The Magic Mirror

by Michael Gemignani

friends is Marshall.@ There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice, and I found myself blushing.

  AWell, it turns out,@ the officer continued, Athat there is a Mr. Marshall here. You aren=t sure of his last name, and I don=t know his first name, but I can look him up in my directory.@

  The officer pulled what looked like a small phonebook from a drawer and leafed through it. AWell, your friends= son may be here. Mr. Marshall=s first name is Robin, and his office is on the 15th floor. He=s in training to become a senior bond saleman.@

  ACan we go up and try to find him?@ I asked.

  AWell, I really need to call up there first,@ the guard replied. AFirst, he might be out of the office, and second, he might not want to see you, and third, we don=t even know if he is the Robin you=re looking for. If I can get him on the line, you can tell him why you want to see him, and then he can decide if I should send you up.@

  The guard hit the speaker phone button on the telephone on his desk. When he heard a dial tone, he punched in a four digit number. After three rings, we heard a man=s voice.

  AHello, Waltrop Banking, Robin Marshall speaking.@

  I looked at David. His lips were moving slightly and his eyes were closed. He might, I conjectured, be offering a prayer that we had at last found the object of your search.

  AMr. Marshall,@ the guard replied, Athere are two young men in the lobby who say that they=re friends of your parents. They would like to speak to you.@

  There was a silence on the phone that lasted only seconds but that seemed like an eternity before Robin answered, AVery well, put them on so I can talk to them.@

  ACertainly, Mr. Marshall,@ the guard said as he pushed the phone toward me.

  I dared not call him Robin yet because I was not sure we had found our man, so I addressed him more formally. AMr. Marshall, thank you for talking with us. My friend David and I are friends of Martha and Samuel, two elderly folks who live not far from Henryville. Martha and Samuel have a son named Robin with whom they have lost contact, and they would like to see him again. Samuel is ill and may not live much longer. He is particularly anxious to see his son.@

  Again there was a pause on the line before Robin answered. AI=m surprised that you were able to find me. I have not been in touch with my parents for at least three years, and I did not tell them where I was living or working. My congratulations on your outstanding detective work.

  AYes, I will see you. The guard can send you up. My office is in Room 1530. Because there are a number of cubicles in the room, I will wait by the door to greet you. You say there are two of you. I assume I will be able to identify you.@

  AYes, sir,@ I replied. AI am wearing a blue shirt and khaki pants. David is wearing a red shirt and blue jeans.@

  AWell, not the sort of dress we=re used to up here, but I=ll see you soon. Henry, let them come up.@

  Henry hung up the phone and waved us back to the elevators. We pressed the up button and an elevator door to our right opened almost immediately. David and I stepped in and David pressed the button for the 15th floor.

  Though I am almost ashamed to admit it, I had never been in an elevator before. I knew what they were, but it was still something of a shock when the door closed and I found myself standing in a windowless room hardly bigger than a closet. If the light in the ceiling had gone out, I might well have panicked. As it was, I was none too comfortable when I felt the pressure on my legs as the contraption began to rise. There was David beside me, quite nonchalant, as if nothing special was happening. David was so much more experienced and sophisticated. If he had not been with me, I am not sure I would have had the nerve to enter the elevator or to know what to do once I was inside it.

  I wondered again whether all this trouble was really necessary so I could home to my parents. Martha and Samuel had sent me to look for their son, and it appeared we had found him. But I felt inadequate and deflated. David would understand Robin better than I could. Robin, like David, had lived in a large city. Robin, too, was used to crowds and elevators and traffic lights and all the things I was finding so alien and intimidating.

  My parents also had never experienced these things. If I tried to tell them about them, they would think I was putting on airs or mocking their ignorance. I could not do that to them. I longed for them and my old home more than ever.

  The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. We were at the 15th floor.

  A Difficult Discussion

  The corridor into which we stepped was, I estimated, some ten feet wide. Indirect lighting gave a warm glow to the surroundings and a deep plush red carpet covered the floor. The walls were beige and portraits of what I assumed where important bank officials hung in a line along one side of the corridor. There were rooms on each side of the hallway with double width doors consisting of two tall glass panels, each with golden handles. On each door was emblazoned in gold letters the number of the room and the services it housed.

  We turned right and walked halfway around the building until we came to Room 1530. There, inside the door, a man in a dark blue suit was waiting. He grabbed the inside handle of the left glass panel and pulled the door open with his left hand while extending his right hand to welcome us. I looked straight into his face. Yes, it matched closely the picture of Robin that was in my bedroom when I was living with Martha and Samuel. We had indeed found Robin.

  I must admit as I entered that room that I felt uncomfortable and out of place. Everyone who worked there was neatly dressed with hair well groomed. The men all wore white shirts, ties, and dark pants. Some men were wearing their suit jackets; those who had taken theirs off still had them hanging neatly close at hand. The women present wore pant suits or dresses in dark collars, simple but dignified.

  Although about half of the individuals I saw were on the telephone, the noise was subdued. The entire room radiated a sense of gravity, affluence, and earnestness of purpose. David clearly was not as intimidated as I was. Of course, he had a life of wealth and was, therefore, comfortable in a situation where clearly wealth mattered.

  Robin led us to a small conference room at the back of the room, ushered us in and closed the door. AI don=t know how you did it, but you found me,@ he began. AI must admit that I=m a bit ashamed of myself for not staying in touch with my parents, but I>ve been quite busy. I hope mom and dad are doing well.@

  AActually,@ I replied, Ayour mother and father are not that well. I am afraid that your father does not have much longer to live, which is why they wanted us to find you. They want you to come home before your father dies. They miss you very much.@

  AI am sorry to hear that my father isn=t doing that well. I would love to see them again, but you have to understand that I=m training for a very important and high-paying position here, and I can=t take off whenever I want to. In fact, very few of my colleagues even take their annual vacation. It=s a point of pride with those who skip vacations so they can make even more money. And even those who do take vacations usually take a good deal of work with them. While their families are off at the beach or amusement park, they=re usually camped at the hotel keeping track of the stock market and staying in contact with clients. Frankly, I=ve noticed that those who take real vacations rarely rise to management, and they don=t make nearly as much as the rest of us.@

  Robin smiled broadly, but I was much taken back. Robin seemed to telling us that his work here was more important than taking a few days to visit his dying father. In addition, if Robin did visit his parents again, there appeared to be no chance that he would remain home to care for Martha as she grew older and more frail.

  ADo you ever miss your parents and the home you used to live in?@ David asked.

  Robin laughed. AMiss my old home? You have got to be kidding. There was nothing to do there except take care of the garden, what farm there was, and the few animals we had. It was the same thing day after day after day. The most exciting event was watching a pig give birth to p
iglets.@

  AThere is something to said for simplicity,@ I ventured. AYou sound like your whole life is consumed with making money. I imagine you=re competing against all the others out there, I wouldn=t be surprised if you=re under a lot of pressure to do better than your colleagues. Isn=t that right?@

  Robin seemed slightly taken back by my challenge, but he quickly snapped back at me. AYes, you=re right. But so what? I=m better than almost any of the others. I=ve sold more securities than all but two of my competitors. I=m one of the best new brokers that Waltrop=s hired in years, and I=m still technically only a trainee.@

  ASo you measure your own worth in how much money you make?@ David inquired.

  AWell, it=s one way of keeping score, and it=s enabled me to buy luxuries I never even knew existed when I lived with my parents: a large condo, a Mercedes, a 50 foot cabin cruiser, even a vacation home.@ Robin leaned back in chair, obviously pleased with himself.

  I felt like laughing. ASo you own all this stuff and you don=t have time to enjoy it because you=re working all the time. You own a vacation home, but you told us you can=t allow yourself to take a vacation.@

  AAll right, you found me,@ Robin replied angrily. ADid you come here to criticize my lifestyle? Why was it you worked so hard to find me in the first place? To try to get me to go home to my parents? That was it, wasn=t it?@

  I sighed. AI=m not sure you=re parents would want you home given what you=ve become. They remember you fondly as what you were before you ran away. If you came home now, they would hardly recognize you, and, no doubt, you would look down on them because you don=t think they=re as sophisticated or successful as you. That would hurt them so deeply, I couldn=t even bring myself to take you back to them.@

  AWell, I see you=re becoming more reasonable,@ Robin said more calmly. ABut since you=ve traveled a long way to see me, I think I owe you something. I=d like to take you out to dinner tonight at one of our finest restaurants, my treat. But I would like you to tell me how you found me. I=m very curious about that. I might be able to get you jobs with a detective agency if you=re as clever as you seem to be.@

  I was feeling both sad and discouraged from our discussion, but I knew that we could not let Robin go so easily when we had gone to such efforts to find him. If having dinner with him was the way to extend our conversation, then dinner it would be. AYes, we will accept your invitation.@

  AFine,@ said Robin. AI=ll wrap up early here tonight about 7. There is a great bistro right around the corner on 52nd Avenue, Chez Louis. They serve remarkable cuisine from The Province. Their wine list is also exceptional. Let=s meet there at 7:30.@

  David had spoken less than I so far. I saw him observing Robin closely, probably looking for some chink in Robin=s hard shell. David spoke now. AYes, we=ll be pleased to dine with you. Thanks for the invitation. And we will explain how we found you. It=s quite an interesting story.@

  AI=m sure it is,@ smiled Robin. A>Til 7:30 then at Chez Louis.@

  Robin rose and opened the door to the office in which we had met, and then escorted us to the door to the hallway. He opened it for us. AIt has been a pleasure meeting with you gentlemen. I look forward to having dinner with you this evening.@

  David and I exited into the hallway, and Robin let the glass door close behind us. We watched him walk briskly to a desk and pick up a telephone, no doubt to try to work yet more sales before he met us for dinner.

  David and I walked silently back to the elevator. AWell, now what do we do?@ I asked as we waited for the elevator.

  AI don=t know,@ David said softly. ABut the mirror led us here. Maybe the mirror