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There was a full moon , and a lozenge of moonlight , almost peacock-blue by contrast with his candle-frame , lay on the floor . The personal timelines revealed that the stakeholders care greatly about life-cycle events such as births and deaths of key people , religious rites , marriages , children , their connection to Philadelphia , educational achievements , and career achievements - - and that the group generally lacked ethnic , racial , and educational diversity , which became a theme of the meeting . The other inspector had been through Oleron 's study and had found nothing , and was now in the kitchen , kicking aside an ankle-deep mass of vegetable refuse that cumbered the floor . One stakeholder articulated a simple explanation on the last day of the meeting which , according to facilitator Marilyn Sifford , summed up the entire conference . For the handwriting of the two letters that Oleron , stealing noiselessly one June day into his kitchen to rid his sitting-room of an armful of fetid and decaying flowers , had seen on the floor within his door , had had no more meaning for him than if it had belonged to some dim and far-away dream . ' " During a conference call with analysts at which Merck discussed its third-quarter earnings report , general counsel Kenneth Frazier said the company was sure its strategy of fighting every lawsuit remains correct . In closing it he left sticking out , a few inches from the floor , a triangle of black and white check skirt . It was such a frightfully long way ; no man knew what horror might not leap and huddle on his shoulders if he went so far ; when a man has an overmastering impulse to get back into bed he ought to take heed of the warning and obey it . " Both issues , and others , kept reappearing throughout the meeting , popping up to remind stakeholders to return to and integrate the basics before moving forward . To start , each person contributed comments to three timelines that were hung on the walls of the meeting room : a personal timeline , on which to note personal highlights and milestones from the past 50 years or earlier , up until today ; a global timeline spanning the same time ; and a local cultural-heritage-resources timeline . " At this point , the meeting shifted to working with and understanding the present . The award will be cut to about $ 26 million because Texas caps punitive damages , and Merck plans to appeal that verdict.Merck may call one more witness in its defense , but no decision had been made early Wednesday , spokesman Jim Fitzpatrick said . The fire settled , letting down the black and charred papers ; a flower fell from a bowl , and lay indistinct upon the floor ; all was still ; and then a stray draught moved through the old house , passing before Oleron 's face .