Clouds like pink elephants
Lemonade on the way back from a sales call
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
The clouds over the ocean were big and pink. There was no shade and no trees and the kiosk was in the shadow of the train station.
The man and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade outside the building. It was Mediterranean hot and the express from Haifa would come in 35'. It stopped at this station for two minutes and then went to Tel Aviv.
‘What shall we drink?’ the girl asked. She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.
‘It’s really hot,’ the man said.
‘Let’s drink lemonade.’
‘Two ’ the man said.
‘Big ones?’ a woman asked from the doorway.
‘Yes. Two big ones.’
The woman brought two glasses of lemonade and two paper coasters. She put the coasters and the glasses on the table and looked at the man and the girl. The girl was looking off at clouds over the ocean. They were pink in the sun and the country was brown and dry.
They look like pink elephants,’ she said.
‘I’ve never seen one,’ the man drank his lemonade.
‘No, you wouldn’t have.’
‘I might have,’ the man said. ‘Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.’
The girl looked at her glass.
‘It tastes like lemon,’ the girl said and put the glass down.
‘You’re making fun of me.’
‘Yes,’ said the girl. ‘Everything tastes of lemon. Especially all the deals you’ve done, true lemonade.’
‘Stop it.’
‘You started,’ the girl said. ‘I was amusing myself. I was having a good time.’
‘Well, let’s try and have a good time.’
‘All right. I was trying. I said the clouds looked like pink elephants. Wasn’t that clever?’
‘That was clever.’
‘I wanted to try the lemonade here. That’s what we do, right — pitch things to customers and try new drinks?’
‘I guess so.’
The girl looked across at the clouds. ’They’re lovely clouds,’ she said. ‘They don’t really look like pink elephants. The reflection from the sunset over the water, makes this pinkish effect’
‘Should we have another glass?’
‘All right.’
The warm wind blew the umbrella over the formica table.
‘The lemonade’s nice and cool,’ the man said.
‘It’s great,’ the girl said.
‘It’s awfully simple deal, Yael,’ the man said. ‘It’s not hard at all.’
The girl looked at the floor under the table.
‘I know you can do it, Yael. It’s an opportunity. It’s just to get us in’
The girl did not say anything.
‘I’ll go with you. We’ll close them and then it’s all perfectly natural.’
‘What will we do after the sale?’
‘We’ll be fine afterwards. Just like always.’
‘What makes you think so?’
The girl lifted her hands palms up.
‘And you think the customer will be happy.’
‘I know they will. You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of customers that used our solutions.’
‘So have I,’ said the girl. ‘And afterwards they were all so happy.’
‘Well,’ the man said, ‘if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.’
And you really think we can close them?’
‘I am confident this is what the customer really needs — a fit-for-purpose monitoring strategy, using study risk assessments, complexity, country requirements, site monitoring and capabilities as key considerations’
‘Yes. It’s very slick, even it is very untrue and they are still using paper forms and they wouldn’t know how to successfully execute a digital transformation even if God led the project.
‘But I don’t want you to do it if you don’t really want to.’
‘And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?’
‘I love you now. You know I love you.’
‘I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like pink elephants, and you’ll like it?’
‘I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly simple.’
‘Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t care about me.’
‘Well, I care about you.’
‘Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me. I’ll do it and then all will be fine.’
‘I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.’
He got up and walked down and back up the train platform. Looking at people waiting for the express to Tel Aviv. People-watching.
She was sitting at the table and smiled at him.
‘Do you feel better?’ he asked.
‘I feel fine,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.’
With deep thanks to Hemingway.