Excerpt from Matters of Convenience
James played back
phone messages received while he was out. The
first was from Sonya, confirming their date for later
that evening. He had met her a week earlier at a
friend’s party, drawn to her high cheekbones, black
hair that nearly reached down to her waist, and
large opal eyes. She came from a wealthy
Indonesian family, worked in corporate law, and
was not the most riveting conversationalist. Nor
did he relish the fact that she was a vegan. An ex-girlfriend of his had been committed to avoiding
meat and a number of other culinary categories at
all costs. The instructions she gave wait staff to
make certain her dish passed muster often took a
full five minutes to issue. This detracted from
James’ enjoyment of his own meal, which much to
Aisha’s dismay he preferred red blooded.
Sonya had as many minuses going for her as
pluses. Nevertheless, he elected to follow up on
what had been started when he crossed the room to
introduce himself to the exotic looking woman
bathing in moon beams shining through the patio
door.
Fantasizing about the best case scenario of his
upcoming date with Sonya was interrupted by the
second message. It was left by his brother Craig,
brief as usual, reminding him that he would be
dropping by at three o’clock. Glancing at his
watch, James saw that the appointed hour was
twenty minutes away. He knew why Craig had
16
invited himself over, for he had done it often
enough in the past, always with the same
motivation - to hit his little brother up for cash.
Craig was older by three years and less
responsible by as many decades. Refusing to suffer
the indignity of settling down at a stable job, he
opted to invest in one get rich quick scheme after
another. Whenever he was short of the necessary
capital, usually due to some team not covering the
spread, James was the preferred bank from which
he withdrew. Craig was good about paying him
back once his finances were back in the black. He
would promise that this would be the last time, for
his latest plan was foolproof and guaranteed to set
him up for life. When things failed to work out it
was disappointing, but to him, the risks he took
handily beat working nine to five for a living.
The final message was from his best friend who
had relocated to Santa Barbara about a year ago.
Their childhood was spent roaming the streets of
the Bronx together, and for almost as far back as he
could remember, Marcus had been talking about
heading out to California someday. His master plan
was to start his own hedge fund. Once it was up
and running and raking in serious money, he hoped
to bring James on board, reuniting the two
Musketeers.
James decided to wait until after his brother’s
visit to return the call. Shooting the breeze with
Marcus would put him in a great mood entering his
date with Sonya.
After pouring a snifter of brandy, he stood by the
windows that wrapped around his apartment. His
17
vantage point from the 30th floor placed a generous
portion of the city within sight. Once the sun went
down, countless lights transformed Manhattan into
a gigantic Christmas tree.
James had done well for himself career wise, and
his magazine layout worthy apartment with
photogenic view was just one of the perks of
success. He had always been dissatisfied with any
grade less than an A, with any game that did not
result in victory, with any goal, regardless of size
and urgency that failed to be achieved. Lately his
professional ascendancy felt stalled, frustration
mounting due to others being rewarded for inferior
results while his were overlooked. He was
compelled to wonder if he had gone as far as a
black man would be allowed to by his current
employer. It wasn’t as if he was one of many
African Americans who worked there. He stood
out like a drop of ink floating in a bucket of milk.
He was not predisposed to cast blame on racism
or any other ism for what failed to go his way.
Instead of making excuses, he refused to come up
short. This mindset had been instilled by strong
willed parents. They planted the seed and then
fostered his passion to excel by enrolling him in
private schools rather than poorly funded public
ones where it was easier to drift into bad habits. He
grew accustomed at an early age to environments
where his smooth brown complexion was darker
than the vast majority of his peers. He did not feel
uncomfortable in such settings, for he recognized
them as the places he needed to be. Nevertheless,
there was a part of him which could not help but
feel like a stranger in a strange land. He managed
18
to forget the differences between him and
classmates and colleagues for long stretches of
time, but inevitably, something or someone would
remind him that they did exist.
MEET AUDREY
MEET MARSHALL
Posts
