Chapter 2

I knew Miki would be so excited she wouldn't rest and resolved to either allow her time for a nap or end her workday early the next day, not that she needed any beauty sleep. With that thought I went to my rooms. I didn't get much sleep that night either. That girl had thoroughly captured my heart and soul!

A rap at my door woke me the next morning. I got up and pulled on some casual pants I'd lain out, picked up a shirt, and went to my door. It was Cheryl Baker, my executive secretary. "Miss Tanaka has arrived, Paul."

"Thank you, Cheryl, come on in." I replied. "What do you think of my new whiz kid?"

"I adore her." Cheryl grinned. "I think you two will make a very lovely couple. You can't fool me, Paul. I've known you too long. You're in love." What could I say to that? She was right! I laughed and slipped on some deck shoes.

Some of our crew had helped Miki up the gangplank with her luggage. I took her bags from her, "Welcome aboard, Miki! I'll show you the available rooms and you can choose which you like best."

"Could I have one close to yours, Paul?" Miki asked. "I've never lived aboard a boat, or away from home and I'd feel safer close to you."

"Certainly, Miki," I assured her, "Two of the largest staterooms are right next door to my suite." We'd reached them, and I opened the doors to each, then showed her the door to my larger suite at the end of the hallway. It was within a few feet of either of the two she'd narrowed her choices to. "Each of these have similar bath facilities, though the layouts are slightly different. You can swap back and forth to see which you like best if you want. Feel free to come to me anytime you may feel frightened or lonely. I make a superb hot chocolate that will fix you right up. I may be your boss, but I want to be your friend, too."

Miki answered, "I may take you up on that offer if we have a thunderstorm, Paul. I have a phobia about them."

"Oh," I assured her, "my hot chocolate is an instant cure for all phobias! Let's get your clothes moved in and have some breakfast, then we'll find the Captain for your shipboard orientation." We got most of the necessary things done that morning, she told me she had especially enjoyed the captain's orientation.

Captain McDuff or "Duffie" makes a very large salary for his ability to cast off and safely pilot the "DuPre" from one side of the world to the other at a moment's notice, but in my opinion, he is an aspiring standup comedian. I won't be shocked if someday he retires to move to Reno or Las Vegas to perform in the casinos as a hobby.

I sat her down and told Miki there was one more business item I wanted to discuss with her before introducing her to our pool. "Okay, picture this, you are seated on a low cushion or stool with a traditional Japanese background behind you. An ornate low table is before you. Whether you wear a school uniform, a kimono, or western dress is open for discussion. I'm leaning toward a kimono and your beautiful hair up in a traditional Japanese style.'

"Yes," Miki agreed, "Definitely a kimono, we are talking about tradition here."

I resumed my description. "A Geisha comes in and begins the tea ceremony to serve you. You begin giggling and cover your mouth with your hands, however it feels natural to you. There are no words spoken, the only sound is your cute giggling. Under the screen this message displays for the entire thirty seconds:

'At DuPre Corporation we respect Japanese traditions. We recently donated blank million dollars in support of the art of the Geisha tea ceremony.

Our associate, Miki Tanaka, respects Japanese traditions, too. One of hers is giggling like a schoolgirl.'"

Miki shouted, "That is brilliantly hilarious, Paul, and diplomacy personified! Who wrote it?"

I modestly blew on my fingernails and polished them on my shirt. "Moi. We're taking a flier on this one, Miki. You and I will share the credits or the blame as the writers, producers, and directors of this commercial. So you like it? We can edit any part of it you don't think will work."

"I think this commercial will make me famous, Paul, in Japan and perhaps Asia and the world, as the Giggling Girl," Miki enthused, "but it's not fair to you to share the credits with me. It's all your idea."

I shrugged and smiled at her, "All I did was describe what you did so cutely last night at dinner and add our commercial. If this works out as I think it will it will make you that much more valuable a spokesperson for my corporation. My personal opinion already is you are priceless."

Miki seemed to be replaying all my words and actions of the last few days through her mind, she proved her brilliance when she smiled sweetly and pointedly asked me, "Are you in love with me, Paul?"

I considered her question for a moment, then decided honesty is the best policy. "Yes, Miki, that's intuitive of you. As the saying goes you had me from the word 'hello.' I hope it doesn't offend you? I promise you it will never interfere with my mentoring of you."

"Not at all," she answered, "It makes me happy, but it does give me tons of things to think about." She proved her practicality by changing the topic. "We can run the commercial by mom and dad to see what they think, but my only concern is what to wear to the award ceremonies and interviews at the network talk shows! Oh, the commercials are thirty seconds long. How will I ever giggle so long without stopping?"

"You let me take care of that, Miki. We'll do our best to wrap this in one take. We want your performance to be as spontaneous as possible, so I have to keep that one thing secret from you for now. Let's go get our suits on, and I'll show you our pool. Oh, yes, take a note, Miss Tanaka. The moment this commercial airs, we'll post the clip all over the net here in Japan and world wide with English, Chinese, French, and other translations, too!"

Cheryl was in the main lounge as we walked through. "Cheryl babe, can you do us a big favor? Find out from Ozawa what brand of tea his sisters used in the tea ceremony, and have our broker buy all the stocks on the market at or within five percent of the present price for the next twenty-four hours. Have the broker hedge our bet by buying at least as many stocks in other quality teas."

Cheryl nodded and picked up her phone. Miki looked up at me and smiled in admiration. I told her, "I'll cut you, Cheryl, and Ozawa in for a percentage of the profits on the tea, Miki, we'll likely begin selling when the price levels out at a plateau after the commercial comes out."

"Thank you, Paul. That's very generous of you." Miki said, "How many million were you thinking of giving the Ozawa sisters?"

I told her, "I was thinking five million total would build them a school. What do you think?"

Miki answered, "I think that much might motivate one or both of them to retire. How about giving them two million for the school, and asking them for references to others in the art worthy of splitting the other three?"