From time to time I’ll read a piece on good will and altruism and loving your fellow man and I am all for these sentiments. Sometimes the writer will suggest that as you go through life, you should take time out to tell your family and friends that you love them and don’t wait until it is too late and you have lost them.

But today a less charitable thought creeped into my ruminations. I was thinking of an editor I worked with at Times Books, a self-styled intellectual, who had done “meaningful” books and thought well of himself. He was also inclined to one-up people and at an editorial meeting, would mumble so that one had to strain to hear what he was saying. This is the sort of fellow who would seat you in his office so that the sun was in your eyes. And one day we were discussing book finance and I ventured to repeat what I had heard and read often when I worked for a literary agent, where the standard for many years had been a certain beginning percentage (and I would give you the rest but I have forgotten what the numbers are). And he said I was all wrong, there had never been an a so-called “standard”. He was derisive and contemptuous as he "set me straight". It was the sort of conversation that had you wondering if you were nuts.

You see this fellow had so much cachet that the inclination was, well, he may be right. But he wasn’t. We sat in offices across from each other for four years.

Later, when I was at the New York Times Syndicate and he was offshore working in some other venue, perhaps semi-retired, I had occasion to write him on a business matter concerning one of our syndicated features that he was involved with. I ventured to hope he was well and prospering. I was determined to be graceful. He ignored me and my communication. I really don’t know why he treated me so shabbily.

The bottom line with this fellow is that in some way, he is unfinished business. My inclination is not to call and “make things right” since he has given me every indication that I am not worthy of his attention, but to tell him, finally, what a monumental asshole he always was and I am astounded that he ever impressed anyone and got away with things for so long. I would stop short of wishing him a miserable life and/or a lingering, debilitating illness. But I do.

There. I do feel better.

xx, Teal