Essential details were worked out by the commission's staff during off-the-record talks with other staff from the public utility. Nim had once attended such a session in a small, closed room and heard a PUC staffer ask, "Now how big an increase do you people really need? Never mind the public hearings bullshit. Just tell us, and we'll tell you how far we can go. Frankness -on both sides- had followed, with the outcome settled privately in much less time than was occupied in public hearings.
On the whole, the system was reasonable and it worked. But this time, obviously, it hadn't.
Aware that the chairman was still seething, Nim said cautiously, "It doesn't look as if inquests, at this moment, will do a lot of good."
Humphrey sighed. "You're right." He addressed the finance vice president.
"Sharlett, financially speaking, how do we get through next year?"
“The options are limited," Mrs. Underhill said, "but I'll go over them."
She spread out several sheets of complex calculations.
The discussions continued through most of the day, with still more staff members summoned to the chairman's office, their input sought. But in the end it became evident there were two choices only. One was to cut back on all planned construction, curtail maintenance and reduce customer service. The other was to cease paying dividends to shareholders. It was affirmed that the first was unthinkable, the second could be disastrous because it would send GSP & L's stock plummeting and place the company's future in jeopardy. However, it was also agreed that no other courses of action were possible.
Late in the afternoon, J. Eric Humphrey, visibly tired and downcast, pronounced the verdict which the small top-level coterie had known from the beginning to be inevitable. "Management will recommend to the board of directors that payment of all dividends on the company's common stock be suspended immediately and indefinitely."
It was a historic decision.
Since the formation of Golden State Power & Light three quarters of a century earlier when its predecessor company was combined with several others to become a single entity, the corporation had been a model of financial rectitude. Never in the ensuing years had it failed to meet its obligations or to pay a dividend on its stock. As a result, GSP & L was known among investors large and small as "old faithful” and "the widows' and orphans' friend." Retirees in California and elsewhere put their life savings confidently into GSP & L shares, relying on regular dividends as their means of support. Cautious trustees of other people's money did the same. Thus the omission of dividends would have widespread effect, not only in lost income but in reduction of capital when the value of the shares dropped, as was bound to happen.
Shortly before the chairman's anguished pronouncement, the original morning quartet had reassembled-Eric Humphrey, Oscar O'Brien, Sharlett Underhill, and Nim-plus Teresa Van Buren. The PR bead had been called in because of the major public impact the decision would soon have.
A regular board of directors meeting was already scheduled for 10 am next Monday, and the directors' finance committee would meet a half hour earlier. Presumably at both sessions the management decision would be confirmed, after which an immediate public statement would be made. Meanwhile, precautions were necessary to guard against informational. leaks which might trigger speculative trading in the company's stock.
"Outside this room," Sharlett Underhill now reminded the others, "there must be no whisper of what is intended until that official statement.
Also, as financial officer, I must caution everyone that because of the inside information the five of us possess, any personal trading in the company's shares, prior to Monday's announcement, would be a criminal offense under Securities and Exchange Commission laws."
In an attempt at lightness, Nim said, "Okay, Sharlett, we won't sell short and make our fortunes." But no one laughed.
"I presume," Teresa Van Buren observed, "that everyone has remembered the annual meeting is in two weeks. We're going to face a lot of angry shareholders."
"Angry!" O'Brien grunted; he was relighting his cigar, which had gone out. “They're all be foaming at the mouth and that meeting will need a riot squad to handle it."
"Handling it will be my job," J. Eric Humphrey said; for the first time in several hours the chairman smiled. "I've been wondering, though, if I shouldn't wear a bulletproof vest."
4
Twice since receiving Karen Sloan's letter at Devil's Gate Camp, Nim had talked to her on the telephone. He promised to visit her again when he could. But the letter had arrived on the day that was marred by Wally Talbot's tragic accident and, since then, other events had crowded in, so Nim's intended visit was postponed. He still hadn't made it. Karen had remembered him, however-with another letter. He was reading it now, in his office, in a moment of quietness. Across the top of Karen's elegant blue stationery she had typed in capitals:
I WAS SAD WHEN YOU TOLD ME OF YOUR FRIEND'S
ACCIDENT AND WHEN I READ ABOUT HIS INJURIES
Below was still more of her immaculate stick-in-mouth typing.
Tell him from one who knows:
A sputtering candlewick
Though burning dimly
Is brighter by far
Than Cimmerian blackness.
For life,
On whatever terms,
Outranks oblivion.
Yes!-the "if onlys" do persist forever
As hovering, wraithlike, used-up wishes,
The
ir afterburners spent:
"If only" this or that
On such and such a day
Had varied by an hour or an inch;
Or something neglected had been done
Or something done had been neglected!
The
n "perhaps" the other might have been,
And other others . . . to infinity.
For "perhaps" and "if only" are first cousins
Addicted to survival in our minds.
Accept them,
And all else.
For what seemed a long time Nim sat still and silent, reading and rereading Karen's words. At length be became aware that his telephone was buzzing and realized it had done so twice before.
As he picked it up his secretary's voice said brightly, "Did I wake you?"
"Yes, in a way."
"Mr. London would like to see you," Vicki said. "He can come now if you're free."
"Tell him okay."
Nim put the sheet of blue stationery away in a desk drawer where be kept private papers. When the right moment came he would show it to Wally Talbot. The thought reminded him that he had not spoken to Ardythe since their unsatisfactory encounter at the hospital, but be decided he would leave that problem on the shelf for the time being.
The door of Nim's office opened. "Here's Mr. London," Vicki announced.
"Come in, Harry." Nim was aware that the Property Protection head had been dropping in more frequently of late, sometimes with a work related purpose, more often without. But Nim had no objection. He enjoyed their growing friendship and exchange of views.
"Just read about that no-dividend deal," London said, settling into a chair. "Thought you could stand a bit of good news for a change."
Announcement of the dividend's cancellation, reluctantly agreed to by the board of directors, had made big news yesterday afternoon and today.