Chapter 145 Chapter 145
Chapter 145 Chapter 145
Saturday arrived.
The dinner was at seven PM in the private room at the back of a restaurant on Alderman Street that Sofía had researched and selected and booked three weeks before the dinner was formally agreed upon because Sofía operated in advance and the advance was always correct.
I arrived at six fifty-five.
Not because I was nervous.
Because I was always early.
The room was set.
The table was long with eight physical seats and at the head of it a large screen propped and positioned at the angle Lily had specified in her spatial arrangement document, which Sofía had printed and laminated and brought to the restaurant two days before to ensure the venue understood the requirements.
The venue had understood the requirements.
Lily's preferred option.
The screen at the head.
Anna in the center.
Rika and Patricia on either side.
Clara and Ingrid on the left half of the screen.
Specific. Intentional. Correct.
Lily herself was in the second seat from the left at the physical table.
She was already there when I arrived.
She had a notepad and a pen and the expression she wore when she was in a room she had prepared for and was satisfied with her preparation.
She looked up.
She said: the screen angle is three degrees off from the optimal viewing position.
I said: does that matter.
She said: I've adjusted it.
I said: of course you have.
She said: the lighting above the screen was creating a slight reflection on the lower left corner.
I said: did you fix it.
She said: I spoke to the venue manager.
I said: and.
She said: it's fixed.
I said: Lily.
She said: yes.
I said: the spatial arrangement document.
She said: laminated.
I said: Sofía brought it to the venue.
She said: yes. I asked her to.
I said: and the venue implemented it.
She said: after some initial confusion about the screen positioning yes.
I said: you resolved the confusion.
She said: I sent a follow-up document.
I said: a follow-up document to the spatial arrangement.
She said: with diagrams.
I said: you sent diagrams to a restaurant about a screen position.
She said: the diagrams clarified the angle requirement.
I said: and they implemented the diagrams.
She said: yes.
I said: Lily.
She said: yes.
I said: you're twelve.
She said: I know.
She said: the angle matters. If the screen is off by three degrees the people at the right end of the table will have a seventeen percent reduction in optimal viewing quality.
I said: you calculated the reduction.
She said: yes.
I said: for this dinner.
She said: yes.
I said: for the people at the right end of the table.
She said: yes.
She said: the right end has meaningful representation.
I said: who's on the right end.
She said: your father and James.
I said: you corrected the screen angle for my father and James.
She said: and Priya.
I said: Priya is on the right end.
She said: seat seven.
I said: and seat eight.
She said: Dom.
I said: Dom is coming.
She said: Dom has been an integral part of the narrative. He belongs at the table.
I said: Dom belongs at the dinner because he's integral to the narrative.
She said: yes.
I said: Lily.
She said: yes.
I said: the seating chart.
She said: final version filed with Sofía on Wednesday.
I said: colors.
She said: yes.
I said: what color am I.
She said: gold.
I said: gold.
She said: yes.
I said: why gold.
She said: because it's the most visible color from the far end.
I said: the far end.
She said: Declan is at the far end of the table. Gold is visible from any distance.
I said: you assigned me the color most visible from Declan's seat.
She said: I assigned you the color consistent with the significance of the seat.
I said: and Declan's color.
She said: blue.
I said: like the Harlow program colors.
She said: yes.
I said: gold and blue.
She said: my aunt said those were your mother's poster colors.
I said: your aunt.
She said: she texted me about the poster colors.
I said: your aunt texted you about my mother's poster board color scheme.
She said: she wanted the dinner colors to be consistent with the broader visual narrative.
I said: the broader visual narrative of my mother's neon poster boards.
She said: yes.
I said: Lily.
She said: yes.
I said: how did you get my mother's number.
She said: she texted Declan. He has her number. I have Declan's contacts.
I said: you have Declan's contacts.
She said: for research purposes.
I said: he gave you his contacts.
She said: he gave me specific numbers for research purposes.
I said: including my mother's.
She said: yes.
I said: and then you texted my mother about poster board colors.
She said: I asked about the gold. She said gold was the most visible from the ice. I agreed. Gold it is.
I looked at her. She looked back. Nothing missed.
Everything understood.
I said: you're going to change the world.
She said: I know.
People arrived.
My father and James first.