Free Second Intention by Anthony Venner

Richard,’ he said, his tone upbeat. The conference with our subsidiaries in Spain and Germany must have gone well. He was not normally this perky at half past nine on a Monday morning. ‘You waiting for me?’
    ‘ Yes. Is now a good time?’
    ‘ Sure. Come on in.’ He turned back to Marion briefly. ‘Can you let Mike know that they’ve said it will be on line by May? He seemed to think that they wouldn’t manage it with the old system.’
    We left her reaching for the telephone to break the good news to our production manager, and headed into his inner sanctum.
    ‘ Good weekend?’ He said, heaving his bulk into the enormous leather chair behind his desk. I think he started every conversation on a Monday morning with the same words.
    ‘ Yeah. Absolutely great, actually,’ I said, and knew it was pointless trying to conceal my smile.
    ‘ Oh? Something special happen?’
    ‘ Yes. I won a bronze at the Oxford Open. First major medal ever.’
    ‘ Really? Good for you,’ he replied, and I could tell from the smile on his face that he meant it. ‘You must be feeling very pleased with yourself.’
    ‘ Yes. Cloud nine, to be honest.’
    ‘ Good, good. Sue there to see it?’
    ‘ Yep,’ I nodded. ‘Doesn’t really get much better than that, does it?’
    ‘ No, I suppose not. You’ll be feeling really fired up about fencing then.’
    ‘ Mmmm. Afraid so, and it was that which I wanted to speak to you about.’
    ‘ Oh?’ He seemed bemused by it. His expression was that of a parent taking pleasure in the enthusiasm a young child displays. ‘What can I do for you then?’
    I thought it was best to come clean and get straight down to it.
    ‘Well, I know it’s short notice, but I’d like to have some time off. Week after next in fact.’
    ‘ Fencing?’
    ‘ Yes, there’s an international tournament in Copenhagen which I’m eligible for, and I can still get an entry if I’m quick. I’m just feeling really good about it after what happened yesterday, and Sue would love to go, so it’s just a question of whether Medicom can spare me on the Thursday, the Friday and the following Monday.’
    ‘ Mmmm.’ He leaned back, and his chair tilted. He removed the glasses, and began wiping them. ‘Well, I’d love to say yes, and I can’t see that there’d be any problem, but there are one or two things I need to check first.  Madrid are talking about a stock run next week, and I don’t want to agree to anything which is going to cause a problem further down the line. If we need you here on Thursday week, we need you here.’
    ‘ Yes, of course,’ I agreed. I had to agree. I didn’t really have any choice. I had no way of knowing, of course, what Madrid wanted, and it could have been that Douglas was saying this just to maintain control of the situation. He would be very wary of establishing a precedent by allowing me to just walk in and start calling the shots.
    No, he was the sort of man who would keep me waiting before agreeing just to remind everybody that it was all happening on his terms. It was pretty much what I had been expecting.
    ‘ Leave it with me and I’ll see what I can do.’ He replaced his glasses and smiled. ‘When do you need to know by?’
    ‘ Well, as soon as possible really. I’ve got to confirm my entry with the organisers, who don’t really want to be kept waiting, and the sooner I book our flights the cheaper they’ll be.’
    ‘ Yes, of course. Well … like I say, leave it with me and I’ll get back to you.’
    ‘ Thanks.’
    ‘ Hey, no problem. That’s what I’m here for.’
    I stood and began heading for the door, wishing he ’d just said ‘no’ where I would, at least, have had an answer, even if it wasn’t the one I wanted.
    ‘ Oh, and Richard?’ he said, as I reached for the door handle.
    ‘ Mmmm?’ I turned back to him.
    ‘ You’ll love Copenhagen. Wonderful, wonderful place.’
     
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