She hung up the phone and looked at Beckford. “So, you are invited.”
“Without asking me?”
“Among old friends like us, you don’t have to ask. And just so you know: Our house is always open to you. You may consider it your own.”
Beckford really had no idea how to respond to the lady’s inexplicable invitation. Should he decline? It was a little late for that now. All he could say to himself was: The trap has been set, and I’m already sitting in it.
But while he was thinking that, he also realized that tonight, he would finally figure out what the woman wanted from him. He felt gratified that he had been right from the beginning. This mysterious conjuring of things for which he had not asked, the large office, all of it was only a cover. Under which she intended to get rid of the rich, unloved, incredibly boring husband, quietly and with perfect technique. No one would suspect the loyal and loving wife in the least. I may be sitting in the trap right now, but she will have miscalculated in the end, he said to himself.
5.
Unceasing and skillful propaganda had finally convinced flustered Americans to stick their noses in foreign affairs. The wise and farsighted forefathers of this great country had warned their people a hundred and fifty years ago never to entangle themselves in the affairs of other countries, least of all the European ones.
Americans, however, had an infuriating habit of forcing others to adopt their own beliefs and opinions, which they considered superior. Believing that they could heal the world, they considered it their duty to impose their ways on poor and ignorant nations. Their apostolic teachings spoke of genuine and unadulterated democracy and freedom à la U.S.A., a nation’s only path to salvation.
That was why Holved Suthers, a student of technical sciences, was forced to leave the Institute in his fourth year. Whether he wanted to or not, he was conscripted as a member of an artillery regiment. After ten weeks of grueling basic training, he was transported to France along with all the other defenseless lambs. As a sergeant, he was eternally stuck in mud and shit, hoping for an early end to the war so that he could continue his studies. Six days after his promotion to lieutenant, the muddy war ended with pomp and circumstance, as unexpectedly as it had begun.
Having been taken out of school without warning, Holved had to overcome countless obstacles before he was back on track with his studies. The professors whom he had gotten used to and whose explanations he had understood had been replaced with new ones, who dealt with the curriculum in a totally different manner. A new director had been installed who’d revised the entire curriculum, which made it difficult, if not impossible, for Holved to continue the courses he had originally been taking. Those classes were now scheduled at the same times as other classes he was required to take for his final exams. The latter, however, did not do much to round out his knowledge and left many gaps, which could only be filled with great difficulty, or not at all. Despite all these troubles, he passed his exams without any of the help usually accorded to veterans. He now held the title of engineer.
Friendships he had nurtured behind guns in the mud helped connect him with companies willing to take him on as a junior partner.
Thereafter, he made contacts with other companies, and at the age of thirty-five he was the vice president of a construction company in Pittsburgh. Before turning forty, he headed the Round Island Trans Globe Tunnel & Subway Corporation, New York, NY. Their board had elected him as president for two reasons. On the one hand, because of his name and his proven energy. On the other hand, because he owned a majority of company shares, so he could do what he wanted anyway.
By the time he turned fifty, two additional reputable companies listed him as president on their letterhead, and four others, as their vice president. In several others, he was a member of the board. Only his broker knew of all the other enterprises, companies, and corporations in which he owned shares.
During the twenty-five years of his economic ascent, Holved married and divorced twice. No kids. Neither marriage had given him anything other than hell. The divorce settlements were calculated based on the wealth of the husband, though neither wife had contributed anything to the maintenance and increase of such wealth.
Both women attributed the failure of their marriage to Holved alone. Both saw themselves as innocent victims, who had been treated without compassion and pushed almost to suicide.
His second marriage was to a stewardess. She was an extraordinarily beautiful, slender woman who looked like the goddess Diana. She would give passengers the sweetest smile, possessing the attention of a Swiss hotel doorman and the patience of a mother with thirteen children. After the wedding, however, Holved never saw that smile again; instead, she only scowled at him at every opportunity. The divorce cost him a cool quarter million. When it was all over, he breathed a sigh of relief and swore to himself that he would never marry again, no matter how sweet, eye-catching, and otherwise enticing the woman might be.
Holved was now fifty-five years old. However, those who saw him at work would have guessed he was forty-five. He had sealed a contract out west to build several very modern cross-country bus stations. On the plane back to New York, he chose a window seat. He was hoping to lean comfortably in the corner to read or just close his eyes, to relax and to forget about the acquisition of a new construction company for a few hours.
Next to him sat a young lady who ignored him as much as he ignored her. People who travel by plane from New York to Paris often do not speak a single word to each other. Why would they?
The stewardess served lunch. Holved lifted his cup of coffee just as the plane dropped into an air pocket and tipped right. Coffee spilled onto the light-colored dress of his neighbor. They looked at each other, startled. Holved blushed like a boy. Holding the empty cup in his hand, he stuttered: “P-p-pardon me, miss. I am so sorry. This is so regrettable!”
“It was most certainly not your fault. It could just as well have happened to me. We seem to be having a lot of turbulence, just look at those errant wisps of clouds.”
“That’s often the case when the plane crosses the Rockies.”
The stewardess had already rushed over with a wet towel to administer first aid for the beautiful and expensive dress.
“Please come with me to the lavatory and we will see what we can do,” the flight attendant invited the young lady.
They both disappeared.
Holved slid around in his seat restlessly. He wished to be rid of the tray with empty dishes as soon as possible, but the second stewardess appeared just then and filled his cup again. She showed him her beautiful, well-practiced smile. He could only see the satanic grin of his second wife behind her sweetly smiling mask. At times, when he thought of his ex and how she had managed to catch him, the powerful business tycoon, with nothing but a sweet smile, he would’ve liked to have murdered her.
The young lady took her seat next to Holved again.
“The stewardess tried her best. It doesn’t matter. I would’ve sent the dress to the dry cleaner’s right after my arrival in New York anyway.”
She’s being so gracious, thought Holved. Another person would’ve been scandalized and probably would’ve demanded that I pay for a new dress, and yet here she is, pretending she would’ve gone to the dry cleaner’s anyway.
He took the newly filled cup and held it tightly with both hands as he brought it to his mouth. He glanced at the lady over the rim of the cup drolly: “How quickly one can learn from an embarrassing incident. I’ll never let this happen again.”
She enjoyed his youthful gesture and laughed out loud. “Maybe not with coffee. Next time it will be red wine.”