By Joshua Ryan
This story is for adults and about adults only. It is also fiction. Any connection to real entities is purely coincidental.
To BUCK, with deep gratitude for his inspiration.
Chapter 1: Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot?
I was 34 years old and I was already retired. That’s what it felt like, anyway. You’re probably thinking, “Great! Way to go!” But if so, you may be wrong.
I’d been running the family business—it’s real estate—ever since I got out of college. It was failing; I made it a success. And if you think that running a real estate firm is a tiresome office job, you’re definitely mistaken. As I found! In fact, my work was risky and exciting. It kept me going all the time, and I liked it a lot. Just beating the bigger guys out of the market, hearing them whine about “aggressive tactics”—you can’t top that for entertainment.
Lately, though, I wasn’t liking what I saw when I looked at myself in the metaphorical mirror. Cash flow great, staff pretty good, kid brother running most of the day-to-days. . . . Fine. But no problems, no challenges. Whatever came up, my listless eyes had seen it all before. In the mirror—a jaded businessman.
An attractive portrait? No. The picture in the actual mirror wasn’t exciting either, if I looked closely enough. I was 34, but people still called me “the new kid”—for good reason. Great hair, great clothes, and that million dollar smile . . . . You can’t beat first impressions. But I knew what was under the trendy tie and the slightly edgy dress shirt and the soft, gray, reassuring slacks. I’d put on plenty of weight in the past few years. And now I was doing what people do when they don’t really have to work—drinking more and more, getting up later and later, looking harder for friends to dine with . . . .
