CHAPTER 4
A Message
Robert was looking at the figures that the Sales Department submitted as part of its monthly report. He has never been more meticulous studying the trends and checking discrepancies ever since he knew of their financial difficulty. If they are not careful and quick at spotting problems, they would be in shambles in no time.
But an excited rap on his door distracted him from his current task and when he looked up, he saw Lord Grantham entered his office in his characteristic wide strides when he has something pressing to deal with.
For a moment, Robert feared that this could be another trouble. Yet, his father stopped on his tracks in the middle of his office, lifted both his arms in an open gesture, a sheet of paper fluttering in his right hand, and in a rare exhibit of unabashed glee exclaimed to Robert.
"Robert, my boy! You won't believe the news that we just received!"
Judging from Lord Grantham's body language, Robert felt that this is a positive news.
"What is it, Papa?" He was standing on his feet now infected by his father's excitement.
"We just received a fax message from Mr. Levinson's company." As if to emphasize his point, Lord Grantham was waving the sheet of paper on his right hand.
"They are going to invest and give us the amount we need albeit on very stringent terms."
"What terms?" Robert was a little worried that they may not be able to meet those requirements.
His father then proceeded to read the fax message from New York.
"One is to downsize operations on projects that are only good performing. Two, we will put on moratorium the non-performing projects and assets. Three, the debts incurred prior to the partnership are ours to settle. Four, we will review and improve the strategies that we are using for those few projects and give them a fool-proof plan before we gear up. Five, should we lose in the next two years, we will return their capital investment."
"Is that all?"
"Six, that you will be the primary liaison of the company to New York. There are still others but they are more feasible."
Indeed, those are de rigueur when doing business with companies that are running short of capital. If he had to be honest, between their return from New York up to now, Robert's biggest fear was of Mr. Levinson turning down their investment invitation. The other prospective partners that they talked to in America were not quiet reassuring from the get-go given that the company is not in its prime performance.
Robert never felt more lighter in years! That is good news indeed. They could continue company operations, retain the best staff they have, and never have to sale Downton nor dispose of any part of the estate for that matter.
"Mr. Levinson's legal team and ours will meet to talk about the terms of agreement. You will go with Mr. Murray and, maybe, young Murray too, and you can bring someone else…" his father continued but Robert was no longer listening to the rest of his father's words. Lord Grantham's voice drowned in the loud ringing of excitement that vibrated inside Robert's ears.
Meanwhile, about 4,775 miles away from New York, in the feverish city of Sao Paulo, Cora was slowly ambling the street to her hotel after dinner with a friend and new acquaintances. An old classmate in middle school from The Brearley works at the US Consulate in Sao Paulo and she introduced her to a couple of Americans their age from Berkeley who formed a humanitarian group based in Sao Paulo and in Rio to help Guarani Indians.
Over dinner, they discussed about the threats that the Guarani indigenous peoples had to face day-in and day-out as indiscriminate business interests advanced in the amazon. Cora felt very sympathetic to their advocacy and to the plight of those people especially as just a few months ago, the destruction of the majestic Guaira Falls in the Parana River between Brazil and Paraguay due to the Itaipu Dam Reservoir broke the news globally.
She found herself feeling indignant towards greedy businesses and at the same time feeling guilty for being born into a family wealth that is founded from the same model: capital + profit. She felt like wanting to help. She was thinking of doing fund-raising work for them and helping their public awareness efforts. Perhaps she could ask her family to fund some of those, or some of the friends of her family in the upper echelons of New York who live insulated lives in their beautiful Manhattan townhouses. However, she also wonders if these were the right way to help and not to bring upon those people added misfortunes.
Her heart and mind were heavy as she let herself in to her hotel and took her keys at the front desk. She was about to left for her floor when the receptionist suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, and excuse me, Ma'am. There's a message for you through the cablegram from New York."
It must be from her mother! She thanked the front desk agent and reached out for it. A glance at the window of the envelope confirmed her hunch: it's from her mother.
Once she let herself inside her room, she tore at the paper and read the message. In the brief and terse style of a telegram, the message jumped clear before her. "Cora, place a return call to NYC immediately. Mother."
Throughout her life, Cora sways between anticipation and dread and the many emotions in between when it comes to her mother's messages. Sometimes, when she was still attending College in New Haven, Cora would receive telegrams from Martha just saying "Hi!" which she found very endearing of her mother. At times though, in typical Martha fashion, her mother would send her prank messages which, in their excess, deeply annoyed her. And for the rest of the time, she dreaded those messages, scared that they might also bear the bad news of her loved ones getting ill or injured or, worst, being under terminal condition.
This time was no different for Cora. So, with trembling hands, she found herself dialing the telephone in her hotel room to place a long distance patch to New York.
For what seemed like an interminable time, the telephone rang from the other side and when someone picked it up Cora did not wait for the person on the other end to talk.
"Hello, Mother! What has happened?" She blurted her question.
A startled voice from the other end which Cora recognized as that of their housekeeper replied, "Ah, hello, Ms. Cora, could you please hold on for just a minute while I'll ask Mrs. Levinson to pick up through the extension line?"
After a while, extension telephone was lifted and in her characteristic warm and exuberant drawl, greeted her. "Hello, Cora, darling!"
"Are you asleep, Mother? You told me to call back."
"Yes, dear. I tried to call you at the hotel but the front desk people told me you were out. So, I asked my secretary to send you a wire."
"What is the matter? Has something bad happened? Mother, tell me please" Cora never sounded urgent on the telephone.
"Cora, relax. Your father and I are just about to go sleep and all of us including your brother, even your beloved aunt, are in one piece."
"Thank, God! I thought something happened. Is there something you want to tell me, Mother?" How relieved she sounded from her side of the world!
"Business, darling. Your father asked me to get you back to New York at the soonest time."
"Why?"
"Your father would explain it to you once you are home. But it has something to do with your share."
"Mother, it's not time to go back yet. I still have two weeks left of my vacation…"
"We know, darling. But this is important."
"I was made to understand that we do not get a hold of the trust fund until we are 25, so if this is about it…"
"This has nothing to do with the trust fund, darling. It's Harold and your shares of the capital."
"Then, could father just proceed to do what he wanted to do with it? I'm not into the business and father is my main executor…"
"Cora, your father could do that but remember you are already 21 and you had to consent to every plans."
She ran out of excuses and, in the end, had to acquiesce to her father's request.
The thought of going home suddenly made Cora feel constricted sitting on the edge of her hotel bed. She felt the need to flung open her windows 18 floors above the throbbing night life of Sao Paulo.
She gazed at a horizon far different from the city skyline of her home. Here, the lights are also blurred by the thick smog that has become part and parcel of living in big cities although the air felt hot and humid in contrast with that of New York. For almost three months of travel, Cora found solace and comfort in the different and the unfamiliar. She, borrowing from the words of her mother, traipsed round the world to seek strength from new places, people, and experiences. And it seemed to her that she has found it starting from the wisdom she gained from a dear couple in Hokkaido, from the life metaphors of the ruins of the Angkor Wat, from her boat ride in the famous Mekong River in Vietnam, and on that one dawn in Bali when she stepped out of her rented hut and found herself standing on the edge of a rocky cliff looking down at the sea of rolling clouds softly unraveling a beautiful dawn. That scene was so breathtaking and full of hope it pierced her heart with so much peace and forgiveness. It was in that moment she felt herself finally able to forgive those who hurt her, and, above all, herself. She left Asia for South America with a renewed zest in life.
But she was not prepared for being summoned by her parents back to New York. She still has roughly two weeks left of her adventures, she reasoned. Till now, she has always pushed to the edges of her consciousness the idea of going back to her city. She did not think much about it because she was scared of discovering that, alas, there are still fragments and stabs of pain lodged deep inside her heart waiting to be reawakened by the site of home. As a consequence of that, she found herself unprepared to go back to New York and re-integrate herself. But, on the other hand, if there's one thing her travels had taught her it is to live in the moment and survive it. Thus, Cora made plans of calling her travel agent next morning to book her ticket back to New York. Then, she hit the bed and went to sleep.