Chapter 89
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The Ravenwood conference began on Monday October 24th. Eve preferred to think they wanted her this week because she was a good secretary. It soon became clear that there were other motives. Some of these tycoons were muslims. Prince Tarik of Saudi Arabia, princess Fatima of Jordan. Perhaps mr Dole thought they would be more comfortable with a muslim secretary. There was also an old Texan called "Colby." Colby seemed nice, shook everyone's hand, always smiled. Rumor was Colby and Dole went to college together. During this conference things got dirty. The janitor and cleaning crew went on strike. They didn't like the idea of working for the company ,and not being included in the shelters. They striked, asking for more chances. Their theory was that the conference was a good time to demand this, figuring that Dole would have to give in to avoid the appearance of chaos in front of the suppliers of fuel. When Dole called their bluff the trash began piling up. Eve decided to take the trash to the dumpster herself. This was partly because Eve didn't want to work in too dirty an environment. The other part was Eve showing initiative, wanting to shpw she could do multiple functions when necessary. This minor cleaning, in addition to her secretarial duties and providing the guests with anything they asked for, within reason, this would probably increase Eve's chances. One morning Eve came to work and the trash cans were full. She began collecting the trash for the dumpster and Colby began helping her. Colby said that as a Texan he was raised to be nice to women. And if a job needed doing, just do it. He seemed to respect Eve's initiative as well. Eve didn't understand half the things discussed at the conference. But the short version seemed to be everyone was trying to get more of their ow people into the shelters. They were negotiating specific numbers. Tarik wanted more Saudi citizens, Fatima wanted more Jordanians, Coly wanted more Texans. Each group would have to determine for themselves how to make the painful cuts. The fears were that president Mason would sieze Ravenwood shelters. The OPEC people didn't want to give up their oil and have the shelters taken by the government. Similarly, Colby and Dole were worried about the developments in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. If the religious fundamentalists siezed those shelters, they might not want to let Americans on their shelters. Tarik and Fatima seemed willing to negotiate with Mason, if they could get their own citizens on the shelters. Dole and Colby would be willing to negotiate with new regimes, provided they honored the agreements. And Dole seemed confident he would keep the Ravenwood shelters, even if he had to defend them by force.