Will I be tempted into that world of love for money over people? Will I sway in the breezes of luxury penthouses while gazing hatefully down at the little people who rush around in the streets like rats in sewer lines?
Will I forget to look for love in my haste to earn money, that illusory thing that drives more to drink and forgetting lost first loves?
Money was unfortunately needed in the world, but the chase of it led to so many woes, Eli was scared of it and had always been. The home of Lee Madison alone scared him. Living in such wealth, how would he ever return to simpler things?
After a couple hours of sleep, Eli woke to hear his phone going off, and was cursing the caller before he saw the number. It was the nightclub.
“Hello?”
“Elijah, yeah, uh, when are you coming to get your stuff?”
“My stuff? What are you talking about?”
There was a hesitation before his Gary said, “You’re fired. Gotta let you go. Come get your stuff,” then hung up without an explanation.
Falling onto his back, he stared at the white painted ceiling and groaned. “Great. The only decent paying job I could find.”
He remembered the offer, of course, but thought he’d decided not to take it. Theifswere looming over him, and he couldn’t stand to delve deeper into what he thought they could be. This wrench being thrown into it, however, made that denial seem less reasonable. If he could get another job that would get him through, he could still consider turning down the job with the most nefarious senator in the country.
Part of his sleepless night was staring at a screen, swiping through his tablet for information on Lee Madison. There were so many articles, it would take months to go through them all, from the most reputable news sources to hack online mags.
There were questions on his ethics, sure. He was a lawmaker, and on Capitol Hill, there were many questions of all the senators and representatives. Insider trading was a big one for Lee Madison, but nothing could be proven. He was already rich, so adding another few million a year to his bank account wasn’t unusual.
Then the rumors, all of them from every rag online. A few accused him of being gay while others accused him of liking younger women, younger all the way to sixteen or seventeen.
To decipher all of them was a chore that would never end. There were too many and they were too differing. All he knew was the only sites that spoke well of him were the ultra-right-wing sites.
To be a philosopher, he cast away from anything conservative. He wanted freedom of the mind, to think and predict. Puritanical thinking was constricting and stopped the mind from wandering into places that produced art and music. Morals were thought to be the sole company of the conservatives, but it was for everyone to choose their own, Eli believed. The big ones, sure, murder, rape, and harming others, especially kids, those were set in stone on a human scale. Even theft, although stealing sometimes had a poetry to it.
He sat up in the bed and glanced at the dark screen of the tablet, unwilling to try again to find a reason to give to himself why he couldn’t work for Lee Madison.
The kitchen was quiet, Rhianna silently sipping her hot tea while Eli made coffee. While the machine dripped, he sat across from her, and she set down her phone to stare into his eyes. “What’s up?”
“I got fired from the club. No notice.”
“Strange that happened right when you were offered another job,” she said cryptically, but he knew what she meant.
“Come on, Rhi. He’s offering me a job. Why would he get me fired? I think offering me twelve grand a month is enough of a temptation.”
“Is it? It’s all a little convenient to me. Maybe I’m seeing conspiracies where there aren’t any, but…”
“I get it. I do. Now though, whether I planned it or not, I may have to take that job. Between rent and my loans, I won’t have food this month again.”
Rhianna knew he wouldn’t take charity, so she didn’t say a word, but pushed over her plate of toast.
He took one just to please her and she smiled, relaxing with her small victory.
Sandy came in as he was chewing the last bite of toast and squeezed Eli’s shoulder as he passed. “So, any news?”
“He got fired from the go-go gig,” Rhianna said before Eli could.
“For what? What could you possibly do to get fired from shaking your ass around?”
“I have no idea,” Eli explained. “He just called me to come get my stuff. I have a few things in my locker.”
“I’ll run you by if you go with me to Gerald’s. He’s moving again and needs a hand with his piano.”
“Again?” Sandy’s best friend had moved five times in a year. He was restless and hated settling into a place too long.