The Brass Statuettes

© Copyright 2007, 2009

Autumn Writer

Chapter 18  -  Big Plans

The meeting with Jim Sweeney made Frank eager for action.  His first call was to Al Crossman, but it was the Friday before Labor Day and Al was out of the office for the long weekend.  He was able to get through to Agent Henderson, who was in his office at the Federal Building.

Frank:             “I think you should take a look at a block of Western shares that traded at ten this morning.”

Henderson:     “What makes you say that?”                                                     

Frank:           “Something came up in a meeting yesterday.  If it comes true, it’ll create a big demand for Western shares.  The price is bound to go up from where it is now.

Henderson:     “You’ll have to tell me more to make me interested.

Frank:            “You didn’t hear it from me—there is a group who is said to be getting ready to take a position in Western.  If they do, they’ll have to buy any shares they can get their hands on.  Only the people who were at that meeting know about it.

Henderson:    “Do you think someone’s cashing in?”

Frank:           “More than that.  The block that traded today would be just the right amount to cover those shorts that set off the trouble in the first place.  To me, it looks like a defensive move.”

Henderson:     “I’m not following you.”

Frank:           “Whoever sold those short shares has got to cover them.   What happened at yesterday’s meeting made them make the buy to cover their position.

Henderson:     “I see.  Who was at this meeting?”

Frank:           “Alvin Warner, Al Crossman, Blake Hart and Tyler Smith.  You know all of them.  There were five directors, too: Jim Sweeney, Detlef Mueller, Simon Lambert, Barrett Dodge and Randall Trainer.”

Henderson:     “You left yourself out.”

Frank:            “I wasn’t there.  I was out of the office.  One of the people filled me in.”

Henderson:    “You’re kidding!  You’re telling me all this and you weren’t even there?  The credibility of your story just went to zero.  And, don’t forget, there’s the matter of those put options.”

Frank:           “I knew you’d say that—but look, the facts speak.  That was the subject of that meeting yesterday and there’s no doubt about the block of shares trading.  All I’m saying is to check it out.  What’ve you got to lose?”

Henderson:     “My credibility, for one thing.”

Frank:            “Have you got any better leads on this case?”

Henderson:    “Well…”

Frank:          “I didn’t think so.  Why don’t you at least check it out?  If it turns out to be nothing, so be it.  I’ve got a feeling that it won’t.”

Henderson:   “You’ve got a feeling…  That’s great!  Alright, I’ll check it, but it’s not as easy as you think.”

**********  

Frank tried to make a few more calls.  He wanted to speak to Murray Shoreham.  He was gone for the weekend.  He also wanted to speak to his contacts for the new R&D financing project.  They were out of their offices, too.  He switched on the intercom.

“Jeannette, see if Blake Hart has some open time on his calendar.”

“Mr. Hart is right here,” Jeannette answered.  “He wants to see you.”

“Send him in before he gets away,” Frank yelled into the intercom.  “Bring some fresh coffee, too.”

Blake Hart wasn’t much older than Frank.  He was a Chemical Engineer by training and had an MBA, to boot.  It had been quite a few years since calculus and thermo-dynamic equations were his stock in trade.  He’d done stints in sales and plant management in addition to engineering before being called to work at Headquarters.  

“I was just about to go out looking for you,” Frank said as they took their seats at the conference table.

“I had a feeling,” Blake said.

Frank had known Blake for a dozen years.  They’d worked together many times.  Every time they did it turned out well.  Blake was like Frank in a lot of ways.  One was that Blake was a quick study on Frank’s point of view, but knew where to draw the line before he began to step on his toes.

“There are some forecast questions we have to straighten out.  It goes beyond Aaron crunching numbers.”

“Seems like old times,” Blake said.  “How many forecasts did we do together when you were Controller?”

“One more for old time’s sake,” Frank replied.

“You ought to hire yourself a new Controller to take your place.  This is really his job.  I’ve been watching you.  You’re gonna to drive yourself nuts before you get a chance to grow old and gray.  That’s why Tyler and I are taking you out for golf this afternoon.”    

“Golf sounds good, but I’ve gotta pass,” Frank said, laughing off the thought of stolen leisure time.  “I’d like to hire a Controller, but I’ve got to get this mess with the SEC straightened out first.”

“Bad thinking,” Blake said as he shook his head.  “Get someone in here to straighten it out for you.”

Frank sighed; he eased back in his chair and thought about what Blake said.  Although it was said half in jest, Frank knew that Blake never gave advice in jest—and deep-down, he knew it was the right way to go.  “You know,” Frank said, “if I hadn’t been Controller before this job, I would have done it already.  I think you’re right.”

“Besides, if the new guy is any good, you can take credit for whatever he does, and if he screws up you can fire him,” Blake said as he laughed.

“Now, that’s a real MBA talking,” Frank laughed back.

They finished their coffees and set the cups down at the same time. 

“Aaron told you about my plan for the Bayonne and Texas City Plants?” Blake asked.

“That’s good as far as it goes,” Frank answered.  “I think this downturn might have longer legs than that.  We need a plan that stretches out farther.”

“How is the forecast shaping up?  I know that all the units aren’t down.”

“It looks better than you might think,” Frank said.  “Sure, we’ll be down, but I think we’ll ride it out better than the industry average.  We have some bright spots.  In some ways, it’s a balancing act.”

“What’re you trying to balance, Frank?”

“We’re going to be generating positive cashflow because of inventory drawdown and our stock price is depressed.  That’s a combination I don’t think we want to live with.  It makes us a takeover target.  Someone could leverage the buyout and then pay off the debt with our own cash.”

“So you’re looking for ways to spend some money?  What about Jason’s R&D?”

“He’ll get some of it, but his needs go way beyond that.  At the same time, we don’t want to build up a lot of excess inventory.””

“I’d like to make a complete conversion of Texas City and Bayonne,” Blake said.  “Right now, they’re carbon copies of one another.  I want to specialize the plants and narrow their products; make them state of the art equipment-wise.  We’d get a big cost advantage on our closest competition.  It would take some money—and time.”

“That’s perfect,” Frank said.  “We can capitalize the whole thing.  We just have to get the tax abatement agreement in Texas City renegotiated.  I can talk to Tyler about getting that started.”

“Of course, we’d have to sell Alvin on the idea,” Blake reminded him.  “That won’t be easy.  You know how he likes the eggs in different baskets—not relying on one plant for producing everything.”

“We’ll have to show him some numbers that will convince him,” Frank said.  “You get your people working on it and I’ll loan Aaron to you to help with the financials after he’s done with the forecast.”

“Okay,” Blake said.  “Let’s hope it’s not another thing that Alvin almost likes.”

Frank began to answer Blake’s remark, but thought better of it.  He knew Alvin was cautious—too cautious sometimes.  Frank always kept his gripes to himself.  Besides, he had other important things on his mind.

“By the way, I want to discuss something on another subject,” Frank said.

“On the golf course,” Blake insisted.

“Really, Blake, I can’t…”

“See?  It’s going to be business, so you don’t have to feel guilty.  Tyler and I have something to discuss with you, as well.”

Frank opened his mouth to speak, a protest ready.

“No ‘buts’,” Blake said.  “We’ll grab a quick lunch upstairs and then head out to the course.  There’s nothing going on around here, anyway.”

**********  

Brenda was freshening her drink.  Gloria was looking over some papers before calling the meeting of the Foundation Directors to order.  Darlene was searching the far-off rose garden for an answer to something.

“Do you think we’ll have any more pool days before summer’s over?”  Ashley asked the group.

“We could go in today if we wanted to,” Gloria said without looking up from her sheaf of notes.

“It’s just barely warm enough.  We’d just be going through the motions.”

“Besides,” Brenda added as she returned to the table with a freshened iced tea and vodka, :there are no garden boys to look us over.”

“That’s right,” Gloria said.  “José doesn’t need them until spring.  Whatever there is to be done, he can handle.  No more peones until March.”

“The pool season went by so quickly,” Ashley lamented.  She turned to Darlene.  “You never got your chance with the garden boys, did you?”

“Never mind about that,” Brenda stepped in before Darlene could answer.  “Darlene earned her stripes in other ways.”

“Oh, yes,” Ashley teased.  “We all know about that, don’t we?”

Darlene cast her eyes down at the table, but it was too late to prevent the other women from seeing the tears forming in her eyes.

“Darlene, what’s the matter?” Brenda asked.  “You don’t regret…”

“No, no,” Darlene blurted out.  “It’s not that at all.”

“Well, what, then?” Brenda demanded.

“Ah don’t know if Ah can tell you,” Darlene sobbed.

“You have to,” Ashley reminded her.  “It’s the rule.  We don’t tolerate secrets—especially about this sort of thing.”

“Maybe we can help you,” Brenda said.  “I’ll get you another drink.”

Darlene looked up and wiped her eyes.  “Ah s’pose it would good therapy to get it off my chest,” she said.

“Definitely!” Ashley proclaimed as she leaned forward.  “Now, c’mon.  Out with it!”

“Well, it’s this,” Darlene started.  “Ah haven’t been—you know—with Jason since our blow-up over the university thing.  He won’t promise me that he won’t take that job in New York State.”

“That’s not too difficult,” Ashley said.  “Just take matters in your own hands.”

“You mean do myself?” Darlene asked.  “Ah have been, but it’s definitely not the same.”

“No,” Ashley replied.  “I meant take a certain part of Jason in your hands.  It won’t take long before…”

“I can’t do that!” Darlene exclaimed.  “It would like sayin’ ‘Ah give up; go ahead, Jason.  Take that job’.”

“I see your point,” Ashley mumbled.

“Darlene’s right,” Brenda said as she polished off her recently freshened drink.  “What you have to do is…”

“And to make matters worse,” Darlene blurted again.  “Jim won’t take my calls.”

Gloria dropped the stack of papers she’d been studying.  She had been only half-interested in the conversation, but Darlene’s last comment changed that.  “You called Jim Sweeney?  Are you crazy?” she demanded.

“I just thought…”

“You weren’t thinking at all,” Gloria shouted.  “You were just in the sack with him.  Now you’re chasing him around.  You have to wait for him to call you.”

“Then you can ask him for more favors,” Brenda added.  She set Darlene’s new drink in front of her.

“All I wanted was to get away to a hotel downtown for an afternoon of fun with him while Jason comes to his senses,” Darlene explained.  “A woman has her needs.”

“Someone is in l-o-v-e,” Ashley giggled from the bar across the veranda, where she’d gone to freshen her drink. 

“I don’t believe it,” Brenda huffed.  “You mean a hotel, right here in your own hometown—where anyone you know might see you?”

“Ah didn’t think o’ that,” Darlene protested.  She took a big gulp of the drink that Brenda brought for her.  “Y’all said that sex was fun.  You said that Jim Sweeney is fun—and he is.”

“Fun and free are not the same words,” Gloria scolded.  “You’ve got to be smart about this.  You can’t run around like a bitch in heat.  You’ll ruin it for us all.”

“Ah suppose so,” Darlene murmured and lowered her eyes.  “Ah nevah realized how much Ah’d miss getting’ it—an’ how Ah loved the feel of a man’s eyes on mah body.”

“It was fun with Jim, though, wasn’t it?” Gloria said in a lightened voice.

“Why, it sure was,” Darlene answered and covered her mouth as she giggled.

“Don’t worry; Jim will call you when the time is right,” Gloria assured her. 

“So be ready,” Brenda added.  “Have something in mind that you want him to do for you.”

“It’s that what it’s all about?” Darlene asked.  “Sex for favors?  Ah thought it was supposed to more dignified than that.  You know what it makes us into, don’t you?”

“Don’t say it,” Ashley warned.  

“You have to force yourself not think of it like that, Darlene,” Brenda answered.  “Think of like…like…killing two birds with one stone.”

“Right!” Ashley chimed in.

“In the meantime, you’ve got to get control of Jason,” Gloria said.

“That’s the hard part,” Darlene admitted.  She took a swallow of her vodka and iced tea.

“He’s not getting anything on the side, is he?” Brenda asked.

“No,” Darlene said, shaking her head.  “He’d probably like to, but he’s too shy for that.  Jason’s always been shy—at least with women.”

“You’d better be careful,” Gloria replied.  “All men are shy deep-down.  Not getting sex often enough gives them courage.  He might find himself with some cute little thing in a lab coat who’s not shy.”

“Well, what can Ah do?” Darlene pleaded.

“You have to seduce him,” Gloria told her.  “You have to do it in a way that he thinks it’s all his idea.”

“Then, when he’s about to slide into home plate, you make him promise to give up the university job,” Brenda said.  “Don’t worry—he will.  When men get anywhere near home plate they only have that on their minds.  They’d trample over the flowers on their mothers’ graves if they were in the way.”

“You’ve got that right,” Ashley said.

“So, you know what you have to do?” Gloria asked.  Darlene nodded.  “You’ll get the hang of it,” she assured her.  “Just remember that nature is your side and you have plenty of tools to work with.”

“So, can we get the meeting started?” Brenda asked.

“We’re missing a person,” Gloria said.  “Trudy’s not here.”

“She’s not coming,” Brenda informed her.

“Not coming?  You called her, didn’t you?”

“She refused,” Brenda said.  “She said that after what happened at the pool party she didn’t feel right about things and that she quit.”

“You should have promised her another visit to Morningside School.”

“I did.  It was a mistake,” Brenda reported.  “She said that we’re pimping the children to get her do what we wanted.  She said that I should tell everyone that she didn’t like it.”

“What?” Gloria cried.  “She accused us of that?”

“That’s what she said,” Brenda confirmed.  “I hate to admit it; in a certain way, she has a point.”

Gloria was speechless, and her face turned red.  Brenda wondered if she should have told the whole story.  An edited version would have done the job just as well—and that comment at the end was completely indiscreet.  “Too late,” she told herself.  “But, it’s true.  It was stupid to say so—but it’s the truth.”

“What do we need her for?” Ashley spoke up.  “She’s nothing but problems.  She just can’t get along.”

“Besides, we hired someone to do her job,” Darlene said.

“So, I’m alone on this,” Gloria growled.  “You’ve all turned against me—just like Trudy.”

“I’m not against you.  I’m just trying to be realistic, that’s all,” Brenda said.  “Trudy told me to tell you she hoped there are no hard feelings,”  

“Hard feelings!” Gloria screamed.  “She doesn’t know the meaning of the words.  She’ll pay for this.”

“But Gloria, we don’t need her.  We don’t even want her,” Brenda argued.

“She can’t get away with this,” Gloria growled.  “Everyone will see that she’s not included.  Our husbands will see.  They like her better than us already.  They’ll wonder why she’s not in our group.  We’ll have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I’m sure she’s not coming, Gloria.  Why don’t you just let it go?” Brenda said.

“I can’t.  If she won’t join us, we’ll have to get even.  I’ve already figured out how to do it.”

“How’s that?” Ashley said.

“I’m going to hurt her the worst way I can.  I’m going to screw her husband.”

“You mean Frank?” Brenda asked, not quite believing.  “You want to do it with Frank?  Good luck on that!  What makes you think he wants to do it with you?”

“I have a way with men.  I’ve never had a one refuse me.  It’s up to me to refuse them, or say ‘yes’ if I see fit to.  That sawed-off fireplug is no exception.”

“I’d bet he’d be great in the sack,” Ashley mused.  “It’d be like holding back a charging bull.”

“Maybe,” Gloria said.  “I’m going to find out.” 

“What’s the point, Gloria?” Brenda asked.  “You don’t need to do it with Frank Bennett.  You could have your choice of any number of men.  Give Jim Sweeney a call if that’s on your mind.”

“No!” Darlene cried.

“You’ve got Alvin,” Brenda pleaded.

“It has got to be Frank,” Gloria corrected her.  “I’m going to bed him and then rub Trudy’s nose in it.  It’s the best way I know to get even and bring little Miss High and Mighty back down to earth.  I’ll take away what she thinks she has over us.”

“I seriously doubt Trudy thinks about that very often,” Brenda replied.  “This could really backfire, Gloria.  Trudy and Frank aren’t like us.  You don’t know how they’ll react.  Frank might not even want to do it with you.”

“Not want to do it with me?” Gloria repeated.  Brenda saw the anger spilling out of her eyes.

“I know it sounds crazy, Gloria.  But, I think he might not.”

“Turn me down?” Gloria asked. 

“I told you, they’re different.  They think about things a different way.”

“That just goes to prove my point,” Gloria shouted.  “It’s the source of all our troubles.  We’ll put a stop to it here and now.  Then we’ll see Trudy come around.  Maybe we’ll be setting her up with Jim Sweeney before too long.”

Brenda shrugged her shoulders.  “It’s up to you, Gloria.” 

Gloria’s face brightened.  “I’ve got it all figured out, but I’ll need some help.”

“Anything,” Ashley breathed.

“I’m glad you said that Ashley, dear.  You have a big part in my plan.”

“Oh, goody!”

“I’m going to do it next week when Alvin’s in Austin giving one of those lectures.  That’s where you come in.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I need someone to make sure that Alvin stays overnight in Austin instead of driving home” Gloria said.  “Now do you know what I mean?”

“What could I do to make Alvin stay in Austin if I’m here in Houston?” she asked.

Ashley squinted at Gloria with a confused expression.  Then she looked at Brenda and then at Darlene.  Darlene was smiling at her and nodding her head.

“Oh, no; I don’t think I’d be able to get away,” Ashley said.  “I think Tyler and I have plans.  It’s just not possible.”  

“Why not?  It’s not short notice.  Just give Tyler the shopping trip excuse.”

“You know I’d help you any way I can, Gloria.  It’s just that…”

“Here’s a way that you can,” Gloria replied.  “Come on.  It’s your turn.  Brenda does more than her share.  And Darlene’s tied up with other things right now.”

Ashley sat up straight in her chair.  She shot a glance at Brenda.  Brenda could see that she looked scared. 

“Well, I…I…” she stammered.

“Ashley, I really need this from you.  You always talk a good game.  I thought you’d jump at the chance.  Alvin’s not too bad.  It’s kind of like wrestling with a big teddy bear.  Whaddya say?”

“I can’t, I can’t…Tyler…I can’t because…um…”

“I’ll do it,” Brenda interrupted.  “It’s better this way, anyway.  I’ve been with Alvin before.  He knows me, so he won’t be suspicious.  Nothing will be left to chance.”

Gloria turned to Brenda.  “You’re a dear.  I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Do you really think Frank Bennett will sleep with you?” Darlene asked. 

“I can get any man I want to—and believe me, darlin’, we won’t be doin’ any sleeping.”

“I just remembered something,” Ashley said.  “I have to go.  It’s an appointment that I made a long time ago.”  She jumped to her feet and hurried through the veranda door.  The three remaining women watched her leave but said nothing until she was out the door.

“I knew she was a faker,” Gloria said.  “All she ever did was talk about it.  I never knew her to do it with anyone.”

“I would say a tease,” Brenda partly agreed, “but she was just teasing herself.”

“Let’s have another drink, and then I’ll fill you in on Alvin’s details.”

*********** 

Frank watched the shot he’d just hit fly on its way to the seventh green.  He’d hit it hard, but something about the ball’s trajectory didn’t look just right and he knew right away what to expect.  Sure enough, a second later the ball started arcing to the left and was finally ensnared by a sand trap alongside the green.  He suppressed an expletive.

“I really spun out on that one,” he said out loud, acknowledging his error to Tyler and Blake. 

“See?  You’re out of practice.  You don’t get out on the course enough.  I tried to tell you in the office,” Blake replied.

“Don’t worry,” Tyler said, “better the trap than what you would’ve been in if the ball had gotten past it.”

“You’re a real silver lining kid of guy,” Frank replied.

“I’m a lawyer,” Tyler said.  “It’s my job to give advice.”

“As I see it, your game will come around somewhere on the seventeenth,” Blake said.  “You’ll par the last two.  That’s so you’ll come back for more.”

“I’d have my head on my game if I knew why you two dragged me out here,” Frank said.  “I know you’ve got something on your minds—probably about that conference in Alvin’s office yesterday.”

“You knew we were called in there?” Blake asked.

“Jeannette called me while it was in progress.  I was with Patricia and Trudy in a diner near Austin having lunch.”

“So, you didn’t know anything about the meeting?” Tyler asked.  He looked at Blake with an ‘I-told-you-so’ look as Frank shook his head. 

“It was crazy,” Blake began.  “Tyler and I get called in to this meeting we didn’t know anything about and there’s the Finance Committee sitting around the table.  Then we look around and find out you’re not there and before we can ask why, Alvin cuts us off.”

“What’d he say?” Frank asked.

“He said that Mueller was putting together a syndicate to take control of the company and he wanted us to know because he wanted our support in case he decided to go for it.”

“Then we were dismissed,” Tyler added.  “No questions, no explanation and no Frank.  We didn’t like it.”

“I’m not that crazy about it either,” Frank said.  He stopped talking for a few seconds as Tyler addressed his ball, preparing to take his approach shot.  “I think Mueller’s determined to pull off this Wertheim deal come hell or high water.  He’s using the SEC bullshit as leverage.”

“He wants you out because he thinks you’ll stop it,” Tyler said.  His ball had come to rest in the center of the green.

“I probably would,” Frank acknowledged.  “It’s not the right deal for the company right now.”

“Or ever,” Blake quickly said.  “I never liked it.  The integration process would have been murder.  European deals are always tough.  German ones are the worst.  They think they invented math and no one else knows how to write chemical equations.  It’d be months before they’d stop trying to lecture us and decide to shut up and listen.”

Blake took his eight iron out of his bag and hit a high arching shot that came to rest fifteen feet from the cup.  He stuffed the club back into his bag.

“It’s over-regulated to the max over there—even worse than here.”

“I wish you’d been that firm when the debate was on,” Frank reminded him.

“I know,” Blake sighed.  “I regret it; just self-protecting, I guess.  Things are different now.”

“We just don’t like being railroaded into supporting something we know nothing about,” Tyler said.

“To say nothing of having you get shut out,” Blake added.  “And if Mueller takes over we’ll have a disaster on our hands.”

Frank took his sand wedge into the bunker.  “You guys keep quiet for a second or I’ll chunk this.”  Tyler and Blake kept silent, but Frank chunked it, anyway.  The ball ended up on the fringe.  He climbed out of the bunker and strode quickly to the cart to exchange his wedge for his putter.  “It looks like I didn’t lose my turn.”

Frank two-putted from the fringe for a bogey.  Tyler sunk a long putt for a bird, but Blake missed his fifteen-footer and settled for par.

“So what’re you guys saying?” Frank asked.

“We want Alvin out,” Tyler said without hesitation.  “We thought that if the three of us went to the Board…”

“You mean a palace coup,” Frank said.

“Call it what you will,” Blake said.  “We’ve got to do something.  We’ve all got a lot invested in this company.  Alvin’s not…”

“Let’s finish our round and discuss it in the clubhouse later,” Frank said.

************* 

After the round they showered and then got a table in the corner of the bar.  Blake nursed a scotch.  Frank and Tyler each had a beer.

“What’s the matter with you, Frank?  I thought you were a scotch man,” Blake pointed out.

“After the fleecing you gave me today all I can afford is beer.”

“Let’s talk business,” Tyler said.  “We’ve got nothing against Alvin, personally, but he’s gone weak when we need someone strong.”

“The top of the ladder is a tough place to live,” Blake agreed, “no one can stay there forever and he’s been there a long time.”

“You’ve got to agree,” Tyler added.  “He’s obviously planning on getting rid of you.”

“I wanted to confront him today,” Frank answered, “but he was in Austin on that lecture thing he’s involved in.”

“See what we mean?” Blake shot back.

Frank raised his beer mug and took a big gulp.  “For my part, I think the coup idea is a mistake.”

Blake and Tyler looked at one another.  Frank could see they were surprised and disappointed; he’d expected that.

“We were thinking that you could carry the flag on this,” Blake told him.  “We know you’re tight with Sweeney.

“Do you want to know the business or personal reasons first?” Frank asked.  Neither Blake nor Tyler answered.  “Let me stick to the business reasons.  First of all, if Alvin goes, who would take his place?”

Tyler spoke up.  “We thought Blake could move up to President…”

“You’ll get that anyway, if you bide your time, especially if you pull off this Bayonne-Texas City project—and I think you will.  President is not Chairman.  Don’t tell me that anyone would be better than Alvin.  That’s just plain wrong.”

“We thought Jim Sweeney…”

“Jim just turned seventy.  What makes you think he’d want to do it—or for how long?  Jim’s a great Board member, but I don’t see him as Chairman.”

“I’ll give you that,” Blake admitted.  “That’s not enough reason to not take action.”

“Let me give you one, then,” Frank said and leaned in closer to the other men so that he didn’t have to speak loud.  “If Alvin suddenly goes, it will make a lot of noise on Wall Street.  The stock price will plummet.  If Mueller doesn’t pull off the takeover, someone else will. We’ll be easy pickin’s and if that happens you won’t even remember the name Western Chemical in five years.”

“You really think that could happen?” Blake asked.

“Frank’s right,” Tyler said.  “This SEC thing hanging over us has us in a corner.”

“You’re damn right,” Frank said.  “What we have to do is keep the stock price as high as we can to make it harder for Mueller’s boys accumulate the shares they need—if that’s what they actually do.”

“Whaddya mean ‘if’?” Blake asked.

“It’s possible that Mueller’s bluffing.  If he really had the guns he’d just do it and make changes after the fact.  I think he’s trying to force me out because he thinks I’m standing in the way of Wertheim.  He’s got a one-track mind—and it’s on the wrong track.”

“What Frank’s saying makes a lot of sense,” Tyler said.  “So how do we keep the stock price from falling?”

“By keeping investors calm and confident,” Frank said.  “Keep profit performance up and keep rumors of instability in management low.  I’m going on a tour to try to make sure that the big shareholders are still with us.  If something blows up while I’m gone, I’m going to be in a very bad position.  I already spoke with Jim Sweeney and he thinks it’s the right thing to do.”

“Okay, I’m sold,” Blake said.  “It wasn’t the answer I was hoping for, but I’m sold.”

“You said there was a personal part, too,” Tyler said.

“It’s just that I don’t like end runs.  Getting stabbed in the back hurts.  I just got a fresh set of scars to prove it.  Alvin may have been erratic lately, but he’s earned the chance to make it right—at least in my book.” 

“You’re getting to be a softy,” Tyler joked.

“Tell that to my teen-aged daughter.  You’ll get an argument.”

“Wanna lose some more money on Sunday?” Blake asked.  “I’ve got a tee time reserved, but no foursome.”

“You’re on!”

“Sounds good,” Tyler said.

“We’ll get Sweeney as a fourth,” Frank said.  “He’ll take all our money and make us thank him for doing it.”

************* 

TO BE CONTINUED