Chapter 1

"Don -- you wanted to see me?" Keith asked as he stepped into his boss's office.

Don handed him a memo. "We had a customer reject ten tank cars full of specialty product. Management wants to know what went wrong."

"Do we have samples?"

"They're on the way, along with samples of raw materials."

"I'll need to understand how the stuff is made," Keith replied.

"I have a reference." Don handed him a Post-it.

"I'll start looking this up."

Keith returned to his lab. He sat at his desk and began searching for the reference Don had given him.

"What's the panic?" came a voice from behind. Keith turned and regarded his lab partner, an olive-skinned young woman with raven hair. "Here, Paola -- read it and weep." He handed her the memo.

She let out a whistle. "We have to eat ten tank cars' worth of product. They're not going to be happy about this in the head office."

"Indeed they are not. Samples of finished product and precursors are on their way. In the meantime we need to familiarize ourselves with the process. Don gave me a reference which I am attempting to locate." He scanned his screen. "We have a copy in the Research Library. I'm going to head downstairs and check it out."

Keith waited for the elevator to carry him from the sixth floor of the Research Center down to the second. Referring to the note he scanned the stacks and located the one holding the book. Peering at the spine tags he located it and carried it to a table.

"Are you finding what you need?" Keith turned and saw a young woman. He regarded her -- she was tall and slender. She wore a mid-calf length floral print skirt, long sleeved blouse and a yellow vest sweater. Her face was oblong with a long nose, prominent jaw and medium lips. She had blue eyes behind thick-lensed glasses and wore her mid-back length, light brown hair tied in a ponytail.

"I think so," Keith replied. "Is there a copier I can use?"

"In the work room. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask."

Keith carried the book to the work room and copied the pages. Then he returned to the table and reviewed the material. He spotted the young woman sitting at a desk in an office. Walking to it he rapped on the door. "Excuse me..."

"Yes?"

"There's a reference in the bibliography to an article in the Helvetica Chimica Acta, 1960. Does the library have this journal?" He opened the book to the bibliography and pointed to the reference.

"I believe so." She grabbed a slip of paper and jotted the citation on it.

Keith returned to the library table and set book down. His cell phone rang. He slipped it from his pocket and answered.

"Hello?"

Keith -- it's Paola. The samples arrived.

"How do they look?"

Nasty. How goes the hunt?

"I'm getting close. I found Don's book. The material is pretty thin, but there's a primary source in the bibliography. There's a nerdy-looking librarian getting it for me..." He heard the slam of a stack of paper hitting the floor behind him. Keith jumped up and turned around.

"For the record -- I am not a nerdy-looking librarian. I am a nerdy-looking information scientist!" She turned and stalked away.

"Paola -- gotta run." He cancelled the call and headed after her, following her to her office. She had removed her glasses and was wiping tears from her face. "I apologize," he said. "I'm sorry -- it was a wiseass remark and I regret it."

"Go away."

"I mean ... I didn't intend it in a mean way. I ... I like nerdy girls."

She drew in a breath and clenched her jaw. "I think you should quit while you're still ahead."

"Right -- thanks for the help. I am sorry..."

He picked up the journal she had thrown onto the floor, found the citation and made copies. The journal and the book he placed in a return basket and headed back upstairs.

He set the copies on his desk. "Paola," he called, "how's your German?"

"Kind of rusty." She picked up the paper and scanned it. "Okay I think I see what they're going for." She regarded him. "You look kinda glum."

"I feel like an absolute asshole," he replied. "When I made that nerdy librarian comment, she overheard me."

"She?"

"Yes. Female." Paola winced. "I'm afraid my deportment was less than professional and I feel rotten."

"Did you make her cry?"

He sighed. "Yes I made her cry."

"Ooh -- worse yet. What are you going to do about it?"

"What can you do when you offend a co-worker? Especially one who was trying to be helpful?"

She shrugged. "What are the chances you'll cross paths with her again?"

"Well ... I have used that library a few times in my career here; and I have seen her in the building. As a woman, Paola -- if you overheard someone calling you nerdy-looking, what would it take to put it right?"

"Do you think I'm nerdy-looking?"

"Not in the least."

"I don't think it would bother me."

"It hit a nerve with her." He regarded his lab partner. "Let's make it a little more personal. Suppose you overheard someone calling you a Hispanic-looking researcher -- with derogatory overtones."

Her eyes widened. "THAT would bother me."

"What would it take to fix it?"

"I don't know ... A sincere apology ... chocolates or flowers." She smiled. "When my husband upsets me, it takes jewelry. Real estate is a very sincere form of apology."

"If it were a complete stranger? Would sincere contrition and a peace offering suffice?"

"If it were me, I would have to think about it. Keith -- we have to get going on this problem. Don's called about it already -- twice."

Keith pushed his shopping cart, looking for inspiration for dinner. He paused by a display of Asian entrees and selected a pack of soba noodles and a mix for miso soup. He headed toward the seafood counter for some shrimp and toward the refrigerator case for some tofu. Along the way he spotted some chrysanthemums. He grabbed a bunch and an inexpensive glass vase.

Arriving at home he trimmed the stems, filled the vase with water and set them in it. He boiled water for the noodles and soup mix, adding the shrimp and blocks of tofu. After pouring the finished soup and noodles into a bowl he sat with chopsticks and ate his dinner.

His alarm roused him after an unsatisfying night. He showered and dressed. Then, he removed the flowers from the vase, wrapped their stems in a damp paper towel and dumped out the water. He carried them to his car and drove to the Research Center.

Once inside he refilled the vase from a drinking fountain and slipped the stems back into it. He rode the elevator to the second floor. The research library was locked and dark.

He stepped back onto the elevator and carried the vase to his desk. Paola stepped into the lab, took her lab coat from a hook and slipped into it. "Where did those come from?" she asked, nodding toward the vase. "Some secret admirer?"

"I got these as a peace offering for that girl in the library," he replied. "I stopped there on my way in but the place wasn't open."

Keith finished assembling an apparatus on the lab bench. It was a miniature version of the plant that manufactured the rejected product. "We'll start adding reagent after lunch," he remarked to Paola. "We'll start with pure raw material and make sure the process is working."

Paola slipped off her lab coat. Keith picked up the vase and together they headed for the elevator. He pressed the buttons for the first and second floors. "Don't wait for me," he said. "I'm making a side trip to the library."

The elevator stopped at the second floor. Keith headed for the library and found her office. Through the window on her door he could see it was empty. On the door was a nameplate reading Jenna Cole.

Keith tested the knob and found it unlocked. He let himself into her office and set the vase on her desk. Sitting in her chair he found a pad of paper. Taking a pen from his pocket he began to write. Jenna --

"What are you doing here?" He looked up and saw her standing in her doorway.

Keith stood up. "I..." He gestured toward the vase. "Peace offering. I felt rotten all day yesterday over what I said. I hate seeing girls cry and I especially hate making girls cry. I didn't sleep well and I wanted you to know that I did feel badly about offending you. This has been a real learning experience for me."

She picked up the vase and sniffed the blooms. "I love chrysanthemums," she said. "You really felt badly all night?"

"I really did."

She smiled. "I had gotten over it. This was a sweet gesture. I accept your apology..."

"Keith ... Keith Lipson."

She extended her hand. "Jenna Cole. Consider it forgotten, Keith."

"Good. Thank you, Jenna. I wouldn't have blamed you if you hadn't."

"Don't beat yourself up too much. I've let things slip I wish I could take back."

"Thanks for being understanding. I really appreciate the help you gave me. It would've taken me forever to find that citation."

"That's why I'm here."

"Well ... I had better be..." His eye caught a stack of DVDs sitting on a bookcase. Above it was a calendar with photographs from China. "Jenna -- do you like Asian film?"

"Oh, I love it." She picked up the stack. "I borrowed these from the university library's media collection."

"Have you watched them all?"

"Yes. I was going to return them today. Do you like Asian film?"

"I love everything Asian. Have you ever traveled there?"

She shook her head. "No. I've had to do my traveling vicariously. Have you?"

"I spent some time in Japan."

"You're so lucky!"

"I had a Japanese girlfriend for a time."

"Really? Was she nerdy-looking?"

Keith chuckled. "No. She was uber-nerdy-looking. She was an exchange student when I was a senior in high school. After graduation she went back to Japan. A little later I got an invitation to go visit her. The trip cost me a small fortune."

"How did it go?" she asked.

"It was a disaster. She had taught me some of the language, but I was hopeless with it once I got there. The kids learn English, but not many of them learn it from a native speaker. Communication was miserable, and I'm afraid I made as big a fool of myself with her family as I did with you, yesterday."

Jenna smiled. "Was that the end of the relationship?"

"Indeed it was. I think we export more of our culture to them than we import of theirs. She mixed much more easily here than I did there. But -- I still love the culture."

Jenna sat on her desk, crossed her legs and hugged her knee. "I think the appeal is how exotic it seems to us."

"I think that's a big part of it."

"I like watching films that evoke that sense of the exotic," she said. "I like films done by Ozu. They're quite evocative."

"I don't think I've seen any of those," he replied. "I like Kurosawa's work."

She shook her head. "I'm not so fond of those. I think they're clichéd samurai flicks."

"Not at all," he replied. "Ran is his re-telling of King Lear. It's quite textured. And, Madadayo isn't like any of his other films -- not a single sword-fight in it."

She shrugged "I'll take your word for it." Jenna picked up her purse. "If you'll excuse me, I was on my way to lunch."

"Would you mind if I walked with you?"

"Not at all."

Keith escorted her toward the corridor and they headed for the elevator. "I need to duck in here," she said, gesturing toward the ladies' room. "I'll just be a minute."

Keith paced outside the restroom door. "Okay, I'm ready," Jenna said and they rode the elevator to the ground floor. He took a tray and selected a bowl of chili and some tortilla chips. Jenna picked up a ham sandwich and a diet soda.

He carried his tray to the cash register and handed the teller a five dollar bill. He found an empty table and waved to catch Jenna's attention.

"You said you got those discs from the university library," he said. "Are you a student? An intern here?"

"No. I've worked here full-time for three years now."

"I thought I saw you around here a few times. I don't get to the second floor very often."

"Where do you work?" she asked.

"Up on sixth. I'm one of the research chemists."

"I guess I don't have much call to be up on sixth, either." She took a bite from her sandwich. "I'm taking some night classes at the university. I have a Masters in information science and I'm working toward an MBA."

"Is the company paying the tuition?"

"Yes they are. It's a good deal."

Keith scooped the last of his chili from the bowl. He picked up his tray. "Ready?"

Jenna stood and followed him to return his tray and dump his refuse. He pressed the call button on the elevator. The doors opened and he punched the buttons for the second and the sixth floor.