He figured it wouldn’t be long before he knew exactly what was going on. All he knew is that obviously part of it had to do with Saturday night, but that should have been old news by now. He got nothing when he walked in the lobby to sign in, except a little more than usual “good morning” from the clerk.
The elevator ride to his floor was quiet and lonely. He stood in the cab and nervously pondered what might be before him. He hated being unprepared, but was ashamed to admit he did some of his best work when he was blindly swinging at the ball. As the elevator doors slid open, he took a deep breath and strode as confidently as possible into whatever melee might lie ahead.
Trish was at her post, the phones ringing wildly, with a second girl helping out. Trish shot him a look that was both deadly and smug when he said good morning. She said nothing as she handed him a stack of mail.
Ian sorted through it and headed for the main office. Without turning to look at her he added, “Oh, Trish, I talked an old college friend, Saxon Allen…”
Trish’s eyebrows shot up so far they almost rocketed off her forehead.
“It seems I never received any of the messages she left.”
“I’ll check into that, Ian.” She said meaning “I’m busy”.
“I expect you to get to the bottom of it and report to me by the end of the morning meeting.”
Trish’s eyes got beady and snake like. “Yes, Ian.”
“I also expect it will not happen again, Trish.”
“I’m sure it was just an oversight at the front desk.” She tried to shift the blame.
“I expect it will not happen again, Trish.”
“I will do my best, Ian.” She said flatly.
Ian stopped and turned to her, looking directly in her eyes, “I can get anyone to answer phones, Trish.”
Trish actually brightened thinking of the possibility of actually getting fired. Ian starting walking back to the office and tossed over his shoulder, “I am searching for just the right person to water my plants.”
Ian heard the second girl say, “He doesn’t have any plants.” And Trish snarl, “Oh, the son of a bitch will pull some out of his ass if he has to.”
When he entered the main office, everyone was present and accounted for and seemed fairly normal. He was surprised. He strode in his office and picked up a second neat stack of messages and memos, leafed through them quickly, making mental note of a few. He stuck his head out of his door. “Ready in five?” He said to the audible agreement of the group.
He turned to Blake. “Could you call and order lunch for the guards please?”
“Sure. I’ll call the commissary.”
“It’s a thank you, not a threat.”
Blake laughed, “Pizza or burgers?” as he picked up his handy dandy notebook that seemed to have the contact numbers for the entire universe.
“No, make it special, I’ll leave it to you. I want them to have a nice lunch, something catered, but not overwhelming.”
“Got it,” he said looked through his book and started dialing.
“Everybody ready?” Ian said out loud, signaling the staff to ready the horses at the starting gate.
The team started to gather, and Wella strutted up and offered Ian his choice from an already opened box of fresh donuts. He made a selection and took a bite. “Everybody have a good weekend?”
Daryn stifled a giggle and Warren, one of the guys who had been in daytime, kicked her ankle.
“Okay, what is going on?”
Everybody started talking at once. Just as earlier, it all came so fast and furious he couldn’t understand a word. He finally just let them wear them selves out.
When the din became a silence, he held up his hands, “Okay, we’ll do it this way…” he picked another powdered donut out of the box. “When you have the donut take a bite and then give me one sentence, pass the donut and repeat.”
“I don’t eat refined sugar…” Ella whined.
“Then you don’t get to speak…ever…again…understand?”
Heads nodded in agreement. He took a bite, chewed and swallowed. “I get to work this morning and am met at the front gate by a pack of rabid reporters who seem to be under the impression that as a publicity stunt I am taking over the network after eloping with Saxon Allen.” He passed the donut to Wella.
“A Jack Tolan announcement leaked this morning. He is retiring after May sweeps.” She smiled, more at the fact that she kept it short and precise, than starting off with the juicy tidbit of information. She passed the donut to Daryn.
“You’re a star on You Tube. Already one of the top ten downloads in less than 48 hours!” She giggled and passed the donut on. “Shall I call Lady Gaga and tell her you don’t work with has been hootchie mamas?”
Ella giggled half her donut from her mouth. “Mine’s show and tell.” She picked up a handful of papers all folded to the right spot and dropped them one by one in Ian’s lap.
The bold captions read things like “NEW EXEC SHAKES IT UP AT HRT”, “NEW HUNKA HUNKA HRT” and “JUSTYN TIME TO SAVE A NETWORK”. Each boldly emblazoned with a large photo of himself, shirt open to the waist and in sweat covered mid-gyration. Ella past the last bite on.
Sean, who always seemed to Ian a little too serious, “David Letterman called, he wants to know if you’ll read his top ten list on Thursday.”
“Okay, let’s put all this together”, Ian rounded up the group. “Anyone have anything…substantial…to add?”
“Well”, Lee blinked through his wire rims, “I didn’t get any donut, but…” he opened his laptop, hit a button and swiveled the screen around for all to see. Suddenly there was Ian, standing in front of the microphone.
“Are you ready for something…sexy?” His image asked as the room screamed yes. “Good, cause I’m wearing waaaay too many clothes…” He shouldered his jacket off. As the band hit the opening chord he ripped his shirt open launching into Prince’s “Kiss”.
“So that’s how that happened…” Ian cringed and waved his hands, “Enough! Enough! Turn it off! Turn it off!”
Lee clicked and the screen went black. Ian caught Ella mouthing “Make me copy”.
“Wow! Ian, you were hot!” Interjected Sean, “That even made me kinda…”
“Don’t even go there…” Ian stopped him. “First things, first. How did that get on the internet?” The entire staff held up their cell phones and showed the camera eye. Ian hung his head in stupidity.
“Okay, scenarios and spin control”
Ella piped in, “Timing, could be considered a move by you to gain the attention of the public in support of a bid for Tolan’s position.”
Ian answered, “Silly, too new and too naïve a move. Next!”
Sean’s turn, “Other execs might be threatened, though. I’m sure you’ll be called on it today at the meeting.”
“Right. The good side and the bad side were sounded out for a few moments and then Ian changed the subject to the meeting “Yes, the meeting, what have we got to offer?”
A verbal rundown was made of projects in various states, and pitches to win them a spot on the fall schedule. The goal was one show. They knew they were a new team who had to work quickly in a fight to be taken seriously enough to be taken seriously.
Wella would attend the meeting with him, a little uncommon, but the two of them had developed a system of signals to help Ian along. She had been around, on the periphery a long time, and knew how each person in that room might react.
On several occasions she had already silently guided Ian through what could have been embarrassing meetings with various members of the hierarchy. Provided she didn’t come off looking like a spastic having a nervous breakdown, Ian felt more confident having her there.
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