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terminated, she said yes.
    With no more ceremony than that, he said, “Good. Now, shall we return to the others?” He reached for the door, then paused. “A word of warning: You’ll have a fight on your hands over that budget. Are you up to it?”
    “Absolutely.”
    Murmured conversations ceased when they reentered. Foster startled the others by introducing her by her new title, but most seemed more pleased than not. “Mr. George,” Foster said, addressing the human resources director, “following this meeting, I, you, and Ms. Taylor can go over the contract I prepared in advance and with the hope that she would accept my offer. I think you’ll both find it satisfactory.” He slapped the table lightly. “Now, Ms. Taylor, it’s your first official duty to tell us why the budget allotment for your department is inadequate.”
    Out of the frying pan. Laura took a deep breath, knowing this was an acid test and hoping she didn’t blow it. “While we’ve been grounded, we’ve lost a lot of flight attendants. Some have gone to other airlines. Others have left the industry altogether. Now I’m faced with hiring replacements. I can’t entice the best applicants if I can’t offer them starting salaries and benefits equal to those offered by our competitors. I’d like to offer them better, but I’d settle for equal. Second, the uniforms are ugly and drab.”
    “I thought attendants paid for their own uniforms.”
    “They do,” Laura said. “But there’s no budget for a new design. Which brings me to another point.”
    “The ‘look of the airline’?” All heads turned toward the head of the table. Foster tapped the top file folder on the stack. “To quote from your latest memo, Ms. Taylor. Will you please elaborate?”
    Things were moving along too quickly. She hadn’t counted on being elevated to an executive this suddenly. Nor had she planned on being placed immediately in the hot seat. But she had been dwelling on this topic for weeks. In her idle time, she had thought long about what she would do if she were running the show. Now the new owner of the airline had invited her to elaborate on the bullet points of her many memos. She was ready.
    “Days ago, Hazel, Ms. Cooper, gave me a copy of the proposed budget so I could familiarize myself with it in advance of this meeting. You’re spending a lot of money to make drastic changes in the infrastructure and in total reorganization of the airline’s operation,” she said, addressing Foster directly. “You’re making it brand spanking new. But you’ve stopped short at conveying its newness to consumers.”
    “Changing the color of the flight attendant uniforms is easy,” someone remarked. “Ticket and gate agents, too.”
    Laura acknowledged the comment with a nod. “Their appearance is important because they deal one-on-one with our customers. So the impression they make is vital. But we’re aiming for an about-face in public opinion of SunSouth Airlines. With that as our goal, I don’t think changing the color of the uniforms is sufficient.” Her gaze moved around the table, ending on Foster. “But as the most recently appointed department director, I don’t want to overstep my bounds.”
    “No, please,” he said, indicating she should continue.
    Holding his gaze, she said, “When we relaunch SunSouth, if we look the same, consumers will figure we are the same.”
    Another of the directors said, “It’s been suggested that we change the name of the airline.”
    “That suggestion was voted down by the new board of directors,” someone else contributed.
    Laura said, “I agree we should keep our name. It’s a good name. An excellent name.”
    “But?” Foster said.
    “But it suggests light. Sunny days. Bright skies and open landscapes. Our planes are the color of storm clouds, and so are the uniforms.” She paused, knowing the proposal she was about to make was destined to raise a chorus of protests. “Even if it means making cuts