FORTY-FOUR
Freddie waited while Tom read the story Freddie had sent him. They were sitting in Tom’s office, Tom with his back to Freddie while he read the story on his computer screen. Freddie disliked being forced to wait while Tom read his copy, and he thought that Tom sitting with his back turned was rude. He would’ve preferred that Tom read it alone and then replied to Freddie, preferably by email. But Tom seemed to take pleasure in making his reporters sweat while he reviewed their work. There was something humiliating about it for Freddie, and he wondered if the other reporters in the newsroom felt the same way. Then again, they were younger, and perhaps appreciated Tom’s coaching. Freddie did not. Reporters broke the stories that made the news while editors like Tom took the credit
