Dan was not happy.
It was a different not happy to when Rayley Jackson chose to go to the formal with David Nowak. It was different to when, as an intern, he thought his manager hated him. And it was different to the weeks dragging on with no response to that job application in 2012.
Being the target of legal action, however, took the stress deal to a whole new level. Not that anyone else seemed to notice!
Even Mia didn’t live up to her usual pendulous, ‘I’ve lost my phone this is the worst day ever oh wait here it is’ style.
Her reaction to Dan’s news? ‘You should talk to Edith. She did jury duty once. Said it was the most demoralising thing she’s ever done.’
Thanks for the pep talk, thought Dan to himself, you seem not to have noticed that I haven’t been called up for jury duty. I’M THE ONE THE JURY IS GOING TO SEND TO JAIL!!!
So, the GPK world continued as it had. Meetings were called. Committees were formed. Emails were sent.
Dan didn’t know why he’d agreed to join the Next Level project team. And yet, here he was in Meeting Room Two, agenda in hand.
The discussion was passionate – is a multi-pronged approach superior to an intensive single channel one? Mia wanted broad, Tony wanted intense, and Vince just enjoyed the debate. Arvi may have merely been scrolling social media, Calvin struggled to get a word in, and Dan was there in body only.
‘...early adopters don’t commit,’ continued Tony, ‘we’ll just waste time and effort trying to use the latest gadget medium. They’ll move on to the next new thing and we’ll be left – over-committed.’
Mia was just waiting for Tony to take a breath. She plunged back into the fray, ‘Blood out of a stone Tony. Our income is falling because we keep looking to the same sources.’
…and on it went.
Eventually, even Tony and Mia’s energy levels started to wane. Calvin, the consummate professional, took the opportunity, ‘OK, we seem to be at an impasse. Some very good points made. Perhaps I’ll just see if I can summarise where we’ve got to and...’
Dan, who had mostly been wallowing in self-pity and rehearsing courtroom rebuttals, was feeling relaxed about the debate taking place around him. In recent moments he had re-engaged but in a strange sage-like, outside-looking-in, perspective. He looked at Mia, Tony and the others and saw their passion with a paternal pride. At the same time, he felt sadness as he sensed their lack of direction and purpose.
Ever the introvert, he was ready to resist the voice in his head, which quietly but firmly whispered, ‘Try the speech, Dan. It’s time. This is your chance.’
‘Give them the speech.’
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