Chapter 29
If you ever have the opportunity to have sex with a recently
released from prison female lobbyist and/or politician I highly recommend
it. And with all the recent arrests in
Albany your chance may be just around the corner. Jenny was insatiable. I didn’t even make it out of the restaurant,
as she dragged me into the ladies room, followed up with road head in the Audi
and damn near sent me to the hospital after a quick visit to her condo.
I was on rubbery legs as I wobbled into my office to see
Ravi still sitting in my waiting room.
I turned to Pat. “Did
he fill out the details on Richard?”
Pat smiled “He did indeed”
“And the McLaren?”
“On it’s way to paint as we speak” Pat smiled again.
“In that case make Ravi an appointment for next week and
tell him to bring my McLaren with him to the appointment”
Ravi stood up “I’m right here Leathers, I can hear you”
I didn’t even glance at him as I strode into my office.
I didn’t know how things could get any better but I had a
strange sense of dread.
Dread was a familiar feeling. I’d lived with it on and off for the last 15
years. In many ways it had become my
closest friend. It kept me on my toes.
Others may have called it paranoia but as H.R. Haldeman had said “I may be
paranoid but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me”. And my dread wasn’t the type of paranoia that
had me checking the Audi for hidden bombs or seeing black helicopters circling
Eggy’s. It was far more
constructive. It was more a heightened
sense of intuition. It was a way of
looking at a situation and seeing the worst possible outcomes. And in my case, then taking steps to avoid
them. It had served me remarkably well
and helped me to create and build a very lucrative business and to avoid many
unpleasant situations. But at this
moment I couldn’t see anything on the horizon to worry about so the dread just
became a nagging annoyance that if I couldn’t shake would soon grow into a
sense of depression. Given how well
everything was going, depressed was the last thing I should be.
I had two options to cheer myself up I could read Ravi’s
statement about Richard or I could go buy something.
I had a pretty good idea about what was in Ravi’s statement
so I decided to buy something, the only question was what to buy when you had
everything you wanted. I could always
trade in the Audi on something more expensive but the options in Albany were
limited and I didn’t want to travel to look at Ferraris or Maybachs. Bmw had a new CSL model that was an homage to
the mid 70’s CSL supercar but only poseurs, yuppies and orthodontists drove
BMWs even the expensive ones. Maserati
had just opened a new dealership in Albany and I’d never owned a Maserati but
there was a good reason for that if I wanted an unreliable Italian car the Alfa
4c was more exclusive. With a dealership
in town every 30 something hipster douchebag would be taking advantage of no
money down leases and Maserati’s would become as common as Escalades around
town. Come to think of it I’m sure I saw
a Maserati in the Senate parking lot with Squabble on its vanity tag. No I’d keep the Audi it was almost a perfect
car, I could always kill an hour looking thru Ebay for a used supercar but then
I’d have to arrange shipping and find more space in the garage, too many
hassles. If not a car then what? A watch? I already owned a Rolex and an Omega
and a drawer full of classic timepieces.
None of then told time as well as my cell phone, which ment they were
all just jewelry and I wasn’t shopping for jewelry today. So if it wasn’t a car or a watch what could
it be? Clothing? Nah I had enough overpriced clothing. What I didn’t have and needed was a
friend. Could you buy a friend? Maybe not but with enough money you could
rent one.
I picked up the phone.
“Jamie, how are you? Do you have
any time for an old friend from Surprise?”
“I’m sorry Mort I’m engaged and will be unavailable all day”
“Business is good?
That’s what is great about Albany no matter how much the players change
the morality stays the same”
“No Mort I am engaged to be married, I’m spending the day
shopping for a wedding dress”
“Engaged , wow that’s great.
Who is the lucky fellow?”
“I doubt you know him Mort, his name is Spencer Kikedome. He owns a social media advocacy firm based in
San Francisco”
“Social media advocacy?
What in the world is that?”
“It’s the future Mort.
Have you ever heard of Uber?
Think Uber for lobbying”
“I can’t even begin to comprehend what that means”
“Which makes you the functional equivalent of the taxi
industry Mort. You don’t understand it
but before you know it, it will destroy your business”
“I hope your wrong Jamie but I wish you well on your
nuptials. Will you be staying in
Albany? We could get together sometime
I’d love to meet this young man Spencer”
“I don’t think so Mort, we are spending our honeymoon in the
Maldives and then Spencer is going to relocate his business to Belize. You would not believe how much money is being
made with social media advocacy. Can I
give you one last piece of Amish advice Mort in case our paths never cross?”
“Sure Jamie what is it?”
“Stop being an asshole.
There is a really good person inside just let him out”
“Jamie, I’m a lobbyist in Albany being an asshole is my
profession”
“I understand Mort, I just thought I’d give it one last try”
As I hung up the phone I started to get a better feeling for
what was causing my dread this time. It
wasn’t a specific threat it was a dawning realization that I was an asshole and
I was running out of time to be anything else.
