He gestured down the hall, and she followed. “Now, let me show you our history room if I may. Did you know we were the first company in the US to produce epichlorohydrin derivatives?”
Chapter Nine
A week later, Kate was back in Golden Grove, hoping to be inspired before her
second meeting at Nitrovex. She put down the heavy book on Carol's dining room table and rubbed her temple. Nitrovex: Fifty Years of Innovation.
More like fifty years of grinding monotony. She'd thumbed through the
science tome, which was masquerading as a company PR piece, at least a dozen
times in her office in Chicago. If she had to look at one more photo of a smiling, goggled technician pointing at a rat's nest of tubes she'd go crazy.
The table was loaded with all the materials Penny Fitch had shoved at her after her tour of the plant. They might as well have been written in Martian.
Membrane technology. Hexavalent chromium reduction. Flocculant polymers.
It was all just a bunch of vague words next to pictures of dirty churning machines run by guys hidden in white hazmat gear. And this one: “sludge bulking.” Sounded like some exercise Penny did to keep her stomach flat.
The wispy witch might pretend the pile of materials was intended to help, but Kate wasn't fooled. Penny was probably trying another round of sabotage.
She called out to Carol in the kitchen. “I'll give you twenty bucks if you can
tell me what”—she squinted at a brochure—“ 'filamentous bulking bacteria' is.”
Carol was at the sink washing dishes left from a Thread Heads meeting
earlier in the day. “Sounds like the bug I got after my trip to Acapulco a few years ago. Maybe you should take a break. You've been at it all afternoon and now past dinner.”
“I don't need to take a break. I need to get one.” Kate sighed. “Clothing companies, web startups, those I can at least somewhat relate to.” She flipped through a stack of Nitrovex brochures. “But phosphorus reduction and sludge dewatering? I'd have to be a…a…”
“Chemist?” Carol suggested.
Kate leaned back to look at her, shaking her head slowly. “Oh, nice try.”
Carol continued to dry her dishes, back turned. “What do mean? I'm just trying to provide you with the best answer to your dilemma.”
“Have you ever thought of being a politician?”
“All I'm trying to do is suggest the best ways for you to do well with your
job. That is what you want, isn't it?”
Kate opened her mouth, then closed it. It was manipulative, it was sneaky,
but she had to admit Carol might be right. Peter was probably the best person to help her get a handle on this project. She'd gone through every piece of material
Penny had given her, watched every online video of swirling tanks of cow poop
she could handle, and she was still left with a blank. And Garman was expecting
an update on her progress on Wednesday.
She just needed a kernel of a concept, a base for everything she would use to
promote the company. Coke was fun, fizzy water. Corvette was fast, loud cars.
But unpronounceable chemicals? What did you do with that, come up with a mascot of a singing test tube?
Hmm. Singing test tube. She wrote it down. Then crossed it out.
She tapped the pen on her teeth, thinking, then writing.
Nitrovex: The Future of Hexavalent Chromium Reduction. Today.
Nitrovex: We Make Stuff That Cleans Your Poop So You Don't Have To.
Hi, I'm Peter the Pipe! Sludge need bulking? Polymers need flocculating?
Need some deadly, brain-damaging chemicals to do vague, chemical-ly things?
I'm your guy!
Nitrovex: Help Kate keep her job by liking this slogan.
Crap. This was impossible.
She sat back. Maybe she should break down and call her parents. Yeah, that
