chapter 9

9Matt never came to the office. A week later, just when we had begun to give up hope, he called Aanya about the meeting and then (strangely enough) sent her an email saying he didn’t have all our contacts and would appreciate it if his message was sent to everyone. He was pursuing us, as much we liked to pursue him. He had liked the brief chat he had had with us, and wanted the meeting to happen as soon as we could organize one. In New York. He wasn’t promising anything but he thought that we should come over and make a presentation while everyone was still basking in their victory and our agency’s name was fresh in their memory.Roy thought it would be best if Nat and I went over and made the first presentation. I had actually wanted Roy to come along too, because he was the winner.‘Sid, you should go. We do need to make the first impression,’ Roy insisted over email.CD immediately replied with an ‘I agree’.Matt had suggested the week immediately after 4 July. Everyone would be back from their holidays – he would be holidaying in Nantucket himself – and he thought they’d be in the right frame of mind to see something new.CD called for a quick meeting to brainstorm.‘So what are we going to do?’ he asked. Roy, CD and I were in the room. Nat was calling in from home; she’d had a doctor’s appointment. Her voice, through the microphone, sounded lovelier than usual – it would be great for audio books or a voice-over in our ads, I thought.‘Is Cara there too?’ Nat asked.‘What do we need her for?’ Roy demanded rudely and then quickly tempered his tone. ‘I mean, do we need her for this one too?’‘She’s a smart cookie. It always helps having one more opinion, don’t you think?’ Nat retorted.I was getting uncomfortable and sat there running my hands through my hair.‘I don’t think Sid likes the idea,’ Roy replied, making me the scapegoat.‘Is that right, Sid?’ asked Nat.‘Of course not. I was just distracted. If everyone thinks we should have her in the meeting, let’s do it. Why don’t you call her, Roy?’ I asked, smirking at him.‘Bastard!’ he cursed. And then he texted someone from his phone.‘Did you just text Cara?’ I asked, completely surprised that he was on texting terms with her.‘No, I texted Aanya,’ he replied.CD was looking at us in turns, like he was watching a tennis match. ‘Can we just get on with the meeting, please?’ ‘Guys, this is what I think,’ began Nat. ‘They want a fresh campaign around the new range of cars they are going to launch next year and they want to make short films, not necessarily about the cars themselves, because America has been doing that for a hundred years. And for their print campaign, which we are sure to get, it should be beautiful shots of the cars and I think we should shoot in south India.’ ‘Whoa, Nat, that is a lot of thinking in one sentence,’said Roy.‘I have been thinking about this, Roy.’ ‘Let her finish,’ said CD.‘No, CD, don’t get me wrong,’ Roy continued. ‘As surprised as I am, I think this is a completely new direction.’‘So not just print ads?’ CD asked.‘That too,’ came in Nat. ‘We need to make something that shows them how seamless living with a GM car can be. Simple things like mommies leaving baby stuff in the right pockets, men leaving behind keys, or finding maps, how bad drivers can’t abuse the car – we’ll have to show that carefully, how GM cars are perfect for a family that has dogs, how low maintenance they are and things like that. I have ideas to mock up.’Cara walked in.‘Hi, guys, what’s up?’ Roy shushed her.‘Hi, Cara,’ Nat yelled through the phone. ‘We are talking about what we want to show JWT in New York later this month, for the GM pitch.’‘Awesome!’ She sat down.‘You think we can mock all of this up so quickly, Nat?’ I asked.‘Of course,’ Cara replied, surprising all of us. ‘Also, how about we create a who-we-are video? They know us already, but we don’t want to show them what they might know about us, or may have already seen.’ Clearly Nat and Cara had had a chat about this.‘And how will we do that?’ asked Roy, unsure.‘We’ll work something out, Roy. Ideas, anybody?’ Nat piped in.CD had this I-don’t-know-what-she’s-talking-about look on his face.‘Why don’t we show them how we do things?’ That was Cara.‘What do you mean?’ asked Roy.I turned to Cara. She was sitting in her chair, legs pulled up, leaning her knees on the table, showing a lot of thigh. It was typical of her, knowing exactly the effect she had on men, and usually she had them where she wanted them. When she had walked in in her long beige bush shirt it had looked like she wasn’t wearing anything else. Now that she was sitting down I noticed her green hot pants.‘I think we should show them why we are the best agency to work with: the way we think and do things, our attentionto detail, how we appreciate clients who are and want us to be particular, and how we like to have fun while doing what we do. Everyone knows we have done great work, and have won awards, but the video will say as much about the people we have worked with as it does about us.’I kept looking at her as she spoke, thinking about first impressions and how misleading they can be. There was a lot more to Cara than I had bothered to notice!‘How are we going to do this, Cara?’ asked Nat. I wondered if she should have opened out the conversation but refrained from saying anything.‘We’ll shoot a video, in black and white. Sid loves black and white—’ and she looked me in the eye; I knew Roy and CD were surprised and turned to look at me too – ‘of the crew, editing conversations, how we shoot on location, pre- and post-edit campaigns – I can find some from the archives – and maybe shots of all of us just talking about what we do and how much we love it. Nat will look great on camera, walking them through who Alpha are. We can even do a print campaign, with each of us sitting or standing at our comfortable best and a short bio.’At this last, CD frowned.Cara noticed that, smiled and, turning to him, said, ‘So maybe not a print campaign. Just saying. We can do this very nicely.’‘Is everyone fine with this idea? I think it is a good idea and definitely not something I have heard other agencies do. We should give it a shot.’Roy said, ‘Fine,’ giving no indication of whether he was happy with it or not.‘Will you do this, Cara?’ asked Nat. ‘Sure.’‘Great! Sid? Thoughts?’ Nat asked me. ‘You’ve been unusually quiet.’I couldn’t tell her that I had probably lost the ability to disagree with Cara. Worse still, handed her my ass on a platter to whip at will, though this wasn’t such a moment. Nor could I admit that I had begun to admire her.‘I am fine, Nat. I think it’s a great idea,’ and I winked at Cara, not caring if Roy or CD noticed. ‘But can we pull this off in two weeks? Cara will need time to get it done and then we’ll need a few days in hand to see it and allow for making changes. Isn’t that cutting it a bit too close? When are you back?’‘Oh. Yes, that is tight. I am back day after.’‘I think we can do this,’ said Cara. ‘I’ll begin today.’ Turning to Roy and CD, she said, ‘I’ll need a day each with you gentlemen, preferably the mornings.’They nodded.‘Okay, that settles it then.’‘Thanks, Cara, we really appreciate you volunteering and doing this. Really,’ Nat said.‘THENKYOUU!’ Cara squealed in her American accent and got up to leave. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she walked away, and I knew that Roy and CD couldn’t either.When the meeting was over, all of us went back to our respective offices. Aanya came into my room a little later.‘Hi.’‘Hey, what’s up?’‘Did you see what Cara is wearing? Or not wearing as it were.’This was getting into dangerous territory.‘Yes, we were in a meeting together.’ I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.‘I know, that’s why I asked if you saw what she was wearing. And why’re you smiling?’‘She’s a kid,’ I said and winked.‘You have no idea, Sid. The girl doesn’t like to wear clothes, does she?’I laughed. ‘You came here to ask me this?’‘No. Don’t be silly. CD told me Nat and you are going to New York, and I am not—’ she made a sad face – ‘so tell me when you want to go and where you guys want to stay and all that.’‘Okay. I’ll send you an email. Call Nat and ask her about her visa. I have one.’‘Okay, will do.’As soon as she left I called Cara. ‘Someone is looking very hot today!’‘You want to do something about that?’ she asked, sounding naughty.I laughed, ‘Can’t wait to.’ ‘Come home.’‘Tonight?’‘Actually, why don’t we meet now?’ she asked. ‘Okay,’ I agreed almost instantly.‘Cool. See you in the parking lot,’ she said and hung up. When I got to my car she was already standing next to it and we got in as soon as I unlocked the doors. Before I couldsay or do anything, she bent over and unzipped my jeans. ‘Cara!’‘I told you I owe you one,’ she said, before going down on me.