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The Cottage As an
investment banker with a large corporation out of Toronto, Cassandra
was always on top of her business game and expended virtually every
bit of energy on her career. She was hired straight out of her
Harvard MBA programme by the firm and in the four years of her
employment, the Board of Directors was glad they had made the
decision even though it was made to quell criticism of equality in
the workplace. When they first interviewed Cassandra, their
immediate thought was they could satisfy two levels of criticism. As
a black woman in her early twenties, they could hardly be criticized
for any type of discrimination in the primarily male dominated firm.
The fact that she satisfied a need to the firm beyond her academic
and intellectual qualifications neither escaped Cassandra's
attention nor did it reduce her focus.
For the past four years she poured
herself into her career and watched, with little emotion, as her
boyfriend packed his bags and left her alone in her upscale
lakefront condo. She knew she should have felt sadness or remorse at
not devoting more time to him but, at some level, she just did not
care.
Cassandra had moved to Toronto from
England when she was five years old. The shift in culture from
England was stressful for her but she was soon befriended by a
little girl named Jessica and they soon grew to be the best of
friends even though they were joked about occasionally. The delicate
chocolate complexion of Cassandra was, in fact, a stark contrast to
the blonde hair, pale blue eyes and almost milky skin of Jessica.
Jessica was fearless in her protection of Cassandra and as their
bond tightened, they became inseparable until Cassandra went to
Harvard and Jessica to UCLA. Through the years they had stayed in
constant contact and to their delight, Jessica returned to Toronto
the previous year to take over a manufacturing facility owned by her
father. They managed to get together once every two weeks for dinner
and a good laugh, the latter being diversions from their hectic
life. At times, they would both complain about their boyfriends and
questioned the sense in having them around but it was all in good
humour. It was late on a
Thursday afternoon, when Cassandra was called into the managing
partner's office for a meeting. She had just finished closing three
major deals so she was positive that there was not a performance
problem so entered the office fairly confident. Sitting at the
smaller board table were the three senior partners along with the
Managing Director. The hairs on the back of Cassandra's neck stood
up in reluctant anticipation as she seated herself in the padded
vacant chair. "Gentlemen,"
the Managing Director said matter-of-factly. "You all know Miss
Fleetwood as an efficient and capable banker and I hardly have to
tell you of her performance figures." The other partners nodded in
quiet affirmation as the Managing Director continued, "We have
watched her grow into a dynamic business person and, under your
strong guidance, she has achieved much success as a manager."
Turning his attention to Cassandra he fell quiet for a moment of
poignant pause and then with an uncharacteristic smile said, "Miss
Fleetwood, we have discussed your progress in a private meeting and
it was a unanimous decision that we were in need of a senior partner
who was capable of taking this firm further than we have achieved to
date. I do not want to minimize the growth these fine professionals
have achieved but we need to go beyond that and, we are here to
invite you to be that Senior Partner.
"You will receive all the compensation
and perks and, in fact, we have arranged for you to take a two week
vacation starting tomorrow at the private lakeside retreat up north.
When you get back, we expect you to be completely refreshed and
ready to take on a much broader role in the company. We would like
your thoughts on this matter Miss Fleetwood," he said categorically
and sat back awaiting her positive response. There was no hesitation
on Cassandra's part to accept the offer and for the next hour they
discussed the increased role. After shaking each of her partner's
hand, Cassandra returned to her office and sat in amazement at what
had transpired. As she began
to think of her two-week vacation, she felt a sudden pang of sadness
at not having anyone to share her glory with then realized that the
only person she would want to share this with was her friend
Jessica. She picked up the phone and was immediately put through to
her friend. She explained the events of the day and invited Jessica
up to the private island for as long as she would like. Jessica told
her she would have to get back to her in half an hour and Cassandra
told her to call her on the cell phone as she was just leaving the
office. She was walking
through the door of her upscale condo when her phone rang. "Hi
Cass," her friend greeted. "I can come up but it won't be until
Tuesday of that is okay."
"Of course it is okay!" Cassandra replied gleefully. "It is going to
be so great to share some real private time with you and let our
hair down." Little did Cassandra know how true those statements
would become and the amazing turn of phrase "private time" would be.
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Reserved - DCS O'Malley
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