Chapter 4
The hour is undefined. The curtains are closed, the light in the bathroom seeps through the half open door, illuminating the bed where Rob and I are lying naked. A pile of empty dishes is lying on the floor.
Rob turns towards me, and studies me for a moment, wanting to ask a question but hesitating to formulate it. I smile, pulling the blankets up to my chin as I turn to face him.
“Why did you do this?”, he asks at last
“Really, I don’t know”, I say without lying
“Do you often get yourself in similar situations?”, he wants to know
“No, I don’t. This is the first time”
He struggles to believe me.
“Really?”, he insists
“You’re the one who asked me for a drink”, I reply
“Yes, I asked you for a drink but now we are in my hotel room, naked, and we had sex”, he argues
“Yes”, I shrug
He looks at me, as if trying to read the plan underlying my actions, and I keep smiling
“How long are you here for?”, he asks
“In New York? The conference I’m here for ends tomorrow, and I’ll be flying out tomorrow night”, I say
Rob nods.
Leaving as planned is the only thing that makes sense, and yet I realize I’d want to stay here for an extra day.
“How long are you here for?”, I ask, returning his question
“I have a meeting tomorrow morning, and I’ll be flying out tomorrow night”, he says
“Good timing”, I smile
We’re silent for a moment
“What’s your meeting about?”, I’m curious to know
“It’s about esthanol, a new chemical we’d like to have in our product line”, he tells me
“I see”, I say
“But it’s not that easy”, he continues
“Why?”
“Because someone else is already producing it, and they have the know-how”, he explains
“So you are trying to negotiate the purchase of the know-how?”
Rob shakes his head
“No, they’ll never give it away”
“So?”, I insist
“So there’s really no easy way to achieve this”
I’m silent for a moment
“Is there a hard way to achieve this?”, I want to know, and Rob laughs
“Bribe the inventor of the chemical to tell us all about it and screw over our competitors”, he says, laughing again
“Is this hard?”, I ask
Rob scrutinizes me, pondering if I am joking or if I am truly as clueless as my statement makes me sound
“Well, bribing a guy is much easier than re-building his knowledge from scratch. As long as your target guy is a well-defined person it shouldn’t be that hard”
Rob looks at me, intrigued. His is a purely theoretical curiosity, he doesn’t believe that my logic can be applied to the real world but he feels compelled to hear about it.
“Someone knows about this chemical, yes? So who’s the man?”, I start
Rob doesn’t answer
“Ok, let’s assume you know the man’s name”, I say
“Let’s assume I do. So you want me to walk up to the guy and tell him, I’ll pay you millions if you spill your secrets?”, Rob replies ironically
He’s losing interest
“Not really. Maybe you can’t buy the guy with money”
“So what do you propose to do?”, Rob asks again, his thoughts shifting beyond my reach
I take the remote and turn on the TV.
“Let’s look for inspiration”, I say
I mean it as a joke, but now Rob is wondering if he just slept with a deranged woman. He gets up and starts donning his pants.
I zap for few seconds before landing on the show I want.
Lying in bed naked, I look at the images rolling on the screen and I look at Rob, waiting.
His shirt still undone, Rob stops short, his attention suddenly alert. Rob’s hands cling to the button he was about to close, immobile.
Unnoticed, I smile as I witness the unfolding of Rob’s hidden self.