Lazy Sunday & The evening before

Yesterday I received a mysterious invitation from a distant plantation heiress to attend a formal dinner function.

The note simply read,

“The pleasure of your company would be gratitude enough.”

Judging from the exceptional quality of the stationary and the cursive hand written note penned in Indian ink. I surmised, it would probably be a small gathering. Three or four couples at most.

At first I reluctant to go. Perhaps it was the disturbing tenor of the note….’gratitude enough.’ Gratitude for what the fuck! I don’t even know the lady. Another reason for my vacillated state was probably due to my acute inferiority complex. Truth is, I have never ever been comfortable in the midst of the old money toffee nose crowd. Besides, I did not know anyone who would be attending and the last thing I wanted to do was to stand out like an awkward fire hydrant.

Nonetheless, those strange words, ‘gratitude enough’ gnawed at me relentless. I felt it intruding into my presence through out the day right into the long afternoon that seemed to stretch out like a pelt rack.. by evening curiousity got the better of me and I found myself driving for two hours to finally arrive at a majestic mansion in the middle of nowhere.

I remember the lights…..

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“I believe all ambitious men are by nature egoistic. They have to be I reckon. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to do what they do.

I reckon it takes a certain arrogance and perhaps even foolish bravado to take on something big – to even harbor belief that if one just gave the door a good kick, it would all come tumbling down.

That at least is how I see the whole idea of a man taking on a very big thing such as growing an enterprise – but through it all. Though nothing would give me the keenest pleasure to believe I did all by myself.

Deep down, I have always known, there was an invisible hand who helped me succeed in the plantation enterprise – call it what you may… Gut feel…instinct…a hunters intuition.

I have always known this all along and now that I found myself standing before her, cheeks flushed. I realized, she was my secret benefactor and that made my soul ache. As I have always wished desperately that I was wrong all along that my success was due to me and no other. But now as I stood before the great plantation lady – I realized it was all due to her.

I wondered to myself….is she here to gloat? No. There was an unusual softness in her eyes, a total and complete vulnerability in someone who would usually be guarded in the rest of her life. No, she did not summon me all the way here to gloat…of that I am sure.

It made me happy to know then and there, I could still peer into the secret spots of color in the life of a woman….who I hardly knew….who had helped me succeed in the plantation business.

That was when she looked up and said to me,

“I have been warned about you….but I am so happy you came.”

I kissed her hand and simply said,

‘I will always be your servant…I am grateful.’