An appointment

A new supervisor

Chapter 1 An appointment

Charles threw the letter onto the table and walked over to the window. He lit up a cigarette and viewed the children playing in the park.

It had been clear from their contract that no commercial undertaking is to be permitted for the researcher on the TMNT. UNICEF had reserved exclusive rights for all developments from the study.

Charles had been trying to find a new sponsor for the study on the vampires, but he seemed to be communicating poorly on the issue with potential sponsors. So far nobody had indicated any interests in the area of vampires and immunization issues, despite Charles's clear elaboration of the facts behind such a study. Apparently, he had not made clear how that involved Hindu studies.

The matter had been dragging on for two years now, since he finished the research on the TMNT. The university had extended his contract for lecturing in marketing subjects but he was high and dry on the issue of developmental studies.

The letter he had received today was from UNESCO. It is the social and cultural arm of the United Nations. They had offered him a two year contract as supervisor of projects for the monitoring and development of cultural transformations.

He saw the hand of Bob and the American government, behind the appointment. It made him a little anxious about the obligations involved.

Peter Kurgan dialed the number on the phone.

“UNESCO, good morning,” came the accented voice on the phone.

“Charles Mohan please,” he asked.

“Just a minute,” came the soft assuring reply, I'll connect you to his office.”

“Mr. Mohan's office,” said the secretary.

“This is Peter Kurgan,” he said into the phone, “ can I speak to Mr. Mohan?”

“Just a minute, Mr. Kurgan,” came the reply.

He waited.

The boys were sitting on the carpet in their hotel room, playing with their play doh. Peter kept an eye on Gorgi, the elder, every time the boys were together. It was important that Gorgi learn to manage his younger brother both for himself and the boy's sake.

“Mr. Kurgan,” came the voice on the phone, “ how are you? This is Charles.”

“Good morning,” he greeted. “I'm here in Paris, ….. arrived last night.”

“Where are you staying?”

“The Maillot Hotel.”

“Is the family with you?” Charles asked.

“Yes.”

“Just a second,” he said. A few seconds later, he came back.

“I'll meet you at your hotel, say 11.00 o'clock? At the lobby.....come alone. Have you made any plans for lunch?”

“No.”

“Good,” Charles answered,”we'll take the family out to lunch after that.”

They hung up.

His wife came out of the bath.

“We're meeting my boss for lunch,” he announced.

She was surprised but seemed pleased.

“We're taking the children along?” she asked.

“Yah,” he answered matter of factly. He paused for a while.

“Quite a professional bunch of people,” he said thoughtfully. “They know what they are doing.”

He reached for the brochure on UNESCO,

“Listen to this,” he called to her. She was brushing her hair in front of the mirror.

“This is a quote from the director-general.” He flipped to the page and read aloud from it.

“Humanism is an age-old promise, as well as an idea that is always new, endlessly reinventing itself. The humanist project has been part of our history since Antiquity, yet it shines like new in every epoch. In the early years of the third millennium the word can no longer have the same meaning as it had during the Renaissance in Europe, when it was forged on the image of the ideal man, master of himself and the universe. It also goes beyond the meanings that the Enlightenment philosophers gave it, and

which have remained, despite their universalist aspirations, restricted to a Eurocentric vision of

the world.”

He stopped and put down the brochure.

“That's Irina?” she asked.

“Yah,” he replied.

Reviews

[Shep]

This is very good chapter. You had me hooked at vampire. They are my most like to read list. Great details and you tell the story with a nice even tempo. Moving on to next chapter. Nicely done.