Jeff and Clare were left staring at each other after Bobby left.

“Do you think we're wrong about humble, hungry, and smart?” Jeff asked.

Clare took a deep breath. “I don't know. I mean, it seems too obvious to be wrong. If you take away any of those qualities, you've got someone you're not going to want to work with. But maybe it's too idealistic.”

Against every instinct he had to keep the conversation going, Jeff decided that time and distance might be best.

“Let's pick this up tomorrow when we're not feeling so overwhelmed.”

Clare was more than amenable to the suggestion.

That night Jeff and Maurine put the kids to bed and had a long talk about work. After he had explained the situation to her, she gave him the best advice he had received in years.

“Don't be a moron, honey,” she said without a hint of irony. “Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's not right.”

“So what do I tell Bobby?” Jeff countered, putting practical matters before theoretical ones. “He's pissed.”

Maurine didn't hesitate. “Tell him he's being a moron. This guy, Ted Montgomery—”

Jeff corrected her. “Marchbanks.”

“Whatever. Ted Marchbanks would be terrible to work with. Even I know from my work in advertising and from volunteering at school or at church that you get more done with three people who fit together than with a fourth who doesn't belong. And more than anything else, a person needs humility to belong.”

Now Jeff was playing devil's advocate. “We don't really know for sure that Ted isn't humble.”

“Are you serious?” she asked kindly and incredulously. “Everything you said tells me that this guy is a complete politician.”

Jeff's eyes went wide at the accuracy of Maurine's assessment.

“And you know what happens when you hire a politician?” she asked rhetorically. “Politics. Complications. Ego. If Uncle Bob is anything, he's not a politician.”

Before Jeff could respond, Maurine finished. “And from everything I know about Bobby, the last person he'd want to work with is a politician.”

Jeff knew that his wife was right. Unfortunately, she refused to come to work with him the next morning to tell Bobby that he was a moron.