Rhythm

by

John Terry Moore
 

CHAPTER 38

The whole Chin family turned out for the occasion, a get together of the two families for a Sunday lunch at the Wu family home.  Eddie, Angela and Linda watched in amusement as Andrew wove his magic with the children.  Hand-in-hand with Elizabeth and Claire, he made sure all the children got to know each other.  There were jumping castles and other interesting things he had organised for Linda’s garden.  Somehow he drew the reserved Singaporean children out of their comfort zone, got down on their level, and suddenly the cousins were all just one family.  Andrew quietly moved over to the adults, sitting next to Rose; Eddie and Angela’s surviving daughter.  They struck up a lively conversation, drawn to each other immediately, and were joined by Heather and Anita, the wives of her two brothers.  Andrew learned that Annette had been the eldest child, followed by Nicholas, then Rose and finally Daniel.  All were married, and the progeny were now screaming around Linda’s garden, hotly pursued by Eddie, who had taken Andrew’s place. 

*****

“We wouldn’t want a gay person as CEO of the new company,” said Nicholas with a nasty smirk. 

“No,” agreed his younger brother, Daniel, “it wouldn’t be right.” 

“So who have we got here?” smiled a relaxed Stephen.  “The Brothers Grimm?”  The vacant expression on their faces did nothing to enhance their reputation of a low IQ, Stephen thought to himself.  “Or perhaps it’s Dumb and Dumber,” he said as he stared back at them.  “There will be no new company unless I say so,” Stephen said calmly, “and if the CEO was chosen on the basis of sexual preference, I certainly wouldn’t choose either of you two cunts, just because you’re supposed to be straight,” he said coldly.  They looked at Stephen as if they had been hit with something very blunt and very heavy, right between the eyes.  “You two are a disgrace,” he said, in an almost inaudible tone of voice, so he couldn’t be overheard.  “You are married with children yet your disrespect for your wives, your family and women in general is on full public view!  Just because your father has made a lot of money you feel you can behave like animals, showering girlfriends with expensive gifts and drugs whilst your lovely ladies sit at home, raising your kids and you do absolutely nothing to help them!”  Suddenly it dawned on Nicholas, marginally more intelligent than Daniel, who they were really dealing with.  He remembered how after old Albert Wu died; two of the SGF directors had been caught red-handed by Stephen and were currently in jail, together with several other former employees. 

Stephen, was now watching him through half-closed eyes, like a taipan watches its prey.  He reasoned that if Stephen already knew about his extramarital activities, then he probably knew about some of his other business deals, of which his father had no knowledge and for which decapitation of bodily parts would be seen as a merciful punishment.  “Um, sorry,” Nicholas said.  “We were only trying you out, just a joke, you know!”  Daniel looked on confused, not sure of anything anymore; his brow creased with worry.  “I’m only going to say this once,” Stephen said; an icy smile on his face; creating a distinct chill on the warm Singapore afternoon.  “Don’t ever get in my way ever again.  If you dare offer an opinion about anything at all, I hope you will remember that I can be a very good friend but also a very fucking bad enemy if you two losers ever try to cross me again.”  Finally, the message percolated through to Daniel, who started to whimper.  “Oh please don’t tell Father,” he said, “he would kill us.” 

“Shut up, you fool,” snarled Nicholas, but he knew for certain it was already too late. 

Their business future hung in the balance as Stephen began ticking off on his fingers, evidence of their moral and fiscal indiscretions that he had on file.  Defeated, they slunk away to the bar, drowning their sorrows as Stephen calmly walked over to Andrew’s side, where he was deep in conversation with the ladies. 

*****

Edward Chin was early for his appointment.  He was always early, one of those people who literally believed the early bird catches the worm!  And if one analysed his business stupendous success in Singapore, then being ahead of the pack was surely one of the fundamental reasons for the profound influence of Chin Constructions on the Singaporean economy.  About ten years ago, he had begun discussions on a merger with Singapore Gas and Fuel, another private company.  Albert Wu was the major shareholder, and they had agreed at that early stage that the timing of a joint public company was not in their interests.  But taxation law had changed recently and there were ongoing benefits for a future as one company.  In addition, SGF obviously needed to broaden its operations base with the petroleum refining business in stagnation.  But the mountain of capital generated by becoming a publicly listed company put the future in perspective for the younger generations of his family.  There were changes to the plan, of course; Albert had passed on suddenly and his son now held the reins at Singapore Gas and Fuel.  Eddie Chin had been too embarrassed until recently to have regular contact with Stephen, even though their companies continued to cooperate on joint ventures.  The social engineering of which he and Albert had been guilty, had nearly ruined Stephen’s life, he realised.  Particularly as he and Angela had known that Annette had a gambling problem before the marriage took place.  They also knew that Stephen was gay.  They had allowed it to happen, knowing that if the marriage survived it would be a miracle, but the marriage of the two companies was more important at the time.  When the tragedy finally played out in Australia, their guilt was palpable.  They had been willing participants in a human tragedy of unbelievably cruel proportions.  Their troubled daughter was dead, and, on the face of it, Stephen’s Wu’s life was in tatters.  The only legacy from the marriage had been Elizabeth and Claire, but because of their deep-seated guilt, Eddie and Angela felt too embarrassed to intrude further into Stephen’s family life, and have any contact with their Australian grandchildren.  Until a week ago, when Andrew and Linda brought Elizabeth and Claire to visit.  How wonderful they were!  And how wonderful was Andrew!  In the space of just two hours, Andrew had put all the hurtful family history where it should have been, in the past. 

He explained that it was important for Elizabeth and Claire to have an extended family structure, and that their birth mother’s family should be part of their heritage.  That he and Angela were expected to take their place in their family circle as grandparents, just as Linda had done.  Eddie sighed, remembering the previous day and the lunch at the Wu family home.  Something told him that all was not well with the family bonding process, no matter how well-intentioned it had been.  Stephen, Andrew and the girls got on as if they had known each other always, as did all the children.  But he noticed Stephen being very serious with his sons, and wondered why. 

*****

Stephen strode into the boardroom, a file under his arm.  “Morning Eddie, hope I didn’t keep you too long.” 

“No, as usual, I was early.” 

“Stephen,” Eddie began, “we’ve come a long way in the last ten days or so.”  Stephen nodded at him and Eddie continued.  “Angela and I still feel guilty for our part in your early troubles.  That is not the way that I normally do business, particularly family business.  But back in those days things were very gung ho and your father was very insistent that we have an informal but clearly understood agreement between us.  So I agreed to go along.”  Stephen just sat there.  Eddie was suddenly aware that he was very much on the defensive; he was doing all the talking whilst Stephen was just watching him with an impassive expression, taking it all in.  “So now, thanks to Linda and Andrew, it looks like we can put the past behind us,” Eddie smiled.  Stephen paused, and waited a few seconds before fixing the much older man with an icy stare.  Unnerving for Eddie, because his senior years were supposed to guarantee him respect from the younger generations of Chinese society.  “There are still some issues which need airing before we can move forward,” Stephen began, opening the file in front of him.  “I’m not a malicious person, neither is Andrew.  Neither is Mother, Uncle Sin or Harry.  We gain no pleasure pursuing history any further, except to acknowledge what it can teach us for the future.”  Eddie nodded; it appeared things were headed in the right direction after all!  “But I think your dereliction of duty as grandparents to Elizabeth and Claire, regardless of how embarrassed you may have felt, was abominable.”  Eddie’s eyes stuck straight out of his head.  “You worried what other Singaporeans might think,” he smiled thinly at Eddie, “what they would think about your grandchildren having a gay father.  You worried what people would say about my marriage, that they may find out your daughter was a hopeless gambler, thief and prostitute.  So to save you anymore precious embarrassment, you decided to take it out on two little girls who never harmed anyone.  To deny them part of their heritage, because your tender sensibilities may have been affected by a scandal that you and my father created together.”  Three doors down in his office, Sin smiled.  Exactly how they had planned and rehearsed it!  He knew Eddie would have an offer for SGF in his suit coat pocket; that was his style, but after this pasting, he would have to take it away and revise it!  Stephen went on.  “However, thanks to Mother and Andrew making the first move, the two families are reconciled socially at least.  Your redeeming feature, Eddie, is that you genuinely like children.  When they’re here in Singapore, that is.” 

“Oh we’ll come to Australia to see them,” he offered. 

“Yes, where no one knows who you are.” 

‘Ouch,’ said Sin to himself, this was too good! 

*****

Eddie began to sweat.  He wasn’t in charge in this discussion, and to say he was uncomfortable was an understatement.  “Eddie, the key element in any business partnership must be trust,” Stephen went on.  “If you make an offer to buy your way into SGF, we would want to ensure that the ethics, principles and behavioural standards we have applied since my father’s passing are upheld.  Uncle Sin and I have had to repair a lot of damage, thanks to my father’s business practises.  I would be prepared to step down as CEO of SGF, providing I could trust those in charge will run the new combined company with those principles in mind.  I assured the Prime Minister that would be the case when I spent a few minutes with him yesterday.”  Eddie Chin’s mouth looked like it would never close.  “We’ll get to the figures later Eddie,” Stephen continued, “but first I really want you to understand what’s at stake here.  There is no doubt our office bearers must be above reproach, particularly if we go public in the future, don’t you agree?” 

“Oh, of course,” Eddie responded. 

“The problem is then, Eddie that I don’t consider that two of your directors are fit and proper people to hold such a position of trust, regardless of their ownership of the stock.” 

“Who?” snarled Eddie, all the niceties out the window. 

“Your sons,” Stephen smiled.  “They are absolute arseholes, and we would never accept them as part of the package.”  Eddie listened as Stephen outlined his research.  “As if their public behaviour wasn’t bad enough,” he said, “they have been skimming off the top on several of your big projects.”  Eddie went white as Stephen played a DVD of Nicholas being handed a package from their major supplier of cement.  “One asks the question, Eddie, if they are getting all this money, what does the supplier get in return?  A lesser specification?”  Eddie shuddered.  He had never compromised public safety by building a lesser specification than the engineering brief called for.  His hands clenched and unclenched, ‘no doubt practising for when he placed them around dear Nicholas’ neck,’ Stephen mused.  There was much more; Daniel was recorded skimming from the painters; it was obvious the special grade of fire retardant paint required was being replaced by a lesser grade and Daniel was putting the difference in his pocket.  Eddie had hid his head in his hands.  “How did you get this information?” he whispered.  “Just did the fundamentals, Eddie, the same way we run SGF.  Sadly it is again a matter of trust and we would never countenance either of them anywhere near SGF. 

It also says something about you as a manager, Eddie, allowing this to happen.  This could ruin Chin Constructions, couldn’t it?” 

“Yes, it could,” he said. 

Stephen took his hand across the table.  “I’m very sorry to bring you this news, but it’s all part of the process we must put ourselves through when a merger is in the offing.  Hopefully not too much damage has been done and the basic specification hasn’t been compromised on any of your projects.  You’re basically a good man, Eddie and I know that whilst you’ve been embroiled in some harebrained schemes, you’ve always worked hard for your family and loved your kids. 

I understand how hurtful this must be for you.  But there are compensations, we feel.”  Eddie, a broken man, didn’t respond.  This young man had demonstrated huge management problems in his own business!  His own children! How could they do this!  Stephen’s calm voice brought him back to earth.  “Rose is your saving grace, Eddie.” 

“Rose; she’s a housewife,” exclaimed Eddie.