Monday Monday

The weekend was long. A Friday night drive to Easthampton. Dinner and wine followed by drinks. Sleep till 9am. A swim in the ocean. Rough waves and vicious riptides. Saturday night was more of the same and Sunday was a repeat of the previous evening. 24 bottles of wine between 5 people accompanied by sundry rum Pinchas and beer over the course of the weekend.

I woke up Monday morning wishing that I had been kidnapped by the Taliban, instead we packed our bags and my friend AC drove into the city. I was an hour late for work at the diamond exchange. A cup of coffee failed to restore my energy levels above depletion. I nodded off at noon. My co-worker nudged me awake. A client was waiting for my attention. I gave them 5 minutes. The lawyer wanted to spend $7000 for a diamond that cost over $10,000.

"Your prices are well out of line with other dealers." He was holding a packet of information printed from the Internet. His fingers were jabbing out letters to research the wholesale pricing for diamonds. He was well prepared to be an asshole.

"That may be so." My diamond was triple-X. The best of the best. "Some stones are cheaper because they are of a lesser quality. Others cost more since they are gem. Your choice to buy what you want."

I put away the diamond and the client exited from the exchange.

Defeat sucked more energy from my core.

I counted the minutes to 6pm.

Our closing.

101.

Those minutes couldn't past fast enough.

For me or anyone around me.