Overdose (6 page)

“Norm,” I said, following his lead and limiting my introduction to the first name.

“Nice to meet you, Norm.”

He extended his hand for a handshake.

Now that his eyes were no longer hidden in a shadow, one feature of his face became very prominent—his exceptionally open and honest look. It had that rare—in fact
very
rare—authentic benevolence, not tainted by a desire to make a good impression or to appear nice. It was the look of an old friend, the look of someone who had known you for many years and whom you could trust implicitly. Someone who implicitly trusts you in return and has nothing to hide from you.

That look in itself was a perfect reason not to trust Tom. Not for a single second.

“That meeting tomorrow;” he said, after the handshake, “is it important?”

“Yes.”

“Then try not to do what you just did.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Don’t go for direct eye contact. For you it’s a demonstration of your honesty and confidence. For them it’s borderline rudeness.”

“Really? No eye contact? So where should I look?”

“Anywhere. Look at the person’s cheek. Or the neck. Or don’t look at them at all. Just don’t give that stare in the eye.”

“All right. Thanks, that’s a good tip. Let me make a note. No eye contact . . . What else?”

He smiled and that made his face look even more benevolent.

“Let’s start with business cards. They are very important.”

“Okay,” I said half an hour later. “What do I say in a case like this?
Domo arigato
? I’m done for tonight. This is already more than I can memorize anyway. And I suspect I’ve got enough rules to learn for a three-day visit.”

“True,” Tom agreed. “You won’t remember a half of it tomorrow. But it will still help.”

I nodded.

“I’m sure it will. Thank you. It was a great lesson in pretense.”

“Pretense?” he repeated after me with an odd expression, slightly tilting his head.

“What else would you call it?”

“Etiquette.”

“It’s a synonym.”

“I take it you don’t like it when people are polite with you?”

I shrugged.

“Of course I like it. But I know better than to take their politeness at face value. That waiter who has bowed to me a hundred times tonight couldn’t care less whether I get hit by a bus tomorrow. Same goes for the people with whom I’ll be exchanging niceties in the morning.”

“Same goes for how
you
think about them,” he said with that honest, disarming smile.

“Of course. That’s exactly my point. This is business. If you want to get anywhere, you put a mask on. When you’re done, you take it off.”

“You mean you
replace
it with another one.”

“Well, it depends on where you are.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Tom. “Wherever you go, whatever you do, a mask is a must.”

The look he was giving me now was exactly of the kind that I had to avoid using tomorrow—open, warm and friendly. Now I knew whom I was dealing with.

He was a rare yet familiar type. One I that had ran into a few times on business trips. A philosophizing businessman. Typically they were less charismatic, but there’s an exception to every rule. Without a doubt, some quotes were about to follow. In ten minutes he was about to start quoting Jung, Hesse, Confucius or
Groundhog Day
—all depending on his level of sophistication and his tastes. Next, there would be another order of drinks in that flawless Japanese, accompanied by an effortless gesture and a long and pointless conversation. One ridiculously expensive drink would follow another, as he would speak about the fake values of our society, meaningless existence of the modern man and the importance of expressing oneself honestly. And finally, at the end of the evening, there would be a drunken attempt to swear eternal friendship or—even worse—a long, drunken confession.

“Certainly,” I said, understanding that the pause was getting long. “That’s a great point. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take off. I didn’t get much sleep on the plane. Thanks a lot for all the information.”

“Of course,” he agreed. “Sounds very believable.”

For a moment I thought I had misheard him.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said your explanation was very believable. It was a perfect excuse to get rid of an annoying stranger.”

“You got it all wrong,” I said, trying to hide my irritation. “I really am very tired and I do need to get up early in the morning.”

He slowly sipped from his glass, as if giving me a chance to get up and leave.

“I’m not accusing you of lying,” he said, setting the glass back on the table. “I’m simply pointing out the fact that you didn’t feel too tired while I was giving you information you found useful. Now that we’re done with the lesson and I’m about to start a boring conversation about masks, your tiredness and the morning meeting come in very handy.”

He quieted, looking straight at me, as if trying to demonstrate a perfect eye contact
.

“No, you’re mistaken,” I insisted, even though it was clear that the moment was lost. “It’s a very interesting topic, but, as I already said—”

“It’s so tempting to take the mask off, isn’t it?” he asked suddenly.

His smile, his voice full of understanding, his smiling eyes—all of it was making any further denial pointless.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m not
that
tired yet. But as a rule I don’t discuss topics like this with people I’ve just met.”

“Actually,” he retorted, “discussing them with people you
know is much worse. A conversation like this may cost you a friendship. Why don’t you sit down? Let me tell you a story.”

I felt gloomy satisfaction.

“Listen, Tom,” I said. “You want an honest answer? Here it is: I don’t care for your story. And to be perfectly honest, I no longer care for your company. That’s what you wanted to hear—right? So why don’t you talk to someone else? Thank you again for the etiquette lesson—I truly appreciate it, and I mean it—but please, do not try to drag me into philosophical chitchat. All right? There’s your honest answer. No mask.”

I stood up. Tom folded his hands and studied me with an expression I couldn’t quite fathom. For a moment, he looked as if he felt sorry for me, but the thought was so absurd that I dismissed it immediately. One thing was clear, though: he didn’t seem even slightly disturbed by my answer. If anything, he seemed pleased.

“You are wearing at least twenty of them now,” he stated, finally. “Maybe even thirty.”

“Thirty what?”

“Masks. You’re wearing between twenty to thirty masks.”

I lost my patience.

“Whatever. It was nice—”

“A businessman, a foreigner, a corporate employee, a man in his thirties, a well-educated person, a well-off person, an independent thinker . . .” he started enumerating.

“Listen, what are you trying—”

But he went on, his voice even and crisp.

“A frequent traveler, a skeptic, a Westerner, a man . . .”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“About the masks you’re wearing at the moment. You have at least another dozen on you but they haven’t shown up yet.”

“A
man
is a mask?”

“Of course. Why don’t you have a seat, Norm?”

And I sat down. After all, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. I never had managed to overcome jet lag.

Also by Ray N. Kuili

AWAKENING is the story of eleven rising-star managers who gather together in a secluded luxury lodge for a mysterious five-day leadership training course. Asked to pick a leader from amongst themselves, they soon realize that nothing is what it seems at this place where managers are compared to ancient conquerors and one corporate taboo after another gets broken.

As the group exercise progresses rapidly from a friendly election to a twisted web of no-holds-barred power plays, the players don't realize that soon some of them will be facing the harshest challenge of their lives. The unconventional workshop is about to take a very dangerous turn, testing the values and characters of its participants in the most brutal ways and presenting them with the ultimate question: how high a price are they willing to pay for power?

—
Probably Fiction

“Without giving too much away, the ending leaves the reader positively shaken. With a twist that is just as curious as the rest of the story, I was left entertained yet contemplative. This is truly one of the more admirable qualities of this novel. It does not simply serve as a good read, but one that leaves the reader thinking about broader issues.
Awakening
is a novel I would recommend for those who are looking for a thriller that is unique and powerful in its own right.”

—
OneTitle Magazine

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