Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Seven

I stayed up all night, and thus began my first official day at Goddard. I arrived at my new apartment from the hospital at around 4:00 a.m. I planned to take a nap for an hour, but I immediately gave up on the delusion because I knew I would oversleep, my first day working for Goddard It's not a good thing to be over your head.So I showered, shaved, read online about Trion's competitors, and pored over News.com and Slashdot for the latest technology news.I put on my clothes, a lightweight black pullover (the closest I have to Jock Goddard's signature black lapel sweater), khaki trousers, and a brown houndstooth jacket. One of the "casual" outfits that Wyatt's exotic administrative assistant picked for me.Now I look like a perfectly qualified Goddard Ranger general.Then I called the waiter downstairs and asked them to bring my Porsche.

I usually go in and out of the building early in the morning and at night, and the doorman on duty during these two hours is a Spanish man of about forty-five years old named Carlos Ávila.His voice was very strange, as if he was being strangled when he spoke, as if he had swallowed a sharp object and couldn't swallow it.He likes me - I think the main reason is because I don't ignore him like the other residents here. "Working hard, Carlos?" I said to him as I passed by.He usually says this to me when I come home exhausted from late night work. "Barely works, Mr. Cassidy," he replied with a smile, before turning back to watch the TV news.

I drove a few blocks, stopped at a Starbucks that had just opened, and ordered a large latte.I picked up a stack of Wall Street Journals while I waited for that unsightly Seattle boy with pierced hipsters to make me a quart of hot coffee with 2 percent milk, and my heart broke lump. Right on the title page, is an article about Trion Corporation; or, to use their original title, "Trine's Sorrow."The article was accompanied by an engraving of Goddard, who was unreasonably happy and carefree, as if Tryon's sorrow had nothing to do with him, as if he hadn't figured out the situation yet.There was a subhead that read: "Is Creator Augustin Goddard's Day Ending?" I had to read this twice - my brain is not back to its prime and I'm still suffering Waiting bitterly for my large latte while the obtrusive kid seemed to be scrambling.The writing was sharp and powerful, and the author of the article was a reporter from the newspaper named William Bowley, who obviously had a good informant within Trion.The central point of the story seems to be that Trion's stock price is falling, its products are outdated, and the company ("widely considered the No. 1 in telecommunications consumer electronics") is in trouble.And Jock Goddard, the founder of Trion Corporation, seemed to ignore it, and his mind was no longer on Trion.The article goes on and on about the "long history" of founders of high-tech companies being replaced once they reach a certain size.Is Goddard still the right person to take control of the company in the period of stability following a period of rapid growth?The article questions this.Beyond that, the essay devotes a great deal of time to Goddard's philanthropic activities, his penchant for collecting and restoring classic American cars, and how he completely restored his prized 1949 Buick roadster.The article points out that Goddard seems to be heading for failure.

Great, I thought, if Goddard goes down, guess who goes down with him. Then I remembered: wait a minute, Goddard is not my real employer.He is our target.My real boss is Nick Wyatt.I was so overwhelmed by the joy of taking office that I forgot who I owed my allegiance to. My latte is finally ready, I add a few packets of sugar to it, stir it, and take a long gulp, burning my throat sorely.I held down the lid of the plastic cup and sat down at a table to finish the article.This reporter seemed to know Goddard's details very well. He had chatted with many people in Trion Company.The old man was under attack.

On the drive to work, I wanted to listen to the Anne DeFranco CD I picked up at Tower Records to get to know Elena better, but I pulled the CD out after a few passages.I simply can't stand it.Several songs are not singing at all, but talking.If I wanted to hear something like that, I'd listen to Jay-Z or Em.Oh thanks. I mulled over the article I just read and tried to come up with some personal insights in case anyone asks.Am I supposed to say this is a deliberate bullshit from a competitor trying to discredit us?Or that the author of the article does not understand the truth (whatever the truth is)?Or should he raise some pretty good questions that deserve to be taken seriously?I decided to pick the last one and fix it - no matter what he said is true or not, what we care about is what shareholders think, because they almost read the Wall Street Journal, so we have to take this article seriously , no matter what he said is true or false.

I wondered to myself if any of Goddard's opponents would be in trouble like this—was Jock Goddard really in trouble, was I on a sinking ship.Or, more precisely, did Nick Wyatt push me aboard a sinking ship.I thought: This guy must be out of his head - he asked me to come, didn't he? I took a sip of coffee, the cup was not closed tightly, and the creamy brown liquid splashed onto my knees.It looked as though some "accident" had happened to me.What a way to start a new job!I should have taken this as a warning to me.