Epay Stories - Mink Jacket of Marilyn Monroe Page 5

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  I was trying to think of a way to make the Salter story a little less violent but maybe it was really an important part of the story. After all, Mrs. Salter had sold the coat long before her suicide.

  Arnold Pollard was in the phone book. He remembered the coat.

  "Oh, yes, it was a really nice coat and I had just the woman to make it look good. But, hey, I'm an honest lawyer so I didn't have the kind of money her lawyers were trying to get for it. I think they figured that having been owned by a murderess added value to it. Maybe to some guys, but not to me. Besides, I didn't want my girlfriend getting any more strange ideas and a coat with that pedigree could sure set a person thinking that maybe there was something in the coat. You know, some kind of spell."

  "Yes, I know. I'm beginning to wonder about that myself. Do you know bought it?"

  "Sure, I do. It was Wayne Z. Short. There are a lot of Wayne Shorts but only one Wayne Z. Short. He had just won a large malpractice settlement. As I recall his share was about three million so ten thousand for a nice jacket was nothing to him."

  Any lawyer who earns three million dollars from a single lawsuit is bound to have many layers of intermediaries to screen his calls. After I had explained my request to the second person I was told the message would be passed to Mr. Short. As a professional I expected him to return the call, if only to say he had no recollection of the jacket.

  On the contrary he returned the call the next day in a most congenial manner.

  "Mr. Lessing, its a pleasure to speak to you. I am told you are interested in a mink jacket I once owned. What would you like to know about it?"

  "I appreciate your returning my calls. I know you are a busy man so I would just like any background information on your experience with the jacket that I can add to my history of it for my sister-in-law."

  There was a pause as he formulated his reply.

  "Mr. Lessing, my notes say you are a production planner for a bearing manufacturer. Is that correct?"

  "Yes, precisely."

  "I take it your employer's bearings are used in many types of applications, is that correct?"

  "Yes, we have many clients in various industries."

  "Do you sell to the aeronautical industry or a supplier to the aeronautical industry?"

  "Yes, we have bearings used in a number of parts of both civilian and military aircraft."

  "Good. Then you would understand that if one of your suppliers sold you a component that was certified to meet a specification and it did not meet that specification, it could be a major problem for both your company and the buyer of your product which contained that component, let's say a powdered metal."

  "That would definitely be the case."

  "Let's say for example the component exceeded some parts of the specification but varied from the specification in an aspect in which the supplier's shipping clerk did not consider important. For example, the metal powder was stronger but not as rust resistant. But they certified that it met your specification because it was a more expensive powder."

  "Yes, I have heard of such situations."

  "Then the powder is used in an aircraft bearing that fails causing an aircraft accident that results in the deaths of maybe only twenty people of the three hundred on board the plane. A disaster, yes, but it could have been much worse, so in a sense it is a much better outcome than one might expect. That is why I am in the business I am in. To make the suppliers of products perform as they should be expected to perform, without cutting costs to make an underserved profit. Companies like yours buy liability insurance to protect themselves from unintended and unexpected events such as this."

  "Yes, it's part of doing business."

  "Yes, part of doing business and part of living in the modern world. I have been married and divorced three times. I have learned a great deal about liability and responsibility. I am responsible for six children each of whom is taught by me that they are responsible for what they do. No more wives, no more children. When I take a woman to an event where I expect to be photographed, I provide the clothing she will wear. Sometimes I let them keep it, sometimes it is returned to a wardrobe where one of my staff looks after it. This includes expensive jewelry. The mink jacket of Marilyn Monroe was in that wardrobe for several years and worn by a number of women. I told them that it had been worn by Monroe to see if they behaved differently. They all did. Initially they seemed very pleased and self confident. But after they had been out in it a few times they seemed to have absorbed something from the jacket. While they were outwardly still self-confident, they all seemed to suffer a depression. The jacket? No, I'm not superstitious. There is no spirit in the jacket. But the story about the jacket. That is another matter The power of suggestion. Maybe if the story was that Mother Teresa had been given the jacket to wear one cold winter when she was doing missionary work, the result would have been different. Maybe then they would have wanted to do charity work. But I told them the story that had been given to me. In the end three of them died before their times. One in a car accident, one from drowning, the last from a drug overdose. None of them were wearing the jacket when they died. The last incident was the case that convinced me to remove it from the wardrobe."

  "Tell your sister-in-law what you will. Maybe she can handle the weight of the story that is tied to that jacket. Maybe she can't. It's a beautiful jacket. I would not destroy it. I would however seriously consider changing its history. It will be the same jacket. Make up a new story. Use your imagination. Make it something positive and uplifting, inspirational. Not Mother Teresa but an old lady who had owned it for years and sold it to fund an operation for a poor child. It's your story now. It's your responsibility."

  He stopped talking. I was very taken aback. No wonder he was able to convince juries.

  "Mr. Short, I appreciate your time very much. Be assured I will take your advice. I like the story of the old lady. I think that will become the jacket's history."

  "Glad I could help you, Mr. Lessing. And keep an eye on your suppliers. You and your company share a lot of responsibility. The more people and companies understand this and behave accordingly the less time I will have to spend cleaning up after them. I have enough money to stay out of court the rest of my life. I want to teach those six kids of mine to be good responsible adults."

  "Thanks again, Mr. Short. Goodbye."