{"id":8075,"date":"2018-04-28T18:46:04","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T18:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=8075"},"modified":"2018-04-28T18:53:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T18:53:48","slug":"backstory-the-story-behind-the-second-dakota-stevens-mystery-the-rich-are-different-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/backstory-the-story-behind-the-second-dakota-stevens-mystery-the-rich-are-different-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Backstory: The Story Behind the Second Dakota Stevens mystery, The Rich Are Different \u2014 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nov\u00adel that became The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> was writ\u00adten dur\u00ading the win\u00adter of 2001-02, over a year before I even con\u00adceived of the Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series.<\/p>\n

In order to give you a clear under\u00adstand\u00ading of the back\u00adsto\u00adry behind The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>, I need to tell you about what I was doing on 9\/11 and dur\u00ading the months imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly fol\u00adlow\u00ading that hor\u00adri\u00adble event.<\/p>\n

In Sep\u00adtem\u00adber 2001, I was work\u00ading for Mer\u00adrill Lynch in Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtions, qui\u00adet\u00adly hat\u00ading my job and bid\u00ading my time until HR offered me a buy\u00adout pack\u00adage. The man\u00adag\u00ader who\u2019d hired me\u2014a ter\u00adrif\u00adic guy and 20-year vet\u00ader\u00adan of the company\u2014had been cal\u00adlous\u00adly down\u00adsized by his man\u00adag\u00ader (as fate would have it, that woman was her\u00adself<\/em> down\u00adsized soon fol\u00adlow\u00ading).<\/p>\n

So, no longer hav\u00ading any inter\u00adest in work\u00ading in Cor\u00adpo\u00adrate Amer\u00adi\u00adca, and want\u00adi\u00adng to write fic\u00adtion full-time, at my wife\u2019s encour\u00adage\u00adment I sub\u00admit\u00adted myself for a vol\u00adun\u00adtary sev\u00ader\u00adance pack\u00adage.<\/p>\n

9\/11 in Manhattan: Terrible and Surreal<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/a>

The WFC South Tow\u00ader, where I worked, in the days after 9\/11. My office was on the 5th floor of the left-hand tow\u00ader, just to the left of the giant Amer\u00adi\u00adcan flag.<\/p><\/div>\n

My office was on the fifth floor of the World Finan\u00adcial Cen\u00adter South, with a view out the win\u00addow of the World Trade Cen\u00adter North Tow\u00ader across the street and, if I craned my head, the South Tow\u00ader.<\/p>\n

Any\u00adone who worked in Man\u00adhat\u00adtan on 9\/11 has a sto\u00adry about their<\/em> expe\u00adri\u00adences that day; suf\u00adfice it to say, on that day I had begun a new work sched\u00adule, where I would start and end my day an hour lat\u00ader, so on the morn\u00ading of 9\/11, when the planes struck the tow\u00aders, I was on my way into the office. (By the way, a word about the sky that morn\u00ading: it was the deep\u00adest blue I\u2019ve ever seen, before or since.)<\/p>\n

I reached Grand Cen\u00adtral Ter\u00admi\u00adnal and stum\u00adbled over to Fifth Avenue, where I glimpsed the ris\u00ading smoke. Pedes\u00adtri\u00adans stood in the mid\u00addle of the street, gap\u00ading at the night\u00admare, while hun\u00addreds of sirens scorched the air all around us. Swarms of fire trucks sped past us, blast\u00ading their horns, and raced down Fifth Avenue. Even then I knew the worst was still to come, and I wept for those fire\u00adfight\u00aders because I knew that many of them wouldn\u2019t make it back.<\/p>\n

This post\u20119\/11 pho\u00adto is the clos\u00adest I\u2019ve found to what that fire\u00adfight\u00ader looked like.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ll nev\u00ader for\u00adget see\u00ading this one fire\u00adfight\u00ader, rid\u00ading on the back of a long lad\u00adder truck. He had all of his gear on, includ\u00ading his hel\u00admet, but I could see his face, which was strong and res\u00adolute, and then some women stand\u00ading in the crowd shout\u00aded with bro\u00adken voic\u00ades for him to be care\u00adful, and I\u2019ll nev\u00ader for\u00adget what he did: he held on to the truck with one hand and salut\u00aded the long line of pedes\u00adtri\u00adans as the truck sped down\u00adtown. The women around me start\u00aded to sob. For me, that man will for\u00adev\u00ader epit\u00ado\u00admize a true hero.<\/p>\n

This was the scene on one of the bridges, but hik\u00ading out of Man\u00adhat\u00adtan through Harlem was eeri\u00adly sim\u00adi\u00adlar.<\/p><\/div>\n

I spent the rest of the day get\u00adting to my wife\u2019s office in the Fash\u00adion Dis\u00adtrict, con\u00adtact\u00ading friends and fam\u00adi\u00adly by email to let them know I was still alive (the phone lines were jammed), watch\u00ading the North Tow\u00ader col\u00adlapse from the roof of my wife\u2019s office build\u00ading, hik\u00ading up Broad\u00adway at the head of a mass exo\u00addus (look\u00ading back over my shoul\u00adder at the smoke plumes from Ground Zero and the con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous stream of peo\u00adple rolling over the hills of Upper Harlem, I knew on some small lev\u00adel how Moses had felt), hik\u00ading miles ever north\u00adward up the island of Man\u00adhat\u00adtan, buy\u00ading bot\u00adtled water at a bode\u00adga<\/em> and call\u00ading my for\u00admer man\u00adag\u00ader, who picked us up at a McDonald\u2019s, just over the north\u00adern\u00admost bridge off the island, in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

In the months after that hor\u00adri\u00adble day, I began \u201cwork\u00ading\u201d with Lou, a pro\u00adgram\u00admer and sys\u00adtems admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtor out of a for\u00admer\u00adly lit\u00adtle-used Mer\u00adrill field office in White Plains, NY, about 25 miles north of Man\u00adhat\u00adtan. When we first got there, the office had the feel of the Cold War-era gov\u00adern\u00adment bomb shel\u00adter in the third Ter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adtor<\/em> movie. Lou and I were charged with mod\u00adern\u00adiz\u00ading the office, get\u00adting it ready to accom\u00admo\u00addate what exec\u00adu\u00adtive man\u00adage\u00adment incor\u00adrect\u00adly fore\u00adsaw as hun\u00addreds of dis\u00adplaced WFC work\u00aders want\u00adi\u00adng to telecom\u00admute from the sub\u00adurbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Orcutt\u2026some executives are needing concierging!\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

While Lou installed desk\u00adtop com\u00adput\u00aders and made sure the net\u00adwork was work\u00ading prop\u00ader\u00adly, I ordered and over\u00adsaw the instal\u00adla\u00adtion of what I con\u00adsid\u00adered impor\u00adtant mod\u00adern office ameni\u00adties, includ\u00ading free cof\u00adfee and soda machines, a pool table and a foos\u00adball table.<\/p>\n

Basi\u00adcal\u00adly, I mor\u00adphed my job into that of a concierge, greet\u00ading skep\u00adti\u00adcal exec\u00adu\u00adtives from Scars\u00addale and Green\u00adwich who were \u201cgoing to give this telecom\u00admut\u00ading thing a try.\u201d<\/p>\n

To aid me in my mis\u00adsion, I recruit\u00aded a gor\u00adgeous blonde recep\u00adtion\u00adist, a Dutch girl named Han\u00adna Van Hast\u00adings. Pluck\u00ading her out of obscu\u00adri\u00adty in Pur\u00adchas\u00ading, I gave her her dream job, which was doing noth\u00ading but fresh\u00aden her make\u00adup every two hours, answer the phone 5 or 6 times a day, pho\u00adto\u00adcopy pages of the nov\u00adel I was writ\u00ading, and bring exec\u00adu\u00adtives cof\u00adfee if they asked for it.<\/p>\n

A year or so lat\u00ader, after I\u2019d left Mer\u00adrill, I heard through the grapevine that she had mar\u00adried one of the exec\u00adu\u00adtives who worked for a time at the White Plains office. She moved to Green\u00adwich and had two chil\u00addren. It pleas\u00ades me to know that, in a small way, I had some\u00adthing to do with her hap\u00adpi\u00adness.<\/p>\n

For my part, once the exec\u00adu\u00adtives heard I was good at writ\u00ading, they asked me to write things for them, includ\u00ading short speech\u00ades they had to give. I would make them prac\u00adtice in front of me, in a closed con\u00adfer\u00adence room, and give them notes. This work, which came at the tail end of my Mer\u00adrill tenure, just before I final\u00adly received my sev\u00ader\u00adance pack\u00adage, served me well five years lat\u00ader, when I began doing cor\u00adpo\u00adrate speech\u00adwrit\u00ading in earnest.<\/p>\n

But until then, there was that long win\u00adter of 2001-02 in White Plains. After less than a week of my \u201cconcierge\u201d work in the updat\u00aded facil\u00adi\u00adty, I real\u00adized I had about sev\u00aden hours of free time every work day, so I start\u00aded writ\u00ading a new nov\u00adel, right there in the office.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mer\u00adrill Lynch nev\u00ader knew it, but for about nine months in 2001-02, they had a nov\u00adel\u00adist on the pay\u00adroll to the tune of $150,000\/year. Suck\u00aderzzzz!<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first book I\u2019d writ\u00adten dur\u00ading my Mer\u00adrill tenure. A year ear\u00adli\u00ader, I revised and pub\u00adlished my first book of short sto\u00adries (I Hope You Boys Know What You\u2019re Doing!<\/em>) dur\u00ading down\u00adtime in my office.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While at the White Plains office, I hired a com\u00adpa\u00adny Town Car to dri\u00adve me to my apart\u00adment and pick up my IBM Selec\u00adtric type\u00adwriter, which I installed in an unused office, and there I worked all day long, unless Han\u00adna called on the inter\u00adcom and said, \u201cMr. Orcutt, some exec\u00adu\u00adtives are need\u00ading concierg\u00ading!\u201d<\/p>\n

Miss Van Hast\u00adings was gor\u00adgeous, but Eng\u00adlish was pos\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly her sec\u00adond lan\u00adguage.<\/p>\n

And next week I\u2019ll get into the nov\u00adel itself, The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The nov\u00adel that became The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent was writ\u00adten dur\u00ading the win\u00adter of 2001-02, over a year before I even con\u00adceived of the Dako\u00adta\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,19,364,7,11,1,13,14],"tags":[457,124,94,98,123,265,111,133,134,96,155,458,150,243,456,302,221,92,93,355,352],"class_list":["post-8075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-fiction","category-memoirs","category-personal","category-dakota-stevens-mysteries-series","category-uncategorized","category-writers","category-writingexperiences","tag-457","tag-amazon","tag-chris-orcutt","tag-dakota-stevens","tag-fitzgerald","tag-kindle","tag-memoir-2","tag-mysteries","tag-mystery","tag-novelist","tag-orcutt","tag-september-11","tag-svetlana-krush","tag-the-rich-are-different","tag-westerns","tag-writer","tag-writers-life","tag-writers-2","tag-writing","tag-writing-life","tag-writing-memoir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8075"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8092,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075\/revisions\/8092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}