The watchman opened the gate to allow the car in. It was a steep hill for a few meters before it turned to the right along the building in which the computer company occupied the whole of the ground floor, and half of the first floor. The car parked at the far end of the building at the reserved slot, in which only the senior members of staff were allowed. The company owner's car had a slot reserved next to which his wife would park. Except for Hunja and three other managers, all ordinary staff were supposed to find parking at the back of the building.
He locked the car and strode towards the entrance, an elegant, trim figure in a black suit. He was a light-skinned fellow, tending to light oak. Some speculated that he was halfcaste, but that was not true in the least; both his parents were indigenous. His cigarette as usual was hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"Good morning Agnes!" His voice carried authority behind its habitual hoarseness from too much smoking.
"Good morning Hunja!" the tall woman replied from behind her desk. She was the executive secretary to the Sales Director, but Hunja insisted on pretending she was his personal assistant, a ploy that Agnes tolerated with good humour. "A few letters for you," she said as she handed him a number of envelopes, one of which was a large brown one.
"Thank you!" He strode into the Training Centre. Monica, the training assistant, who was more properly his assistant rose from behind the desk at the front where she had been setting up the overhead projector in preparation for a presentation to be held in the Centre for executives of the Power Company.
"Why is this bag on my desk? Do I carry handbags?" His voice held a growl.
Monicah rushed to retrieve her handbag from where she had been working. "I am sorry, sir," said she meekly.
He sat down at his desk and demanded of the girl to open the envelopes, but not to look into the contents. He read them one by one, muttering threateningly under his breath at one or two of them. The catalogue from the large envelope changed his mood abruptly. He had been waiting for it from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino since the last week. He settled down to peruse its contents, in the space of time before the presentation started.
"What are you doing, Monica?" he asked a bit later without looking up.
"I am organising the materials used by students yesterday."
"In that case you can organise a cup of tea for me." She went in search of the catering lady whose duty it was to serve tea at 10am. But now Hunja wanted his earlier than that.
After a short while Anne, the Sales Director came in. The presentation was to show off the IBX Radix, a device that would allow field workers to take all kinds of records of their work. It could be easily tailored to take meter readings for the Water department or as in the case today, for the Power and Lighting Company.
"All ready to show these people how to bill us more efficiently?" she asked with a smirk.
"I still can't tell how Talib roped you in to this project." Salim Talib was the owner of the firm.
"Don't make me remind you that you came running to get involved. Did you know it would come back to bite you?" Anne mocked him.
They broke into companionable laughter, knowing that if the device sold well, they would receive handsome sales commissions, even though, strictly speaking, Hunja's remit was not Sales. And that depended upon them pulling off the coming presentation.
As the officials of PLC left after the event, the two were standing at the entrance to the Training Centre.
"Thank you for your support, Hunja," said Anne. "The use of the Centre allowed the company to make a good impression."
"Your performance was sterling," he answered. "That initial order of 100 units was more than we had hoped for. The boss will be more than pleased." Then a crooked smile appeared. "You will have to share your commissions with me, mark you!"