“I’m sorry, boss,” Ramona apologized, “there are a couple of speakers ahead of you. Remember, it was your rule!”
A ripple of laughter greeted this, mixed with a few catcalls. But Tambu was not upset. Things were still going according to plan. Ramona had agreed that he should try to interrupt after the first speaker, only to be blocked by the discussion leader. It provided a bit of comic relief, while at the same time setting a precedent for later discussions. Top man or not, Tambu was not to be allowed to interrupt at will. More important, the discussion leader could stop him without fear of repercussions.
“Jelly?” Ramona was saying. “Would you care to speak next?”
Tambu frowned slightly as the old man rose to his feet. He wouldn’t have chosen Jelly to speak next. The aging captain was still sharp enough mentally, not to mention highly respected, but he tended to be deathly slow when speaking. The pace of the meeting was bound to suffer with Jelly’s speaking so early. Still, he was Ramona’s choice, and Tambu was going to have to get used to things being handled differently during these discussions.
“I must take exception to Captain A.C.’s comments,” Jelly was saying. “These meetings serve several functions, one of which is to force the captains to hear each other. When we do, we find that our views and opinions are shared by many others, and it becomes unnecessary for each of us to speak. This avoids repetition, and saves Tambu the trouble of hearing the same suggestion or complaint forty or fifty times.”