Benny had a good feeling about this move. It was high time for the dice to begin rolling his way. It would take several days to bring the new office out of chaos into order. Then he could look forward to relaxing a bit before starting on the next issue of the DC Herald. Perhaps it was time to take the paper in a new direction, something he had been contemplating for quite some time. Perhaps it was time for him to take stock of and make more of himself. Perhaps there was more to his future than simply writing about entertainment and local politics. It had always been his secret ambition to expand on, and popularize, his Theory of Ideas. Perhaps in a way that emphasized local politics and entertainment. Or perhaps in some other way.
Benny surveyed the fruits of his labors with immense satisfaction. Elliot and the movers had been bringing the vital organs of the DC Herald up to its new home in the freight elevator from the loading dock below, having simply abandoned untold mounds of clutter that had accumulated over the years in the old office. The new headquarters included a large reception area with half a dozen small offices aligned one direction down a short hall and a large primary office up the other. It was a far more cheery space than he’d had in the Atlantis Building. Bright windows overlooked the busy streets below; freshly painted ornate woodwork and paneled walls looked clean and fresh.
Now with less than half the stuff and more than twice the space, it would be relatively easy to categorize all his needed publishing functions by dragging various boxes into different rooms. Research, layout, graphics, advertising, supplies – there was so much room! (Essential to effective organization was having enough space and time within which to complete a task. Designing an organized office, closet, or shed wasn’t difficult, but it did require some amount of time – another non-renewable resource always in short supply. How much time was appropriate to expend in order to achieve some arbitrary level of effectiveness? 3 fundamentals of closet efficiency?)
He put his feet up on his desk with a contented, “Ahhh,” and imagined himself lighting an expensive cigar like a cartoon bigwig in celebration of his coup. But he didn’t have a cigar, and didn’t smoke anyway. Instead, he pulled a small metal clipper from his pocket and began trimming his fingernails.
With this location and so nice a view, it shouldn’t be difficult to attract one or two journalism students as interns from nearby Universities. But the school year had already begun and the more ambitious students would been already seeking out the choicest positions early in the new semester. Benny reached for the phone to call some of his contacts in academia when he realized that his phone hadn’t been hooked up yet … Oh, right. The telephone. His outstanding bills. Hmm, this could be a problem. Frozen in mid-thought, Benny searched his mental library for a similar obstacle in his past that he could use as a model for this one. He wondered how good Elliot’s credit was. That or else he would need to sell some advertising – fast. He’d seen a new office supply store nearby that would probably have an advertising budget.
Just then, Benny heard the door to the reception office bang open followed by the sound of Elliot grunting and stumbling in with another load of boxes. Benny jumped up from his desk and hurried to meet Elliot. “Here – let me help you with those,” he said as he picked a small box from the teetering top of the stack Elliot was carrying. He led Elliot into the big office and directed the load into a corner.
“That’s the last of them,” Elliot gasped wearily.
Benny collapsed back on his rickety swivel chair behind a mismatched metal desk and wiped an imaginary drop of sweat from his brow. “Whew! I’m glad that’s over and done with,” he panted.
Elliot looked about between the piles of boxes for a place to sit. “Is there another chair someplace?” he asked.
Benny was shuffling his fingernail clippings into a neat pile on the desk. “No, I’m afraid we left the chairs behind in Atlantis. I found this one down in the alley. But thanks for reminding me.” He jotted a note in his pocket calendar: Chairs.
Elliot cautiously broached the subject of his own project. “Listen, uh, now that the office is moved and most of the DC Heralds are delivered, I could really use some help getting started on my travelogue.”
“Absolutely! Here – write this down.” Benny opened a drawer and handed Elliot a pen and pad of paper. “After you work in publishing for a while, you learn a few tricks of the trade. Start with the general and work to the specific. State your objective in twenty-five words or less. Something like Write an entertaining and informative travelogue on our nation’s capital in a hundred pages or so. How many words is that? No matter. You get the idea…”
“Do you have another pen? This one doesn’t write.”
“Sure. I’ve got a whole box of ‘em.” Benny pulled out a cardboard box from the drawer and shoved it across the desk. He leaned back in his big chair and put his feet on the desk as he spoke. “Divide the task into smaller parts. Ask yourself questions. What would I like to see? How would I get around? Where would I park my car? Do I need a car? No – of course not! We’ve already covered that. Where would I stay? Maybe have a chapter on the museums and sights to see, another chapter on things to do, people to meet. Stuff like that. What’s the matter?”
“Uh, I can’t write that fast,” Elliot said.
“Well, what have you got?”
“This pen doesn’t write either.”
“No? Those are brand new!”
“I don’t know,” Elliot said. “I’m starting to wonder if I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I’m not making much progress.”
Benny waved off Elliot’s fears. “Bah! You worry too much.” Benny noticed his pile of fingernail clippings from earlier and looked about unsuccessfully for a trashcan. Failing that, he scooped the clippings into a desk drawer. Looking up, he said, “I think you just need to get started. You need to start writing about something – it doesn’t matter what. Once you have something written down, you can use that as a guide for the rest of the book. And once you get up some momentum, the rest will take care of itself. Maybe you could write part of your travelogue as a travel review that might work for the Herald. There you go! I can help you with that. We could publish it as an excerpt and give the book some advance publicity! Whoa! Look at the time!”
Benny jumped up from his chair and hustled them both out the office saying, “Come. Walk. Talk.” He picked up a Herald from a pile and said, “Here. You might get some ideas from the latest issue. Oh, wait. This is last month’s. No matter. The format is the same month to month.” The service elevator had been held in place with a cardboard box of trash in the doorway. Benny kicked the box back into the hallway and mashed the down button repeatedly to hurry up the plodding pace of automation. “You know who’s really good at this sort of thing? Maggie! Maggie is a great writer, and she loves to help people. And she has lots of free time on her hands. I’ll bet if you put it just right, Maggie might work with you on this.”
“You’re talking about me writing a summary article for the newspaper?”
“Exactly! It’s killing two birds with one stone, and that’s the most energy efficient way to kill birds.”
Starting small with an summary article sounded like a good idea, but regarding Maggie, Elliot demurred saying, “I wouldn’t want to impose…”
Benny interrupted. “Nonsense! You’ll be doing her a favor. She’s never so happy as when she’s feeling useful and busy.” He began to pace the small elevator car while dictating his strategy, his hands clasped behind his back, alternating with wild gesticulations to make a point. “Tell her something like … No. Let it slip that…” Benny clapped his hands together and raised them up in victory. “I’ve got it! Tell her that you are writing an overview, a summary of your travelogue. Don’t call it an article or else she’ll put two and two together and know it’s for me. Not me, but… well, you get the idea.” He shook his finger to make an additional point. “Just be sure that she thinks it’s your plan. If she thinks you need help, she’ll insist on giving it. But if she thinks I’ve got anything to do with it, the whole thing will fall through.” Benny continued giving detailed suggestions as the elevator descended, dinging with each passing floor, and finally reached the ground floor.
As the doors opened, Elliot said, “Maybe I should concentrate on doing the summary myself. I know how to write an outline.”
Benny seemed to consider this for a second, as if calculating his next words in a larger picture that Elliot was not aware of. Taking a deep breath and relaxing into a state of measured calm, Benny said, “You want my help, don’t you?”
“Sure, I need all the help I can get…”
“Then listen to what I’m saying. I’ve been doing this a long time.”
“Doing what?”
“The same thing you’re doing – diving headfirst into the publishing business and living with Maggie at the same time.”
The elevator doors opened, and they stepped outside to the thrust and sounds of commerce.
Elliot said, “Are you going to take the subway?” But Benny was staring into the busy lobby and wasn’t listening. Elliot asked, “What is it?”
Benny tapped his chin in thought and said, “I didn’t realize that there was a new coffee shop here in this building. It just occurred to me that this could be a good prospect for the Herald. Let’s go check it out.”
Elliot followed Benny into the shop that adjoined the main lobby of the building. But Benny bypassed the line and strode right up to one of the busy clerks as she worked hurriedly to serve the anxious customers waiting in line. Benny said, “Excuse me. Is the manager here this morning?”
She didn’t look up, carefully concentrating on the gargle of boiling water and steam squirting into a paper cup. “Just one moment … okay.” She straightened up, looked at Benny, and said, “I’m the manager.”
Benny was briefly taken aback. She could hardly have been more than twenty. “Ah, yes. I publish the DC herald and I’d like to see if we can provide you with some lucrative marketing services for your establishment.”
“You mean ads?”
“Among other services, yes.”
“You’ll need to contact the district manager. They handle all the advertising at the office.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize this was a chain.”
“We’re new and opening a lot more locations this. If you can give me just a minute I can get you the phone number, but I have to take care of these customers first.”
Benny motioned Elliot to a table by the window. He immediately began checking his watch every five seconds or so. The line seemed to be growing longer with the morning coffee rush. Less than a minute had passed when he couldn’t contained his nervousness any longer. “Look,” he said as he rose from the chair, “I really can’t be late for this appointment. When she comes back, could you get the name and number of whoever it is that decides on the advertising?”
“Wait a minute. What about …”
“Your travelogue. Right. Later – back at the house, we’ll sit down for a nice game of chess and I’ll explain everything. Progress! Just keep thinking progress! Just put one foot in front of the other. It’ll all work itself out. You’ll see. Oh, and also ask if we can make this a drop-off location for the newspaper. We’ll pow-wow back at the house later. Okay? Great! Thanks a million.” And off he went leaving Elliot alone at the table with his month-old DC Herald.
thermodynamics of ideas 