"I own my own business."
"Sure you do."
Would she laugh? "I sell old baseball cards."
Arrow looked hard at me. "You're serious."
"Yes. Don't believe everything my father tells you about me."
"Sorry. Guilty as charged. Can you make a living doing that?"
"You can if you know what you're doing."
"How do you sell them? I assume you don't have a store."
"Card shows. But mostly, on the Internet, through auction sites like eBay. And I have my own website."
Arrow considered this for a moment. Then she said, "Good. Meet me at the Marriott at noon."
Arrow paid the tab. She declined help, even with the tip, saying she would put it on her expense account. We walked outside together. The cloud that I had seen earlier from above, blanketing the basin, was gone and the sun shone brightly. The temperature was in the seventies. I walked Arrow to her car, a late-model Acura, befitting a rising young executive.
When we got there she said, "Richard has told me a lot about you-and some of it may even be true. When he said he wanted to bring you into this I was skeptical, based on what I knew or thought I knew about you. Now that I've met you I've started to revise this. You may be a good choice, after all."
"I'll take that as a compliment. Besides, how can I screw up with you to keep me on the true and righteous path?"
"Is that what you think my role is?"
"Isn't it?"
Arrow frowned. "I see you still have some issues to work out with your father. However, I hope you find out what's bugging Ned, because my stock options are riding on it. In fact, every employee's stock options are riding on it."
"What do you think is his problem? Do you think it's gambling, or something more?"
"I don't know." Arrow shook her head. "But something is bugging him."
She shook my hand, got into her car and drove away. I watched her go, looking forward to lunch a lot more than I had been an hour ago.
Chapter 3 BUSINESS PLAN
I drove the few miles to Redondo Beach and spent an hour strolling along the street above the beach, trying to work out a plan of action. The surfers in the water, seagulls on the sand and bicyclists/runners/skaters/walkers on the bike path below didn't inspire me and I wasn't very successful. Then I drove a few more miles to the Marriott, parked in the free lot across a side street from it and walked over.
The idea of putting name-brand hotels in Torrance was a relatively recent one. They hadn't been there when I was growing up. Even though I had never been inside the Marriott, it was familiar to me; I could see it from my hillside window. I could see all the major buildings of Torrance, including the one that had lights on the top in the shape of a Christmas tree during the holiday season.
A hotel staff member pointed the way to the room where the Rotary Club met. I was one of the first ones there. Arrow hadn't arrived yet so I waited outside the meeting room door and watched the members come in. Arrow had assured me that my dress was appropriate; most of the members wouldn't be wearing ties. She was right.
These were the men and women who supplied the goods and services that made every city and town in the country work. Division of labor begets high productivity begets the high standard of living enjoyed by us, residents of the richest country in the world. Most of the time we don't appreciate it. Suddenly grateful, I gave silent thanks for these people, even though I wouldn't have traded places with any of them.
I even recognized two of the members. One was my father's tax accountant and the other was a travel agent our family had used in the past. I didn't think either of them would recognize me so I didn't speak to them.
I saw Arrow walking up the central flight of stairs from the lobby and eschewing the elevator. Score one for her. She greeted me with our third handshake of the day and said, "Richard asked how our meeting went. When I mentioned your card business to him, he laughed."
I should have known Arrow would relay what I said to my father. I said, "He thinks the only money I've ever made was when I was a bartender." Paying off gambling debts. "But I haven't done that for a while."
Arrow frowned and led the way into the meeting room. After making arrangements for me to participate as a guest, she glanced around the room.
"I don't see Ned," she said, "and he wasn't in the office. His admin said he had a meeting off-site, but she could have been covering for him. I hope he shows."
We staked out three chairs at one of the tables and then mingled. Arrow seemed to know most of the members and they seemed to know her. I could understand why the men especially would be attracted to her, with her looks and personality, but they also treated her with the respect of an equal.
I shook a lot of hands and heard a lot of names, which I promptly forgot. Fortunately, the members wore nametags. After a few minutes we sat down and were served our salads. The president made some remarks and other people spoke. Arrow introduced me to the group as the owner of a baseball card company. She made it sound much grander than it was.
One man kept hitting members with $20 fines for various infractions, real or invented. Arrow told me the money went to causes supported by Rotary. I was amused at a sign that listed a 4-way test Rotarians are supposed to make before thinking, saying or doing anything. They included, "Is it the truth," and "Is it fair to all concerned?" I reflected that if people really went through all that before thinking, saying or doing anything nothing would ever get thought, said or done.
Uniformed waiters and waitresses served the main course and still no Ned. I was fighting with my chicken when Arrow pointed toward the door. A burly, red-faced man with thinning hair had just come in. I wouldn't have recognized him. I knew he was in his late forties but he looked older.
Arrow got his attention and he came over to our table. She said, "Nice you could get here before the food was all gone."
I didn't know one spoke to a company president like that. I suspected Arrow didn't speak to my father like that. Or maybe she did. She introduced me as Richard's son and told him that I was thinking of joining Rotary.
"It's a good organization," Ned said, giving me a numbing handshake. "You look a lot like your old man. Or at least what he looked like at your age." He had a husky voice that could have come from smoking; Arrow had told me he had stopped several years ago. He sat down between us.
"I met you once at a company picnic when I was 15 or 16," I said.
Ned grunted, but didn't act as if he remembered. He was more interested in food than talk and for the next ten minutes he worked at catching up to the rest of us. I surreptitiously watched him. He dressed well, like my father, in a conservative suit, but aside from that they presented a contrast in appearance.
Whatever his problem was, it hadn't affected his appetite. He put away everything that was offered to him, including the usual, sugar-rich dessert and several glasses of iced tea. Then the speaker of the day, who addressed the importance of proper estate planning, made talk impossible. Since I didn't have an estate I daydreamed about owning the Honus Wagner baseball card that had recently sold for close to a million dollars.
When the meeting ended I was worried that Ned would rush off and I wouldn't get a chance to talk to him at all. If this happened it would reinforce my father's image of me as a failure. Arrow and I walked with him to the elevator and rode down to the lobby.
He walked rapidly as we headed toward the parking lot. I said, "I feel I know you because of all the great things my father has said about you."
He turned to me with a crooked smile and said, "Don't believe everything you hear. But Richard and I have worked together for a long time and we get along pretty well."
"I'd like to get your advice. I'm in the process of starting a business-selling old baseball cards on the Internet. I could use some help from someone who's been through starting a business." I knew that Ned had helped start several businesses in his career.