Elf on Earth – Elfe Auf Erden

Respekt in seiner Stimme und musste lächeln.
    “I think I can convince you by giving you an example: My relatives always told me that I wasn’t beautiful and they were very → cynical about my new profession. Now you come along and call me clever and pretty. Who should I believe?”
    “The more positive message because I am telling you the truth!”, sagte Behrends nachdrücklich.
    “Exactly”, erwiderte Eivyn. “Your company has to give its customers a positive and truthful message too. If the ingredients stay natural, you are selling products that they can trust and believe in.”
    “The customers have to trust us. They eat our products. They put the sweets into their mouths, don’t they?”, nahm Thomas den Faden auf. “We need an honest and → respectful → campaign . Let’s start with Dougherty’s – they are very popular. That will make it easy for our customers to → transfer our message to our other products. The argument is simple: Buy our product and we promise you’ll get the very best natural quality around. And that will be our → brand identity from now on.”
    “I see”, sagte Behrends. “But what about the costs?”
    Eine Weile erläuterte Thomas ein paar einzelne Posten in seinen Unterlagen.
    “A → counter-trend ?”, meinte Behrends.
    “Precisely”, sagte Thomas.
    Aber es war offensichtlich, dass das Ganze Behrends so noch nicht behagte, und Thomas holte zur letzten Finte aus.
    “Do you remember that → commercial for baby food in the mid-nineties? The owner of the company himself appeared in the commercials. You saw him walking through his own fields full of → spinach or → peas or something like that. There are fields like that near Elvira Dougherty’s little cottage. All the mint that goes into Dougherty’s Drops comes from there.”
    “What a fantastic idea!”, fand Eivyn. “Imagine! A handsome, → trustworthy man like you standing in front of the camera, advertising his own products – that would be great!” Eivyn strahlte den Geschäftsführer an. Thomas wandte ihr überrascht den Kopf zu. War das nicht ein bisschen zu dick aufgetragen?
    “Hm – why not.” Behrends versuchte, sich gelassen zu geben, dennoch huschte ein kleines, eitles Grinsen über seine Miene.
    “And I have another suggestion ...”, warf Eivyn vorsichtig ein.
    “Sure”, meinte Behrends.
    “Perhaps Mr Renneberg’s son could help you, so that children and younger people will understand the message too. He is a brilliant young actor.”
    “He is?”, fragte Behrends Thomas erstaunt.
    “Yes. He is playing in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream this season with his → drama club .”
    “And he really loves Dougherty’s ”, ergänzte Eivyn. “And people can always see when somebody is telling the truth.”
    “It might cost less money too”, sagte Behrends grinsend.
    “You shouldn’t → count on that”, gab Thomas zurück. “He is an artist, I admit. But he’s still his father’s son.”
    “And how about you, Ms Muse? What an appropriate name by the way! Are you going to stay in Germany? You have such bright ideas. Can we hire you for our next project?”
    “What an amazing offer”, gab Eivyn verblüfft zurück. “But I’m afraid other people in other places will need my advice.”
    “Well then, Ms Muse ... I hope that Thomas will find more convincing arguments to make you stay”, sagte Behrends charmant, erhob sich und gab Eivyn zum Abschied die Hand.
    Thomas und Eivyn sahen sich verblüfft an. Für den Bruchteil einer Sekunde schienen wichtige Fragen unausgesprochen zwischen ihnen zu stehen.
    Habe ich überzeugende Argumente? , sagten Thomas’ Augen.
    Willst du denn, dass ich bleibe? , gaben Eivyns zurück.
    Sie sahen schnell woanders hin und verließen eilig das Büro.
    “Should we go out for dinner to → celebrate our → victory ?”, fragte Thomas schließlich verlegen.
    “That’s a good idea”, gab Eivyn schüchtern zurück.
    Es war noch früh am Abend und das Restaurant recht leer.
    “I can’t believe how easy it was to convince your boss!”, sagte Eivyn kopfschüttelnd. Sie hatte einen orangefarbenen Häkelpullover und einen weiten Rock aus gemusterter Seide von Ilona im Kleiderschrank gefunden und zupfte sich den Saum über die gelben Zipfel ihres Gewandes.
    “It was the way you talked to him – you were → marvellous ”, versicherte Thomas.
    “Don’t play the → innocent one”, gab Eivyn tadelnd zurück. “I bet you knew that