thought about the grave in the backyard in which his family lay. 'I'm just not interested,' he answered.
Asher thought he understood what the problem was. After all, he dug the grave. 'Decker if it's about your… uh… house, there's no problem. I've been authorized to offer you a very generous raise. You should be able to afford an apartment in New York and still keep your house here.'
'Are you crazy?' Decker asked. 'Do you have any idea how much an apartment in New York goes for?'
'It's less now than you may remember,' Hank answered. 'There are a lot fewer people in New York since the Disaster. It's a buyer's market.'
Decker cringed a little as he recalled what the cabby in New York had said about dead people's apartments. 'Yeah, that may be so,' Decker answered, 'but I hate apartments.'
Asher closed the door and lowered his voice. 'Look Decker, just between you and me, I've been told to offer you whatever it takes.'
Decker looked at Hank to be sure he wasn't kidding. 'What do you mean, 'Whatever it takes'?' he asked.
'Don't get crazy on me now, Decker.'
Decker thought for a moment. 'Why?' he probed.
'Why what?' Asher responded.
'Why are they being so generous?'
'They need a new head for the New York office, and I guess they think you're the man for the job.'
'Look, Hank, I'm flattered but there must be more to it. NewsWorld is not the type of organization to throw money around. How can they possibly offer to pay me enough to maintain two homes?'
'I don't know, Decker. It sounds a little out of character to me too, but I think you'd be crazy to look a gift horse in the mouth.'
'So what else did they tell you?'
'Look, Ima Jackson just called me this morning and told me that the decision had been made to give you the New York office. I asked her how much I was supposed to offer and she said 'whatever it takes.' When I asked her to be a little more specific, she just repeated herself. She told me not to ask questions; that the decision had come down from way above her head, and that I was to see to it that you accepted the position. I guess somebody on the board of directors must want you there. To tell you the truth, I was hoping you might be able to fill me in on what's going on.'
'I have no idea at all,' Decker shrugged.
Hank Asher took a deep breath and shook his head. It made no sense that the board of directors should care about the promotion of a particular reporter. They almost never got involved at this level.
'When do they want a decision?' Decker asked.
'A.S.A.P.,' Asher responded.
'I don't know,' Decker said. 'I'll get back to you.'
That evening Decker took Christopher out for dinner. He wanted to talk with him about his first days in his new school and to see how he'd feel about moving to New York. Christopher had been given a battery of tests at his new school because his records from California had not yet arrived.
'How do you think you did?' Decker asked him.
'Okay, I guess. The tests were pretty easy.'
Decker had always thought of Christopher as bright; he decided to pursue it a little. 'Christopher, what sort of grades do you usually get in school?'
'I've always had a 4.0,' Christopher answered.
'That's good,' Decker said, not really surprised. 'Have any of your teachers ever suggested that you should skip a grade?'
'Yes, sir. Almost every year the subject was brought up, but Aunt Martha said that I should be with kids my own age. She said it would be bad for my social growth to be put with a bunch of older kids.'
'What do you think?'
'I guess she was probably right,' Christopher answered. 'She said that once I got to college I could go as fast as I wanted because I'd be old enough to make my own decisions.'
'Your Aunt Martha must have been a remarkable woman. I wish I had gotten to know her better,' Decker said. Christopher smiled. They took a few more bites of their food and Decker changed the subject. 'How would you feel about us moving to New York?' he asked without explanation.
'New York?' Christopher said with unexpected enthusiasm. 'Would we be near the U.N.?'
'Well, I don't know. I've been offered the job as head of the New York office for News World. The office is just a couple of miles from the U.N. but I don't know where we'd actually live. We'd have to shop around for an apartment.' Christopher's excitement was obvious. 'You really are a big fan of the U.N. aren't you?' Decker asked.
'Yes, sir! I bet if we moved there I could get a job as a page to one of the delegates. And did you know that they have their own university?'
'I had no idea you would be so favorable to the idea.'
'Oh, yeah! It'd be great!'
'Well, don't get too excited. I haven't taken the job yet.'
Decker still wasn't comfortable with the circumstances of the promotion but he did check the Internet for prices of apartments near the U.N.
After Christopher went to bed Decker got out the financial records that Elizabeth had kept while he was in Lebanon to determine how much he needed to ask for to be able to keep the house and get an apartment in New York. He had only studied the figures for a few moments when he dropped his head and began to cry. In Lebanon he had wondered so often what Elizabeth was doing. The figures provided a partial answer. Not only were they debt-free except for the mortgage, Elizabeth had made frequent extra payments on the house, and she had put a tidy sum in their savings account. The tears he cried were not of joy but of pain as he came to realize that Elizabeth must have pinched pennies the whole time he was in Lebanon, saving for when he got home. How many things, he wondered, had she denied herself? How many times had she and the girls eaten leftovers of leftovers? How many times had they made do with less when everyone around them had all they needed? Now he was home and here was all the money, but they wouldn't be able to enjoy it.
Between Elizabeth's frugality and the apartment prices he found on the Internet, Decker determined he wouldn't need to ask for as much from NewsWorld as he thought he might. Still, as he neared the bottom line he wondered just how much they were willing to pay him. This brought back the question of what was behind this sudden and uncharacteristic generosity. He was torn between keeping his mouth shut and just taking the job, and wanting to know what was behind the offer. Was this really a gift horse, as Hank Asher had suggested, or was it a Trojan horse? As he continued to think about it, he became more and more resolved to know the answers, and to know them before he took the job.
Decker went directly to Hank Asher's office, closed the door behind him, and gave Asher a slip of paper with a figure written on it.
'What's this,' Asher asked, after he looked at it.
'That's how much I want to take the job in New York,' Decker answered without flinching.
'Are you crazy?! That's twice what I make! There's no way they're going to pay you that much!'
'You're probably right,' Decker answered, 'But let's see.'
Asher thought it was a dumb idea but he placed the call anyway. No sooner had he told his boss, Ima Jackson, how much Decker wanted than she authorized it. Asher put his hand over the phone and looked at Decker dumbfounded. 'She says yes,' he mouthed without actually saying the words.
This wasn't the way Decker planned it at all. He had assumed that Jackson would refuse and then he'd offer to negotiate. Then once he was talking with her face-to-face, he could get some answers. 'Ask her why,' Decker directed in a whisper.
Now Hank's pride was on the line. He didn't particularly appreciate that NewsWorld was willing to pay Decker so much more than he was making. He asked, but Jackson directed him to simply comply with her instructions. Asher gritted his teeth and took his orders like a good executive, but this would not be the end of it. Whatever happened with Decker, Asher planned to demand a substantial increase in his own pay in the very near future.
'So, what are you going to do?' Asher demanded, after he hung up the phone. He was angry about the whole
