Adam Edwardson
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2011
- Location
- Sweden
James Finnigan sat down on the hotel bed, and exhaled as he loosened up his blue silk tie (direct imported, 450 dollar) and took of his suit jacket (tailor made, 1600 dollars). It had been an awful day at Sterling City High School, almost as awful as the days used to be back when he actually went to the school.
Ten years after he graduated, he had been invited to give an inspirational speech to the students. Not very surprising, since he was the only successful individual to ever escape the dull existence of American middle class small town boredom that was Sterling, Colorado. He had no desire to return to his old school, nor to spend an hour of his life delivering pointless truisms mixed with polite lies, but it was good publicity. Made him look like a regular guy, more approachable as his PR-consultat had put it. Good for the image of the company, bla bla bla.
So he had played his role perfectly. "My time at Sterling City High School made me the man I am today." No, it almost broke him down into an irreparable mess. "Some of my old class mates are still my best and closest friends." No, he had not seen a single one of them after he left the graduation party early. Besides, none of them had been his mates, at least not in the conventional meaning of that word. "Remember, you can be anything." No, you were unlucky enough to be born in Sterling. You will be happy if you get to flip burgers, idiots. "There are no limits to what you can achieve with the help of good education…" Except none of the empty headed teenagers in front of him would ever achieve anything. "…and good education is what you will receive here at Sterling." And if you just happened to be a bit smarter than the morons who surround you you will also receive the experience of social isolation.
As if the speech had not been bad enough, after it some blonde hippie girl who had watched to much MSNBC walked up to him and started accuse him of being immoral. Babbling on about how wrong it was to just tear companies down, breaking them up, never building anything. Using all of his composure to remain calm, he had looked her in the eyes and told her that sometimes, to build something brave and new you first had to tear down the old and stagnant.
Now, back at his hotel, he needed to relax and unwind. So he did what he had only done twice before - called up an escort service, and stumbled something about the "girlfriend experience" and a "pretty blonde". His previous experience had been no good - five minutes of extremely awkward chit chat, then five minutes of even more awkward sex. Both times he had been relieved when the girls left. But the way that the annoying blonde hippie looked, it reminded him of someone, of her. She looked just like she had looked, back when they were in school. And the thought of her had not only made him sad, but also horny. A very unpleasant combination. The sadness he could do nothing about, but for the horniness there was at least an obvious cure.
He got up from the bed and looked at his own reflection in the panorama window. Was that some grey in his neatly trimmed black hair? Already, not even thirty years old? It was not fair. Back in school he had been slim, well, perhaps boney was a better description as the guys had kept telling him in the looker room. Now his luxurious life style had made his face all flabby and his belly was hanging over his tight black pants, stretching some of the buttons on his white shirt. You don't have to be good looking when you are rich he repeated to himself for the thousandth time. And at least the view behind his blurry reflection was marvelous. From the top suite you could see all of the town stretch out below. Not that it was that much to see, but anyway.
That's when someone knocked on the door. His heart beating faster, he walked to the door. Hug? Kiss? He tried to decide as he opened the door, but settled with shaking her hand, his eyes fixed at the floor to avoid the embarrassment of eye contact. "Glad you could come so quick." he said in a polite voice. "Your… ehm… donation is in the envelope at the nightstand."
Then he looked up, and his jaw dropped.
Ten years after he graduated, he had been invited to give an inspirational speech to the students. Not very surprising, since he was the only successful individual to ever escape the dull existence of American middle class small town boredom that was Sterling, Colorado. He had no desire to return to his old school, nor to spend an hour of his life delivering pointless truisms mixed with polite lies, but it was good publicity. Made him look like a regular guy, more approachable as his PR-consultat had put it. Good for the image of the company, bla bla bla.
So he had played his role perfectly. "My time at Sterling City High School made me the man I am today." No, it almost broke him down into an irreparable mess. "Some of my old class mates are still my best and closest friends." No, he had not seen a single one of them after he left the graduation party early. Besides, none of them had been his mates, at least not in the conventional meaning of that word. "Remember, you can be anything." No, you were unlucky enough to be born in Sterling. You will be happy if you get to flip burgers, idiots. "There are no limits to what you can achieve with the help of good education…" Except none of the empty headed teenagers in front of him would ever achieve anything. "…and good education is what you will receive here at Sterling." And if you just happened to be a bit smarter than the morons who surround you you will also receive the experience of social isolation.
As if the speech had not been bad enough, after it some blonde hippie girl who had watched to much MSNBC walked up to him and started accuse him of being immoral. Babbling on about how wrong it was to just tear companies down, breaking them up, never building anything. Using all of his composure to remain calm, he had looked her in the eyes and told her that sometimes, to build something brave and new you first had to tear down the old and stagnant.
Now, back at his hotel, he needed to relax and unwind. So he did what he had only done twice before - called up an escort service, and stumbled something about the "girlfriend experience" and a "pretty blonde". His previous experience had been no good - five minutes of extremely awkward chit chat, then five minutes of even more awkward sex. Both times he had been relieved when the girls left. But the way that the annoying blonde hippie looked, it reminded him of someone, of her. She looked just like she had looked, back when they were in school. And the thought of her had not only made him sad, but also horny. A very unpleasant combination. The sadness he could do nothing about, but for the horniness there was at least an obvious cure.
He got up from the bed and looked at his own reflection in the panorama window. Was that some grey in his neatly trimmed black hair? Already, not even thirty years old? It was not fair. Back in school he had been slim, well, perhaps boney was a better description as the guys had kept telling him in the looker room. Now his luxurious life style had made his face all flabby and his belly was hanging over his tight black pants, stretching some of the buttons on his white shirt. You don't have to be good looking when you are rich he repeated to himself for the thousandth time. And at least the view behind his blurry reflection was marvelous. From the top suite you could see all of the town stretch out below. Not that it was that much to see, but anyway.
That's when someone knocked on the door. His heart beating faster, he walked to the door. Hug? Kiss? He tried to decide as he opened the door, but settled with shaking her hand, his eyes fixed at the floor to avoid the embarrassment of eye contact. "Glad you could come so quick." he said in a polite voice. "Your… ehm… donation is in the envelope at the nightstand."
Then he looked up, and his jaw dropped.