Prologue
It would only be a few hours before the plane landed. As I watched the ocean of clouds rush beneath the metal wing I wondered if I had hastily gotten into something I couldn't handle. I wondered if I could actually have a good time after all the years I had devoted to the only constant thing in my life: work.
My career in the private sector had been a successful one – in fact, so successful that I retired early with an enviable estate. As usual with great success, there was always a price. At mid-thirties, I had more business associates than friends, no relationship longer than a one-night stand, and a social life that involved my TV, laptop, and a bottle of Jack. I was wealthy beyond my dreams and somehow still poor.
I spent close to a month trying to relax by myself at home, but I felt the anxiousness and restlessness creep into me as time dragged on. I knew I had to get out of my personal Xanadu before I became too familiar with the quiet and the lull and ended my days as a recluse like so many rich has-beens before me. I needed something different, far away from anything I knew – so I gave Kitty a call.
"How are ya, handsome, how's retirement?" Kitty was my travel agent and an unabashed flirt. Back when she booked my business trips she always took the oppourtunity to call me "handsome," for the expressed reason that in over ten years of association we had never seen each other. She always would leave me speechless for a bit, but I would recover and pretend as if she had simply said hello. I knew it always gave her a kick to get me flummoxed like that. Of course, she quickly became my agent of choice for all my travel bookings.
As I heard her voice, a wave of nostalgia tugged at me, and I realized how much I missed her warm demeanor and acquaintance.
"How are you, Kit? I miss those outright
lies
you tell about me. Actually, I'm surprised you remembered me at all."
"Ajay! Who can forget that sexy voice of yours?" Kitty was incorrigible. You can see why I liked her. In fact, I felt like I was meeting an old friend after many long years. Had it only been a month?
