A Simple Thank You: A Memoir 1 Page Prologue Our story starts not with a place, but with a person. A prince amongst men. A man with no equal. My best friend. Let me lay this out for you, ladies and gentlemen. This is a story about travel. About friendship. Murder. Corruption. Wealth. About events that are completely incomprehensible to the likes of you and me. Nearly fifty years later, I still have to remind myself that this time of my life was not a dream. That I did not imagine Maurice. For in the deepest depths of my mind, I could not have created stories such as those that I will tell you. These stories are real. I promise you that. After all, nothing boggles the minds of men more than the simple truth. Fasten your seatbelts, you’re in for a bumpy ride and a journey you will never forget. 2 Page PART ONE IN THE BEGINNING 3 Page Chapter One Where Our Story Begins Our story begins with your typical all-American college. You know the type, where there are more trees than students. That’s where I decided to get my business degree and coincidentally, so did Maurice. This was probably more unusual on his part, as he had the entire of the US to choose from, and I needed to stay with my family to help out my parents. It feels like fate that out of all the colleges in America, Maurice should choose the same one as me. Despite the close-knit quarters the campus had to offer, I didn’t actually run into Maurice until Spring Break, months after I had started my classes. Thirteen guys, all from my graduating year, descended on Bermuda during Spring Break 1963. As you can probably guess, this resulted in absolute carnage. The boys who had been relatively respectful back on campus, turned into creatures who only wanted girls, alcohol and the sun. When you’re in a group of men thirteen strong, somebody is going to have to rise and lead the masses, or nothing will get done. Our leader, by popular demand, was Maurice. Everybody was happy to do whatever he asked because wherever Maurice was, the party followed. On the first evening, Maurice set the precedent for the entire trip. We all went to a bar across the road from our hotel, to have drink, whilst we waited for our thirteen scooters to be prepped for the rest of the trip. Before you make fun, it really is the best way to travel around Bermuda. Maurice said he would pay for a drink for everyone and a cheer erupted from our group. Once the drinks were no more, the group dispersed outside to wait for the scooters, leaving Maurice to pay the bill. I thought it was rude how nobody had said thank you to Maurice or offered to buy him a drink in return. So, I took it upon myself to do so. I approached him whilst he was stood at the bar, wallet in hand, and asked if I could buy 4 him a drink. A huge grin crossed his face, “Yes, thank you!” We chatted for a short while but Page went our separate ways after that. Little did I know that this seemingly meaningless event, would change my life forever. 5 Page Chapter 2 In Which There is a Chance Meeting I returned to college and got on with my studies. I was busy with classes and working for my dad, so I didn’t see much of Maurice at all after that Spring Break. Then completely by chance, over Labour Day weekend, in 1967, I received a distress call from a friend saying that her pocketbook had been stolen and she couldn’t get to the airport to head back to college. Would I mind giving her a lift to the airport? I reluctantly agreed, always a sucker for a damsel in distress. I had been planning to rest up during my weekend off from work, but you know what they say about best laid plans! As I pulled up at the airport and my friend got out of the car, I heard a voice shouting, “Gary.” The last syllable of my name was so stretched out it became like an ‘ee’ sound! The voice wasn’t familiar to me, but I bet you can guess who it was. Maurice was standing outside the airport doors, a suitcase in his hand, waving and smiling like a lunatic. His white teeth seemed so stark against his dark coffee skin. Although that could just have been because of how wide his smile was. “What are you doing here Gary?” He enquired, sticking his head inside the passenger window of my car. I explained to him that I was helping out a friend. His smile became even wider when I said this, expanding more than I thought possible. “That sounds like the Gary I’ve be told about.” Maurice replied and pulled his head back out of the window with no further explanation. The next thing I knew, I heard the trunk of my car opening and a suitcase being thrown carelessly inside. The passenger door then flew open and Maurice dropped into the seat beside me. I ended up taking Maurice back to his apartment. We talked about everything that had happened to us after graduation and our plans for the future. As it turned out, we both planned to travel around Europe next summer. Then Maurice asked a question. A very 6 Page important question. The question that set this whole thing into motion. “Why don’t we go together?” “There’s no way I can go with you Maurice. You have far more money than me, I wouldn’t be able to keep up.” I had heard rumors of Maurice’s family’s wealth since our first meeting in Bermuda and nothing I had seen had proven this to be inaccurate. “Well, Gary.” He began. I found myself smiling at the way he elongated my name. “How much money do you plan to take with you?” ‘ Almost embarrassed by my answer I responded, “Three thousand dollars.” I had spent the summer working my way around Route 66 and this is what I had managed to save up, in addition to working for my father. “Well that’s settled then, I’ll take three thousand dollars too! The second either one of us is broke, we’ll head home. What do you think of that?” I eyed him suspiciously and asked him, “Why would you want to do that? Why do you want me to go with you so badly that you’d choose to travel with so little money?” I could tell Maurice had been waiting for me to ask this question, as his eyes lit up with excitement and his black eyebrows inched further up his forehead. “When we got back from Bermuda Gary, I asked my friends about you. You’re unique. Did you know you were the only one to say thank you and offer to buy me a drink in return on that trip?” I shook my head, still not understanding what this had to do with Europe. “I bought hundreds of drinks on that trip and not one person, except for you, was kind enough to offer to pay me back. It’s not money that’s the issue here Gary, I have plenty of that. It’s people’s expectations, their morals. Everybody these days is a taker. They squeeze you dry. But not you. No, not you.” “And what exactly does this have to do with Europe Maurice?” 7 Page “Oh, yes, well I don’t want to travel with people who take things from me and expect me to be their financier! Have I mentioned I had one friend who took my Mercedes and never bothered to give it back? Can you believe that? No, I think travelling with you would be nice. It would be a change for me. I can promise you one hell of a time if you say you will!” At this point in the journey we had pulled up outside Maurice’s apartment building. “Look Gary, you don’t have to decide now. Think about it. We’ll meet up on Saturday and talk about it then.” Maurice went to the trunk of the car to collect his suitcase. As he walked off through the doors of his building, he shouted back to me, “Bring a date!” 8 Page Chapter Three In Which We Make Our Plans Of course, the evening went exactly as Maurice had planned. I met him outside his apartment building and Maurice told me to follow his car. He hopped into a sporty little Mercedes and I followed, feeling slightly ashamed of my dad’s truck. On our way to wherever Maurice had decided we were going, we reached a toll booth. I pulled up to the window only to be told that the car in front had paid for me. The same thing happened when I followed Maurice into a hotel parking lot, my parking had already been paid for by the ‘gentleman in front’. This would be the start of an ongoing competition between Maurice and I to see who could pay first. The prize? Our pride. Little did he know, I had a plan! Upon entering the restaurant, I pretended to go to the restroom. Instead, I went to the front desk and told them to make sure the cheque came to me.