Blackness and Diamond Eyes

Frost caused free movement to just about cease. Fingers and toes became almost inert because of winter’s vicious blast. Just opening the door allowed for the icy outside to intrude upon the gentle heat pervading my Wilmington, Delaware home.

Quick movements permitted me to grab a box off of my doorstep, a drone flit out of sight into the night.

After brushing off the snow, I noticed that the box was shaped like a Christmas tree. Illustrations of winking lights and a star to cap off the parcel scrawled around the cardboard. I thought it was cute. I brought it from my foyer to my living room where no other guests resided.

No other presents existed either. It was just small enough to stuff into a stocking. I smiled at the sole red and white sock hanging on my mantle.

After I retired to my bedroom I fell asleep with the warmth and worry-free conditions that my space provided. I felt snug. A coziness enveloped me like a glass of cognac and a high quality cigar. In the morning I would be by myself again. It didn’t bother me one bit.

I looked forward to the solitude. I was like a captain out to sea, knowing the waves and the crashes and still being resilient against the tide. That’s something I wear as a badge of courage. To meet my existence with truth and clear-eyed facts allowed me to slumber.

Once I awakened, I sensed that everything had been the same as when I had laid down for sleep. I rode down my elevator, feeling charged and ready to open the curious box.

“Simon,” I commanded the virtual assistant, “turn on the fireplace.”

The blaze immediately increased and improved the temperature and my mood, respectively. So, I took hold of the Christmas tree package. Upon opening it, I smiled. Then, I laughed almost maniacally but I controlled my emotions.

I read the inscription:

We decided since you’re rational, whole,

That you’re in line with what’s real.

Take this lump of coal

As a way to reason and feel!

I chuckled lightly to myself. I beheld the hunk of carbon. Underneath the poem, a slip unfolded. It showed writing that looked like it had been written in longhand. I could barely make out the writing, but I could still see the one followed by eleven zeroes.

It was from my stock in the Fossil Fortitude Corporation being delivered to me. I was all alone but I felt the money already reaching my account. In my mind, I clutched my own selfishness and happiness. I didn’t feel the bite of loneliness due to my ability to entertain myself, go out to dinner with a young woman.

Her name was Yalana and her face featured soft blackness and diamond eyes. Through the blistering cold, she would be my date and bring warmness to my mind much like that package.

I wore an evening suit that complimented my black skin. It featured navy blue and a sky blue shirt and black and blue paisley tie. I used my smartphone to dial my personal driver and tipped the man, Arthur Gainan.

“Merry Christmas, Arthur,” I intoned.

He looked at the sizable donation I bestowed upon him and we went off into traffic. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Graff. I like this woman you’re with now,” Arthur announced.

“I’m in agreement with you,” I replied.

We arrived at her condominium with an escalator in it.

She wore a flowing red velvet colored fur coat and an icy white hat to match. Once Arthur opened the door for her, I had the chance to compliment. She rushed to peck my neck. I returned the favor.

“Yalana, you are striking.” I said.

“And you, Melton, are glowing. Merry Christmas, sir.”

“Merry Christmas to you, my dear,” I spoke aloud. and kissed her hand. She smiled.

We pulled up to the Mercier Hotel. There, we prepared to enter. A man in an expensive suit as well came up to us.

“You ain’t got this. I work. I got money!”

“Yalana go inside out of this cold. I’ve got some straightening to do.”

She agreed and allowed her cost to be taken revealing a stark velvet green gown. She sat down at our usual table.

Back out in the cold I addressed the man.

“Do we need to get this aired out, sir?”

“Don’t call me sir! I work for a living!”

“Will scumbag suffice?”

The man’s eyes turned to fire. He wanted to slap me it looked like. He banished that thought. Good for him.

“Now, like you were saying, you’ve ‘got money.’ ‘You work.’ That’s great. But you don’t produce on my level. The money matters and I love it, but it is productive work that makes it matter. Have your money. Enjoy it. Just don’t come to me with your two dollars. Learn how to earn. Merry Christmas.”

The man’s fire extinguished and he backed away and shuffled off into the distance. A look of fear colored his face. I wrapped my coat around me and entered the hotel and sat with Yalana.