“As I was saying David, that bunker on 12th idea is a bad one,” Alan McLuhan stated
firmly.
Alan was up in arms over the course planning committee's latest idea to keep the course
current. Sure, with the 14 handicap that Alan sported, David Clark could see why he'd want to
keep any more bunkers on #9 out of the picture. David belonged to Palm Golf Club in Mendham,
where the golf was solid, yet he didn't quite care for the social scene. The Clarks would be
looking to upgrade next year as there were too many wannabes at Palm Golf making upper
middle class dough.
But his wife, Toni, loved the place, so they found themselves at the club at least one
Saturday night of each month. Palm Golf usually did have a decent band and Toni and David
were better than average dancers. If he did say so himself.
“Oh, come now Alan, that slice of yours won't put the ball anywhere near this new
bunker.”
It was his way of saying nicely, „kiss my bald rump, Alan, and stop your whining'.
“David Clark, how's that Zyptorin trial going?,” said a woman whose name he should
have known, but he had nothing. “Toni says you're busier than ever.”
“Oh, you know I can't talk about the trials I work on,” David said in his kindest, teasing
way.
Zyptorin - Distal Pharmaceuticals didn't need to spend millions on this stupid trial, David
could have told you the drug was average at best. However, the $450k Distal had already paid
him in consulting fees over the past year kept him interested enough, and the Clarks now had a
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beachfront three bedroom condo in Miami Beach, thanks to Distal and friends. They bought it out
of foreclosure, so, of course, it was nice to know the right people.
The next thing David knew, this woman had her hand on his butt.
“Well, when are Steve and I going to get invited to your Miami Beach pad?” she
whispered into his left ear. “Toni just told me about your hot tub.”
David looked over at his wife who was talking with the Robinsons. Why he could not
remember this woman's name was beyond him.
Toni was the co-executive producer for CBS morning show. The Clarks had been married
for 17 years and it had been truly exciting to watch the rise in Toni's career. The thing about
becoming a cardiologist was that once David was done with his residency in 1988, he was
basically a star from that point on. Granted, his income had seen a nice pop thanks to the folks at
Distal, though he was making great money fourteen years ago.
His chest started to vibrate - it was his cell phone - so he reached inside his jacket and
pulled it out from his pocket. David glanced at the number and he knew there was big news on
the other end of this call. A call from Norm Watson this late on a Friday night had to be
important. Norm was heading the Zyptorin committee.
“Hello Norm,” David said, flipping the phone open.
“Oh, David, am I glad I caught you,” Norm said hurriedly. “Have you heard about Jim
Newel?”
Jim Newel was the CEO of Distal Pharmaceuticals.
“No, I haven't. What's up?” His heart rate started to pick up the pace.
“David, he's had a heart attack and it looks bad. He is in a coma.”
That certainly wasn't the good news David was hoping for because he was due to have
lunch with Jim Newel in less than two weeks. He wasn't sure about his consulting arrangement
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once the Zyptorin trial finished up, and David was hoping to get inside Jim's inner circle. He had
been trying get on this guy's lunch schedule for six months. They had met on a few occasions, but
it was always in a small group of people, each equally eager to talk with the glorified CEO.
David didn't know what to say back to Norm, so he thought for a moment.
“David, you there?” Norm asked.
“Yeah, I'm here, sorry about that. So what does this mean for our trial?”
“We don't know yet, and probably won't know anything for a while,” Norm replied. ”Do
you think you can call the rest of the committee to assure them that nothing is changing, at least
not for a while?”
“Well, if Jim dies, the board will have to act fast,” David pointed out.
The reality here was quite stark, even if this guy lived through it. Heart attacks rarely lead
to comas but when they do, big problems often happen. Somebody was going to need to step into
the CEO slot even if Jim made a full recovery. What a mess. This was going to set David back
two hard years of work to get as far inside Distal as he had.
“Well, David, I'll call you next week. Have a great weekend,” Norm stated.
“Thanks for the heads up, Norm.” David put the cell phone back inside his jacket and
finished his drink - clenching the glass that was just crying out to be hurled across the room.
“Damnit, damnit, damnit!” he yelled to himself. Jim Newel was done and David knew it.
This was no mild heart attack. There was no way he was going to be able to handle the pressures
of the CEO job, even if he stabilized.
David wondered what to tell Toni. It was going to be all over the news in the morning
anyway, so why ruin a night?
Toni was promoted to her current position last year. She arose each weekday morning at
3am and drove into the midtown Manhattan studio. Toni was able to leave the office at 4pm.
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They had one son, Andy, who attended the ninth grade at the Pingry School. Andy was under the
services of our nanny, Lucy, up until last year.
The Clark family would be in Vail for the Christmas holiday, where they owned a slope
side chalet. David had an easier time taking vacations than did Toni who lived in constant fear
that some up and rising star would take her highly coveted position. If they could take two 7-8
day vacations a year, David considered himself lucky. In the prior year, the Clark family was only
able to take one of these and David felt the overall mood in the Clark household suffered as a
direct result of this.
Toni was one of few people to put David in his place and was not at all impressed by him
as a Cardiologist. She was impressed when they first met at a New Year's eve gala at the top the
World Trade Center One. Yet, the years had grown long and the fascination turned to mid-life
reality. Toni definitely felt like she had earned her career success a whole lot more than her
husband had earned it.
“All you needed to do was to score well on your MCATs,” Toni had told David on a few
occasions. “'Granted, that's not easy to do and I respect that but it was still just one test.”
David couldn't really argue with that, though his inroads with Distal's management team
had been watering down these feelings quite a bit in recent months. Then friggin' Jim Newel goes
and has a heart attack! Crap!
Of all of their friends, Toni had the most spectacular female career, though lots of women
they knew had banged around in the corporate world. Susan Johnson was an example and she
actually achieved decent success. David always wondered if she started to make more money
than Nick because Susan must have gotten close to Nick's salary level when she made the Vice
President level at her company. But, Nick didn't seem like the kind of guy who would be
bothered by that kind of thing.
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It had been fun to watch Nick's wide-eyed enthusiasm during the Zyptorin committee
meetings. David knew this committee had some celebrity doctors on it, though he hoped Nick
didn't think this was going to lead to anything. Nick was basically a glorified family doctor and
non-specialists almost never got onto these trials. David hoped Nick knew how lucky he was to
be on the Zyptorin committee.
The band had been playing for ten minutes what sounded like blues band music, heavy on
the saxophone.
That worked for the Clarks.
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Sunday, November 10th
8:45am