The two men sat face-to-face—an old man with glasses on his eyes and a cigar in his mouth and a young man with a beard.
The old man, the chairperson of a prestigious club that caters for influential multi millionaires suddenly put his hand into the right pocket of the coat. He found nothing, so he took a deep breath and sat down straight.
"What were you looking for?" That young man asked, "Cigars?" This younger person is himself a millionaire and deputy chairperson of the club and looking to replace the older man.
"No"
"Then?"
"I enjoy doing this, my habit," said the old man.
Meanwhile, the server arrived with the menu. The old man asked, lifting the glass, "Tell me... what is this celebration for?" "I can stay here for the next thirty minutes,"
"I am very grateful to you. You have kindly arrived on my first call. " The young man started speaking.
Don’t tell me the details; come to the point. The old man interrupted.
I need your favor!
"You could have come to my offices or asked on the phone!"
"No, not in your office."
"Now, come to the point."
"Please don’t attend tomorrow’s meeting."
"Why?" he asked, curiously.
"If you are not in the meeting staking your claim to the chairmanship, they will extend the chairmanship offer to me. That’s why, he said, with slight hesitation.
"But you surprised me with your courage"
The old man said it in a gentle tone, but it sounded as if a hungry hawk had pricked his bare body with its claws. The young man looked at the old man and thought, "Was it that hungry hawk coming towards him?
"Oh, and why should I do that? Why did you think I would propose your name for the chairmanship of this guild? "The old man continued in his cool manner. He paused for a while and then said, "Okay, I will do it for you."
"Thanks, I knew you would encourage the youth," He was a little more confident now, "But I will do that in your absence."
"That means you can't face me in the meeting. You have no courage to express your absurd ambition, right? said the old man, and he laughed aloud, almost scolding him.
"Good joke...." The old man was still laughing.
"Not a joke, it’s a fact!" The young man continued, "I have been reading and appreciating your articles since childhood."
"You're clever and cunning."
I can’t think of you saying that, "said the young man.
The old man took his purse out of his pocket.
"Please put your purse back in your pocket?" said the young man.
The festival is over. The deal is final, "the old man laughed." Listen, I am not compelled to accept anything from you.
"This is a request, not an order, sir!" said the young man with folded hands.
The old man murmured, "I’m not compelled to accept your every request." And before the young man could understand anything, he took out a note of one hundred from the purse and put it on the tray containing the coffee pot. Image
You took on a good challenge, @rayt2 — to tell a story with the three important elements of action, dialong and narrative. It's a great skill to develop! I was a little bit confused at the end, so I think you could have used a little more narrative to help us understand who the main character of the story is, and what is at stake as the younger man tries to obtain the chairmanshiop. But I enjoyed the story! Keep writing!
It seems both men have their sabers out and are dueling. Who has the upper hand? Each is convinced he has the upper hand. At the end of the story readers are left to wonder, but it seems the older man is wiser and will win this contest.
Thank you for posting this engaging story in the Ink Well community. We appreciate that you support others by engaging with them.
This is a really interesting style of writing. There's not much in term of exposition but the dialogue more than made up for it. Honestly, it felt like I'm reading a script rather than a short story but I really liked it.
I enjoyed reading the back and forth between the young guy and the old man. The story has very nice small details that enrich it.
This is a simple sentence but it brings out the character very nicely. Well done.