Flash Read Free Page B

Jasper broke off suddenly. “In a while.”
    â€œA
long
while.” Al aimed his fork at Jasper. “You don’t get out enough. That’s one of your problems. You lack a normal social life.”
    â€œSo I’m not a party animal. So sue me.”
    Al sighed. “I’ve known you for over five years. I can tell you that you never do anything the usual way. Stands to reason that you wouldn’t have a typical, run-of-the-mill midlife crisis. Instead of an explosion, you’re going through a controlled meltdown.”
    â€œFor which you recommend a tropical island vacation?”
    â€œWhy not? It’s worth a try. Pick one of those incredibly expensive luxury resorts located on some undiscovered island. The kind of place that specializes in unstressing seriously overworked executives.”
    â€œHow do they manage the unstressing part?” Jasper asked.
    Al forked up another bite of pasta. “They give you aroom with no phone, no fax, no television, no air conditioner, and no clocks.”
    â€œWe used to call that kind of hotel a flophouse.”
    â€œIt’s the latest thing in upscale, high-end vacations,” Al assured him around a mouthful of spaghetti. “Costs a fortune. What have you got to lose?”
    â€œI dunno. A fortune maybe?”
    â€œYou can afford it. Look, Paul and Kirby and I have already picked out an ideal spot. An island called Pelapili. It’s at the far end of the Hawaiian chain. We made the reservations for you.”
    â€œYou did
what?”
    â€œYou’re going to stay there for a full month.”
    â€œThe hell I am, I’ve got a business to run.”
    â€œI’m the vice president, second largest shareholder, and the chief associate in Sloan & Associates, remember? You say you want to sell out to me. If you can’t trust me to hold the company together for a mere month, who can you trust?”
    In the end, Jasper had run out of excuses. A week later he had found himself on a plane to Pelapili Island.
    For the past three and a half weeks he had dutifully followed the agenda that Al, Kirby, and Paul had outlined for him.
    Every morning he swam in the pristine, clear waters of the bay that was only a few steps from his high-priced, low-tech cottage. He spent a lot of time reading boring thrillers in the shade of a palm tree, and he drank a few salt-rimmed margaritas in the evenings.
    On days when he could not stand the enforced tranquillity for another minute, he used the rentedJeep to sneak into the village to buy a copy of the
Wall Street Journal
.
    The newspapers were always at least three days old by the time they reached Pelapili, but he treasured each one. Like some demented alchemist, he examined every inch of print for occult secrets related to the world of business.
    Jasper thrived on information. As far as he was concerned, it was not just power, it was magic. It was the lifeblood of his work as a venture capitalist. He collected information, organized it, and filed it.
    He sometimes thought that in a former life he had probably been a librarian. He occasionally had fleeting images of himself poring over papyruses in an ancient library in Alexandria or Athens.
    Cutting himself off from the flow of daily business information in the name of relaxation had been a serious mistake. He knew that now.
    He still did not know if he was in the midst of a midlife crisis, but he had come to one definite conclusion: He was bored. He was a goal-oriented person, and the only goal he’d had until now on Pelapili was to get off the island.
    Things had changed in the last sixty seconds, however. He had a new goal. A very clear one. He wanted to avoid going over the edge of the cliff into the jeweled sea.
    The car was almost on top of him. On the off-chance that the driver was simply incredibly impatient, Jasper tried easing cautiously toward the shoulder. The Ford now had room to pass, if that was the objective.
    For a few