Free The Day Trader by Stephen Frey Page B

instantly, but kicking Slammer’s ass right here on the trading floor probably wouldn’t be a good idea, even though I know most of the people in the immediate area would love to see it.
    “Easy, Max,” Mary says soothingly, standing up and patting Slammer’s hand. “There’s no need to get upset. I’m sorry that position you took over the weekend isn’t working out, but it’ll come back. You know it will. Your instincts are always so good.”
    “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Slammer glances down at Mary’s hand. “Lunch today?” he asks.
    She shakes her head. “Can’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “I have some errands to run, but why don’t we get a drink after work? Just you and me.”
    Slammer takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay, yeah, that’s a good idea.” At the prospect of drinks with Mary he eases back into his chair and begins trading again as if nothing happened.
    I mouth the words “thank you” to her, grateful that she defused the situation. She smiles up at me sweetly as she sits back down, pointing at Max through the cubicle wall and shaking her head as if to say, “Don’t worry about him. That’s just the way he is.”
    She’s taken an early liking to me, helping me learn my way around last week and asking me to lunch later on today—the real reason she couldn’t accept Slammer’s invitation. She’s nice, but her watchful eyes and the lines around the corners of her mouth suggest that her life hasn’t always been easy. She has a hunted look about her, constantly raising her head up and looking around as if she’s expecting to see someone or something pursuing her.
    A gentle tap on my shoulder surprises me. “Could I have a word with you?”
    It’s Roger, the bearded guy who sat with me in the conference room last Monday while Seaver sold us on Bedford. Today is Roger’s first day, and Seaver has assigned him to the last vacant cubicle in our group. “Okay,” I agree hesitantly.
    “Let’s take a walk,” he suggests in his soft voice, stroking his whiskers and glancing furtively past me.
    I nod, wondering what this is about.
    Roger leads me to an unoccupied conference room on the other side of the the trading floor. The conference room is at the corner of the building, and I take a seat at the table. From here I have a panoramic view of northern Virginia and downtown Washington in the distance.
    “What’s on your mind?” I ask. Roger seems troubled, but then I’ve already noticed that’s his natural expression.
    He sits silently for a moment before starting. “I thought maybe we should get to know each other,” he finally says. “We’re both new kids on the block here. We ought to stick together.”
    I don’t know how to respond. I spent most of last week getting my bearings and so far have made only a few small investments, much less begun to day trade the way Daniel and Slammer do. I’m impatient to put the lion’s share of my Unicom proceeds to work, and I have to make a decision on whether to follow through on the Teletekk tip. The announcement about the satellite application could come at any moment, and if I miss out I’ll feel like a fool. Roger and I will have plenty of time to get to know each other later. “Look I—”
    “I don’t understand much about investing, Augustus,” he admits quickly as I make a move to leave. “I’m nervous about this whole thing.”
    Roger arrived at eight o’clock this morning, a half hour after I did, and I noticed that he simply stared at his Trader One introductory page for the better part of ninety minutes before the stock markets opened. By this time on my first day last week, I had completely personalized my software. “Then what the heck are you doing here?” I ask, easing back into my chair. I need to get to work, but I want to find out why this guy would throw himself headlong into something he has no training for. “Day trading is difficult enough for people who know what they’re doing.”
    “I