uncertainty regarding the Partners’ arrivals and departures. He proceeded with his attaché case up the stairs to his office. Max was prepared to present his quarterly ‘State of the Books’ report, a slang term for the financial briefing, to whichever Partners showed up at the company meeting scheduled for 10:00 AM in the briefing room. Max had never seen more than three Partners together at one meeting up to this point in time.
Max hung his suit jacket on the clothes rack and was about to sit at his desk when he heard a click behind and to his right. He pivoted abruptly and was startled as the bathroom door opened. A tall, attractive blonde woman dressed in an aviation jumpsuit stepped into his so-called private environment!
“Hello Mr. Hargrove, I’m Dannie. We haven’t met, but Chip raved about you so I thought it was time,” she said putting out her hand for a shake.
Max was stunned. This beautiful woman had just stepped out of his office bathroom like a fashion model ready to walk down the runway!
“Uhhh…, I...., How do you do?” he stammered, taking her outstretched hand. It dawned on him that this must be a Partner he hadn’t met. It hadn’t occurred to him that all of the Partners weren't necessarily men. Chip had referred to a Partner he called ‘Danny’ but Max thought that it was a nickname for Danyel Uhlman. He recalled the name from the Partner profiles but had assumed it was a masculine, Scandinavian type of name.
“Did I forget to lock the back door?” asked Max rhetorically. He knew it locked automatically but wondered about her clandestine style of entry.
“No, it was locked, but Chip opened it for me so I wouldn’t have to go through the office area. I’m not supposed to be here today and I’ll have to miss the meeting, so I thought I’d say hello before I leave,” Dannie explained. “My office is over there,” she added, pointing through the conventional office door to the opposite wall of the main office area.
“Ahh, I understand. Please call me Max, everybody does except my mother, she calls me Maxie,” he quipped with a wry smile. “If you have a few minutes I’ll give you an abbreviated version of the fiscal update that I’ll be boring the others with for about a half hour,” he offered. Danyel agreed and looked at the briefing notes. She had a few quick questions about one of the under-performing commercial properties, and then thanked Max for the update.
“Investing in these commercial properties seems awfully complex, I never really could follow the logic,” she said, in a dismissive-sounding tone. “But that’s your job, right Max?”
Danyel relaxed somewhat and, after they went through the usual ‘glad to have met you’ small talk, she went back through the bathroom. After checking both ways, she stepped out onto the rear walkway, closing the door behind her.
“Never a dull moment at USAP!” Max murmured quietly to his empty office.
Within ten minutes Max had gathered the prepared notes for the fiscal update to the Partners and put them into a folder. He closed the office door as he stepped out to the front walkway and strode the eight steps to the briefing room front entrance. He opened the door and entered the large, five-sided room.
Rather surprised that no one else was there, Max checked his watch, which read 9:58 AM. He double-checked his notes and noted the Monday, 10:00 AM meeting time. He was about to go up the auxiliary stairway to Chip’s office when he heard the clatter of helicopter blades above and he noticed that Chip’s office door was open. The helicopter sound was louder through the stairwell opening. It was accompanied by the sound of sand and grit being windswept over the roof of the building, apparently caused by the prop-wash from the helicopter rotor blades upon take off. Almost immediately the elevator doors opened and Chip, Brad Charles, Ezra Carrol, and two men whom Max had never