Destinations South

"You're going to do what?""I said I'll fly down to Rio and take care of this myself."Ethan MacKenzie glared at his brother-in-law and sighed in exasperation. Silas Duran could be an indomitable force whenever his stubbornness set in, which was nearly every day."Silas, you're going to Nantucket on vacation this week, remember?" Ethan reminded him. "Every-thing's been arranged, all the bases here have been covered, and you need some time off.I'llgo down to Rio and handle this. It's just a minor problem.""Minor?" Silas thundered. "You call it minor when the head of our entire South American division decided to run off to the Falkland Islands with a samba dancer to study the mating habits of penguins?""I think he minored in marine biology in college,"Ethan stated thoughtfully, as if that would explain everything.Silas glowered at him. "At any rate," Ethan began again hurriedly, "I can go down there until things are settled. You go ahead to Nantucket. Amanda and I have been trying for months to get you to take some time off. You've earned this vacation. And with the pressures you've been under lately, if you don't take it, you're going to drop dead of a heart attack."The two men stood face to face in Silas's office at Duran Industries. Silas muttered something unintelligible and turned his back on his sister's husband. His was a corner office on the twenty-fourth floor of the new, and much publicized, Duran Building. Two massive picture windows offered a magnificent panorama of New York City, but Silas had never taken much notice of it. Outside the bright sun and brilliant blue sky effectively disguised the fact that it was a brutally cold January afternoon. Silas rubbed his temples. His head hurt. He paced the length of his elegant office, the plush dove-gray carpet muffling his steps, and opened the top left drawer of his mahogany desk. Inside, he readily ignored a variety of prescriptions, and reached instead for a bottle of aspirin."While you're cleaning up in Rio," Silas grumbled after he had tossed back three of the powdery tablets,"who's going to be minding the store here?""Gibson. He knows enough about DI to keep us rolling for a week.""Sure, and after a week we'll be bankrupt. Anyway, his wife just had twins. He's like a zombie lately. He can't concentrate on anything. He's useless.""Amanda will be here to help him out," Ethan coaxed, hoping the mention of Silas's sister might assuage his fears about the management of Duran Industries during his absence. "Look, Silas, don't worry about it. It's only for a week. Amanda says you haven't taken a vacation since you were in college, and that you spent that one in the library researching your MBA thesis. If you don't take some time off soon...""I know, I know, I'll drop dead of a heart attack," Silas finished for him.Bevarly, Elizabeth is the author of 'Destinations South', published 2006 under ISBN 9780373470730 and ISBN 0373470738.