Manhattan Reborn 1978

a new day.

new York.

Manhattan, Upper East Side.

68 East 58th Street, Harold Pratt Building.

Headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

After Sam Rogers reported his name at the reception desk on the first floor, he smoothly arrived at Peter Peterson's new office on the fourth floor.

However, Mr. Peterson's office, which had just been put up with a sign, was not as luxurious and spacious as Sam had expected. .

There is no one in the office.

Mr. Peterson's middle-aged female secretary brought Sam a cup of hot coffee and then went out with a smile.

Sam sat "honestly" on the sofa by the window, looking around, and the little nervousness in his heart gradually disappeared.

The overall area here is only about one-third larger than Sam’s office in the company~

The office furniture is also a bit old, as if it has been used for many years and has never been replaced. .

Otis Parker once said that David Rockefeller Sr.'s office in Rockefeller Center was very simple and "plain." .

This office was another office of David Sr. before Mr. Peterson.

so. .

. . .

After about 10 minutes.

Peter Peterson opened the door and walked in.

"Hi~Sam!"

"Feel sorry!"

"I just went downstairs..."

"It's okay, Mr. Peterson."

"Hahaha~"

"I call you Sam, but you should call me Peter!"

"Okay, Peter."

Sam looked at Peter's relaxed state, then smiled and took out a gift box from his briefcase and gave it to him.

Peter was a little surprised when he took the gift box, blinked and asked, "This is it?"

"This is the gift I specially chose for your new office."

"Oh~ thank you, Sam!"

"Then... let me open it and take a look?"

"Of course!"

Peterson turned the gift box in his hand, invited Sam to sit down, and opened it.

Inside the gift box is a 12-inch small print of three brightly colored sunflowers.

Peterson held it up in front of his eyes with great interest and looked at it for a while, then smiled.

"It reminds me of those paintings I sold years ago."

"Sell?"

"Do you also like to collect oil paintings?" Sam asked "curiously" knowingly.

"Okay~"

Peterson turned the print over and placed it on the small table in front of him, sat back on the sofa and smiled.

"More than 10 years ago, when I was still in Chicago, I collected several pieces of surrealist art."

"Surrealism style? (Surrealism)"

"Yes~"

"My interest in surrealist works comes from my experience as a psychoanalyst..."

"The psychoanalytic therapy of Freud and Jung was all the rage in the late 50s and early 60s!"

"Many of my friends view psychoanalysis as a new attempt to achieve self-awareness and discover underlying patterns of behavior."

"Other friends of mine believe that going into psychoanalysis is a sign of inner weakness."

"So when I decided to follow their introduction and lie down on the couch to undergo psychoanalysis, it was purely out of curiosity."

"But after I tried psychoanalysis, I came to the exact opposite conclusion. Daring to explore yourself is a sign of confidence!"

"Because I believe I can handle any exploration results!"

"So I spent nearly three years looking back at my childhood, piecing together my incomplete memories, analyzing my dreams, and trying to use it all to explain my current behavior patterns."

"The psychiatrist who conducted my psychoanalysis used classical nondirective therapy."

"This therapy will greatly reduce his suggestions or interference on me, allowing my mind to roam freely in my spiritual field and pick out the fragments of scenery that I feel are the most meaningful!"

Mr. Peterson opened his left hand to Sam and smiled: "It was an experience that was beneficial to me, but it is difficult for me to express it in words."

"Through psychoanalysis, I can indeed understand more about my own behavior patterns~"

"And through in-depth analysis of my dreams and thorough research on my subconscious self, I have a strong resonance with surrealist art."

“But another factor that got me hooked on surrealism was David Riesman!”

“He was a professor at the University of Chicago and someone I’d known and admired for a long time.”

"He published a book, The Lonely Crowd, in 1950, which was a landmark study of American character~"

"It divides Americans into two types: those who have opinions and those who just follow the crowd and lack opinions."

"The former has its own established principles and values, while the latter listens to others."

"The last factor was a painting I happened to see when I was visiting Paris in 63."

"The artist of that painting, Max Ernst, used a composition that was both simple and full of irony to display a microphone-shaped head on the stage in the painting, as if he wanted the audience to decide who he was. Who, what should he do..."

"This is a classic example of a person without self, which resonates strongly with me. I don't want to be this kind of person!"

“But I don’t know if Ernst agreed with my interpretation of his painting.”

“So, I was at a banquet in Phoenix, Arizona, and I bumped into Ernst.”

"I talked a lot with him, analyzing and interpreting his paintings..."

"At that time, after hearing this, he laughed and told me a story~"

"Once, he attended a lecture given by a local art professor. The professor tried to explain the author's psychological activities and some subconsciousness shown in Ernst's paintings."

"At first, Ernst just kept the professor's explanation in his heart and smiled secretly~"

"But soon after, he couldn't bear it anymore and burst out laughing... which made the professor very angry and asked who Ernst was and what was so funny..."

Mr. Peterson looked at Sam, who looked thoughtful, and said with a funny smile: "The professor, when he learned that the person in front of him was Ernst himself, the situation fell into an extremely embarrassing situation~"

"..." Sam heard this and looked at Mr. Peterson, who was smiling, and suddenly felt that his image became a little blurry.

. . .

After half an hour.

Sam walked out of the Harold Putra Building.

He stood on the street, looking back at the window of Peter Peterson's office, without making any movement for a long time.

In a car on the street.

Otis Parker was sitting in the back seat and saw Sam looking up at the sky, dazed in a daze. After thinking about it, he opened the door and got out of the car and walked to his side and asked.

"Do you want to go back to the company? Or go home?"

Sam slowly withdrew his gaze, turned to look at Mr. Parker, and asked a little doubtfully.

"he.."

"Hehe~"

Mr. Parker actually guessed something from Sam's expression, looked at the Harold Pratt Building, shrugged and smiled.

"Peter Peterson, we have invited a total of 21 guests today. 17 of them will be invited today, and the remaining 4 have also promised to come and visit us in the next few days."

"As his sixth guest today, what you talked about is not important to him at all~"

"But it is very important to those who are paying close attention to his work arrangements on his first day in office."

"And how long you two have been talking together is very important to you!"

"It's also very important to him!"

"Sixth place?" Sam glanced down at his watch and seemed to understand what Mr. Parker said.

"Yes~"

"At 7 o'clock this morning, he was already in the office receiving his first visitor."

"It was from that moment on that the street gradually started to fill up with cars~"

"Didn't you find it?"

"..." Sam looked around the streets, and sure enough, there were no free parking spaces.

Mr. Parker withdrew his gaze, reached out and patted Sam, squinting and smiling.

"That sunflower print, I randomly picked it from Zina's shop..."

"I don't know how much it's worth either. I can only wait for her to come back and you can settle the settlement with her."

"Uh... ok!"

Sam observed Mr. Parker very carefully for a while and said hesitantly: "Just now Peter told me that there is a kind of psychoanalytic therapy..."

"You want to say, Freud and Jung's stuff?"

"Yes!"

"Hahahaha~"

"I've tried that trick a long time ago - it didn't work for me!"

"..."

Sam felt a little embarrassed and touched his eyebrows, squeezed his eyes and joked: "Then you should follow the doctor's orders and take your medicine on time..."

"Doctor's order?"

"Do you really think...that any doctor would dare to give me medical advice?"

"Hahahaha~"