I was staying at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. The big Pulp & Paper trade show I had been attending all week had just finished and I was returning to my room to pack for an early departure in the morning. It was about seven o'clock in the evening. As I walked along the fifth floor to my room, a young Indian lady came up beside me. "Excuse me, Mr. Albert. I'm Pushpa, Pratap Acharya's wife. He is at the regional sales meeting downstairs this evening. Can I talk to you?"
I looked at her. She was good looking, small and thin -- and well dressed in a thick white, turtleneck sweater, black dress pants and shiny black high-heeled boots. She sported some nice looking jewelry. I wondered if she was a high-class hooker with a new opening line.
"Pratap doesn't know I'm here," she said walking along beside me. "I wanted to meet you and talk to you about my husband's future in the company." We had just arrived at my room. "Can I come in?"
"Of course, Mrs. Acharya. Please come in," I said unlocking the door and pushing it open for her.
"Please call me Pushpa. And may I call you Dennis?" she smiled. Why she would want to call me Dennis when my name is Andrew, I do not know. Nor did I particularly care. I smiled at her and led her into the spacious room.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked casually.
"Well, you know that Pratap is a candidate for the assistant sales manager's job. If he got the job, I'm sure we should be seeing a lot more of each other, and I wanted to assure you that if he got the job we could be good friends. It's so important to get on with one's husband's colleague's and associates." She had a wonderful Indian singsong accent with a crisp, lilting English pronunciation.
"I'm sure we could indeed be friends," I lied. "You are so charming!"
"We would meet socially and be thrown together quite often, Dennis."
"Indeed, Pushpa." I said. I took off my jacket and laid it on the bed. I was stood face to face with her beside the dressing table.
"How can we become good friend's?" I asked. "Do you play golf?"
She laughed. "I'm not very good at outdoor sports."