𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

62

A car approached, Arthur inside. As it came to a stop, he began speaking. "I've called the house. The office, but if i tell you, you won't believe it" he paused. "So i'll show you" Arthur handed him a newspaper.

Tommys eyes scanned the words.

"I told Micheal on Friday this was going to happen" Tommy said. "Yeah" Arthur grunted.

"Fucking Micheal said he was advised by the broker that the prices would rebound, everybody was told the same thing. He held on," Arthur looked down.

"Micheal held on.."

"Yeah"

Tommy turned away. "Micheal held on" he whispered. "Yeah" Arthur said. "Micheal held on" he repeated, "and carried on dancing and playing and fucking in the snow. Delilah's end is perfectly fine, successful as ever"

"Charlie" he shouted. "Charlie come out here now. The kid never fucking listens. He never listens, Lizzie."

Lizzie looked down.

"What do i have to do to make people fucking listen to me?" he shouted. "Holy fuck" Lizzie whispered.

"What do we do now, Tommy, eh?"

Ruby looked at Tommy. "What do we do?" Arthur asked. "Lizzie, you go with Arthur to Birmingham, you stay in the midland hotel. Arthur you call a full meeting for the board of directors tomorrow at noon" he walked to the car. "A full fucking meeting"

"What about today, eh? What's wrong with today, Tom?" Arthur shouted.

"I need to do some thinking" he said, returning to the horse.

"Oh, oh you do that best in your own, don't you, eh?" Arthur said. "I won't be in my own. I'm never on my own."

"Lizzie you have the driver come back tomorrow. And Arthur, tell my boy that sometimes, death is a kindness."

-

The door closed and Arthur groaned. "Okay, now. Let's begin. Yesterday as you all know there was a fucking terrible..a terrible disaster. Hm? It wasn't just for us but for the whole world. It happened in New York. That's where it happened. And it slowly spread to London, and then go er, fucking Hong Kong, hm?"

"The whole thing, went up. Well actually the whole thing went fucking down," he cleared his throat. "We wasn't the only ones hurt by this. Whole world was hurt, a lot of people. In the papers, it's all over the news everyone's talking about it"

"Arthur" Polly spoke. "Shouldn't we just wait for Thomas?"

"Polly, Arthur's now the chairmen of the board" Linda laughed.

"Er, Mr Chairmen, perhaps while we wait for Thomas, i might lighten the gloom and express as a relatively new member of this company, what a pleasure it is to be in a boardroom that has so many females in it" Mr Greene spoke. "And all the females who are both..sharp-witted and decorative"

"Yeah well, we're a very modern company, Mr Greene." Arthur nodded.

"Although there are still some amongst us who cling to their old fashioned values" Polly remarked, looking at Linda.

Tommy walked in. "How far have we got?" he asked.

"We've established that ladies are decorative." Polly said.

"We've only just sat down, Tom" Arthur told him. "Actually erm, Arthur has some documents that he'd like to hand out" Linda interrupted.