‘Coop, it’s me, Eddie, can you talk?’ Eddie Cotton whispered down the phone.
‘Yeah,’ Cooper whispered back. ‘Can you?’
‘I’m doing that whispering thing again, aren’t I?’
‘Yes you are,’ said Cooper. ‘For a man with an IQ higher than Einstein’s, I wonder how it is you still don’t get that when you call me, asking if I can talk, you don’t have to whisper.’
‘That’s what having too many kids does to you. Listen, are you still around? I got those results for you.’
‘Okay, brilliant. I should be there in a couple of hours.’
‘Mr. Cooper…? Mr. Cooper…!’
‘Eddie, listen, I have to go, someone’s calling me. I’ll see you soon.’
Cooper clicked off his cell and turned to the large woman who sat at the desk summoning him in the kind of a tone he’d heard dog owners use in the park to call their canine friends.
‘Sorry about that.’
The large woman with the dog owners’ tone neglected to acknowledge Cooper’s apology. ‘Mr. Parker does not see visitors without an appointment. Imagine if everybody who wanted a word with Mr. Parker just turned up unannounced, where would we all be then? It would be chaos. Anarchy. Total pandemonium.’
‘We wouldn’t want that would we?’ Cooper said flatly.
‘No, indeed. Now if you want to make an appointment you need to go through his secretary, but that still won’t guarantee you a meeting with him. Mr. Parker’s a very busy man and if everybody tried to make an appointment with him, it would be…’
‘Bedlam.’
The large woman looked puzzled. ‘No, Mr. Cooper, it would be impractical.’
‘Was this taken recently?’
Cooper nodded to a large color framed photograph on the reception desk.
‘Yes, that’s Mr. Parker accepting the North American Environmental Business Award last month. It’s the second year the company’s won it.’
Cooper studied the photo of Donald Parker smiling broadly as he held a seven-inch tall Silver Star trophy. ‘Okay, well thank you for your time.’