My cell phone was buzzing endlessly in my pocket as I pushed through the crowd, walking as fast as a man who had hot coals on his heels.
Source
The beer parlor was crammed with bodies of all shapes and sizes. Smokers puffed smoke in the air, beautiful young women wriggled to the rhythm of the song pouring out from the large speakers, drunks turned tables and gamblers watched their games intently. There were rooms upstairs where the rich guys among them had the ladies service them. I shuddered.
For the umpteenth time, I asked myself what my best friend, Roland could be doing in a place like that in Los Angeles. The place was almost a favorite place for the police and they did not stay away when the crimes started to happen frequently in the den, and that moment of crime and arrests could be right when I was inside.
The thought made my heart miss two beats at a time. The barman did not look any different from the many drunks and lousy smokers in the bar, he had a lit cigarette between two fingers and it was with reckless abandon that he puffed the smoke into the already hazy hall, crammed with humans. It made me sick to my tummy.
"Hello, do you know if Roland took a room upstairs?"
I asked the barman. He looked away from me as though I had not spoken to him. I raked one hand through my hair, realized it was futile, and dipped a hand into my pocket. I produced ten bucks.
"Just part with that piece of information and have this."
I offered, holding up the note. He turned, eyed the money lasciviously, and dropped his cigarette on the floor. When he looked up, his tiny eyes were alight with enthusiasm.
"He took the third room in the first corridor once you get upstairs." He said without qualms. I nodded and handed the money to him.
"He is with a wench!"
The barman called after me as I started up the stairs, taking two at a time. I disregarded his latest information.
I could have waited till I could see Roland, but I wanted to talk to him and I had no patience. When I flung the room open, there was a woman half-dressed atop Roland. He was naked but in thin shorts. He looked bewildered when he pushed the blonde off him
"What in the bloody hell are you doing here, Throndsen?" He asked.
The blonde had started to dress up, obviously no longer interested in whatever could have happened between them, before I stepped in. I waited by the door until she left wordlessly.
"Roland, this place is damn smoking. I don't want to hang around here any longer."
"How's that got to do with anything?" He demanded dryly.
"Well, we have to get out of here so we can talk business."
" I think it is you who needs to get out." He mumbled. But he started to dress up anyway.
Two hours later, I was driving Roland back home.
"So, I figured you could actually double the money your uncle left you rather than squander it on whores and alcohol." I started.
It was not an awkward topic of discussion, but his silence unsettled me.
" Roland, don't you think what I'm saying makes sense? You should be thinking of accumulating wealth through reasonable investments rather than squandering what you've got."
" I know." He replied curtly.
" I'm glad you left that den, now I'm going to break it to you," he looked at me for the first time since he got in the car, " Roland, I got a property."
There was silence.
" Happy for you, man. You have always been the sensible one." He commented.
" You know, I was really thinking of what I could invest in with the money I grabbed from the construction work, and then it occurred to me that I could get on the stock market, get some money into the Real estate investment trust, and just go on doubling the money. So I got an apartment building. I'm never going to have to face the hassles that come with being a landlord because that's what REITs is for."
He looked crestfallen and I knew he was one step closer to repenting from his prodigal ways.
"Does that challenge you, Roland? Do you want to accumulate wealth rather than…"
" You're bothering me."
" That's because you're being foolish."
I insisted. He nodded.
"I'll get two properties if there's still enough money." He said at last as I took the last bend leading to his home.
It was the relief I felt when I dropped him off, knowing he had finally bought the idea of wealth accumulation and investment. I felt fulfilled. Roland would be a reformed man.
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