bonuses but with real money. She studied the bonus stub more closely and found that the bonus formula was divided into two pieces: divisional bonus and bank-wide bonus. Each could be as large as 100 percent of salary. When she caught Jan's eye, she daintily stuck out her tongue and Jan laughed.

Meanwhile Don Martin remained standing at the rostrum waiting. When the sounds died down he continued: "I hope you all looked at your bonus stubs carefully. The information is highly relevant to what's coming. You see, today we're doing something else that's new: We're announcing a new bank-wide award, the Clifford Prize. This is a prize donated by the owners of the bank: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Clifford, Mr. and Mrs. David Chapman, Mr. and Mrs. Steven Chapman, Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Cartwright, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Cartwright, and Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Stewart. Since the Cliffords are the largest shareholders, the award is named after them. The Clifford prize is to be given each year to that division with the greatest achievement against plan.

"Before I turn over the rostrum, I want you to look at your stubs carefully. For some of you, virtually the entire bonus is a result of bank-wide results. Well, when you're considering the degree to which you should applaud the winner, I thought you should know that 90 percent of the bank-wide profit was generated by the winning division. Expressed another way, this division has contributed nine out of every ten dollars to the bank-wide portion of your bonus.

"It is now my great pleasure to introduce the chairman of the board of directors, Jennifer Clifford Chapman, to make the presentation."

Jen was wearing a very simple but elegant wool dress in Christmas red. She stood at the rostrum and acknowledged the applause after winking at Cindy. When the room quieted she said, "It is my great pleasure to present the first Clifford Prize to Cynthia K. Martin and the Special Lending Division. Cindy?"

As Cindy rose to her feet, all the officers in the room also rose and began to applaud and cheer wildly. She went behind the speakers table and stood at the rostrum with Jennifer while they waited for the applause to die down. While they were waiting, an easel was set up behind them and a veiled painting was put on it.

When the applause diminished, Jennifer went to the picture and lifted the cloth covering it. It was a portrait of Cindy, April and Kathy wearing their uniforms. Cindy was seated while the other girls were standing behind her. Again there was loud applause for the portrait that Jim Vance had done. Jennifer announced, "This portrait of Cynthia Martin, April Jefferson, and Katherine Cartwright will hang in the lobby of the bank. It's a tribute to them and to the people in their division, as well as to what they have achieved.

"Obviously, the unit has been very profitable. But there's more. There was some concern about the reaction of our old-line customers. There should not have been. They have been tremendously supportive of our efforts. We — and they — are both very pleased and very proud."

Jennifer then took Cindy in her arms and pulled her close. "I would like to add a personal note. There's no person alive for whom I have greater love, admiration, and respect than Cindy Martin. It's fair to say we didn't start off as the best of friends. Now I like to consider her one of my very dearest friends. I would like to close by saying this award could not possibly go to a finer person than Cynthia Martin."

Don Martin returned to the rostrum and Cindy returned to her seat. He said, "There are a couple of additional remarks I would like to make about her division's results. First, loan losses: There are none. However, there is something all of you should know. When the special lending program was very new and before we had any experience with it, the owners were concerned about what the bank examiners might say about the loan quality.

"Do you know what they did? They personally guaranteed all of the loans. They were ready to buy the entire special loan portfolio from the bank at its face value and pay us a servicing fee. In other words, any risk in this portfolio ran directly to the owners of this bank personally! Have you ever heard of such an endorsement? Incidentally, the backing was to their entire personal net worth, a sum of money that totals nearly $10 billion! The bank, the other depositors, and the FDIC couldn't possibly lose.

"On the other hand, we did have problems with the examiners regarding this portfolio. It's not quite the problem we anticipated, however. You see, the examiners questioned why we have any loan loss reserves, pointing out — correctly — that we have not yet lost a dime! However, I don't want you to think my daughter has no problems. She certainly does. Her problem is keeping her loans on the books. The first loan she made was about six months ago. It was a five-year term loan to fix up a restaurant in Deerfield."

Turning to his daughter, Don said, "Cindy, I have bad news for you. The Legrands are here today." Turning back to the group he said, "Please welcome the very first customers of the Special Lending Division, Marcel and Marie Legrand."

The two came in arm-in-arm. Cindy noticed that Marie's abdomen was starting to bulge — obviously she was now expecting a baby. Don Martin greeted them both warmly and then said, "Cindy, this concerns you. Come back up here, please."

Again she made her way up to the rostrum and was greeted warmly by the Legrands. She whispered congratulations to Marie who kissed her warmly. Marcel went to the microphone and said, "Joyeaux Noel — Merry Christmas! It was about six months ago when a very handsome couple came into our restaurant. The young woman had obviously been trained as a cordon bleu chef because she critiqued my menu.

"A few days later they returned and noticed the improvements we had made as a result of her suggestions. Then I was shocked. She prepared the finest croissants I have ever eaten followed by an omelette that was truly a masterpiece. We listened to her advice and then she offered to lend us the money we needed to make our plans a reality. We didn't believe it. Whoever heard of a banker who could cook? But then two days later, dressed as you see her now, she returned with a check."

Turning to Cindy he said, "Today I have something for you." With that he presented her with a check paying off the loan in full.

Cindy accepted the check and gave it to her father. "What are you going to do now, Cin?" he asked with his eyes gleaming. "What if all your customers repay us way in advance? How can we make any money?"

"Dad, I guess I'll just have to prospect harder for new customers," she replied. She kissed the two Legrands and congratulated them both on the success of their restaurant and the forthcoming birth of their child.

At this point Marie Legrand went to the microphone and addressed the group: "As some of you can see, Marcel and I are expecting our first child. We're overcome with excitement. Our child will be a native-born American! He or she might become president of the United States.

"I want you to know how proud we both are to be in this country. Marcel and I have talked about it often because nothing like this could ever happen in France. A banker coming to our restaurant to lend us money? Impossible! It would never happen. But in America it does ... and it did."

Turning to her friend she said, "Cindy, thank you! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you."

Don Martin returned to the podium and Cindy returned to her seat. He said, "There's more to this group, though. Cindy has the outstanding group of lending officers in the bank. As a matter of fact, I guess we're rethinking the qualifications to be a lending officer in this bank. You see, her deputy division head started work at the bank less than nine months ago ... as a receptionist!

"I have a few bones to pick with April Jefferson, though. Not only is she the finest lending officer the bank has ever had, she even develops a little business on the side. You all have heard about banks supporting civic activities? Well, April got a little carried away.