A Sheep Called Pepito

All of this hinged upon Ray, and it made him a little nervous. Especially when he had forgotten the appointment they had made weeks before.

"It's a pleasure," Ray said. "I'm sorry the place is in such a mess. We have been partying."

"Ha! You Aussies, you're always partying!" Halsdorf laughed. The chair, in its own creaking way, laughed with him. "Hey, tell me something, Ray. This has been buggin' me for a long, long time now. Tell me; why do you guys put shrimps on the barbie?"

Ray told him that was a whole lot of advertising bullshit. As far as he was concerned, he had never known anyone to put shrimps, or prawns for that matter, on a barbecue. "It's usually sausages and onion. Mostly fat ones, I mean thick ones. Thick sausages."

Halsdorf laughed like a trumpet. His body rippled under his coat like a mountain ready to cave in. Abruptly the laughter ceased as a fit of coughing followed. "I thought that must be the case. Speaking of which..." He reached for his black briefcase. "Do you mind?"

"No sir!" Ray cleared the desk and let Halsdorf offload a few glossy pamphlets onto it.

"Now, a few months ago you approached our company with an expression of interest in our product lines," Halsdorf said. Ray received the pile of documents to hand. Contracts as yet waiting to be signed. Beads of sweat started to appear on Ray's brow. This contract meant so much to the Gazette that he almost couldn't bear the adrenalin hit he was having at that moment. An exclusive contract with Wally's Products could establish the gazette as a prime mover among the heavyweight publications currently on the market and would help secure their financial viability for years to come.

To Ray, it almost meant sink or swim.

Of course Murray Glandman would have the final say, and take a portion of the cut, but the preliminary interview- this very interview would provide the working platform on which further relations would progress.

"You sent me..." Halsdorf paused to cough. "Excuse me. As I was saying, you sent me a pro forma document outlining the position of your gazette..." He stopped, coughed into his handkerchief and continued. "There, that' s better. Now our board of directors were delighted at the proposals you put forward and..."

Once again, Halsdorf paused, as a fit of coughing took control.

"Can I get you some water?"

"Thanks, Ray."

Ray filled a plastic cup with ice water and filled another for himself. He sank two cup fulls before returning to his guest. The contract was so tantalisingly close! He could see it on the table, touch it, and feel it. If only Halsdorf would stop coughing for five minutes and just sign the damned thing. The big man took a couple of sips. He pulled a thick black biro from his top pocket and approached the contract that lay on the table like a magical golden treasure waiting for the magical golden key to open it. And Halsdorf had that key.

"The bottom line is this, Ray; we have..." Another fit of coughing followed by yet another. "We have assessed your application and in our opinion, we feel that the kind of affiliation that you are proposing is..." more coughing, a pause, and then some more still, "is entirely satisfactory to us.