“The results you asked of me.”
“Really? Did you get it done?” Baker exclaimed in disbelief as he looked at the results with great interest. He soon looked pleased and said to Danana, who sat in front of him, “Well, my friend. You are finally taking your work seriously.”
“I had to work hard after you kicked me out of your office last week,” said Danana in a tone of feminine reproach bordering on the coquettish.
Baker seemed at a loss and said apologetically, “Please appreciate the fact that I am responsible for the research I supervise. Any negligence there impinges on me personally.”
“Dr. Baker, was it really necessary to kick me out? I too have dignity.”
“I am sorry if I hurt your feelings.”
Danana didn’t look as if he had forgiven but made a gesture with his hand, as if he would forget what had happened for the time being. Then he assumed the pose of a generous man turning a new page, saying, “Let’s talk about work. That’s more important to me.”
Baker pulled a piece of paper and a pen and said enthusiastically, “After obtaining these results, we have to start the statistics phase. We are going to feed all these figures to the computer to see if they are statistically significant.”
Danana asked in annoyance, “After all the effort I exerted and the long hours I spent working, could the results be without statistical significance?”
“I don’t think so.”
“But it is possible that my hard work will be wasted and the results be statistically insignificant!”
“In that case I’d be responsible because I laid out the research plan. But let’s think positively. The results will be significant, I am sure.”
Danana stood up and it occurred to him, before leaving, to say something pithy. He said, “Professor Baker, despite everything, I am happy and proud to work with you.”
“Me too, Danana, and, once again, I am sorry,” said Baker and gave him a strong handshake. Then he sat down and laid out the results and started studying them. After half an hour, Danana was sitting in his office when Baker came in, rubbing his bald head with the finger of his right hand as he usually did when he was engaged in deep thought. Then he said slowly, his eyes gleaming, “Once again, congratulations, Danana. The results are logical and strong.”
“Thanks.”
“An idea has occurred to me that would support your results. Show me one of your slides.” Danana got up slowly and opened the cabinet next to the desk and gave Baker a slide. Baker held it carefully, put on his glasses, and exam ined it under the microscope. He soon raised his head and said, “The number of black spots on this slide is a hundred sixty-seven.”
Danana nodded and remained silent. Baker examined the results and said in surprise, “That’s strange. The number you recorded is greater than that.”
He looked at Danana as if he didn’t understand then went over to the cabinet himself and took two other slides that he put through a similar examination, and then looked at Danana, who bowed his head slowly. For a few moments, a silence, charged with an unknown energy, prevailed so quietly that the soft hum made by the lab’s fridge sounded like destiny. Suddenly Dr. Baker threw the slides on the floor and they broke into shiny shards. Then he roared with an angry resounding voice that no one had heard from him before. “What a scumbag! The results you submitted are fabricated. Where is your honor? I will revoke your dissertation and expel you from the department at once.”
Chapter 21
“Good morning. I’m calling about the job you advertised.”
“It’s taken,” the man replied tersely then hung up.
The dial tone rang in Carol’s ear and she felt bitter. Nothing new there. It was her daily routine: every morning after Graham went to the university and little Mark to school, she made herself a large cup of black coffee and sat in the living room, spreading the help wanted pages in the
She was just inquiring about a job that she liked, no more and no less, as if she were asking about tickets for a concert or the closing time of her favorite restaurant. If she found what she wanted she’d be happy, but if she didn’t, that would not be the end of the world. That was what she came up with to combat humiliation. Every time, she asked the same questions and received the same answers. By the end of the day she would have accumulated all kinds of lists, addresses, and numbers. Over the last few months she had been all over Chicago and had had interviews for various jobs: secretary, receptionist, babysitter, day-care supervisor. But she never got the job. The head of human resources at the Hyatt told her with an embarrassed smile, “You’ll find a job somewhere else. But be patient, unemployment is at its highest rate. Dozens, sometimes hundreds of people apply for one job. The competition is horrendous.”
Two months ago she applied for a job as a telephone operator for an elevator company. She passed the first interview and had to pass a voice test. The company executive told her, “You’ll get this job if you know how to make your voice smooth, feminine, and seductive but at the same time not vulgar. Your voice must carry a sense of humor and superiority. It should sound as if you were making ten times your salary. It’s your voice that introduces our company to the customers.”
Carol trained seriously. She recorded her voice dozens of times saying the same thing: “Hendrix Elevator Company. Good morning. How may I help you?” Every time she listened to the recording she discovered a new flaw: the voice was too soft, a little shaky, faltering, too fast, letters elided, she had to pronounce the name of the company better, and so on.
After days of training she settled on a good delivery and went to take the test. There were five other applicants. They all sat in the same room in front of the company executive, who was a fat white man, over fifty, completely bald with wide sideburns that made him look unpleasant. It seemed from his swollen eyelids, bloodshot eyes, and foul mood that he had drunk too much the night before and hadn’t had enough sleep. He began to signal to one applicant after another to deliver the sentence, looked at the ceiling as if evaluating the performance in his mind, and then bent over a sheet of paper and wrote something down. At the end of the day the result was announced. Carol didn’t get the job. She received the news coldly; she had got so used to being disappointed nothing shocked her anymore. What pained her the most was the way some white employers treated her. None of them came out and said they didn’t hire black people. That would be against the law. But as soon as one of them saw her, his face would have a cold, arrogant expression, and he would end the interview promising to give her a call that she knew very well would not come. These successive humiliating situations felt like slaps on her face. She sometimes cried on her way back home and some nights stayed awake imagining that she was taking revenge against the racist employer, teaching him a lesson, and assuring him that it was she who refused to work with a despicable racist like him. The drama reached its peak when she had an interview for a job as a dog walker for twelve dollars an hour. The job was so menial that it took her three days just to convince herself to go. She needed the money badly. She couldn’t stand the suffering she was putting Graham through. What had he done to deserve living through this hardship to support her and her son? What pained her most was that he was bearing the hardship without grumbling. If he complained or treated her in an unfriendly way she would have been somewhat relieved. But on the contrary he was treating her very nicely, amusing her, and always laughing merrily. He was unbearably tender. She was going to get that job for his sake. Wasn’t dog walking a job like any other in the final analysis? Even if she didn’t like it, did she have any other choice? She would tend dogs for the time being until she found something better.
The interview was at a luxurious mansion in a northern suburb of Chicago. It was so elegant and extravagant that she imagined it to be part of a movie set. She was met by a dignified butler in a formal black suit and led to a
