The short man replyed to Satsuma a little bit arrogantly sitting on the sofa in a reception room, showing that he couldn’t understand the reason why Satsuma had shown up to him.
Satsuma went there to greet him because of the transfer scheduled on the 1st of January to the department where he was managing as the president.
Early winter in Prague.No connection with the essay.(click the picture)
At a glance, Satsuma recognized that he actually knew why Satsuma had appeared and where his coldness had come from. Satsuma hadn’t greeted him just after he had been told the transfer with the same way as everyone would do. Satsuma had been officially told the transfer 2 weeks before.
There was the reason why Satsuma hadn’t met him at once.
6 weeks before, Satsuma had been told an information by a boss about his transfer, which was revealed to be wrong at last. It was an unofficial announcement and Satsuma had once agreed with that because it was a reporter for the most popular magazine in his company.
The real post was completely different from that. It was "desk" for a cultural department.
Since Satsuma couldn’t agree with the post, he didn’t show up to him for 2 weeks. During the 2 weeks, he repeatedly asked the boss the reason of the wrong information he had made and told him disagreement with the transfer refusing to greet the short man. The boss’s answer was always,”I didn’t say that post. I told you correctly.”
However, he decided to accept it eventually because he didn’t want to get into bigger trouble.
“Oh, Mr. Satsuma. I’ve remembered you just now. I had a mistake about you. You are the man I’ve been waiting for momentarily for long time.”
Suddenly the short man said.
Apparently he pretended not to have recognized Satsuma. And after a while he started explaining Satsuma’s new job there smiling kindly and finally he said:
“You are scheduled to work here at least for 3 years from now.”
But the short man’s treatment to Satsuma wasn’t warm after his starting work. The short man seemingly wasn’t informed of the reason why Satsuma hadn’t appeared to him such a long time.That could have been one of the reasons why he was treated so badly, Satsuma guessed afterwards.
The boss asked Satsuma not to tell the reason to the short man and Satsuma accepted it because the boss had looked regretting his mistake.Satsuma also knew that the boss had recovered from a stomach cancer 3 years before.Satsuma felt sympathetic with him because of that.
In spite that Satuma’s post was formally “desk” whose job is to handle about 10 reporters to make a newspaper, he wasn’t left any reporter as subordinate. The short man appointed Satsuma as an assistant “desk” for a younger “desk”. The short man didn’t tell him the reason. Also Satsuma didn’t ask him about that, because asking him seemed to be wistful. Also embarrassing for Satsuma.
It was clear that the post of assistant “desk” meant insult to Satsuma because it officially meant that the president didn’t trust Satsuma’s ability as an “desk” and showed it to 60 of all the reporters there.
The short man was around 160 centimeters tall. He always wore rich and shic suit. Had neat hair. And smelt expensive perfume. Satsuma once watched that he had showed quite happy face when he was highly praised,
”Mr.president you are quite smart!”
by a beautiful female reporter in her twenties. She must have been the same age as his daughter,if he had had.
When the president ran across Satsuma in corridors or the office, he didn’t have any eye contact with Satsuma, showing formal expression. Satsuma knew well the meaning of his attitude. It meant he was demanding implicitly quite kind manner of him. That is to say, flattery.
Once Satsuma hesitated whether he should become quite kind to him or stay as natural as usual. And decided to be natural. After then Satsuma also didn’t try to have any eye contact with the short man.
A crown of milk.No connection with the essay.(click the picture)
According to Satsuma’s friends who used to work with the short man, he fired 3 reporters when he was working as a “desk” in Sapporo branch office with catching their failures in drinking and blaming them. Either of 3 reporters got nasty in drinking. The short man was appreciated because of those axes by his boss and it became the beginning of his career.
The thing is, he had been sucking up to the boss continuously for long time.
One day,while Satsuma was present at a party for their office in a hotel, he happened to see the short man in front of a bathroom. The president said smiling,
“Although I said to you that you would work here 3 years, your term here would become shorter. Because there are a lot of people who wish for working here.”
“Is that so?” Satsuma replyed calmly.
It was just 82 days after his starting working there.
(continued to "A mishap 2"=in the table of "Recent Essays")
