Nights are sleepless for me. I’ve never felt that sleeplessness before. That ‘beneficial deal’ was more like a curse for me. I await tomorrow as it’s the end…the end…It all started about a month back. I was a happy go lucky vagabond with not much of what most would call riches. But, what I did have was friendship, not just a normal friendship, but friendship with the country’s richest man, Dr. James Clifford. How he, a man with a double-doctorate, and me, a 10th grade failure became friends…don’t even ask. Anyway, he offered to satisfy my every need but me, the modest devil I was, was too embarrassed to take his money. Secretly, I was always jealous of his money and craved to be like him. I walked around aimlessly, while James walked around the Rashtrapati Bhavan hand in hand with the President of India. I got dirty looks shot my way with razor sharp daggers in them while he got respected looks his way. I returned to my tiny aluminum roofed house with god knows how many people in it and he stayed in a 8 BHK house with 13 people in it. People actually considered him modest when he told him that he stayed in a 8 BHK bungalow. My kids swam with lazy kids up to no good in the lake nearby while his swam in a private pool with prodigies. I was fed up with my dumb life and I gave up on it. I finally decided to approach James and ask him for a financial favor. After a little ‘chat’ with the guards and around 51 more people, I finally got to have a private meeting with James. James, the amazing guy he is, welcomed me warmly. I was honored. Then after he ordered all the guard’s to leave, to my surprise, he started sobbing. After 4 long minutes of consolation, I figured out that he was suffering from stress and was fed up with all his money. I thanked god silently and snatched the opportunity. We struck a deal and decided we would swap places for exactly a month. This deal would be into action tomorrow. I ran home jubilantly and we packed everything up. It was time for a new life, or so I thought.
After completely settling in into the new manor, I checked “my” calendar(given by James). I almost fainted… I had no time to watch ‘The Flash’ or play ‘GTA 5’ or buy that new XBOX 360 from Amazon. I hoped everyday would be better than the last but it was the same story every single day. Meeting-Lunch with guests-Meeting-Travel to Bombay-Meeting-Dinner with guests-Meeting-Sleep.I couldn’t couldn’t even talk to my family. But, the worst part was that I couldn’t sleep at night. Security was too big an issue. What if someone murdered me? What if a thief took all my money? What if…the possibilities were endless. For the first time in my life, I really started to wonder…is it really worth it? I still await tomorrow as the last day of the deal.
This story is a classic in the pages of thought. It really does get you thinking. “Money, you’re sorry if you have it and you’re sorry if you don’t.”