by Tracy Bloom
Eventually it looked like the torture was over as they appeared to be standing by the door again, having taken well over half an hour to walk round the twenty foot by fifteen foot room. He looked over at Mrs Allcock and he could see she was a little shell-shocked by the level of intensity from his wife. You want to try being married to her, he wanted to say as he caught Mrs Allcock tentatively looking at her watch.
‘So that’s us,’ she eventually said, putting her hand on the door handle to escort them out.
‘Can I be absolutely honest with you?’ Alison asked, placing a hand on her arm to show her, and indeed Matthew, that this torture wasn’t over yet.
‘Of course,’ replied Mrs Allcock, taking a step back to release herself.
‘Well, I wanted to share with you that the reason we’ve taken Rebecca and George out of St Mary’s is because of their inability to treat them as individuals rather than twins.’
‘I can assure you we have had many sets of twins through this classroom and they are all treated exactly as we would treat every child in this room. As an individual.’
Matthew thought Alison was going to weep with joy or throw her arms round the woman.
‘Well, that is music to my ears I must say…’ Alison hesitated then pressed on. ‘St Mary’s were particularly unsympathetic when it came to the casting of the Nativity. Insisting they both perform as donkeys rather than being considered for the main parts. In particular they were ruled out of the lead parts, I feel, because they’re twins.’
‘Well,’ said Mrs Allcock, ‘I can assure you that whatever their part in the Nativity, they will have a marvellous time doing it with our male member of staff, who unfortunately is busy in the main school photocopying or else I would introduce you. We feel it is very important to have some positive male role models in the environment and our “Master Elf”, as we like to call him, has just taken on the Nativity this year, and I have no doubt it will be splendid and your children will be splendid in it too. The children adore him.’
‘Oh that’s wonderful,’ gasped Alison. ‘Particularly for George. Isn’t it, Matthew? George has anxiety issues,’ she told Mrs Allcock. ‘He struggles with strangers and needs bringing out of himself. It would do him a great deal of good to have a significant part in the Nativity. He really needs to be in an environment where his confidence is being built. Would you make sure that Master Elf understands that?’
‘Of course,’ replied Mrs Allcock, thrusting open the door and walking briskly down the hall as confirmation of the end of the tour. By the time Alison caught up with her she was slightly out of breath.
‘But you will have a word with him, won’t you? The Master Elf. Make sure he understands our concerns?’
‘Of course,’ said Mrs Allcock with a very false smile, holding the door open for them so she could chuck them out on to the street. ‘I will make sure he is fully aware of you.’
‘OK,’ said Alison, looking moderately satisfied with the answer. ‘So our nanny, Lena, will be dropping them off next week when they start. To avoid a tricky separation scene with their mother.’
‘Of course, good thinking,’ replied Mrs Allcock, looking relieved that Alison wouldn’t be darkening her door again. ‘Goodbye,’ she said, shutting the door firmly behind them.
Alison didn’t speak again until she was inside the car. Matthew knew she was mulling it all over. Deciding where to place her opinion. Matthew thought he’d better point her in the right direction for all their sakes.
‘I liked the school, I liked Mrs Allcock and I really liked the sound of the Master Elf,’ he said. ‘It’s perfect, Alison. Great choice. Well done you.’
‘Let’s just wait to see what parts they get in the Nativity, shall we,’ replied Alison. ‘They’d better be good or else I shall be straight back in here to have words with Mrs Allcock and the mysterious Master Elf.’
Chapter Ten
Hi, Katy – Carlos says to ignore my previous message about his cholesterol. He doesn’t worry about it over Christmas. You are registered with a local doctor aren’t you? Mum xx
Katy put her phone away and looked into the mirror of the men’s toilet on the third floor of Butler & Calder. ‘Why?’ she said to her reflection as she wondered how she was going to get Daniel out of there and able to stand up in front of the CEO of Boomerang Airlines and string together a coherent sentence. As she looked down at the crumpled mess crouched down beside the waste-paper basket, she had no idea what on earth she was going to do with him.
‘Why now?’ he sobbed into his arm. ‘Why leave me now? That’s what I don’t understand. Who ups and leaves just before Christmas? Why would he do that?’ Daniel looked up at Katy, his eyes red raw. At this rate she would be lending him some eyeliner to hide that.
‘Perhaps he just didn’t want to buy you a Christmas present,’ she said, trying to be helpful while sneaking a look at her watch. She had precisely twenty-two minutes to sort this mess out, and she always found she very quickly ran out of sympathy when under pressure.
‘But it was going to be the most perfect Christmas,’ moaned Daniel. ‘We’d planned it all. He even promised to cook Christmas dinner.’
‘You can come and eat with us – you won’t be alone,’ offered Katy, stepping forward and putting a tentative hand on his back. Daniel looked up at her as though she’d offered to stab his eyes with a turkey baster.
‘And have turkey!’ he said with a look of disgust on his face. ‘Luca was going to cook me linguine.’
‘Linguine? Not very festive.’
‘Who cares about bloody festive? I would have had a hot Italian cooking me pasta in my kitchen on Christmas Day! Do you seriously think eating your turkey while your mum is having sex overhead in your bed with an oversized Spaniard is going to replace that?’
‘That hurt,’ said Katy. ‘I cook a good turkey, and I asked you not to mention my mother. I need no reminders of what we’re facing this Christmas.’
‘What you’re facing?’ cried Daniel. ‘That’s nothing compared to what I will now have to endure. Alone after the love of my life has left me.’
‘Last week you said you would throw him out if he didn’t stop leaving out-of-date pesto in the fridge.’
‘Oh, I never meant it,’ wailed Daniel. ‘Of course I didn’t mean it. He should have understood that I was joking. He can leave his out-of-date pesto in my fridge any day of the week if he’ll just come home in time for Christmas.’ Daniel’s eyes suddenly flashed wide. ‘Perhaps that’s it. Maybe this is all a plan. Maybe he’s planning a glorious Christmas Eve homecoming when he’ll fall into my arms and vow to stay with me forever.’ He looked at Katy expectantly.
‘Does he owe you rent?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘He isn’t coming back,’ she said firmly.
‘You are harsh,’ he said, pulling himself up. ‘Wouldn’t hurt to just indulge me in a little Christmas fantasy in my hour of need.’
‘A fantasy that isn’t going to happen. Now put your face under that tap. Cooper White will be here any minute. You can’t waste all the hours we’ve put in on this pitch just because you got dumped at Christmas.’
‘Do you need to be so blunt? I am emotionally bruised right now.’
‘Oh, grow up, Daniel. Pull yourself together. Do you want Cooper White to see you as the crushed ex-boyfriend of a pasta maker or as an award-winning creative director who has some seriously shit-hot ideas to share?’
‘Shit hot?’
‘Yeah, what about it?’
‘Nobody says shit hot any more! Seriously, Katy, you need to keep up with the times.’
Katy straightened his tie and brushed some fluff off his shoulder. ‘You’re better. Heart mended. Now get out there and kick the shit out of this pitch.’
‘Good God, Katy, you’re like a dinosaur.’ He looked in the mirror and pouted. ‘Let’s go and do a seriously sick presentation to this dude.’
It was clear twenty minutes later, when everyone was set
tled in the conference room and Andrew had delivered Cooper White to the head of the table, that Daniel’s heart had most definitely mended. Katy watched him smooth down his hair and yes, lick his finger and smooth down his eyebrows when the tall, muscular, tanned figure of Cooper White took his seat. Katy fully understood Daniel’s response, though she wouldn’t go so far as to preen her eyebrows. It had to be said that Cooper White was the type of man who you took one look at and wished you were better looking.
His forget-me-knot-blue linen suit brought out the colour of his eyes, and the blonde of his hair contrasted beautifully against his healthy outdoorsy tan. But it was his smile that was the most dazzling thing about him: wide and open and warm. He went round and shook every person’s hand heartily and looked you in the eye when you told him your name like he was going to remember it and it was the most beautiful name he had ever heard. Sally, the account exec who worked for Katy, was drooling almost as much as Daniel. They both sat with vacant expressions on their faces as they fantasised about a cosy Christmas spent next to a roaring fire in the company of the big, strapping, dazzling specimen of a man that was Cooper White. Even his name was dazzling.
The entire room sat in awe of this glowing man who had landed in the middle of the pasty-white bunch of British natives who fed on his sun-kissed skin like it was nectar. Andrew cleared his throat as though he was about to say a few words of welcome to the Adonis sitting at the head of the table, but Cooper interrupted and took centre stage all by himself.
‘I just want to say that I’m so happy to be here, and thank you all for taking the time out of what must be very busy Christmas schedules to talk me through what you do at very short notice. I don’t know whether Andrew told you, but I flew in from Sydney last week, and I happened to catch some of your work on the TV and had my assistant track you down. You are clearly extremely talented, and I just had to come and meet you for myself.’ His beaming smile travelled around the room like a spotlight. ‘My aim is to make Boomerang Airlines arrive into our customers’ consciousness with a bang. I’m hoping that the people in this room can help me do that. And given what I’ve already seen, I think my hunch just may have been right.’
If Katy wasn’t mistaken, he looked right at her when he said that. Not just a passing glance – a very clear, confident stare. She tried not to blush but it was hard when the best-looking man who had ever walked into the agency was staring you down. She looked over at Daniel, but he had a look on his face akin to a lovesick puppy and was clearly oblivious to anything going on around him.
‘Well, we’re very glad to have you here,’ said Andrew, the Australian dollar signs lighting up his eyes. ‘When a company as exciting as Boomerang comes along, we’re very happy to turn our creative juices on and see where we could take it. The team here have really enjoyed getting to grips with the essence of the brand and the market in which it will operate, and we’re delighted to share with you some initial thoughts on how we would approach the account should we be appointed lead agency. Now, as I’ve already taken you through the background of the agency over lunch, I’ll hand over to Katy, who will kick off the presentation.’
‘Oh good,’ said Cooper, leaning forward expectantly. Katy felt herself blush again and had to have a quiet word with herself as she walked to stand in front of the large screen bearing the Boomerang logo. She told herself to grow up. She was forty and happily married. This was not the time or the place to have a teenage crush. She needed to get a grip and nail this presentation just as she would if the client sitting there listening was naked, which was how she often imagined them to avoid any nerves. It didn’t work with Cooper, however, as imagining him naked made her feel hot and bothered rather than in control. She took a breath and instead pictured him as a small elf sitting on the table. Much better. She was back and doing what she did best. Convincing clients that Butler & Calder was the best advertising agency in the world.
Katy waited for silence in the room to build the anticipation and then picked an old-fashioned-looking book up off the table in front of her and flicked to a pre-marked page. She looked Cooper White (aka Christmas elf) straight in the eye and started to speak.
‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’
She said it slowly and intensely and never dropped his gaze.
‘Very wise words,’ said Cooper when she paused at the end.
‘Indeed,’ replied Katy. ‘The very wise words of Mark Twain, in fact, written over one hundred years ago but never more relevant than now in this time-poor world that we live in. We are often too busy, too distracted, too exhausted to make sure that we don’t end up disappointed by the things we didn’t do. The trips we didn’t take, the places we didn’t explore, the friends and family we didn’t see.’
Katy paused again for dramatic effect and to make sure she had everyone’s attention. She turned to face the screen momentarily and clicked a remote control to change the image to several photographs of people enjoying great times with loved ones in various locations around Australia.
She turned back to face her audience.
‘We aim to position Boomerang as the domestic low-cost airline in Australia that is there to make sure Australians and visitors to your great country do not end up disappointed by the things they didn’t do.’ As she said this even more images appeared on screen of people having a great time in some of the more obvious landmarks – Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru. ‘That they catch the trade winds. That they explore, dream and discover right here in this amazing, diverse and stunning country.’
Cooper White’s eyes were wide open now, and he was leaning even further forward, drinking in every word. Katy looked over at Andrew, who gave her a discreet thumbs up. She let a few more pictures scroll through and once she thought the core of the idea had settled in she clicked on to the next screen and got down to the real business of what they would do to launch Boomerang Airlines in Australia.
Forty minutes later, after Michelle from the insight department had shared her wisdom on demographics and customer attitudes and Daniel had flamboyantly eulogised about the creative team’s ideas for TV advertising, billboards and social-media campaigns, Katy took to the floor again to wrap up and propose how the account could be managed from the UK using the latest in video-conferencing technology.
‘Strong account management will be key if we win this account,’ said Katy. ‘The time difference and distance will of course present difficulties in communication. However, none of this is insurmountable with the right account-management personnel in place who have a close relationship with your brand and communications team. We can work together to ensure there is no disadvantage to being on opposite sides of the world. As head of account services here, I am confident we have the people and systems in place to ensure smooth running of the business and that you should not be at all concerned about geography when you pick your lead advertising agency. What you should be concerned about is sourcing the right ideas and creativity, and I hope, with what we’ve shown you today, that we have left you in no doubt of where you can find that. Thank you.’ She sat down then asked Cooper White if he would like to ask her or anyone on the team any questions. There was a long pause as Cooper leaned back in his chair, surveying the room. A small smile played on the edges on his lips, which Katy took to be a good sign. He had listened intently throughout and thrown in the odd question, but apart from that it was hard to tell if he had heard what he wanted to hear.
He drew in his breath sharply then suddenly leaned forward.
‘I love your take on the positioning of the airline. Some Australians are guilty of apathy when it comes to exploring their own country, and if we can position ourselves as the antidote to that, as the way by which you can avoid disappointment because of the things you didn’t do and the places you
didn’t see, I can really see that having legs. I like the sound of it.’
He stared down at the floor through his legs then suddenly raised his head as though he had come to some kind of decision.
‘Unfortunately we are yet to recruit a brand director. I had one lined up and then he dropped out to go and work for a confectionery company in the States, would you believe? I have headhunters on high alert, and we’re about to interview two new candidates on my return to Australia, but we are committed to a launch date. Every day my airplanes aren’t flying I’m losing money. Hence why I’m starting to see brand and advertising agencies myself to get the ball rolling.’ He shook his head and Katy felt a compulsion to go over and give him a hug. Clearly launching your own airline was no bowl of cherries, even if you were a six-foot hunk of a multimillionaire.
‘So you can understand my concern over account handling,’ he continued. ‘We may be launching without a brand director so the agency may have to fly solo for a while. And what with that and our relative locations—’
‘Cooper,’ said Andrew, interrupting, ‘I can assure you that you’re in safe hands with Katy. Her years of experience have made her extremely resourceful. She’s used to dealing with brand managers fresh out of university who, quite frankly, can be less useful than having no brand manager. I can reassure you that the absence of a brand director is something we’ll be able to deal with. Katy will make it work.’
‘Mmm,’ said Cooper, nodding but still looking concerned. The slightly cocky swagger had gone as the realisation of the mountain he had to climb came crashing down. He coughed. ‘I would like to discuss it further,’ he announced, sitting upright in his chair and looking at Andrew.
‘Of course we can…’ started Andrew.
‘Would you be free for dinner tonight, Katy?’ he said, swinging round to face her. ‘Unfortunately I fly later this week and I’m only free today. But given the tremendous work I’ve seen, I really do believe this is the right agency, but I need to be sure that you can handle it given our circumstances. I would be most grateful if you could join me tonight so we can discuss how exactly the account can be managed.’
