shook her head.
“Well, instead of dessert, let me offer you this: a job.”
“Sure, any systems analysis in C, Windows, or Motif you need taken care of, especially when it comes to a currency-trading back-office system, I’d be happy to do for you. But I’ll only work with personal computers, not mainframes, I warn you,” she said dryly.
“I’m not talking about your little computers, you know. The world doesn’t rise and fall because of computers. We all got along perfectly well without them for thousands of years.”
“Don’t let Bill Gates hear you say that.”
“William who?”
“Never mind.”
“I’d like you to do some research on our family history. You’d have to do some traveling in Europe. I want you to find the missing pages of a manuscript that’s been in the family for hundreds of years.”
Francesca’s head swam. She shaded her eyes, which suddenly watered from the light. “Whoa! I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You say you’ve been fired. Well, I’ll pay you the same as you’ve been getting, plus all your expenses. All you need to do is make up a research report for me to read each week.”
Francesca suddenly leaned forward. “You know, there are so many sources on the Internet I could look into—university libraries, the Vatican collection,” she said, suddenly excited. With that and severance pay, she could last weeks, maybe even a few months! Surely she could find another job in a few months!
Then another thought hit her and her face reddened. “I don’t need your pity, Gran.”
“My dear, this was the very reason I invited you out to lunch in the first place. Ask Suzanne.”
“You mean you were going to ask me to quit my job?” she said incredulously.
Catherine nodded. “Or take a leave. That’s what Suzanne’s doing.”
“So, we’d be working together.” She paused thoughtfully, her forehead puckering.
“Yes, side by side.”
“I suppose the manuscript would be very valuable, a very significant addition to your collection.”
“Child, I’m not doing this for any ‘collection’! This is personal. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to read the rest of my ancestor’s story. I’m not getting any younger. I feel now is the time to try.”
“Have you contacted rare-book and manuscript dealers?”
“I’ve been in touch with many of them. Each and every one has a different theory, different leads. You’ll need to meet with the most important of them and make some order out of it. They’ll be willing to help you. But I think the search could use a new head, a fresh vision. So many great paintings and manuscripts were lost for centuries until some enterprising and persistent individual simply took a better look at what was there all along. Besides, you are one of her descendants. You have her genes. Perhaps you’ll have an intuitive sense about where to look.”
“Well, that’s too mumbo-jumbo for me.” She shook her head.
Catherine looked at her, surprised. There was a little of Janice in her curvy, petite frame. But otherwise, she had always seemed to take after her father’s side of the family: the calm, reasonable, respectful Abrahams. The echo of Janice’s favorite, insulting phrase gave Catherine goose bumps. Who knew what stores of hidden influence a bad parent had on a child? Was the cause lost before the battle had even begun?
“Well then, you agree?”
“Agree?” Francesca reached across the table and grasped her grandmother’s hand. “It’s like a dream! I was so depressed when I walked in here and now, it’ll save my life!”
Catherine smiled at her. Surprise, surprise! No emotional blackmail, no threats, no funeral stories. Straight business. Francesca, whom she’d thought would be as impossible to disentangle from her job as a piece of chewing gum from a child’s hair. “This calls for a celebration. Waiter, bring us two lemon-raspberry tarts and cappuccino.”
“Why not?” Francesca thought,
“Well, instead of dessert, let me offer you this: a job.”
“Sure, any systems analysis in C, Windows, or Motif you need taken care of, especially when it comes to a currency-trading back-office system, I’d be happy to do for you. But I’ll only work with personal computers, not mainframes, I warn you,” she said dryly.
“I’m not talking about your little computers, you know. The world doesn’t rise and fall because of computers. We all got along perfectly well without them for thousands of years.”
“Don’t let Bill Gates hear you say that.”
“William who?”
“Never mind.”
“I’d like you to do some research on our family history. You’d have to do some traveling in Europe. I want you to find the missing pages of a manuscript that’s been in the family for hundreds of years.”
Francesca’s head swam. She shaded her eyes, which suddenly watered from the light. “Whoa! I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You say you’ve been fired. Well, I’ll pay you the same as you’ve been getting, plus all your expenses. All you need to do is make up a research report for me to read each week.”
Francesca suddenly leaned forward. “You know, there are so many sources on the Internet I could look into—university libraries, the Vatican collection,” she said, suddenly excited. With that and severance pay, she could last weeks, maybe even a few months! Surely she could find another job in a few months!
Then another thought hit her and her face reddened. “I don’t need your pity, Gran.”
“My dear, this was the very reason I invited you out to lunch in the first place. Ask Suzanne.”
“You mean you were going to ask me to quit my job?” she said incredulously.
Catherine nodded. “Or take a leave. That’s what Suzanne’s doing.”
“So, we’d be working together.” She paused thoughtfully, her forehead puckering.
“Yes, side by side.”
“I suppose the manuscript would be very valuable, a very significant addition to your collection.”
“Child, I’m not doing this for any ‘collection’! This is personal. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to read the rest of my ancestor’s story. I’m not getting any younger. I feel now is the time to try.”
“Have you contacted rare-book and manuscript dealers?”
“I’ve been in touch with many of them. Each and every one has a different theory, different leads. You’ll need to meet with the most important of them and make some order out of it. They’ll be willing to help you. But I think the search could use a new head, a fresh vision. So many great paintings and manuscripts were lost for centuries until some enterprising and persistent individual simply took a better look at what was there all along. Besides, you are one of her descendants. You have her genes. Perhaps you’ll have an intuitive sense about where to look.”
“Well, that’s too mumbo-jumbo for me.” She shook her head.
Catherine looked at her, surprised. There was a little of Janice in her curvy, petite frame. But otherwise, she had always seemed to take after her father’s side of the family: the calm, reasonable, respectful Abrahams. The echo of Janice’s favorite, insulting phrase gave Catherine goose bumps. Who knew what stores of hidden influence a bad parent had on a child? Was the cause lost before the battle had even begun?
“Well then, you agree?”
“Agree?” Francesca reached across the table and grasped her grandmother’s hand. “It’s like a dream! I was so depressed when I walked in here and now, it’ll save my life!”
Catherine smiled at her. Surprise, surprise! No emotional blackmail, no threats, no funeral stories. Straight business. Francesca, whom she’d thought would be as impossible to disentangle from her job as a piece of chewing gum from a child’s hair. “This calls for a celebration. Waiter, bring us two lemon-raspberry tarts and cappuccino.”
“Why not?” Francesca thought,
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