Distant+Whispers

his head and stared intently at Denmark, sizing him up. His brows furrowed and he cast a side glance
at Manoj, who shrugged his shoulder. Suddenly a wry smile appeared on Raj’s face. He quickly
pivoted towards his secretary.
“Shanti, call de people dem. De meeting for Project Blue go start jus’ now in de conference
room.”
“Okay, Mr. Mukherjee. Mr. Denmark, please follow this group. They’ll lead you to the conference
room.”
Raj waved his hand. “No, no. This is Petra’s man. Call she!”
“Raj! Petra didn’t reach yet,” said the secretary, barely controlling her anger.
The young CEO, ignoring his secretary’s puffed up face, reached over her desk and pressed a
white button. A thick white door that led to the operations area clicked open revealing TnTClaim’s
large operations floor. It occupied half of the fourth floor of the western tower of the Eric Williams
Financial Towers, the highest structure in downtown Port of Spain.
Inside, waist high dividers sectioned the floor into various functional areas: Customer Service,
Claims Processing, Providers and Information Systems. Each section was abuzz with scores of
workers intently carrying out their specified tasks. The workers in the claims area had their heads
bowed, peering into their computer screens and occasionally referring to notes that were pasted
around their cubicle like decorations on a Christmas tree. Here and there, a claims supervisor stood
behind a worker, overseeing the manual processing of a difficult medical claim.
“Here we go, pahtnahs,” Raj said, proudly, ushering in the three Americans followed by Manoj,
then Rizwan.
Denmark stood silently in the center of the main office and watched as the thick door clicked shut.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Same ol’, same ol’.”
“What’s that, Mr. Alexander?”
Denmark turned towards the secretary who was eyeing him intently. “Nothing.” he said
unconvincingly. “Just thinking aloud.” He inspected her short dark hair, large eyes and smooth
caramel-colored skin. He wondered who she was related to in the company. Whose wife, or aunt or
mother or lover. Denmark shook his head. Everybody’s looking out for their own. Same ol’, same ol’.
“Mr. Alexander,” said the secretary firmly.
“Yes?” he said, failing to hide his irritation.
“Shouldn’t you be going to the meeting, sir?”
And shouldn’t you be sticking to your secretary work, he wanted to say. Denmark swallowed the
words in his throat, surprised at his own anger. He thought of his hard working secretary at Genesis’
headquarters in New York who made life easier for all of the associates. A good secretary was a
treasure. He didn’t need to add to this woman’s burden.
“I would like to meet my contact,” he said calmly. “Is he…or she…available? Petra! Is that the
name?” Denmark crinkled his forehead in thought. Why does that name sound familiar”
“She not reach yet, sir!” the secretary responded icily.
“Umm, ‘not reach’?” Denmark shrugged his shoulders.
“Not reach! Not come!” Shanti was reaching the end of her patience with this foreigner. “She has
not yet come into the office, sir. She is not here! Yuh understan’ now?”