Almost.
― A. Huang
My plan to escape the bulls and bears of Wall Street was quietly unraveling—all because of Evelyn Winters.
She was the Siren who seduced me, and lured me to her sea cave in the financial district, where, if I stayed, I’d drown.
And yes, I had been beguiled by her charms and laughter, but only for a while. The spell was wearing off thanks in part to Ryker Thompson’s gruff remarks.
“How can you work with this man?” I asked when we were safely back in her office.
“Oh, Ryker’s all right—his bark is worse than his bite.”
“I hear he fired six men—and that was in the last two years alone.”
“Afraid you won’t measure up?” she smiled coyly.
“No, more like I don’t fit in—and you can make that into any double entendre you want, but the man’s a bully, and frankly, he disgusts me.”
She leaned back in her chair, legs folded to one side, allowing me a full view of their shapeliness.
“How does six figures sound to you?” she purred.
“Money isn’t everything.”
“Give him a chance, Kane—he grows on you.”
I chuckled bitterly. “Given enough time, all kinds of things grow on you.”
She got up, came over and began kneading the knots from my shoulders with her bright red talons.
“You’re all tensed up. Why not come back to my condo?”
“I don’t think that would relax me. I’d end up more keyed up than I am.”
“Well okay,” she sighed. “Go home, relax, go for a sail on your yacht, and then change into your best suit and meet us at Coro’s at eight. How does that sound?”
I had to admit it sounded appealing.
“Sounds like a plan,” I smiled, and gave her a peck on the cheek.
She grasped me by the lapels of my suit and pulled me into her embrace, kissing me hard and leaving me breathless.
“And don’t forget your toothbrush,” she smiled mischievously, “There’ll be a full moon tonight.”
As I rode the elevator down to the parking garage I noticed my hands shaking. My whole body was ringing like a gong.
I needed to go home—back to my lakeside retreat, where everything was peaceful and calm.
I wasn’t made for this life, and had lost sight of where I really belonged.
Once home, I poured a glass of cab sav and sat out in the gardens, sunning myself and listening to the soft thunder of a jet somewhere above the clouds overhead.
They were alto-cumulus clouds, I mused, and it was hard to believe I could hear the plane’s reverberation from so high above me.
I smiled. My hippie parents would be proud—they taught me all about clouds and conserving the environment.
A sunbeam lit the garden.
The meter from the solar panels turned and I thought Mom and Dad would be pleased—and maybe that’s what I ought to do—get involved in green energy and renewable resources and live off the land.
I leaned back and smiled, closing my eyes.
Life was good.
Ev drove out the next day and parked her Porsche in the circular drive. I thought she’d be angry, but she wasn’t.
She did seem a bit sad.
“I suppose Ryker was ticked,” I said in deliberate understatement, as I handed her a drink.
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t go there. It’s water under the bridge—and don’t worry about me. I had a good time.”
“I didn’t doubt it for a minute.”
Her countenance changed again and she grew sad.
“I knew it wouldn’t work between us. I guess you can’t go back to what you once had.”
“There’s a proverb about that—you can’t step into the same river twice.”
“Well, we tried, didn’t we?”
Her eyes were shining and chin trembling. I almost fell under her spell again, but resisited.
We made more small talk and then she left—laughter’s glow on her lips.
It occurred to me that this was a fitting end to our odyssey.
I somehow navigated between Thompson, the six-headed monster, and the Ernst and Jones whirlpool that threatened to swallow the ship.
I didn’t have to lash myself to the mast to resist the Siren’s call. I took the coward’s way out and didn’t go at all.
Women like Evelyn have secret charms of seduction and destruction—they’re an abyss.
Nietzsche was right—the abyss you stare into, stares back at you…
And sometimes it winks.