Nancy knew the waiting would be the hardest part. "Spike is there anything else you think I can do to help?" she asked.

"I wish there were Nancy; I just hope we're in time. I know you're worried about that."

"In that case, I'm going to get caught up on some stuff around here then maybe head home early. I need to get back with Bob Mandel, my purchasing coordinator, from when you barged in yesterday morning. In fact, I see him heading this way now. Spike you better duck out of sight!" she said and then quickly flipped the switch on the screen and Spike simultaneously.

"Hi Bob," Nancy said trying to act normal. "Sorry I haven't had time to get back to you since..."

"I know you're busy Nancy, but I need your help." Bob was in a state. What hair he had on his mostly bald head was sticking out in every direction. "Here's the problem: We budgeted money to send a couple of Marketing's people to training classes on Photoshop and Illustrator. Well, I forgot about it and now our training budget is exhausted. The Marketing VP has gone nonlinear. He refuses to pay for it because we budgeted it and he wants his two new people in the next class! I don't know what to do..."

"Bob, you're babbling. Here's what I want you to do. I've got a friend over at Adobe who told me they use a CD-ROM based training product to train their people on Photoshop and Illustrator. It's published by a company called Casey's Page Mill. Call them up and have them overnight what we need. Marketing will like it even better since they can train a lot more than two people this way. You can pay for it out of our equipment budget. I'll call their VP and smooth things over with him. Okay?"

"Nancy, I don't know how you come up with these creative solutions. Can I tell Marketing it was your idea? They'll be sure to go along if I do." Bob let out a huge sigh of relief.

"You're weird Bob, but feel free to use my name on this one. Now get out of here and go place the order! I've got some phone calls to make and then I'm getting out of here for the day." Nancy was already back to thinking about Lexicon and her plans for the evening.

"Right. Will do. See you later. I mean tomorrow. Thanks Nancy." Bob was still trying to get used to the idea that his problem was solved as he backed out of Nancy's office.

She picked up the phone and dialed Lexicon Industries.

John Lexicon's office told Nancy that he could be available for a very brief call with Mr. Webb at four o'clock that afternoon. Around 3:00, Nancy left MicroLabs for the day. Spike was handling all the mechanical details of the call for himself anyway, so she wouldn't be missed.

As Nancy was driving home she got another call from Tom Barnett. He had gone from anxious to aggravated.

"Nancy, this is Tom Barnett," Tom barked through the phone. She could almost smell his cigar smoke.



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