Amos managed a smile, though the argument was old and weary. "We'll
put it up to Buffalo if you want to, Bill. You know I can't okay it
myself."
Detrick dropped the subject, not being a man to beat his head against
a stone wall if there were ways around it, and for the next hour Amos
had to listen to the troubles: competition had cut prices on this,
upped active ingredients in that, put such and such a new product on
the market (Whelan's factories and warehouses already groaned under a
crippling diversity of products but Sales didn't feel that was _their_
problem) and even the credit policies needed revising. But the worst
of all was a fifteen-thousand-dollar claim for damage to pear trees,
caused by a bad batch of Whelan's arsenical insecticide.
Amos got rid of Detrick with a few definite concessions, some tentative
ones, and some stand-offs. He made sure no one was waiting to see him
and told his secretary he didn't want to be bothered before lunch.
He had a lunch date with a customer and dreaded it--it meant three or
four highballs and overeating and an upset stomach later. Before then,
though, he had a few minutes to try to get his mind straightened out.
He mixed a glassful of the stuff he was supposed to take about now.
The Compleat Executive, he thought; with physician and prescription
attached. It didn't seem possible that this same body had once breezed
through anything from football to fried potatoes.
Mechanically, his mind on the lab's pigs, he got a small bag of grain
out of a desk drawer. He hoped nobody (except his secretary, of course)
knew he wasted time feeding pigeons, but it helped his nerves, and he
felt he had a right to one or two eccentricities.
They were already waiting. Some of them knew him and didn't shoo off
when he opened the window and scattered grain on the ledge outside. A
few ate from his hand.
It was a crisp day, but the sun slanting into the window was warm.
He leaned there, watching the birds--more were circling in now--and
looking out over the industrial part of the city. The rude shapes were
softened by haze and there was nothing noisy close by. He could almost
imagine it as some country landscape.
He looked at his watch, sighed, pulled his head in and shut the window.
The air conditioner's hiss replaced the outside sounds.
Not even imagination could get rid of the city for long.
* * * * *
Going through the outer office, he saw that Alice Grant, his secretary,
already had her lunch out on her desk. She was a young thirty, not very
tall and just inclined to plumpness. She wore her blonde hair pulled
back into a knot that didn't succeed in making her look severe, and her
features were well-formed and regular, if plain. Amos noticed a new
bruise on one cheek and wondered how long she'd stay with her sot of a
husband. There were no children to hold her.
"I'll probably be back late," he said. "Anything for this afternoon?"
"Just Jim at two-thirty and the union agent at three."
The lunch didn't go too badly, lubricated as the customer liked it, and
Amos was feeling only hazily uneasy when he got back.
A stormy session with his plant superintendent jarred him into
the normal disquiet. Jim Glover was furious at having to take the
fifteen-thousand-dollar claim, though it was clearly a factory error.
He also fought a stubborn delaying action before giving Amos a
well-hedged estimate of fifty thousand to equip for the new drug. He
complained that Frank Barnes hadn't given him enough information.
Amos was still trembling from that encounter when the union business
agent arrived. The lunch was beginning to lump up and he didn't spar
effectively. Not that it made much difference. The union was going to
have a raise or else. By the time he'd squirmed through that interview,
then dictated a few letters, it was time to go home.
He hoped his wife would be out so he could take some of his
prescription and relax, but she met him at the door with a verbal
barrage. Their son, nominally a resident of the house, had gotten
ticketed with the college crowd for drunken driving and Amos was to get
it fixed; the Templetons were coming for the weekend; her brother's boy
was graduating and thought he might accept a position with Amos.
She paused and studied him. "I hope this isn't one of your grumpy
evenings. The Ashtons are coming for bridge."
His control slipped a little and he expressed himself pungently on
Wednesday night bridge, after a nightclub party on Tuesday and a
formless affair at somebody's house on Monday.
She stared at him without compassion or comprehension. "Well, they're
all business associates of yours. I wonder where you think you'd be
without a wife who was willing to entertain."
He'd been getting a lot of that lately; she was squeezing the role
of Executive's Wife for the last drop of satisfaction. Well, since he
couldn't relax with his indigestion there was only one thing to do. He
headed for the bar.
"Now don't get tipsy before dinner," she called after him.
He got through the evening well enough, doused with martinis, and the
night that followed was no worse than most.
* * * * *
At nine the next morning, the call he'd been expecting from Buffalo
came through. "Hello, Stu," he said to the president of the company.
"Hello, Amos. Still morning out there, eh? How's the family? Good.
Say, Amos; couple of things. This big factory charge. Production's
screaming."
"It was definitely a bad batch, Stu."
"Well, that's it, then. Question is, how'd it happen?"
"Jim Glover says he needs another control chemist."
"Hope you're not practicing false economy out there."
"We wanted to hire another man, Stu, but Buffalo turned it down."
"You should have brought it to me personally if it was that important.
It's going to take a big bite out of your year's profit. Been able to
get your margin up any?"
Amos didn't feel up to pointing out that Sales wanted lower prices and
the union wanted higher wages, so that the margin would get even worse.
He described a couple of minor economies he'd been able to find, then
mentioned the contract with the Peach Association.
"Yes, I heard about that," said the president of the company. "Nice
piece of business. By the way, how you coming on that animal hormone?"
That was the main reason for the call, of course. Detrick had
undoubtedly phoned east and intimated that Amos was dragging his feet
on a potential bonanza. "I was going to call you on that, Stu. It'll
take a year to test and get registered and--"
"Amos, I hope you're not turning conservative on us."
The message was plain; Amos countered automatically. "You know me
better than that, Stu. It's the Legal Department I'm worried about. If
they set up a lot of roadblocks, we may need you to run interference."
"You know I'm always right behind you, Amos."
That's true, thought Amos as he hung up. Right behind me. A hell of a
place to run interference.
He knew exactly what to expect. If he tried to cut corners, the Legal
Department would scream about proper testing and registration,
Production would say he was pushing Jim Glover unreasonably, and
everyone who could would assume highly moral positions astraddle the
fence. A ton of paperwork would go to Buffalo to be distributed among
fifty desks and expertly stalled.
Not to mention that this was no ordinary product. He realized for the
first time that the Government might not let him produce it, let alone
sell it. Even as a minute percentage in feeds. If it was a narcotic, it
could be misused.
* * * * *
His buzzer sounded, and he was surprised when Mrs. Grant announced
Frank Barnes. It was out of character for Frank not to make a formal
appointment first.
One look told Amos what was coming. He listened to Frank's resignation
with a fraction of his mind while the rest of it mused upon the
purposeful way things were converging.
Barnes stopped talking and Amos said mechanically, "You've been part
of the team for a long time, Frank. It's especially awkward to lose
you just now." It was banal, but it didn't matter; he wasn't going to
change the man's mind anyway. He looked closer. The timidity was gone.
So were the eyeglasses. A frightening thought struck him. "You've
taken some of that drug."
Barnes grinned and handed a small vial full of powder across the desk,
along with a file folder. "Last night," he said. "Between frustration
with the job and curiosity about this stuff, I yielded to temptation."