December 27. Tuesday Night.

Hi Journey.

Home again. I never will travel like Casey, but will always love the quickness of getting home in a half-day.

Slow day at CD. But yesterday, boy oh boy but did Carm lay a bombshell on us.

So, Monday morning Mom and Sisi and I roused out of bed extra early and drove down to the Paramount . It's one of those classic Long Island stainless steel-clad diners. Mom and Carmen sat down at the table across from me and our coats.

“Percy's job is shipping us off to Japan ,” Carmen said after we'd ordered.

“ Japan ?” Mom and I unisoned.

My big sister nodded her head up and down. “Percy's mentor at SetCo is retiring.” She sipped from her coffee, twisted her eyes shut, searching for a word. “More like a protector, than a mentor, really.”

“Is this that uncle of Percy's friend from Harvard? Mr. Haneta, right?” Mom asked.

“Yep. Bill Haneta. His influence got Percy the job, but it was Percy's hard work that's landed him two promotions in the three years he's been there.”

"But why Japan , Carm?” I asked.

“Because it's internal politics, that's why. Grow or go, that's just the way it is in big companies. Percy's stuck where he's at; he's years away from moving up any higher inside SetCo's legal department at headquarters, so the only way for him to advance right now is to tackle management responsibility in a regional office. Asia 's a huge growth-market, so off we go to To Key Yo, as Cora would say.”

“So what'll he do there?”

“Some contract review, but mostly marketing,” Carm said.

“Hey, I've got some great marketing material I can supply you,” I added.

“He'll need it,” Carm replied.

Mom laughed lightly. “No, Carmen. Your sister means for you to read.”

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