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The
city of opportunity. 9/4/03. 9:00 PM.
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The
Road to Happiness is/or/and the Root of all Evil. A
friend was telling me about a friend of hers. A well known
name in New York. A widow. Who while traveling in Europe, saw
a very handsome young man and said to herself: I gotta have
it. So she sent her assistant out to meet the young man and
arrange for an audience with Her. This he did. And on meeting
she said to the handsome young man, my name is Mrs. So-and-so
and I have a billion dollars and I want you to marry me. And
if you do, half of everything I have is yours.
Okay. The young man it so happened, it turned out, was already married,
and with children. Nada problem. A divorce was arranged. and the
couple came back to America, had a big blast of a wedding with all
kinds of wedding gifts, and lived happily ever after.
This was a few years ago. Now, says my friend, she is worried about
him all the time. After all, she’s not getting any younger
and he is still…..well, younger. “Will he get a wandering
eye?” she wonders aloud. “Has he already?” She
had a face job. But a bad one: one ear lopsided, and the same for
one eye. Not exactly younger than springtime, is it? Don’t
forget the Everythings that money can’t buy. Now, more than
ever, she is left wondering: “will he get a wandering eye.
Or, has he already?”
What-I-Did-For-Love and What-I’ll-Do-To-Love
Dept. A well known, popular society couple. He’s
famous within his set for not being very nice to the
ladies in his life, including, namely the previous wife. “A
slap and a tickle, is all that the fickle male ever has
in his head,” Cole Porter once wrote. Yeah, well
with this guy sometimes it’s more of the former
than the latter. When they married, the story going around
was that they had a pre-nup where she had no claim on
his assets ever, nada. And a few other things like no
children. And a couple of other things too demeaning
to repeat. In other words, nada forever.
So why did she? Her girlfriends all thought she was crazy. But she
loved him, it is presumed; because you won’t meet a nicer person
anywhere, and I’m not exaggerating. Now the story going around
is that the couple are divorced. Although they’re always together,
always. He’s been telling people. She hasn’t said a word,
at least not to the same people he’s been talking to. At the
dinner table, at a party, they’re a very agreeable pair and
from the outsider looking in, it seems that he got the better part
of the deal, no matter. But for some who have Too Much, it always
feels like Not Enough.
The question always comes to mind: how long would any of these people
put up with each other if money weren’t part of the equation?
And the conclusion I have come to is: Probably forever. Money or
no money, the decision to disregard the disser is a hard one to take,
to come by, or live for.
Moving on the up the Avenue, there’s
the marriage between the tycoon and another
babe. Or a once-upon-a-time-babe (all things must pass,
alas). He was a smart hardworking guy, long married,
family, etc. About the time he started to hit it big,
along came Sally (not her real name). In the flower of
youth or youth’s flower. He took one whiff and
fell. Many minutes later they are married and living
grand, here, there, and in Palm Beach. He said to her:
Four million is the limit for a house there. She said
(something like): I’m not going there if that’s
all I can have. Okay, eight, sez him. Well now we’re
talking. After all. She’s brought him youth, that
you can see. And he’s more successful than ever.
And so she’s livin’ and lovin’ the good life. Wouldn’t
you? We don’t live forever you know. She likes a good party,
and a few laughs and so do a lot of her friends. Many of the same
friends also like a toot or two or three or twenty-two. You know
what I’m talking about I hope. A toot. Blow? Cocaine? Cocaine.
Runnin’ round in yer brain, cocaine ... goes the song.
Now, they say, he doesn’t look so happy. He likes her but he
doesn’t look so happy. I was sorry to hear that. The cocaine
business. I’ve done lots of cocaine in my life, especially
when I was in my mid-thirties. I’ve written about this before.
I actually couldn’t stand the effect it had on me –more
nervous than I already am, on edge – but I did it anyway which
tells you a little something about me and common sense. In those
years it was also a big sex drug. (There goes the common sense.)
And we were much younger. Much. Now it’s a big headache.
So for me it never became an addiction thank God. Those who really
get caught up in it have a much harder road ahead. Aside from the
fact that you rarely if ever know what you’re ingesting, you
can lose everyone, and everything, even yourself, in the process. |
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