6/24/15
Why would the CEO of a powerful corporation want a fourteen-year-old boy to attend one of his company’s board meetings? That’s the question I’d been puzzling over ever since I got the invitation.
The chief executive in question was Albert Blackwood. He was well respected by those who had heard of him, and was all but feared by those who had done business with him. He had a talent for always gaining the advantage in business negotiations. Numerous attempts by competitors to undercut him or capture some of his market shares had each time ended with him in an even stronger position, and the opponent’s own business either absorbed or ruined.
So what would a man in that position need with me? I wasn’t even in high school yet. I didn’t know anything that could be of use to him. Yet here I was.
His secretary walked over to where I was sitting and said he would see me now. She then escorted me through a couple of doors and down a long hallway to a huge office that even a young teen could recognize as opulent. Behind an ornately carved wooden desk sat a man in a suit like I’d only seen in movies. He looked up as we entered.
“Alin, thank you for coming. That will be all, Miss Burns.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Blackwood.” The secretary then turned and left.
“Hello, Uncle Albert,” I said at last.
“How’s your mother?”
“She’s fine. She said to tell you to keep this Christmas open. You can’t skip another family dinner.”
“Okay,” he laughed. “I’ll be there.”
“This is a great office,” I said. “I didn’t know your company was so big.”
“This?” he said with surprise. “This is just a regional office. I have several more in key cities around the world.”
“Wow! Mom told me you were rich, but I had no idea it was anything like this. So what do you want with a kid like me?”
“Oh, right to the point, huh? I like that. Well, Alin, you have an ability, a special gift. And I’d like you to use it to help me.”
“An ability? What do you mean?” I suddenly got a knot in my stomach. I knew what he meant. I just didn’t know he was aware of it.
“Alin. I know what it is you’ve been hiding. You see, I have a gift too. Only mine’s a bit different than yours. I can often tell what other people are thinking; especially when they’re trying to keep something secret. This skill has really helped in my business. Only a few people, ones with their own gift and a lot of self-control, can obscure their thoughts enough to keep me from reading them.”
He looked at me intently and I could feel he was speaking the truth. “But I can’t read minds,” I said looking away from his gaze. “So why do you …”
He raised a hand. “No, I know that isn’t your gift. But you do have a special skill. You just don’t know yet how to use it.”
“But it’s stupid! I don’t see how it can be of any use.”
He was talking about the little sensations I often get while other people are talking. I’ve had them for as far back as I can remember. But it wasn’t until I started school that I learned no one else could feel the same thing. After that I didn’t talk about it to anyone and I tried to suppress it as much as I could.
“It’s not stupid, Alin. It can be far more meaningful than you realize. But I’m willing to help you. And you can help me in return. That’s why you’re here. Let’s put it to a little test. You do exactly what I tell you. Then afterwards I think you’ll begin to see just how important it can be.”
“Okay,” I said. “What do I need to do?”
“It won’t be hard at all. Just sit in on a meeting I’m about to have, write down all the impressions you get as everyone talks, then afterwards tell me what you experienced. Easy, huh? The hardest part will be staying awake through a boring discussion. But I’ll try to keep it short.”
He opened a drawer and pulled out a small composition book like the ones I used at school, and passed it to me. We then left his office and went down the hallway to a large meeting room. Four men in suits were already there seated around a long table. They stood as we entered. My uncle pointed me to a padded chair placed in the corner of the room, then he went to sit at the head of the conference table.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” he said as they all sat down. “I hope you’ll excuse my small guest. Today is his school’s, ‘Go to work with a parent day.’ So he’s following me around for the morning.”
The men smiled and nodded in my direction. They then turned to the files on the table in front of them. I opened my book and pretended to draw.
My uncle kept his word and the meeting was short. But even though it lasted only twenty minutes, it felt more like an hour. I wondered to myself if this was what he had to deal with all the time. Although the discussions had been brief, he’d managed to get each man there to speak about his own area of responsibility. Once it was over we returned to the private office.
“Now, Alin, perhaps you’re beginning to understand what I need. Those four men are vice presidents on my board. Each is head of a different department. One of them has been giving crucial information to a competing corporation. This is not only bad for my business, it’s also a threat to our country’s security since it involves a military project. The problem is that I haven’t been able to read which one it is. The one doing it has found a way to control his mind enough to keep me from finding him. So now, Alin, I’d like you to tell me what you were able to sense. Maybe it can help me find what I need.”
“Okay,” I said. “But I haven’t ever tried to use it this way. So I don’t know exactly what things mean.”
“That’s alright. Just tell me what you felt and leave the interpretation to me. Now, what did you get?”
I opened the composition book and read out the notes I had taken as each man spoke in turn.
“When Mr. Keppel talked it tasted like the burnt edges of a grilled steak. Very earthy, but not unpleasant. Mr. Silverman’s talk was kind of bitter. Like when you leave a buffered aspirin on your tongue too long. When Mr. Lee spoke the taste was sweet, but in a very subtle way. Like the meringue on a lemon pie if you only scoop from the top and not the filling. But Mr. Carey, ugh.
“His talk tasted like, um, oh. One time I saw a slug in the yard and I ran in the house to get some salt. After putting salt on it, all this slimy ooze came out. Or it was like the time I had a really bad cold and my nose kept running. Once I sniffed really hard and a bunch of mucus went down the back of my throat. It made me gag and I coughed it out. It was a disgusting greenish-yellow glob, and it had a dark lump in it. It makes me shudder just remembering.”
I closed the notebook and looked up. My uncle was smiling broadly. I could see he was very pleased.
“Thank you, Alin. That was excellent. There, you see? Your talent is very useful after all. And if you’re willing, I’d like to call on your skills to help me here more often.”
I grinned and nodded my head yes. It was great to finally feel I wasn’t just a freak of nature. My uncle then went on.
“I’d like to introduce you to someone. She can help you learn how to control and use your gift. Of course it’s best to continue keeping it secret. But you must now begin to develop it, help it grow, and learn all you can do with it. Perhaps you can meet with her a couple of times a week after school.
“Come. I’ll take you home now. I want to talk to your mother, I mean both your parents, and get approval for the, uh, tutor. I also want to discuss their plans for your high school and college. I can see you’re going to be very important to my company soon.”
As we walked along I felt I was floating on sparkles. And the flavor on my tongue was unlike anything I’d tasted before, so I couldn’t draw a comparison to anything else. But it was exhilarating. I could hardly wait for more.
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