Yet Untitled. Welby Thomas Cox, Jr.

Sabacthani,”… that is, “My God, My God, why hath thou forsaken me?”

      The door opened, Hamilton held his breath. It was Michael Pearlman, his old friend and attorney. Pearlman was startled to see his client under these strenuous conditions; Hamilton hugged him.

      “No touching”, came the voice over the address system.

      Pearlman backed away… emotionally touched by his clients’ reaction and condition; Hamilton smiled to relieve the stress. He remembered his attorney when he had hair, and he remembered how they had set some high precedent in the relationship of an attorney to a client who had to remain, at the time, anonymous!

      Hamilton tried to remember how he had first met Michael Pearlman. He remembered more about the old-line firm Pearlman was with, Peabody, Peabody & Helm, and then it hit him. Hamilton had been required to attend a seminar on bank fraud, Pearlman was on a distinguished panel of lawyers, accountants and bankers. Hamilton was impressed at how young Pearlman was and how knowledgeable on the subject. Hamilton thought if I ever need an attorney, this is my man! And little did he know that he would need his help soon thereafter in the formation of a corporation.

      They had done extremely well, this odd combination, even unorthodox, some would say. Some would say the methodology employed was creative and futuristic; some would say that it was nothing short of illegal. But the mind of Michael Pearlman was always one step ahead of those trying to prove that case!

      The word on the street was that Mid-West Engineering’s most essential element in its drive to expanded operations was not the prestigious educational backgrounds of its officers nor its history of excellence in the performance of a range of engineering contracts but rather in the shrewd management, the innovative techniques in the solicitation of work which also involved Pearlman, its magic show, with money, through the wizardry of its vice president of management, Thad Hamilton. For his hardnosed tactics common to business among Sicilians, some said he had his named changed from Hamiltonini. There is always innuendo among the also- ran and those who just cannot figure it out.

      Hamilton had only a cursory understanding of the engineering business and that was no doubt the reason that he took the firm in the most unconventional directions. He was surprised and honored when one of his customers from the bank approached him with the offer to participate as a principal in the establishment of an environmental lab. The clients’ enthusiasm and his partners’ academic credentials convinced Hamilton that the firm had promise.

      Thad put up the money for an annual budget and the fledgling enterprise moved into a small office space in a building he owned. A slight of hand maneuver made possible by Hamilton’s bank officer status and his position to approve a loan without oversight from his superiors. In addition, his insider information on a bank client unable to make mortgage payments on an undervalued multi-function building provided Hamilton the opportunity and the gratitude of his client for the option of handing over the payments to someone he felt trustworthy and capable of making the mortgage payments on time, thereby salvaging for the troubled bank client’s credit standing! Of course the newly found net worth for Hamilton was reward for doing the right thing…a selectivity business event Hamilton would replicate over time, bolstering his confidence and standing in the business community.

      The other two principals in the transaction, put up a professional contract with the government through the Environmental Pollution Agency (the EPA) which they had secured to monitor air and noise pollution on Interstate 64 and, they provided the technical expertise as well, to organize the work. But when that contract expired the firm melted back to the original partners. During a brain storming session to determine the future of the firm, Thad asked the partners the quintessential question, how does an engineer go about getting work?

      Prolano, a brilliant PhD, went through the process of relating the methodology for getting professional engineering or architectural contracts. It wasn’t like any other business. Advertising yields nothing more than an institutionalization of the firm name for the future if you happen to be around long enough for someone to remember that you sponsored this or that program. Government entities on the other hand, the greatest source of work for the firm, advertise for engineers in the classified section of the local newspaper, asking the engineers to submit qualifications under what is known as Request For Proposals. The engineers submit copies of curriculum vitae and references.

      “So getting the work comes down to your professional qualifications including your academic accomplishments?” Thad asked in a meeting with Prolano and the firms other partner, Franco Belini.

      Prolano explained, “The trouble is that there are a number of firms with academic credentials, and many of these firms have history that provides evidence of ability. Nothing like experience.”

      “It’s like the old chicken and the egg,” Thad said.

      “If only it were that simple,” Prolano responded.

      “How so?” Thad asked.

      Prolano went on, “I was idealistic enough to believe the world awaits any great mind capable of opening new methodology. For example, you would think it would be a rudimentary process for an engineer to design a system known to exist for thousands of years which utilizes naturally occurring agents to deal with the problem of hazardous waste. Mother Nature will clean these agents left to their own devices over a period of time. We know that. So, our methodology is to speed up the process and the cure. We propose to do so by creating a slurry of the waste material within a compound into which we introduce, specifically engineered organisms or bugs. We enrich the process with molasses and voila, the bugs eat the hazardous waste material.

      “Oh yeah?” Thad said, “And now the bugs have grown hair between their legs. They’re retained by Japanese movie producers and they march into communities and eat all the pussy!”

      “Interestingly, the bugs have more sophisticated taste then some people I know. They only eat the hazardous material, and when this medium has been contained, the bugs go away, incapable of living without the juice,” Prolano said.

      “So you’ve invented the miracle bug that won’t come to town and eat our pussy and it costs a fortune to produce and maintain?” Hamilton laughed.

      “That is the beauty of the process and the economics, the cost of this technology is less than 1 % of the processes recommended by the government’s Environmental Pollution Agency consultants. And moreover this technology doesn’t impact the environment. We do not burn the waste thereby saving our air quality and we do not bury the waste thereby saving our soil, the ground water or the aquifer,” Prolano said.

      “I don’t get it,” Thad said.

      “It’s cheaper by far and it does not adversely affect the environment. I’m starting to sound like one of the pitch men on TV,” Hamilton feigned.

      “Well, the worst part of wanting to do the best possible job for the least cost has these shadow manipulations operating against the best interest of the public! In short,” Prolano said, “the public is routinely being fucked by the government married to big- name consultants who advise the use of technology which they own or control through the manipulation of public corporations and their devious stock options and ownership. Go figure, we can clean up the mess at $ 70 per metric ton and the government through the Environmental Pollution Authority ( EPA) insist on spending $ 400 per metric ton out of the Superfund while using practices which contaminate the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil our children play on! But what do you expect, everyone is so certain that the government works for the public, as they should, but given enough time every bureaucrat begins to think that the money and the authority is his exclusive pervue. The sickness of a system which doesn’t have the ability to purge itself”. Prolano said.

      “And every union contracted to the government is striking for lifetime guarantees…so we can’t fight the mega-conglomerate consultants or the feds. Who else uses the non-pussy eating bugs?” Hamilton said.

      “They are utilized on every sewage treatment system built!” Prolano responded.

      “And we are qualified to build a sewage treatment plant?” Thad asked.