The orchestra stopped playing. The three of them climbed onto a platform at the back of the ballroom. Silence. Alexander retreated to the wall, from where he took an easel and placed it between the two men. A white cloth concealed the contents of a rectangular canvas.
The two men looked at each other, holding their breath. Spencer's fieriness against Ashford's seriousness.
"Kid, take the sheet off" Spencer ordered.
Alexander positioned himself next to the easel, crumpling the canvas with both hands. With a subtle flick of his wrist, he revealed the mystery.
A stylised octagon subdivided into eight alternating red and white triangles. Below the shape, a name: Umbrella Pharmaceuticals.
Spencer smiled. The Ashfords stood to his right, first the father and then the son, hands folded behind their backs.
Silence.
Spencer stepped forward to steal the spotlight.
"Umbrella Pharmaceuticals." His words bounced off the limpid marble walls of Ashford Hall. About three hundred guests, family, friends and acquaintances, were scattered around the room, seated around circular tables. "A new stage. A new endeavour. Ten years ago, I wanted to honour my father's memory by proposing to invest all my talents in a company that would make him proud in the afterlife. But not only him, but also my late mother, from whom I took inspiration for both the logo design and the name of the company. I remember once, when I was very young, she told me to always have an umbrella handy because you could never be sure when a calamity might strike; a calamity like getting wet in the rain." Pause. "I was a child, and at the time I found his words both amusing and prescient. For it is in the now that we need more than ever an umbrella to protect us. One that can cover all of us and future generations. An umbrella of science sustained by the rigour and professionalism of those who will contribute to human progress with the means provided by this new company." Pause. "The dissolved Anzec Pharma was the first step. Umbrella Pharmaceuticals is next." Pause. He looked at Edward Ashford. He stepped back a couple of paces to stand at the earl's level. "I offer my heartfelt thanks to my colleague and friend, Edward Ashford, the true prodigy who made this foundation possible." Pause. "He's the reason we're all gathered here dancing drunk and smelling of stale tobacco under the guise of presenting a drawing!"
The crowd applauded with loud laughter. Spencer and Ashford shook hands. Alexander was the first to get off the stage to continue dancing.