Chapter 21: The Board

The Lang Orthopedics boardroom was on the eleventh floor, with a long walnut table and a view of the river.

Seven board members sat down one side. Margaret sat at the far end, with Dirk beside her.

My father-in-law sat in his wheelchair at the head, with a lawyer on each side.

Jerome and I sat across from his wife.

It was January second, ten in the morning. Nobody had slept much.

"This meeting is irregular," Margaret said. "My husband is not himself, and there are no minutes."

"I'll speak for myself," said my father-in-law. "Sit down, Margaret."

"I am sitting."

"Then be quiet."

One of the board members coughed into his hand.

My father-in-law nodded to the lawyer on his left, who opened a folder.

"Mr. Lang has amended his estate," the lawyer said. "As of eight o'clock this morning, the family's voting shares are placed in a trust."

"Meaning what?" Margaret said.

"Meaning Mrs. Lang and Mr. Dirk Lang hold no vote on this board."

"You can't do that," Margaret said.

"He has done it."

"Dirk." She turned. "Say something."

My husband looked at the table.

"I don't have anything to say, Mother."

"You have your name!"

"It's what I used it for," Dirk said. "That's the trouble."

She stared at him.

For the first time since I had known her, she had nothing ready to say.

"This is Jerome's doing," she said. "He has always wanted this chair."

"I don't want it," Jerome said from beside me. "I want you to stop saying it in rooms where I can hear."

"Mrs. Lang," the lawyer said. "Before we close, there is one more item."

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