Management Failure

Charlene was near to tears. "A fight? No, I just found out he has been screwing his salesgirls, and everyone thinks I should just roll over and accept it."

Melissa looked at her with concern. "Henry? I would never have believed it. You two are so devoted to each other. You are... Look, you should put this behind you, ok? Men.."

Charlene flashed with anger. "You just tell me boys will be boys and I will scream! I trusted him, and he just feels it was all ok. Don't you dare say that."

Melissa stood back. "Calm now, my friend, calm. Many men do cheat, you know that. I never believed Henry would. Look, you need to get some perspective. If you need me I will be there for you. If you have proof... but a divorce is never easy for anyone. Still, I'm your friend, ok?"

Then Tony was there. "Charly, dear, can you come this way, please? We need you for the TV."

Charlene frowned, but followed. A local television team had set up a camera and Charlene was ushered into the lights. The reporter thrust a microphone in her face and enthused: "And here is the lady of the moment. Charlene, where did this undiscovered talent spring from? An artist in our midst!"

Charlene did not know how to react, but tried: "Oh, it is nothing, I just used what I had to hand, you know. Some of the clay is local, see this dancing girl I made? She is local, she came from a clay you find in the river just beyond the golf course. It felt so soft and good in my hands, you see, and I was thinking of my eldest daughter and how she likes to dance, and the next moment there was this little nymph. I did not think she would withstand the fire, but she did, and here she is."

The reporter took the statuette in her hands, turning it carefully. "There, ladies and gentlemen, you heard the real voice of art. Just look at the delicate lines, the poise, the little nymph about to soar into the air. You can just see the love that went into making her. What do you ask for her?"

Charlene was about to give the price marked on the label on the shelf when a voice sounded: "I will give five hundred."

In a second the interview had turned into an auction, and the delighted reporter filmed an argument between prospective buyers that ended with the statuette finding a new home at multiples of the price she had hoped for.

Then a voice came from behind her. "Charlene, this is going extremely well. I must say I am impressed. We missed you yesterday, but I can see why you were too busy to join us." She turned to face Henry's MD, John Holloway.

"John, I...I appreciate your comments, thanks. I... Yes, I have been busy."

His wife smiled from behind her. "I just love the tea set you have there. You really made it all yourself?"

Charlene nodded. "It was for a dare, really. I wanted to see if I could do that. The clay has to be imported, you see. Ours is not as fine as that. But the real challenge was to get the cups and saucers all identical. That is the real test of a potter. You won't believe how many I had to thrown out."

Marlene looked at the set, balanced a cup in a hand. "This is so delicate. John, I must have it. I just must. This is just the most beautiful. How did you get the colouring, the design?"

Cheryl smiled. "If you have to know, the glazing is from some old bottles we found. We smashed them, ground them to powder, and then I painted the designs."

"You painted that? Oh, my dear, I used to do some water colours, can I come over for some lessons? I must try this. John, did you see that plate over there? The big one? Did you do the designs too?"

Charlene nodded. "The plate is Tony's work, it is an exceptional design, but he allowed me to decorate it. Yes, I can arrange lessons for you. I run a beginners class every Tuesday morning, and once you have the basics we can talk about individual lessons."

John smiled indulgently at his wife, who went off with Tony to look at the plate and its companions, then looked at Charlene. "Listen, I know something is up between you and Henry. No, I do not want to interfere. But if it affects my best salesman it affects me. I am not taking sides, but I want you two to sort out things. Please. If you need to talk to me then call me, ok?"

She looked at him through a mist of tears. "Thank you, but I can never go behind his back..."

He nodded. "I appreciate that, I run a family business and I want to keep it that. My offer stands, ok? And thank you for making my wife happy, nothing is more important to me than that."

Charlene held back her tears until John and Marlene had left, then ran out the back, past the kilns, to find the sanctuary of her storeroom. Blinded by her tears she stumbled over some broken pottery and fell heavily. She just lay there, her tears flooding, her sobs overwhelming her.

Footsteps sounded around her and she tried to say: "Just go away, just leave me..."

But strong arms lifted her, cradled her. A familiar, reassuring voice said: "Please, let us be. All is Ok. Can someone call Bella please? She was at the entrance."

Charlene was torn between revulsion, love, hate, disgust as she snuggled into Henry's comforting arms.

Bella was there, saying something, other voices. Tony saying something about closing down. Then some water and pills, a car ride, and then silence and calm.

A long time later gentle music penetrated her awareness. Rachmaninov, one of her favourites. The familiar smells, textures of her bed. A warm cover. She tried to turn her head, failed, tried again. Her leg hurt, her one hand felt strange.

A movement next to her. A gentle voice: "Are you better, love? Can you drink some water?"

She nodded, and Henry held her, cradled her, held the glass for her as he had done when Tammy was ill. With infinite care he helped her drink, wiped her mouth, asked: "Are you hungry? There is some soup I can warm up for you."

She was too weak to protest, just sank back against the pillows, dozed off. The clink of a spoon on china woke her. Henry sat next to her and asked: "A nice little snooze? Good. Ready? I could only find some chicken noodle mixture, is that all right?"

She nodded, allowed him to feed her, wipe her mouth. The warmth flooded her body, began to heal her, and she tried to move her arm. A big bandage covered it. Henry put his hand on it and soothed: "Leave it, my love. You skinned the hand, bruised it. Possibly something is broken. Your leg is worse. Bella wants to see you tomorrow... no, this morning, when you can go in. Now rest."

"Morning? What time is it?"

He glanced at the bedside clock. "Going on two o'clock. Bella gave you a few pills to knock you out, and some antibiotics. Now you need rest."

She drifted away, then turned her head. "And you are still dressed? You have been sitting up all this time?"

He hesitantly placed a soothing hand on her cheek. "I owe it to you, love. Rest now, we will talk later. Rest, but I want you to know I love you."

She held his hand against her cheek and drifted off.

Some time in the morning she woke with a start. There was the noise of a shower going. She glanced at the clock, started sliding out of bed, but the pain stabbed her leg and she cried. Almost instantly Henry was there, a towel around his waist, helping her back into bed. She gasped: "The children! They will be late for school..."

He comforted her: "Don't worry, your parents are looking after them. Take your time, I will help you get ready. What do you want for breakfast?"

Bella was businesslike. X-rays showed no fractures, just severe bruising. She looked at Charlene and said: "I am going to give you something to keep you calm, and something for the pain. These bruises will look terrible, and the muscles you had wrenched are going to be stiff and sore as anything. It will get worse over the next few days, but it should get better after that. I want to see you in a week, or if any of the wounds get inflamed. I doubt that I got everything out."

She sat forward and took Charlene's hand. "My friend, please, see how you can sort out things with Henry. The man was absolutely lost, and when he picked you up he was ready to defend you against Attila and the Huns. I am not going to tell you what to do but think carefully."

They drove home in silence. Henry insisted on putting her to bed, then prepared a lunch for her and brought it on a tray. She thanked him. They ate in silence. A few times he began to speak, and she held up a hand. At last she had finished, and took a few deep breaths.

"Henry, I cannot tell you what a pillar of strength you are. Thank you for being there for me. But what are we going to do? How..."

He sensed her emotions breaking through, and held a finger, oh, his elegant finger, before her lips.

He slid off the bed, kneeled next to her, and folded her hands in his.

"My love, I am sorry. I screwed up badly. I am not going to make excuses, to tell you how I drifted into a world where I could do what I wanted. I made a mistake. I hurt you, I hurt the girls, I hurt myself. Can I make a proposal?"

She nodded, too weak to fight back.

"Can you allow me to begin again? Can I court you, try to convince you to take me back, to forgive me? Can you give me a second chance?"

Her eyes were brimming now, and she began to sob. He gathered her in his arms and said: "I did not hear a 'no' so I take it as a maybe? Let me tell you what I am going to do this afternoon?"

She looked a question at him.

"I called John, he can see me in half an hour. I am going to tell him everything, and if he wants to fire me that is what will happen. But then I am going to ask every one of the girls to forgive me, and if you allow I will give each of them a bunch of flowers. May I?"

She nodded, swallowed, and said: "Yellow ones. No red ones."

He smiled at her. "Thank you, love. Then we see what our future holds. If I have to sell hardware I will do that. But for you I promise, no more road trips, no more sales junkets."

She held him and asked: "Before you go, where did we put the sleeping pills Bella prescribed? Give me one with some water."

***

Charlene was still stiff and clung nervously to Henry's arm as they walked in the door. John took a hand and helped her in, but Marlene swept her away into a comfortable chair, then motioned with a hand. "Do you see your tea set? Isn't it the most beautiful thing? John is going to have a glass cabinet made for me. I am so proud of that, it does something for the whole room."

A few minutes of small talk followed, then John offered drinks. He raised a glass and toasted: "To my ex-sales leader. Charlene, I must tell you your husband is one of the bravest men I have ever seen. He not only told me the whole sordid story, and sordid it was, Henry. He came out with everything, then apologised to the entire staff. In public. I never thought I would see something like that. And I know he did it with your support, Charlene. Because he apologised to you in front of the staff as well, and told them you had given him permission to give the girls flowers to beg their pardon."

Charlene blushed, nodded, took Henry's hand. "Thank you, Mr Holoway, it is kind of you to recognise that in my man. You know this has been a great shock to me, and I am not sure how to handle this, how we are going to handle this."

John smiled and lifted his glass: "I drink to you, my dear, for being the strong partner you are. I respect you and understand what you are going through. So let me tell you what happened then. I had to call our clients, the ones Henry had identified, and I told them we are not going to insist on our contracts because we do not feel we obtained them ethically. I can tell you that caused a stir in some quarters. And almost all came back to tell me that, because we handled the issue with integrity, they will honour the contracts. The exception was Tentown. Apparently the revelations caused the management team to fall apart, and there is a major restructuring under way. One we might draw some benefit from. But that is for the long term."

She nodded. "But you spoke of your ex-salesman? Is Henry fired then?"

John grinned. "Let me fill your glasses again. Yes, I fired him as sales representative. I acknowledge my responsibility in putting too much pressure on my staff. Nobody should have been exposed to that sort of pressure and temptation. So we are going to re-plan the sales division, and Henry will be the new strategic planning man. This will be a new division he will have to build up. We had a few talks and already I like the plans he has come up with."

Charlene was speechless, and John followed up. "I acknowledge my failing as manager, to allow such a situation to develop. I am disappointed in Henry, and made that clear to him, but I am also disappointed in myself. So I asked you over tonight, Charlene, to apologise to you and to Marlene, and to undertake not to let this happen again. I will need your support in this. Can I count on you?"

She did not know what to say, and Marlene came to sit by her. Then she looked at John, and at Henry. "I have to tell you I am wounded to my deepest being. I feel betrayed, I feel my trust, my belief in the man I had always admired, has been shaken. But I also remember the good times, the dedication and hard work you put into our marriage, Henry. I remember you sitting up all night to look after our baby when she was ill. I will try to work though this, Henry, but I am going to need your reassurance, your support, your commitment, because without that I cannot live."

John looked from one to the other. Henry answered. "My love, I apologise again, and I give you my word, my sacred word, that I will never again let pride in myself cloud my judgement. I will need your support, your vigilance, I will need you, and you, John, to tell me when I get too full of myself. Can we try? Can we make a new beginning?"