In the Shadow of Ambition

Contents

Acknowlegements

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

irst you see them, then you don’t. Then you see.

Plato’s Cave

My life’s dream has been a perpetual nightmare.

Voltaire

Acknowlegements

Meaningful suggestions and editorial comment from my friends Tim Meyer, Adaio Micaletti, and Glen Phillps were significant and important and I thank them. Also, all my colleagues at Northwestern University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s writing classes, deserve my thanks for awakening and helping me with my interest in writing. Finally, my deepest thanks goes to my wife, Mary. She’s been patient, supportive and a good source for the story. I can never thank her enough for her encouragement.

CHAPTER 1

The fuckin’ ducks aren’t even flying today, the cab driver shouted in a thick Brooklyn accent over the traffic noise. Got be your lucky day, buddy. Nobody gets a cab on a Friday at four o ‘clock on Wall Street when it’s rainin’. Whereya goin’?

Owen Warren Lee screamed, La Guardia. He got in the cab; soaking wet from the downpour and the splashing the driver gave him when he stopped to pick him up.

If you’re goin’ on somebody else’s’ tab, I’ll get ya there fast, but it’s the long way. Cost ya ten bucks more.

Just get me there fast, Owen answered.

It was his lucky day despite his soaking, and he was traveling on a client’s tab. Minutes earlier he had completed the closing of an important acquisition for a client. It would double the size of his client’s company, and guarantee more legal work for his firm…and more billing to be attributed to him. Lucky day. His thoughts turned to his wife for a moment. Merrily would have said that my horoscope today has all the stars and the planets lined up in the right place.

With the thought of his wife, he dialed her cell phone, but she didn’t answer. Damn it, anyway. Why can’t she answer? Must have it turned off. Why can’t she remember such a little thing to keep it on?

The ride to the airport was as guaranteed. Despite his soaking clothes, Owen gave the driver a $20 tip, which the cabby acknowledged with Thanks buddy. You’re a great guy, and roared off splashing water on him again.

Owen cursed the cabby out loud and headed toward his airline hoping no one would see him and his once immaculate suit that now smelled. He was no more than a few steps inside the terminal when someone screamed OWL, you ol’son of a bitch! Owen didn’t recognize the man waving wildly at him, especially someone who knew his nickname. He’s dressed like the worst nightmare of men’s fashion editor. I’d never know anyone looking like him, he thought, and continued walking toward his airline’s VIP passenger lounge.

OWL. Wait a minute, the man yelled. Owen stopped dead in his tracks. The screamer, whose raspy voice sounded like it came from vocal cords tied in a knot, slapped him on the back and said, You don’t remember me do you, you old fart? I’m the guy you helped pass the Corporate Merger and Acquisitions course our last year in law school. Remember? We sat right next to each other. Remember me now? Robert Roberts. Most of the class called me Double Bob or DB. Everybody calls me DB now.

Owen couldn’t remember Robert Roberts, Double Bob or DB, but he could remember his moniker, OWL. The nickname fit him to a T according to his law classmates. Aside from being his initials, it was given him at an early age by someone he couldn’t remember, a natural nickname stemming from his scholarly nature. Owen had a love-hate relationship with it. While he was proud of his reputation for being bright, Owen didn’t like the nerd connotation that came along with the nickname. However, as someone explained to him long ago when he expressed his distaste for it, If it hoots like an owl, has eyes like an owl, and is as smart as an owl, it must be… let’s face it, Owen, you’ll always be an Owl.

Owen stared at DB, not wanting to believe the situation he found himself in when he heard DB ask, Are you still practicing in Chicago? I’ll bet you are. And I bet we’re on the same flight. I’ve got to go there to try to buy a company on the cheap.hey, what a great break for me. I’ve just fired my goddamned law firm, and I’m going to need a good lawyer to help me do the deal. You’re just the guy. Let’s go to the VIP lounge and have a drink, catch up with each other, and get better acquainted. We’re going to be together for a long time, I hope, and I’ll tell you all about the deal. Oh shit, I better be careful, you might start running the meter on me, DB guffawed, slapping Owen on the back.

Owen was glad the corridor leading to the VIP lounge was crowded, which caused them to separate on the way to avoid running into people. It gave him time to try to place him. The more DB talked, Owen vaguely remembered him, but where? When? Then it came to him. It was from law school. That’s it! He’s right! He sat next to me in the Corporate Merger and Acquisition course our senior year. He constantly harangued me to lend him my class notes. And the pest wouldn’t take no for an answer. I know he wasn’t near me in class rank. Did he even graduate? What difference does it make? Owen knew he was trapped and was going to have to talk to this jerk whether he wanted to or not.

What Owen wanted to do was go to the airline’s lounge, phone his office, and return any important messages before he got on the plane. He decided to make the best of the situation by rationalizing that the prospect for a new piece of business and a new billing source would top the day off for him. I’m on a roll. My current pace for a record amount of fees billedfor the year will be even higher. He smiled for the first time since he ran into DB.

They soon arrived at the reception desk of the VIP lounge where they showed their membership cards to an attractive young woman. She rolled her baby blue eyes at them and purred, Welcome. If there’s anything we can do for you, please let us know. DB took the request as an opportunity to flirt, and engaged her attention with a pick-up line as old as she was. Angry at the delay, Owen stood on one foot and then the other and listened to the ritual. I knew it. I should have ignored this guy. New business or no new business. He’s going to be a pain to deal with one way or another.

Finally, Owen could stand it no longer and said, OK, DB. Let’s go to the bar, you order the drinks. Get me a diet Pepsi or Coke, and let me make a couple of calls. You’re not my only client, you know.

The bar was packed and noisy. Too many TVs and conversations on cell phones competed unfairly with peace and quiet. Bad weather delayed flights to every destination. The monitor over the bar confirmed what the receptionist told them. Their flight was delayed for an hour. The bar was the only place where they could sit together. DB said, A soft drink, did I hear you say? Are you still a teetotaler?

No, not really, but I found out a long time ago that alcohol likes me more than I like it, so I seldom drink.

I know what you mean. My first wife said four fifths of my personality was a fifth. But what do you say, for old times sake, and for our new, let’s say, mutually profitable, relationship, how about a quick one before we board? One can’t hurt us, now can it?

No, guess not. Go ahead and order. I’ll be back after I make my calls.

Can they wait a minute? I’ve got to go to the john and shake hands with the unemployed…at least for tonight. I’ll be right back. DB darted towards the men’s room before Owen could say he wanted to make the calls now and not later.

When DB got back, Owen said he had to go to the men’s room, too. DB interrupted, Now don’t bill me when you’re taking a. Owen interrupted, I promise I won’t until I get you signed on the dotted line as a client.

Out of earshot from DB, Owen called home immediately. He let it ring countless times before Merrily answered.

Why didn’t you answer earlier when I called?

Oh, I may have turned off my phone when I was on the train. Anyway, when will you be home?

I don’t know. The airports are tied in knots. Lord only knows when I’ll get there. But that’s not why I called. How did your presentation at the Midwest Historical Institute go today?

I think it went well. There were a few questions about several of the proposed candidates, but nothing serious. Just a little problem with a spot on my skirt was all I was worried about.

Owen interrupted, Merrily, you know how important the firm’s representation of the Institute is. The firm.

This time Merrily interrupted, not vocally, but mentally. She had heard his sermon about the firm and the importance of its maintaining its high profile reputation so many times over the years she could recite it backwards.

While Owen continued to preach, Merrily’s mind drifted back to the time when they first lived in a small apartment in Evanston, close to Northwestern University. They were happy then. Owen had graduated from law school and started working with a small law firm in the city. He had lots of time for their lives together…his workload was small as a new associate. They spent time with other couples also starting out, and enjoyed the stimulating big city atmosphere of Chicago, and the fun of living near the campus of Northwestern. Owen wanted to work at the firm where his father was the senior partner. But his father was dismissed from the firm because of his alcoholism. While he was drunk, he borrowed a sizable amount of a client’s funds from a trust, and was caught by an audit. Somehow, he managed to borrow the money to repay the client; otherwise, he would have been disbarred. The impact on Owen was that the firm wouldn’t have anything to do with him. His dad’s former partners wouldn’t even give him an interview. Disappointed, he associated with a smaller, less prominent firm.

Owen couldn’t get over his father’s transgressions. They caused him to dedicate his career to prove to everyone that they were wrong to transmit the sins of his father to him.and he wanted be the most successful lawyer in Chicago.an ambition, an obsession that would cast lengthy shadows over many lives.

Merrily’s thoughts were jolted back to the present when Owen shouted Merrily. Are you listening to me?

Ah…yes. Go on. What were you saying?

I said, don’t wait up for me. He hung up.

Good. He’ll want to know the details of the questions about the candidates, especially the ones he secretly proposed, and how the spot got on my suit. I’ll be asleep, or will act that way, and perhaps he’ll be too busy tomorrow to ask. I don’t want to think about anything more tonight.

Owen next called his office. Mary, his secretary, answered even though it was past office hours. He was relieved to talk to her. He told her about his triumphal day and then asked for his messages. At the office she was The Office Mary, but she was really Mary One, since he depended more on her than his wife Merrily, whose real name was Mary.

She said, I have some good news for you. Your partners voted Nora Griffin into the partnership yesterday. Owen was delighted to hear the news. He was especially impressed with the work that the young woman performed for him as his assistant. Graduated at near the top of her class from a prestigious law school. Devoted to the law, it’s practice, and purity. And ambitious. A real potential business rain maker. The other messages were routine. One of his biggest clients complained to Mary about a bill. Owen said, Mary, What else is new. The old saying in the law business is that if you never get a complaint about a bill, you’re not charging enough. On the other hand, if clients are constantly complaining about their bills, you’re charging too much. Clients are like violin strings. They must not be screwed too tight. Hitting the happy medium is the firm’s goal.

The client complaining was the kind who counts every kernel in a popcorn bag. But he paid on time, and the cash flow was welcome at the firm. Maybe worth charging a little less, Owen reasoned. He told Mary to remind him to call the client later.

The only other call Mary said was of importance was from John, his adopted son. John left a message that Owen call Merrily’s doctor as soon as possible. The doctor said it was so important that he gave John his private cell phone number to allow Owen to reach him at any time. But John couldn’t remember it. Owen cursed. Of course the kid couldn’t remember it. Since he was twelve years old, he could remember every point he scored in basketball, every touchdown he made, and his golf score for every round he played at the Club. Other than that, he couldn’t remember his hat size. His brains are in his jockstrap.

Owen dialed John’s apartment. When John answered, Owen shouted, You called me. If the doctor calls back, try to put on your little thinking cap and get his number. Tell him I’ll call him some time tomorrow. Owen cut John off while he was trying to answer, and returned to his new client.

DB hardly let him sit down when he started into a do you remember when conversation. DB recalled it was nearly 20 years ago since they last saw each other. His monologue on their past was interrupted by an announcement that their flight to Chicago was delayed another hour and a half. Shit, Owen mumbled to himself, Now I’m really stuck.

DB babbled on. Owen slowly changed his mind about his initial impression of him. His personality turned