From Jester To King LXXVI

We had a signing and closing at work yesterday which meant me bringing the papers up to the boardroom having them scrutinised by the board by their lawyers and our lawyers, us and them, and their advisors and our advisors and their advisors’ advisors, and the merchant bankers, so you get the picture, and after you’ve gone through all the people and paper you don’t know who’s who what’s what, and it’s just easier to put on your brightest smile and act like you know. But I shouldn’t have worried because as I walk in I remember I’m working for Berwin. Berwin, once Berwyn, previously Berwins and before that Berwin & Company and despite all the name changes the core values were still extant and that basically meant a whole load of Jews. And as I walk in I remember how Jewish these Jews were, not afraid to show it, not that they should be, it was more like a Lubavitcher conference and the preponderance of beards and those wiry beard fibres you get when the beard grows ever outwards, not to mention the yarmulkes everywhere and the fact that these men were so ladled in Jewishness, well it made it hard to believe I was a part of all this. And they were so happy and joyful, and the table was raised even higher off the floor than usual -- I don’t know if that was to set apart those who were sitting at it from those just arriving -- but I was casually invited to sit down, with all the papers I was carrying, all the clips that held them together, there was no sense of urgency or panic to it, everyone was relaxed, chatting, and then I remember thinking, god I’m really doing this I am, I’m really here and taking part, because sometimes I need to pinch myself to check I’m not dreaming, I mean why it should surprise me I don’t really know, I’m a clever enough chap, but I always tend to do this double-take thingy as if it couldn’t possibly be happening and that’s when I end up doing or saying something that betrays my lack of composure. But oh no not this time! And this is so stereotypical, but guess what the deal ended up involving, yes you guessed it, diamonds, behind all the paperwork and thinking and strategizing and drawing things together that had once been apart, and behind all the tax-planning, behind all this was the big dirty D, that’s not to say that people shouldn’t want them or buy them, just that I harboured this notion that it would be a bit grander, a bit more necessary, well like building something for instance, but it all turned out to be a fairly thinly veiled way of getting our hands on even more of that money, a fine thing is money, but perhaps I am a little naïve thinking there’s always some grander purpose.