Sons of Fortune (38 page)

So
I’ll tell you what I have in mind. I want both of you to spend your first six
months taking the bank apart from top to bottom. I’ll give you carte blanche to
ask any questions, open any doors, read any files, study any accounts. At the
end of those six months, you will report back what needs to be done.

And
don’t give a moment’s thought to trying to placate my feelings, because I know
that if Russell’s is to survive into the next century, it will need a complete
overhaul. So what’s your first question?”

“Can
I have the front-door keys?” asked Nat.

“Why?”
asked Mr. Russell.

“Because ten o’clock is a little too late for the
staff of a progressive bank to be opening.”

As
Tom drove them back to New York, he and Nat set about dividing their
responsibilities.

“Dad
was touched that you turned down Chase to join us,” said
Tom.i
“You made exactly the same sacrifice when you left the Bank of America.”

“Yes,
but the old man has always assumed that I’d take over from him once he reached
his sixty-fifth birthday, and I was just about to warn him that I wasn’t
willing to do so.”

“Why
not?” inquired Nat.

“I
don’t have the vision or ideas that are required to rescue the bank, but you
do.”

“Rescue?”
said Nat.

“Yes,
don’t let’s kid ourselves. You’ve studied the balance sheet, so you know only
too well that we’re just about clearing enough to allow my parents to maintain
their standard of living. But the profits haven’t risen for some years; the
truth is that the bank needs your particular skills more than it requires an
efficient packhorse like me. So it’s important to settle one thing before it
ever becomes an issue-in banking terms I intend to report to you as chief
executive.”

“But
it will still be necessary for you to become chairman once your father
retires.”

“Why?”
asked Tom. “When you’ll obviously be making all the strategic decisions?”

“Because
the bank bears your name, and that still matters in a town like Hartford. It’s
equally important that the customers never find out what the chief executive is
up to behind the scenes.”

“I’ll
go along with that on one condition,” said Tom, “that all salaries, bonuses and
any other financial considerations are allocated on an equal basis.”

“That’s
very generous of you,” said Nat.

“No,
it’s not,” said Tom.
“Shrewd perhaps, but not generous,
because fifty percent of you will bring in a far higher return than one hundred
percent of me.”

“Don’t
forget that I’ve just lost Morgan’s a fortune,” said Nat.

“And no doubt learned from the experience.”

“Just as we did when we were up against Ralph
Elliot.”

“Now
there’s a name from the past. Any idea what he’s up to?” asked Tom as he turned
onto Route 95.

“The
last thing I heard was that after Stanford he’d become a hot-shot lawyer in New
York.”

“I
wouldn’t want to be one of his clients,” said Tom.

“Or
go up against him for that matter,” said Nat.

“Well,
at least that’s something we don’t have to worry about.”

Nat
looked out of the grimy window as they traveled through Queens. “Don’t be too
sure, Tom, because if anything were to go wrong, he’ll want to represent the
other side.”

They
sat in a circle around his bed, chatting about anything and everything except
what was on their minds.

The
one exception was Lucy, who remained firmly in the middle of the bed and
treated Grandpa as if he was a rocking horse. Joanna’s children were more
restrained.

Fletcher
couldn’t believe how quickly Harry Junior was growing.

“Now
before I get too tired,” said Harry, “I need to have a private word with
Fletcher.”

Martha
shepherded the family out of the room, clearly aware of what her husband wanted
to discuss with his son-in-law.

“I’ll
see you back at the house later,” said Annie, as she dragged a reluctant Lucy
away.

“And
then we should be starting back for Ridgewood,” Fletcher reminded her.

“I
can’t afford to be late for work tomorrow.” Annie nodded as she closed the
door.

Fletcher
drew up a chair and sat by the senator’s side. He didn’t bother with any small
talk, as his father-in-law was looking tired.

“I’ve
given a great deal of thought to what I’m about to say,”
said
the senator, “and the only other person I’ve discussed it with is Martha, and
she is in complete agreement with me. And like so many things over the past
thirty years, I can’t be sure if it wasn’t her idea in the first place.”
Fletcher smiled. How like Annie, he thought, as he waited for the senator to
continue. “I’ve promised Martha that I won’t run for reelection.” The senator
paused. “I see you’re not putting up any protest, so I must assume that you
agree with my wife and daughter on this subject.”

“Annie
would prefer you to live to an old age, rather than die making a speech in the
Senate Chamber, however important,” said Fletcher, “and I agree with her.”

“I
know they’re right, Fletcher, but by God I’ll miss it.”

“And
they will miss you, sir, as you can see from the flowers and cards already in
this room. By this time tomorrow, they’ll have filled every other room on this
floor and be spilling out onto the pavement.” The senator ignored the
compliment, clearly not wishing to be diverted from his course.

“When
Jimmy was born, I had the crazy notion that one day he would take my place,
perhaps even go on to Washington and represent the state. But it wasn’t long
before I realized that was never going to be a possibility. I couldn’t be more
proud of him, but he just isn’t cut out for public office.”

“He
made a damn fine job of getting me elected as president,” said Fletcher,
“Twice.”

“He
did indeed,” said Harry, “but Jimmy should always be in the engine room,
because he isn’t destined to be the driver.” He paused again. “But then some
twelve years ago I met a young man at the Hotchkiss-Taft football game, who I
knew couldn’t wait to be the driver. A meeting, incidentally, that I shall
never forget.”

“Nor
me, sir,” said Fletcher.

“As
the years passed, watched that boy grow into a fine young man, and I’m proud
he’s now my son-in-law and father of my granddaughter. And before I grow too
maudlin, Fletcher, I think I ought to come to the point in case one of us falls
asleep.”

Fletcher
laughed.

“Pretty
soon I shall have to let it
be
known that I will not
be running for reelection to the Senate.” He raised his head and looked
directly at Fletcher.

“I
would, at the same time, like to say how proud I am to announce that my
son-in-law, Fletcher Davenport, has agreed to run in my place.” it didn’t take
six months for Nat to discover why Russell’s Bank had failed to increase its
profits in over a decade. Almost every modern banking tenet had been ignored.
Russell’s still lived in an age of written ledgers, personalized accounts and a
sincerely held belief that the computer was more likely to make mistakes than a
human being, and was therefore a waste of the bank’s time and money.

Nat
was in and out of Mr. Russell’s office three or four times a day, only to find
that something they had agreed on in the morning had been reversed by the
afternoon. This usually occurred whenever a longstanding member of the staff
was seen leaving the same office an hour later with a smile on his or her face.
It was often left for Tom to pick up the pieces; in fact, if he hadn’t been
there to explain to his father why the changes were necessary, there might
never have been a six-month report to present.

Nat
would come home most nights exhausted and sometimes infuriated. He warned Su Ling
there was likely to be a showdown when his report was finally presented. And he
wasn’t altogether sure that he would still be the bank’s vice-president if the
chairman was unable to stomach almost all of the changes he was recommending.
Su Ling didn’t complain, although she had just about managed to get the three
of them settled in their new house, sell the apartment in New York, find a
nursery school for Luke, and prepare to take up her new appointment as
professor of statistics at UC-ONN in the fall. The idea of moving back to New
York didn’t appeal to her.

In
between, she had advised Nat on which computers would be most cost-effective
for the bank, supervised their installation and also given night classes to
those members of the staff who appreciated there was more to learn than how to
press the ON button. But Nat’s biggest problem was the bank’s chronic
overstaffing. He had already pointed out to the chairman that Russell’s
currently employed seventy-one staff and that Bennett’s, the only other independent
bank in town, offered the same services with only thirty-nine employees. Nat
wrote a separate report on the financial implications of overstaffing,
suggesting an early retirement program that, although it would cut into their
profits for the next three years, would be highly beneficial in the long term.

This
was the sticking point on which Nat was unwilling to budge. Because, as he
explained to Tom over dinner with Su Ling, if they waited for another couple of
years until Mr. Russell retired, they would all be joining the ranks of the
unemployed.

Once
Mr. Russell had read Nat’s report, he scheduled a Friday evening at six o’clock
for the showdown. When Nat and Tom walked into the chairman’s office they found
him at his desk writing a letter. He looked up as they entered the room.

“I’m
sorry to say that I’m unable to go along with your recommendations,” said Mr.
Russell even before his two vice-presidents had sat down, “because I do not
wish to fire employees, some of whom I have known and worked
withforthe
past thirty years.” Nat tried to smile as he
thought about being sacked twice in six months, and wondered if Jason at Chase
might still have an opening for him. “So I have come to the conclusion,”
continued the chairman, “that if this is going to work,” he placed his hands on
the report, as if blessing it, “the one person who will have to go is me.” He
scribbled his signature on the bottom of the letter he had been writing, and
handed his resignation over to his son.

Bill
Russell left the office at 6:12 that evening, and never entered the building
again.

“What
are your qualifications to run for public office?”

Fletcher
looked down from his place on the stage at the small group of journalists
seated in front of him. Harry smiled. It was one of the seventeen questions and
answers they had prepared the previous evening.

“I
don’t have a great deal of experience,” admitted Fletcher, he hoped
disarmingly, “but I was born, brought up and educated in Connecticut before
going to New York to join one of the most prestigious law firms in the country.
I’ve come home to put those skills to work for the people of Hartford.”

“Don’t
you feel that twenty-six is a bit young to be telling us how we should be
running our lives?” asked a young lady seated in the second row.

“Same
age as I was,” said Harry, “and your father never complained.” One or two of
the older hacks smiled, but the young woman wasn’t quite so easily put off.

“But
you had just returned from a world war, Senator, with three years’ experience
as an officer at the front, so may I ask, Mr. Davenport, did you burn your
draft card during the height of the Vietnam War?”

“No,
I did not,” said Fletcher, “I was not drafted, but had I been, I would have
served willingly.”

“Can
you prove that?” the journalist snapped back.

“No,”
said Fletcher, “but if you were to read my speech at the Yale freshman debate,
you would be left in no doubt of my feelings on this subject.”

“If
you are elected,” asked another member of the press, “will your father-in-law
be pulling the strings?”

Harry
glanced across and saw that the question had annoyed Fletcher. “Calm down,” he
whispered. “He’s only doing his job. Stick to the answer we agreed on.”

“If
I am fortunate enough to be elected,” said Fletcher, “it would be foolish of me
not to take advantage of Senator
Gates’s
wealth of
experience, and I will stop listening to him only when I consider he has
nothing left to teach me.”

“What
do you feel about the Kendrick Amendment to the finance bill currently being
debated in the house?” The ball came swinging in from left field, and it
certainly wasn’t one of the seventeen questions they had prepared for.

That’s
a bit rough isn’t it, Robin?” said the senator. “After all, Fletcher is...”

“In
so far as the clause affects senior citizens, I believe it discriminates
against those who have already retired and are on fixed incomes.

Most
of us will have to retire at some time, and the only thing I remember Confucius
saying was that a civilized society was one that educated its young and took
care of its old. If I am elected, when Senator Kendrick’s amendment to the bill
comes before the Senate, I will vote against it. Bad laws can be drafted in a
legislative session, but then take years to repeal, and I will only ever vote
for a bill that I believe can be realistically administered.”