The Misfortune of Wealth

Identical Contrast:

Dramatic nothingness
Unearned exhaustion

Limited endlessness
Dangerous precautions

Conflicting equality
Uneven balance

Negative equity
Silent parlance

I live in a world of successful failure
Languishing lavishly in pretentious squallor

It was a silver Lexus, and behind the wheel, drumming his long, manicured fingers impatiently, Eric waited. He kept ducking his perfectly styled dark head to peer into the crowd of jostling, giggling, shouting young teenagers, and finally he blew out a sigh of frustration when he focused on her.

“Dammit Lacy, didn’t I tell you to be ready,” he threw the demand at her like a bullet and gunned the motor. “Get in already, I’m late.”

Lacy crawled into the back seat as her smile was replaced by a film of hidden emotion. She pushed her hair, dark like her father’s, away from her shoulders and slumped into leather while she picked at her fingernails absently. Eric grunted and drove away from the curb with a lurching screech.

Silence reigned in the car which soundlessly deposited Lacy in front of a large, two story home. It was painted the same cream color as the two on either side of it, but green shutters adorned its windows instead of blue on the right, and brown on the left. Lacy was already running up the walk, punching numbers into her bright purple cell phone while her father called out, “Don’t forget soccer practice at five. Mom’s picking you up.” His call was ignored and he pulled away grumbling about selfish kids who can’t even be polite enough to respond.

Already his mind was shifted back into its usual state and he started to plan his speech for the upcoming staff meeting, just a little get-together his boss said. Sure. His boss never called meetings for small purposes; his long face was grimaced behind the wheel of the sleek car as it glided back to his office building. He pulled a cell phone from his silk jacket when it trilled its classic Queen melody. “I’m on my way,” he barked into the phone, “Another three seconds.” He took the stairs three at a time and puffed, red-faced, into the conference room. He was unnerved to notice he was the last to arrive. “Sorry,” he smiled and displayed a fortune in orthodontist work, obviously money well spent as his teeth gleamed blindingly and his colleagues smiled back, charmed as usual. “Kid duty slowed me down. Maid called in sick today.” He rolled his eyes dramatically and there were sympathetic chuckles all around.


The meeting began with the boss, Hugh Beckett, calling everyone to order. Then Eric was gratified to discover he’d been made partner. The long hours he already worked would expand, but he didn’t mind, not if it meant moving into a higher tax bracket and an even better style of life. He couldn’t stop smiling-for real this time-while hands shook his enthusiastically and pats on the back started to sting a little. He was a success, and savored the moment.

* * *


Stephanie was exasperated when she arrived at the front of her large, cream-colored house, honked the horn of her black Lexus that matched Eric’s silver one, and then sat. Her crimson lips began to purse, her unnaturally violet eyes squinted, and when she saw her daughter and son finally step out and down the walk bordered with marigolds, she cursed under her breath and was ready for the tirade when they slid into the back. “Dammit, didn’t I tell you two to be ready,” and she lurched away from the curb with a screech.

Unlike the silent drive with her father, Lacy’s mother complained in a shrill voice about how late she was for almost the entire trip to the soccer field. Lacy and Jaden sat back silently and let it flow over them, quite used to their mother’s complaints. They jumped out of the car almost before it stopped moving, and Stephanie called after them that Daniel’s mother would be bringing them home. She was ignored much like Eric had been, and she pulled away still grumbling about ungrateful children while her mind was turning away and refocusing on the house she was scheduled to show in twenty minutes. She cursed again and hoped she’d make it.

* * *


“For God’s sake.” Stephanie stared at pizza boxes littering her marble kitchen counter. “Didn’t you two just have pizza a couple of days ago,” she called into the recesses of the echoing house. Lacy walked in, the last of her pizza billowing her cheeks as she went to the sink and plunked a plate into it.

“No,” Lacy finally responded when she swallowed. She smiled at her mother. “We had pizza last night.”

Stephanie rubbed her tired eyes, set her briefcase on a chair, and sat in another while she pulled off her so-called “sensible” high heels. “Marta had better get well soon or you and Jaden will get fat and malnourished.”

Lacy turned to her mother. “You could cook, you know.” She chuckled at her mother’s incredulous look. “Lots of moms do it.”

“Well not this mom.” She was still rubbing her feet, Lacy having drifted away, when Eric swooped into the spacious, well-decorated kitchen.

“Not staying,” he uttered as he threw his own briefcase on the solid oak table, went to the massive refrigerator, and grabbed a bottle of water to gulp. “Guess what,” he didn’t wait for her to guess. “I made partner today.”

“That’s great,” his wife smiled tiredly. “I showed the Winslow place today, you know that huge mansion on 47th? I think it might sell. Enormous commission.” She stifled a yawn.

“Fabulous.” Her husband bent down, pecked her on the lips, and was gone.

Stephanie dragged herself up the flight of plush carpeted stairs to her lavender bedroom and was preparing to soak in a hot bath when her sister called, full of chatter about her husband’s home run during his league game and her daughter’s latest A on some English paper. When she asked about Stephanie’s news, she was told about the Winslow place, but her questions concerning Lacy and Jaden were met with silence. Her sister laughed. “Gee Steph, don’t you know anything about your own kids?”

After the bath, guilt induced her to go in search of the children; Jaden was playing video games in his room and Lacy was on her cell phone while she sat with her laptop on her beautiful canopied bed. Her mother’s face in the door of her room slowed the chatter and she lowered the phone with her mouth agape. “Mom? What are you doing in here?”

“I’ve been to your room before, Lace.” Her mother was uncomfortable with Lacy’s surprise, although she couldn’t pinpoint why.

“Not lately. Did you want something?”

Stephanie stood for a moment and looked at her daughter, fourteen now and looking too grown-up with luminous dark hair cascading down her back, dark eyes snapping and vibrant with youth. Jaden was almost twelve, she realized with a mental jolt. She reminded herself to remind Marta about his birthday in a few weeks. Her eyes, now light blue without contacts, gazed around at all the dolls and stuffed animals that still adorned what was obviously a little girl’s frilly taste. “Maybe we should redo your room. You’re getting too old for these things.”

Lacy shrugged. “Maybe.” She stared some more before her mother finally moved away from the doorway. “Weird,” Lacy muttered under her breath before she returned to conversations taking place on both the laptop and the phone.

Back in her own room, Stephanie slid into the bed lined with gold silk sheets and couldn’t get comfortable enough for slumber. She kept thinking about her sister in a little box-type house on the other side of town. Sharon, her sister, had two girls and a husband, and they were all crowded into that tiny house. Stephanie recalled the cacophony of Sharon’s home, the shabbiness and constant presence of someone else in the few rooms they occupied. She shook her carefully prepared short brown hair as she yawned. Sharon knew about her daughter’s A, but she had no privacy. Poor Sharon, Stephanie thought as she finally drifted into slumber. Then her eyes popped open; she wondered if Lacy got As in English. She’d have to ask Marta in the morning. She yawned again and slept.

Downstairs the back door opened with a creak and Eric stumbled in, jacket in hand. He giggled inanely to himself and put his finger to his lips while he tiptoed across the floor and up the stairs, falling a little against the iron rails. Lacy’s door was closed, but Jaden’s was half open and he snuck a peek inside to find his son still intently focused on a video game. He cleared his throat and carefully enunciated, “Hey son. It’s late. You need to turn that off.”

The boy paused long enough to look at his father and wrinkle his face in distaste. “Ew, you stink. You’re drunk.” Jaden's face, which looked amazingly liked Eric’s, remained frozen in disgust until his father retreated. But then he shoved his face into the room again as she shook an unsteady finger.

“I can’t remember the last time we saw each other. You should treat your old man a little better than that.”

“Sure, dad.” Jaden rolled his eyes and turned away to continue the game. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. I can stay up as late as I want.”

“Oh” Eric stood uncertainly for a moment. “But don’t you have a game or something?”

“God,” Jaden stopped his game and stood up. “I have a scout trip to the cliffs tomorrow. Daniel’s dad is taking us, I told you two weeks ago when you signed the permission slip.”

“Oh.”

“Good night, Dad.” Jaden shut his bedroom door firmly, and even in his inebriated state, Eric could hear the bolt engage.

“Stupid kid,” he muttered as he moved on down the hall. He paused at the master bedroom door, but he thought better of going in. She might pick up on Cathy’s perfume or something. Eric grinned when he thought of Cathy, so young and soft and energettic and ready for anything. Not like her. He frowned at the master bedroom door and continued past it to the end of the hall. He opened another door, the guest bedroom he occupied more often than not, and shut it behind him with a resounding click. The last sound of the night in that cavernous house was an echo of the guest bedroom door’s bolt sliding into place.