How does a character like Arthur Tageman come into his world?
Does he escape from Zeus' brow fully formed?
The process is more complicated and at times much like a human
gestation requiring months to come to fruition.
In this case Arthur resulted from the catchphrase "Burn it
in there Fred." That phrase was the introduction to my back in the day
novel "The Eastman Kodak Movie." I really liked the phrase and having
it as one of Arthur's recurring interior monologues meant I had to have an interior for the monologue, ergo the birth of
Arthur Tageman.
After that part of the novel had been grounded, Arthur had to
have a place and a movie studio struck me as a good fit for Arthur as long as
he wasn't intimately concerned with scripts, sets or actors. Placing him in a
quasi-research position working for a boss who seethed with idiosyncracies also
appealed.
Given the current fictional fad of boy meets girl, etc. Arthur
had to be somewhat keen on one or more of the opposite sex, even if his ex was
quite demanding. And so both Marsha and Maizie entered Arthur's world.
Marsha didn't last long and Maizie had ties to law enforcement,
which meant Arthur had to be vetted for trustworthiness.
Another female enters Arthur's world as "safari" Rosie
brings him a message. It's a strange message. He's to keep his eyes and ears
open when he meets Sharma Poot.
His vacation has taken a decided downturn. At the La Brea tar
pits Rosie shows up again without a message and his car is vandalized with the
Five Tins logo scratched into the paint.
Further disruptions to his serenity occur as Sid Havers, the
Hollywood agent, cajoles Arthur about signing a contract. At the same time a news stringer wants to get Arthur's side of the Megaworld
story.
Arthur vents the frustration of his life to Gordon Pym, his
lawyer. Pym takes Arthur's life another notch downward as he asks whether
Arthur has a gun.
With all the negative aspects of his life making his vacation
one that in reality is no vacation at all, Pym suggests that Arthur get away
from LA. One of his law school buddies lives in Sacramento and owes Pym a
favor.
With a voucher provided by Pym Arthur takes a Southwest flight
to Sacramento.
Al, Pym's friend, works for a legal firm that has scheduled a party
for the evening of Arthur's arrival.
At the party, Arthur meets another female, Felice D'courte.
She's a striking red head that finds him attractive. Will anything substantial
come of this meeting? We have to read on to find out.
Back in LA, Arthur's mind is fraught with images of the five tines
logo, possible demotion based on Sharma Poot's decisions about Megaworld, and
Sharma Poot herself.
Arthur is called back to work by his boss. He has no inkling
what Charles has in mind, especially, at such an early hour.
The surprise of Arthur's life comes from Charles' announcement
that he has received a temporary promotion to fill the vacancy left by his boss
who is the target of an alphabet soup conglomeration of federal agencies. Charles is now set for a choice spot in
the "ghetto."
A further surprise is even more earth shaking: Arthur has been
chosen by Charles to fill his vacated position. The promotion is staggering
even though no money was mentioned. It also justifies Rosie's prediction that
Arthur would be needing a secretary.
Rosie arrives and with a deft hand supervises moving Arthur's
things from his warehouse office to his new office in what had belonged to
Charles. In a swirl of activity Arthur is called into Charles' new and much
more luxurious space.
There he finally meets Sharma Poot, a very attractive woman who
is direct and keeps Charles in a very muted position.
Arthur can only hope that his temporary promotion edges toward
becoming permanent.
Arthur gets "redecorated" with a new suit at Sharma's
request.
Both he and Charles are given facsimilies of the org chart
Sharma has on the wall in her office. Their task is to analyze the chart for
the problems that Megaworld is in.
Arthur asks Rosie what she knows about org charts but she only
knows how she fits into DHS's org chart.
In another meeting with Sharma Arthur is tasked with finding out
what Spiels and Jones know about Wentworth and McNeal, the two previous members
of Megaworld's upper echelon, now targets of a multi-agency investigation.
Arthur attends a meeting in the same warehouse where he first
met Agent Smathers.
The meeting's purpose is to elicit information from Spiels and
Jones about McNeal and Wentworth and the missing money.
Arthur hopes the threat of torture will convince Jones, who is
really spooked by possible waterboarding to spill the beans.
We'll have to read the final quarter of the novel to find out
the resolution of: the five tines' threat, the decisions made by Sharma and her
friend Felice D'courte, and the information Agent Smathers wants.
Arthur and the rest of Sharma's
"team" meet at her apartment ostensibly to engage in a team building
effort. They find out that Sharma expects them to ferret out problems and
ill-gotten gains from McNeal and Wentworth's nefarious activities.
After the party Arthur has
another sexual encounter with Felice D'courte. Their tryst is interrupted by
Freddie Spiels pretending to be a cop.Arthur finds out that Felice carries a
fearsome looking pistol, which she claims is only used for defense.
After Arthur returns to work and
explains to Sharma why Spiels is after him, she contacts McGinty to see whether
he can provide protection for Arthur.
Gertie, a grunge dressing cop
wannabe, is assigned to be Arthur's bodyguard.
Rosie is interested in the artwork
that used to hang in McNeal's office but now resides in Arthur's old warehouse
digs.
Arthur, Rosie and Gertie are
surprised by Sharma and Felice as they inspect the rather pedestrian artwork.
The surprising ending to the
story takes place with most of the main characters inside Arthur's warehouse
office.
I hope you find the ending as
satisfying to read as I did to write.
