10:48 P.M.

 “Milton, right?” Tevin said. “We didn’t get much chance to speak earlier.”

“Yep. Milton Jameson.”

“Oh, The Third? I met your father briefly several years ago.”

“I prefer to think of myself as Milton Jameson the Last.”

“The last.” Tevin cackled. “Yeah, I think I like that.”

“Tevin, from what I’ve heard about you, you like to party, right?”

“Like tonight, or party party?”

“I mean, do you like snow? You know, skiing?” He mimicked sniffing a line on his hand.

“I’m a summer guy, but thanks for the offer.”

“You sure?”

“You go ahead though. I won’t tell because I really don’t care.”

“You’re my kind of guy.” Milton filled the cap of his vial. “I’m trying to get as much of this stuff in me now. With The Hannover’s riding with us it’ll be far too long before I get my next bump.” He sniffed.

“What’s that stuff like?”

“You’ve never?”

“I’ve never even smoked a joint.”

“Damn. Well, this stuff, it’s kind of hard to describe. Besides the rush of energy, you mostly feel like you just got some real great news.” He filled the cap again. “And then after like ten minutes you can’t remember what the good news was, and then can’t remember the last time you had good news, until you have some more.”

“That doesn’t seem worth it.”

Milton laughed. “Believe me, my man. If you can afford enough of this stuff, the feeling never ends. Oh, and man, I’m sorry about Marcel earlier. I consider him a good friend, but I still think he can be a real asshole.”

“I’ve already forgotten about it.”

Milton sniffed the cocaine at the same time as the doorman opened the door for Angela and David Hannover. In his panic he nearly fumbled his vial and lost the rest of his cocaine.

“Ah, Milton!” David said. “It is always nice to see you.”

“And you as well.” He sniffled.

“We don’t see enough of you. You should at least drop by a board meeting every now and again for a drink.”

“Forgive me, sir. I don’t think I could much of help.” He waved his finger around in a circle. “I don’t have an aptitude for all that stuff. Never did.”

“All I am asking for is a social visit. Your father was a very good friend to me.”

“To us,” Angela said.

“And since you’re alone now, I just want to know how you’re doing every once in awhile.”

“I have nothing but time for social visits, sir.”

“Splendid. And we are both adults, Milton. I’m David and she’s Angela. There is no need for you to stand on ceremony for us.”

“Thanks, David.”

“Mr. Greene,” Angela said. “How lovely it is to see that you’ve still come to show support for Mayor Deakins. We haven’t seen much of you lately.”

“Business, Ma’am.” Tevin said with a humble smile. “I can’t turn any leads down at this juncture. But tonight I cancelled on a client once I caught wind of Deakins newest brushfire. As if those solicitation rumours weren’t bad enough. My money helps out a great deal, but I am banking my presence here is worth more than money. \”

“How so?” David said.

“No particular reason, Mr. Hannover. It’s just a hunch. And maybe some ego.”

“With how fast you’ve grown your business, you’re entitled to some ego.”

Tevin gasped. “You humble me.”

“I merely give respect where respect is due, and that is how I got where I am today. Business is no different than war, you must respect even your most mortal of enemies or else you can never beat them.”

“This kind of talk, Tevin,” Milton said as he lit a cigarette. “Is why him and my father were such great friends. They are a dying breed. No offense, David.”

“None taken. The kind of respect I’m talking about is more than propriety, Milton. I’m talking about looking at another man—”

“Or woman,” Angel said.

“Yes, or woman, and recognising that they are formidable. When a team wins the World Series, some on the team will think they are the best, and that is as great as they will ever be. While others will see it how it truly is, that they are the best, but they recognise that feeling is fleeting since they have to continuously beat the best to remain the best.”

“I concur,” Tevin said.

“You do?” Milton said.

“From my own experiences, receiving a lack of respect is the only motivator more powerful than hunger.”

“And what experiences are those?” Angela said.

“I wasn’t always this tall and solid. I used to be short and skinny. The boys at school did not respect me. They saw me as inferior. They would rough me up. They would insult me. And keep in mind I grew up in a poor neighbourhood. But I never cried, not once. I refused to give them the satisfaction. I knew that if I wanted them to respect me, I was going to have to earn it, I was going to have to work for it, and so I learned to defend myself. Everyone else was concerned about grades and girls and video games. My only goal was to establish myself as a man.

“One day, like an after school special, the captain of the football team bumped into me in the hallway between classes and he laughed when I fell and my books went flying. And he laughed harder when I stood up to him.” Tevin paused to think for a moment. “When I told him to leave me alone forever or else, he threw a punch, and I threw him on his ass. I still remember that look on his face. He was too busy being perplexed to be angry. And then I kicked him in the face. I broke his orbital bone and got suspended, but Tyler Reuben was scared of me after that.”

“Damn,” Milton said. “So he never tried to take revenge?”

“No. I believe that every time he saw my face, he remembered what I did to his. Funny thing is that he actually became a pretty decent guy after that.”

“Sometimes you have to get knocked down a couple of pegs,” David said.

“Exactly!” Tevin said with an affirmative point of his finger. “I hit a growth spurt during summer before eleventh grade and now towered over most everyone. And that made me feel all the more powerful because people respected me. Respect truly does equal power.”

 “Now, please don’t tell me that you became captain of the football team after that and supplanted him.”

“No, not me Angela. I’m not a team player. I never have been. And did some of the guys on the football team who once pushed me around ever make it to the Super Bowl? Maybe.” Tevin smiled and pointed his thumb at his chest. “But I’m the guy who owns the stadium.”

Milton said, “You’re such a bad ass.”

“As good of a tale as you weave, Mr. Greene,” David said. “I fail to see what it has to do with respect. To me it sounds more like a story about confidence, not respect.”

“It’s about respect because I never hated them. In that school, which was the whole universe back then...they had the fame, the glory, and the admiration of all the pretty girls. I wanted what they had. And like I said, this was a poor neighbourhood. None of us had anything handed to us. Those guys worked and were dedicated to their social standing, and I respected their place in society and what they did to maintain it. How did I show respect? I showed my respect by becoming better and taking everything they had and much, much more. I actually looked up Tyler Reuben last year. He’s divorced, sees his daughter every other weekend, and he microwaves himself up a delicious and nutritious TV dinner after a hard day’s work mopping the same floors he once ruled. And tomorrow, if he sees my picture in the paper with my arm around Mayor Deakins, he might hate my success, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t respect it. And I don’t say that out of conceit as much as gratitude. If I never had a Tyler Reuben to push me over the ledge, I’d never have learned to fly this high.”

“It sounds as if you’re a man whose respect I do not want.” David laughed.

“At this point I have nothing left to prove, so you’re safe.” Tevin winked.

“Thank heavens for that,” Angela said.

Milton took a step back. “Remind me not to cross you, Tevin.”

The doorman opened the door for Brigit and Philip.

“Everyone is all here, I see,” Philip said.

“We’re still waiting on Marcel and Jeannette.”

“They’ll be out momentarily,” Brigit said. “They’re having a bit of a squabble. It would be best if that fizzled out before we boarded.”

“Nothing serious, I hope,” Angela said.

“Believe me, it’s nothing serious.” Philip gestured toward the limousine. “Shall we?”

“We should wait for them, honey. I don’t want them to feel excluded in the least.”

“Fine.” He turned to David. “How have you been? We’ve not even so much as seen each other yet this evening.”

“With everything that’s going on? I could be much, much better. But I’d rather not talk shop, if that suits you.”

“It suits me just fine. How are the kids?”

“Timothy was accepted to Yale,” Angela declared with a haughty flick of her wrist.

“Your alma mater, David? That’s great.”

“I just hope he keeps his grades up to snuff. I absolutely refused to pull strings for him. My name carries a great deal of weight and if he cannot make it with that, then he simply is not Yale material. I love my son, but I’d rather him go to community college or, god forbid, learn a trade, then ride my coattails and sully my name all in one foul swoop.”

Milton sniffled.

“That’s admirable,” Tevin said. “Too many kids get everything handed to them these days.”

Philip glared at his unwanted presence.

“Or they expect it,” Brigit said.

“And that’s worse, isn’t it? I think if we don’t blaze our own trail, what’s the point, right? Take Philip, for instance. Did you have advantages because of your father? Maybe, I can’t say, but a lesser man would have waited and appropriated your father’s hard work. Instead you crafted your own legacy. I respect that.”

“I appreciate that, Tevin, thank you.” He really didn’t.

“And Milton, it was gutsy of you step away with dignity the way you did. I know many men who would have gone down with the ship out of simple pride.”

“Just don’t say you respect me.” Milton laughed.

“Huh?” Philip said.

“...talk about it later,’ Marcel’s voice interrupted as the doorman let him and Jeannette through. He seemed caught off guard to see everyone waiting right there.

“Nice of you to finally join us,” Brigit said to them with a playful smirk.

“Well, now that we’re all here, ladies and gentlemen, should we hit the road?” Philip said as he started down the steps. They followed him. “This limousine is top of the line. I don’t even want to know how much money went into this thing. All I know is that no one has a more secure vehicle than this. Well, outside the President.”

When he grabbed the door handle to the slate limousine, Angela said, “Doesn’t your driver get that for you?”

“I’m afraid not. In fact, his job description specifically stated he does not open doors.”

“How peculiar.”

“Is this a Lexus?” Milton said.

“It is. An LS600hL. It was originally an eighty-five inch stretch, but it was apparently modified into a hundred inch stretch with a taller roof.”

“It doesn’t look all that special from the outside,” Marcel said. “In fact, it looks no different than anything else you’ll see on the street...just a little bigger.”

“You’re right. It is totally unassuming.” Philip opened the rear door and the asphalt glowed with pale blue light. “But we all know it’s what is on the inside that counts.”