Jack tried to read the woman behind the soft, pale blue eyes and sensuous mouth. He was confused because the vulnerability they suggested wasn’t in sync with the no-nonsense, goal-oriented, driven woman he suspected she was. Terese met his stare head-on and smiled back coquettishly. “Be adventuresome!” she challenged.
“Why do I have the feeling you have an ulterior motive?” Jack asked.
“Probably because I do,” Terese freely admitted. “I’d like your advice on a new ad campaign. I wasn’t going to admit you’d been a stimulus for a new idea, but tonight during dinner I changed my mind about telling you.”
“I don’t know whether to feel used or complimented,” Jack said. “How did I happen to give you an idea for an ad?”
“All this talk about plague at the Manhattan General Hospital,” Terese said. “It made me think seriously about the issue of nosocomial infection.”
Jack considered this statement for a moment. Then he asked, “And why did you change your mind about telling me and asking my advice?”
“Because it suddenly dawned on me that you might actually approve of the campaign,” Terese said. “You told me the reason you were against advertising in medicine was because it didn’t address issues of quality.
Well, ads concerning nosocomial infections certainly would.”
“I suppose,” Jack said.
“Oh, come on,” Terese said. “Of course it would. If a hospital was proud of its record, why not let the public know?”
“All right,” Jack said. “I give up. Let’s see this office of yours.”
Having made the decision to go, there was the problem of Jack’s bike. At that moment it was locked to a nearby No Parking sign. After a short discussion they decided to leave the bike and go together in a cab. Jack would rescue the bike later on his way home.
With little traffic and a wildly fast and reckless Russian-émigré taxi driver, they arrived at Willow and Heath’s building in minutes. Jack staggered out of the rear of the taxi.
“God!” he said. “People accuse me of taking a risk riding my bike in this city. It’s nothing like riding with that maniac.”
As if to underline Jack’s statement, the cab shot away from the curb and disappeared up Madison Avenue with its tires screeching.
At ten-thirty the office building was locked up tight. Terese used her night key, and they entered. Their heels echoed noisily in the lonely marble hallway. Even the whine of the elevator seemed loud in the stillness.
“Are you here often after hours?” Jack asked.
Terese laughed cynically. “All the time,” she said. “I practically live here.”
They rode up in silence. When the doors opened Jack was shocked to find the floor brightly illuminated and bustling with activity as if it were midday. Toiling figures bent over many of the innumerable drawing boards.
“What do you have, two shifts?” Jack asked.
Terese laughed again. “Of course not,” she said. “These people have been here since early this morning. Advertising is a competitive world. If you want to make it, you have to put in your time. We have several reviews coming up.”
Terese excused herself and walked over to a woman at a nearby drawing table. While they conversed, Jack’s eyes roamed the expansive space. He was surprised there were so few partitions. There was only a handful of separate rooms, which shared a common wall with the bank of elevators.
“Alice is going to bring in some material,” Terese said when she rejoined Jack. “Why don’t we go into Colleen’s office.”
Terese led him into one of the rooms and turned on the lights. It was tiny, windowless, and claustrophobic when compared to the vast undivided space. It was also cluttered with papers, books, magazines, and videotapes. There were several easels set up with thick pads of drawing paper.
“I’m sure Colleen won’t mind if I clear away a little area on her desk,” Terese said as she moved aside stacks of orange-colored tracing paper.
Gathering up an armload of books, she set them on the floor. No sooner had she finished than Alice Gerber, another of Terese’s associates, appeared. After making introductions, Terese had Alice run through a number of the potential commercial ideas they’d comped up that day.