Earl moves over a couple of stools, Taking her hand, "I'm Earl, Nice to meet you Juliet. You said you've been making mistakes. It can't be that bad.
"I cheated on my husband" Taking the last chug of the Jack and Coke. Earl motions to Bob for a refill of her drink and replace his Miller High Life.
"Oh sweetheart, I'm not going to judge you. That's not my place. You don't sound like it was an ongoing thing. If it was you wouldn't be in here and so upset about it."
Hearing her confession took Earl back fifteen years ago to his previous life. It didn't happen often anymore but it did this time. He was working at an investment company in New York City. He was doing very well for a guy with only a high school education. It took hard work and dedication to get to where he was. All of his piers had college degrees. But not him. He moved up through being smarter than everyone else and making the right deals when people didn't think it would work. He was bringing in almost $300,000 an year, that would be $600,000 in today's money. Drove a new Mercedes Benz, same as his wife. Except his was white and hers black. They lived in an upscale development just off a golf course on Long Island. Even had a country club membership. The only thing missing to make his life perfect was children.
Earl was different then his friends growing up. He didn't always live on Long Island. He grew up in Flat Bush Queens. Its never just Flat Bush or Queens, its always Flat Bush Queens. He was a good student without being a nerd. Education came naturally to him. His best classes were math and social studies. Numbers and dealing with people were always his strong points. While his friends were into the growing rap scene Earl was studying Warren Buffet, Peter Lynch, Hetty Green and Phillip A Fischer, famous investors. While kids were reading the Source magazine he was reading the Wall Street and Forbes magazine. Earl was always a hustler but an honest hustler. While some of his friends were selling drugs he did odd jobs around the neighborhood to earn money. Everyone knew Earl and respected his hustle. He was never approached about selling drugs. Word was out, Leave Earl alone.
He took his first $100 to a small investment firm, Belvedere Funds. He put on his best clothes and walked in and asked to talk to a broker. Charles Walker greeted the young man wondering what he was there for. When Earl told him he wanted to invest and which companies he wanted Charles smiled to himself. How can this young Black kid know anything about which companies to invest in. He didn't take him very seriously as he was dressed in jeans, sneakers and a polo shirt with a dragon across the front. But after talking to him for 30 minutes he realized he knew what he was talking about. That meeting lasted almost 2 hours. He found a young man who listens and absorbed what was being said. He was very even tempered and slow to provoke.
Betting on, because that's what investing really is, new companies called AutoNation and Semtech paid huge returns. He came back once a month to reinvest more money. Companies that most people have never heard of, Biogen, SunOpta, Nixxy. Over the years they had returns over 200%. AutoNation did 1300% itself. He started to get some of the corner boys, drug dealers, to invest some of their ill-gotten gains. At the time he didn't know he was laundering drug money. He thought he was just helping his friends. Luckily for him it never caused any issues.
Charles Walker took a personal interest in this young kid. During the summer he had him intern to learn how things worked. Working alongside other kids who were in college, some Ivy League schools Earl stood out. Not because he was the only Black person working there but because he was the best of the best. Charles taught him everything he knew and even things outside the business. How to dress, how to act. Everything he needed to fit into this new world. He eventually became what they call a Rainmaker. Someone who makes lots of money.
That fateful day, we left work early to tell Georgette the great news. He was going to be named a Director. Fifteen years of hard work had paid off! In his eagerness to tell Georgette the great news he never noticed the Kelly Green Honda Prelude sitting at the curb. Walking into the foyer he yelled out for his wife but not getting a response. Walking further into the house he could hear her in their bedroom. She was making noises she hadn't made in some time. Sexual noises, the kind you make when you're with someone else.
He had known Georgette since their freshman year in high school but didn't start dating until their senior year. She was a pretty girl. Not one of the prettiest in the school but definitely in the top 20 percentile. Earl had dated a little but was focused on learning about investing. We finally approached her to ask to the prom and she accepted. They had a nice time and continued to date the rest of the remaining school year. Georgette didn't have any plans of going to college. She was working part time at Uptown Chicken and Fish. She found that Earl was totally different from the other guys she dated. He was a serious young man. She found him very focused. He came alive when he talked about the Stock Market. She had no idea what any of it meant. Earl wasn't the most handsome guy, or the flashiest. Being only 5 foot 9 inches tall and medium build. He kept his hair cut close with a slight fade. He didn't follow the fashion trends of others.
Listening to him talk about money and investing while others only talked about rap groups or drugs she knew she had a winner so she latched on to him. Was it love for her? A strong like if anything. She did have feelings for him but not as deep as he did. She was in it for the long game.
She found herself living the dream life eventually. Earl was earning only God knows how much money. All she knew was her credit cards worked whenever she used them. And she knew how to use them. They had a big house that she picked out and new cars every other year that she chose. Belonged to a country club of all things. While her friends were still in the projects eating ramen and fish sandwiches she was having dinner with CEO's and Board of Directors wives. Taking tennis lessons and vacations all over the world.
Earl slowly made his way up the stairs. 18 steps to the end of his marriage. Another 15 feet down the hallway to witness what every man dreads. He stands at the doorway, seeing his wife riding some strange White man. Screaming how good his cock was. Not dick, but cock. She never called his manhood a cock. It was always a dick. She was telling this guy how good it was, how it reached places that's never been touched before. Earl dispassionately wondered how big he could be. He himself was 8 inches long. She never complained before or seemed like she wasn't satisfied.
He noticed how her cellulite on her ass moved and puckered. The love handles jiggled. Especially how he didn't have to reach up to teak her nipples as her breast hung down lower than normal. Looking at her he wondered how he could have loved someone like her. That love died the minute he walked into the house. Its not a home any longer.
Looking back he could see how this had happened. Working 60-70 hours a week to keep them in the lifestyle they have grown accustomed too takes a toll on a marriage. Well that Georgette had grown accustomed too. Earl didn't need much in life to be happy. Looking back he had noticed a separation over time between them. She wasn't the same person he married. She was as his mom would say, uppity. Like she forgot she was from Flat Bush Queens.
"Excuse me" It was a simple statement said quietly that went off like dynamite. Georgette screamed in shock. The guy raised up throwing her off the bed. He actually looked frighten even though he was 10 years younger and in much better shape than Earl. If it came to a physical confrontation Earl would come out on the losing end. Earl realized he worked at the country club. He looked at Georgette, "The Tennis Pro Georgy, how cliché. I just wanted to tell you I'm leaving. You can go back to doing whatever it was when I interrupted you." He turned and walked out. 12 years of marriage over in an instant.
That was the last time he talked to her or anyone from his previous life. Two years later he found himself in Greenville with a new life. It was something about the city that made him feel at peace. It wasn't a big city nor a small one. In the words of Cinderella it was just right.
A bar patron overheard her confession of cheating on her husband and made a disgusted noise which bought Earl back to the present. She and Earl looked over at him.
She said sadly, "I guess someone is judging me." looking at him with sadness.
"I don't know you to judge you Miss. I'm judging the fact that you would cheat on your husband." As he was shaking his head in distaste.
"You can't judge me worse then I already have judged myself. Saying I love my husband and it was all a mistake sounds so cliché right now. But I do and it was. If I could go back in time I would." Earl was afraid Juliet would start crying at the way this man was treating her.
