The Iceman. Jeff Edwards

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      I had begun life as a simple carpenter, but when my parents had died young I invested their meagre inheritance in creating my own small house-building company. More by good luck than good management and very much to my surprise, the company was able to ride the wave of a boom in the building market to become relatively large and successful; however, I was still a person who preferred to be on hand at the building sites doing the manual work and totally useless when it came to the more mundane tasks of paying the bills and keeping the tax office happy. Desperately in need of help, I had advertised for a girl Friday and when Matty stepped foot into my cluttered yard for the first time, I had fallan completely and hopelessly in love.

      She was a natural for the business and it was as much through her efforts in the office as much as my workmanship that allowed the business to blossom. I soon had an office staff of ten and several work gangs erecting new or refurbishing old houses all over the city.

      Even after Allison was born, Matty continued to work in the office and our business continued to thrive.

      Eventually, we reached a stage when we came into conflict with Transglobal Developments Inc. by vying for the same contracts as that much larger firm.

      One day Matty came to my office with a worried look on her face. ‘I’ve been going over the last couple of contracts that we lost out on,’ she began. ‘Transglobal is deliberately undercutting us. They’re trying to run us out of business.’

      ‘How do we fight back?’ I asked, ‘They’re a lot bigger than us.’

      ‘We act smart. We don’t fight a fight that we can’t win.’

      I could see that she had a plan and settled back to listen.

      Months later, I sat down at the board table of Transglobal for the first time. Matty’s plan had been a win/win proposal.

      I approached Transglobal’s executives and asked why they needed to waste their time and money driving me out of business when a merger would cost them nothing more than a seat for me on their board.

      The simple reasoning and the mathematics of combining the companies soon won them over and after being on the board for ten years I was elected the company’s chairman.

      I had Matty to thank for much of my success in those years. Her behind-the-scenes support and understanding of market trends in the industry were invaluable.

      Now she was in danger and I had to stand by while others held her life in their hands; however, I had decided that I was going to do whatever I possibly could and that meant making wholesale changes in my life.

      Below me the old men were jockeying their pieces, attempting to create a weakness in their opponent’s defences that they could use to take advantage of. I, on the other hand, had developed a far simpler plan.

      My personal assistant, Roma Blair, entered. ‘Mr Schubert and Mr Strong are here,’ she announced.

      ‘Send them in,’ I said, turning away from the window and the game of chess below.

      Other than myself, Ben Schubert and Robert Strong were the most senior members of Transglobal’s board and we had formed a strong working relationship over the years. Mutual respect and friendship were key reasons for Transglobal’s continued success and Ben and Robert arrived in my office as friends as well as working companions.

      ‘You’d better stay as well,’ I said to Roma.

      ‘Do you want me to take notes?’ she asked.

      ‘That won’t be necessary.’ I looked over at my friends and could see that they had detected the unease in my voice.

      ‘What the matter?’ asked Ben Schubert.

      ‘Matty has cancer.’

      ‘Shit!’ he gasped. ‘Bad?’

      I nodded. ‘It’s in her liver. They’re starting treatment immediately.’

      The three shocked faces before me remained silent.

      ‘I’m going to spend my time at her side,’ I continued. ‘She’s going to need me.’

      ‘Of course. What can we do to help?’ said Robert Strong.

      I handed Robert a folded paper from my coat pocket. ‘That’s my resignation as chairman of the board. I’d still like to keep my seat as director, but I don’t think I’ll be taking an active role in the company for some time.’

      Robert accepted the document. ‘I don’t think the board will have any trouble accepting your conditions. I hope you’ll be back with us quickly and that Matty makes a full recovery.’

      I accepted his words with a nod. ‘Ben, I think you should take over as chairman, and I’ll be making that recommendation to the board,’ I continued.

      ‘I’d be proud to.’

      ‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘Roma will stay on to assist you and I’ll be only a phone call away if you need me.’

      ‘I hate that it’s happening to Matty. She doesn’t deserve something like this,’ said Ben.

      ‘I know. That’s why I have to do this for her. Now go back to your offices and get yourselves sorted out. You have an important meeting with the group from Dubai tomorrow morning. Their development is almost ready to go to tender and I’d hate for us to miss out.’

      ‘We’ll make sure Transglobal wraps it up. Don’t you worry about that,’ said Ben reassuringly as he left the office. ‘We’ll do it for Matty.’

      Left alone with Roma I saw the СКАЧАТЬ