Distant+Whispers

Chapter 6
“TELL HIM TO GO BACK TO THE STATES? Is that what you’re saying, Raj? That I should cancel the contract
with Genesis?” Petra shook her head in disbelief at Raj who was trying to sit imperiously in a highbacked
leather chair that was much too big for him to dominate.
“Look, Petra,” Raj said, glaring at her, “I don’t care what he do. He your boy. Put him wherever
you want. But ah not going to change a ting.”
“And you’re comfortable with these guys holding the company’s future in their hands?” Petra
responded angrily, glaring through the blinds at Raj’s three friends.
“Why not? They’re my friends. They went to Wharton. They work for a good firm,” Raj said
dismissively. He turned away from Petra and clicked on his computer monitor.
“They majored in Finance, Raj!” Petra said at a near shout. “Not Operations. Not Accounting. Not
Health Management Systems! You know that they always wanted to be Investment Bankers on Wall
Street. This whole auditing thing is just a game to them. Just a way to make quick money. There’s not
one Certified Public Accountant among them.”
She exhaled heavily. Even through the closed blinds their drama was being played out in front of
everyone who was interested on the operations floor. Most were interested.
“Listen, Raj,” Petra said, speaking slowly, measuring her words, “we’re not talking about
friendships! We’re talking about competence! This is not like choosing a bunch of guys to go barhopping.
This is not South Street in Philly. In a little over two weeks the Blue Cross representatives
are going to scrutinize our numbers closely. They’re going to accept the opinions of business analysts
who know nothing about the business. There’s no room for mistakes. I’ve heard that a few of the Blue
Cross members already want to choose Puerto Rico. We have to look good, Raj. Damn good!”
Raj jerked his head up. “And we gonna look good!”
“You don’t know that, Raj. They’ve never handled anything this big.”
“And you don’t know what your boy out dere can do.” Raj exploded. “He don’t look like no Mr.
Big shot to me. Where you drag he from?”
“You don’t look like a CEO, Raj. But you are. And you’re a good one. And Manoj and Rizwan
look like big babies, but they’re good, aren’t they? Aren’t they, Raj? It doesn’t matter what you look
like, Raj! Stop lickin’ up to yuh Yankee friends!”
Her words made Raj stiffen. Petra cut an eye at him. Good! She thought. There were so many
ways to be racial: mommy and her cousin Nigel with their talk of ‘coolies’, Raj’s sisters with their
coded talk of Hanuman, their monkey god, the teachers at St. Joseph’s Convent who used never said
race but use coded words like ‘culture’ and ‘heritage’.
Raj was less subtle. When given the chance to be a proud Trini, from probably the most racially