Turning Point

by Flavio Olcese

Chapter 13

  I was unaware that Robert Decker didn’t drive at night. It was highly unusual for me not to know my clients that well, but there just wasn’t a lot of information available on Mr. Decker. I knew that his wife had passed away a few years ago. I made sure the women in the household were aware so that nobody asked. I knew he was a driven man at work and had expanded his father company from a North Eastern United States producer to a national brand. I also knew he was a man that preferred his solitude.

  I had Emily looking out for his arrival while Karen and I finished up the preparations for the meal. The main dish was already in the oven and had been cooking for quite a while. The vegetables would need a last minute cooking and our appetizers were almost done. Those had to be served warm so we not only had to finish cooking them but then let them cool a bit. Karen was working on a cheese and meat platter to go with wine so we could mingle before our meal.

  If nothing else, the man was punctual. His private hired car dropped him off at three minutes to six and he rang the door bell at exactly six. Christine raced for the door and let him in. Karen and I came out of the kitchen briefly to greet our dinner guest. Mr. Decker had each of the girls holding each of his arms and a bouquet of flowers in his hand. Karen went over to kiss him hello and he handed her the flowers.

  “Wow, I’ll tell you Jake, they don’t welcome me this way at the country club, that’s for sure. Where did you get so many beautiful women?”

  I shook hand with him and welcomed him to our home. Karen offered him a drink and he went with a red wine. I thought he was a scotch drinker. The five of us sat in the living room to talk though it was Christine and Emily that dominated the conversation. They told him about our impending marriage next week and he told us about his forty seven year marriage to his wife. We all listened intently. The man was a dynamic story teller.

  After a couple of runs back into the kitchen, I finally announced dinner ready and we made our way to the dining room. As we had planned earlier Christine and Emily brought out the food and took out finished plates while Karen and I talked to our guest.

  Everything went fantastic. When desert and coffee time came around and we were all involved in the conversation, Mr. Decker made an offer to both the girls.

  “Christine, Emily, I wanted to be the first to let you know that we have paid internships available for the summer. Now we usually offer them to college students but I want both of you on my team so I’m willing to make a personal exception.”

  “Oh, can we?” Emily asked me.

  “Mr. Decker while it is early in the season to be making such an offer, I need to find out if Marie wants them at Kirkpatrick Advertising. Plus the girls still need to pull good grades or they won’t be doing anything this summer,” I replied, smiling.

  “Working as a treat for good grades? Now those are values I can admire. Still I wanted them to know the offer is open to the both of them, with you and Karen’s permission, of course.”

  “Thank you, Robert. We appreciate you thinking of our girls. We will certainly consider it when the time comes.”

  When we were finally done I pulled Mr. Decker into what used to be the library but was now Karen’s office for a private conversation. The girls and Karen started the process of cleaning up.

  “Scotch?” I asked.

  “Yes, absolutely. You know my wife always told me I should never drink hard liquor in front of underage kids. I still follow her rule. Now, what is it we need to talk about?”

  I sat down on a seat opposite my guest after offering him his drink. I had poured myself one, though I had no intention of drinking it.

  “The impending sale of Horizon Chocolates to Planetary Foods.”

  “I’m sorry, Jake. That is extremely confidential information. You’re not supposed to know about it. Can I ask who told you?”

  “Waltman & Goode threatened to sue Kirkpatrick Advertising over the internet advertising they claim I did for Horizon while I worked for them.”

  “That stuff was all Christine’s idea. Plus I’ve never done work with WGW so I’m not sure what work you’re talking about that they did for me. What are they talking about? And how do you know about the Planetary Foods sale?”

  “They said that they would end up with the Horizon Chocolates account anyway after the sale to Planetary Foods. At least that’s what they were told. They even said their working on the campaign for you already.”

  “Son of a―Planetary is going to screw me. They said I could handle my own advertising even after the takeover. I’ll call them first thing Monday and give them a piece of my mind. Why would they do that?”

  “We would prefer if you did not use either my name or the name of our ad agency.”

  “Jake, Planetary will ask how I know and if I don’t tell them, then I’ll look like an idiot. I have to tell them.”

  “Well there is another way―”

  “How?”

  “If Planetary actually intends to give your account to Waltman & Goode and they are already working on your campaign, all you have to do is call Waltman & Goode on Monday morning and tell them you want to come on Wednesday to talk about possibly changing your account to them. If they present you with a campaign, even a partial one, then that means they were already working on it. Three days is hardly enough time to put a drawing together, even if you already have the idea down. Afterwards you go to Planetary, tell them you heard a rumor that WGW was planning to take the account over after the sale and that you have already been presented with an advertising concept by them.”

  “What makes you think Waltman & Goode would be stupid enough to show me a concept campaign?”

  “Pride. The whole place is dripping with it. They’ll see it as a conquest and give you anything you want. They’ll do almost anything to get the Horizon account.”

  Robert finished his drink and stood up. The meeting was over and it was time to go home. He asked to use our phone to call a private car but I would have none of it. I would take him home myself. He said his goodbyes to the family and we made our way to the car. Robert gave me his home address and we set of to his home.

  “What do you get out of all this Jake? I mean, why tell me anything at all?”

  “Back when I worked for WGW I was a shark and I got paid handsomely for it. I was the last person you wanted to mess with. Now I have a good job with a great company and I work with really talented people. I enjoy what I do and I enjoy having the clients I have. When I heard what Waltman & Goode were trying to do I surprised myself with how easy it was to go back to the old me. I figured if they went after my biggest client I would go after one of their biggest clients. I like the Horizon Chocolates account. I don’t know what it is about your company Robert, but something about it makes me want to keep it.”

  “Alright, I appreciate your honesty. One more thing about this. The information you have is technically insider information. Don’t trade on it or you could get into big trouble with the SEC. I get the feeling WGW might be doing just that. I hope not but I will have to tell the SEC that I suspect it. I’m sure they’ll check your accounts too. Make sure you’re clean.”

  “I don’t trade on my clients or their business. I never have and I never will.”

  We rode for a little while longer in silence before Mr. Decker spoke again.

  “I had a very good time tonight. Thank you. It’s been a long time since I had dinner with a family. As I told you I’m usually at the country club on Saturday night.”

  “Well we should do this again then. No business next time, I promise.”

  “Actually maybe next time I could take you all to the country club. The food there is pretty good and my friends will be dying to meet the girls after I tell them about tonight. Plus I’m sure you could make some business contacts there. I told them all about Christine and her ideas last summer. Maybe we can arrange that after you return from your trip.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.”

  At his house Robert told
me to thank Karen for a wonderful evening and wished me goodnight. I had a slow drive home thinking about what I had just done.

  Early Monday morning I went to talk to Ira. It was so early in fact, that he was just getting in.

  “Good morning, Jake. Talk to me while I power up the computer.”

  “It’s about the Horizon WGW thing.”

  “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that.”

  “Yeah, well I’m going to anyway. When I was with Waltman & Goode I was a ruthless SOB and, for this project, I’ve easily reverted back to that person. I can’t be like that anymore. I’m looking forward to a marriage to a beautiful woman and adoption of two teenage girls, something I would have scoffed at two years ago. I’m highly uncomfortable with this project and I really don’t think it’s who we are or want to be. I need this job Ira, not only for the money but for my sanity. I like being here and want Kirkpatrick Adverting to thrive. Therefore I can’t and will never do this type of project again.”

  “Jake, it was your idea and we were concerned about it also. If you want out then fine, don’t do it. We can handle Waltman & Goode in court. Save your sanity, you’re going to need it for the two girls.”

  I smiled at him. If anybody knew about raising teenagers it was Ira. He had already brought up two boys and two girls. He was probably my only male mentor on how to raise Christine and Emily.

  “There is no out anymore. The ball is rolling,” I said.

  “Don’t worry, Jake. We have your back. We’re not going to leave you out to dry. Let things go where they may. I’ll talk to Marie and let her know this was a one time deal for you.”

  I spent my work week making sure that my staff would have things to do while I was away. We still had some big projects we were working on and they needed very little coaching from me. My special project was hardly mentioned by Marie or Ira. The rest of the staff was unaware of it until Wednesday morning when one of the trade magazines posted on their website that according to an unidentified source, Horizon Chocolates was hunting for a new ad agency. Marie and Ira noted it but made no big deal about it. I just kept the staff busy and told them not to worry. On Thursday afternoon I took a long lunch so I could go buy Karen a special gift.

  Friday was special. The news started pouring in at about eight thirty in the morning. By ten it was being covered by the national business news services. A private and until then secret buyout of Horizon Chocolates by Planetary foods had collapsed. There was some rumors about an SEC investigation of Planetary Foods’ ad agency’s senior management regarding insider trading about the deal. Every news bite fed more rumors and by eleven Marie and Ira were telling their news agencies calling them that they had no information about their client or their business dealings. Shortly thereafter Marie came into my office with Ira in tow.

  “You’re special project was a job well done. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? Begin your vacation early. Well see you in a week.”

  I didn’t need any further incentive. I gathered my papers in my briefcase and made sure to take the gift for Karen with me. I was home by noon.

  After getting home and putting my briefcase down, I walked into Karen’s office. She was sitting behind her desk staring at her computer monitor. She looked up and smiled at me.

  “I was just reading the news about Horizon. What happened?”

  “Somebody screwed up and it wasn’t us, but that’s not what’s important.”

  “What’s in the bag?” she asked, looking at the jewelry store bag in my hand.

  “Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. I figured I would get you something new for the wedding, unless you have something else already.”

  “I don’t, but even if I did I’m always willing to take more new things.”

  I pulled out a rectangular flat box from the bag and placed it on her desk in front of her. She looked at it smiling for a couple of seconds before she reached for it. She opened the box slowly and shook her head lightly, still smiling.

  “A white south sea pearl necklace with matching earrings,” I said. “I figured maybe they could serve as incentive for us to maybe have a bachelor party now, together, while the girls are in school.”

  “Incentive? Jake, the first day I met you, you could have had me. I didn’t need incentive then and I don’t need it now. These are beautiful. Thank you. Now let me feed you a quick lunch before our little party.”

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