| “May I speak to Mr. Blossom?” the lady asked over the telephone. |
| “I am afraid, madam,” I replied as officiously as I could, “we do not have a Mr. Blossom in this firm.” |
| “I’m sure you do,” she persisted, and repeated the telephone number. It was undeniably ours. |
| “I presume you want Mr Apple, our senior partner,” I conceded. |
| She would never have dared say that, I thought to myself, about the partners of Price Waterhouse or Cooper Bros or any of the other Big Five accounting firms in the City of London. No-one ever confused their names, for they were the gilded pillars of the accountancy profession, as upright as the reputation of the City of London itself, whereas the accounting firm to which I was articled – Maurice Apple and Company – was a nondescript partnership named after the senior of two young partners, with offices off Edgware Road in the West End of London. |
Published in THE NATION 7 Jan. 1993, and reprinted in THE ARMLESS QUEEN (1994). |
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