Chapter 7 – The Discovery

Trudy and Carol sat in the coffee shop close to the headquarters of Morgan Empire headquarters. Carol had long ago been recalled from London and was moving up the corporate ladder. Trudy had recently received her Engineering Degree and been assigned by grandparents to corporate headquarters while MJ and Anna tussled over how she should be oriented to the conglomerate she’d eventually inherit.

Carol had been assigned full time to orienting Trudy into the far flung interests of the corporation while her grandparents made up their mind as to how she’d be grounded in vision and goals they had for the future of their wealth. Should they continue to invest heavily in oil or move into renewable energy? They were not concerned about the future of the planet as being bounced around in newspapers and political circles under pressure of concerned scientists. To them renewable energy may be the way to preserve their wealth as they took advantage of technologies associated with this new interest.

Anna thought Trudy should be placed at the bottom of corporate interests where oil that produced their wealth was drawn from the ground. She needed to fight her way up to corporate headquarters just as they’d had to fight their way up to their present heights.

MJ on the other hand leaned toward skills developed in a University environment which encouraged independent thinking vital in setting strategic directions. He’d been impressed with the recent crop of graduates taking their corporate interests in directions he and Anna had not thought of.  Trudy had graduated with those kind of skills and just needed further orientation to the financial management side. Carol could give her that kind of orientation.

Trudy on the other hand was not at all enthusiastic. She had to admit living the high life, class as her Mother put it, did have its compensations. But surely there was something more in life than wealth and luxury? It had not made her happy as she reflected.

Carol became uneasy as Trudy poured out negative feelings about her life style while they sat in the coffee shop. Carol had a good job and mentoring Trudy was a huge complement to her skills. She knew if she failed the Morgans would discard her in favour of a replacement who’d do the job well.

The waitress bought their drinks and snacks and Carol hastily focused. Let’s get this out of the way and back to work she said briskly to Trudy who pouted. She wanted someone to confide in, not someone to regiment her.

Carol looked at the slice of mud cake in front of her and began to giggle. “This looks just like the mud cakes those kids in England were making and my hiking companion got all nostalgic about some little kid he used to play with when he was small. Apparently there were coincidences that made him want to sit and think when we really needed to get hiking to reach our destination before night fall.”

Trudy sat bolt upright and immediately looked interested.

Carol picked up this signal and silently breathed a sigh of relief. Anything to refocus the mood was welcome at that point of time. They really needed to get back to the office, but perhaps she could refocus by completing the story.

“He was amazed at the coincidence, we were in a Sunrise Lane and he said he used to visit his childhood companion in a Sunrise Lane. Then these kids were making mud cakes, they called them that in front of a cottage. My hiking companion wanted to stay and talk with them.” He remembered the child he knew as Trudy Carter.

“That was me!” said Trudy softly. “They were mud pies!”

Carol looked up in surprise! “You’re Trudy Morgan, you sure know how to take a rise out of me,” she said laughing nervously.

“Let’s go, were late and I can’t eat this mud cake thing!”

To be continued.

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