No part of this episode may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system – except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper – without permission in writing from the publisher, Creole Gaudet.
“Dillon. Seriously though. I’d like to offer you this cash. Won’t you take it?”
“Again, thank you and no.”
“Please, don’t get offended. I’m just asking because…you might need it. I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off that way. I’m just used to earning everything I have. It’s just the way I am. It’s the way I was raised.”
“Much respect. I admire that. I’m used to having everything. I was the only child, so…”
“You were spoiled?”
“Rotten…if I had let my dad have his way… I won’t say that I wasn’t accepting and that I didn’t have lots of expensive things. I still do, but it doesn’t define me. I’ve worked, Dillon. McDonald’s…”
“As like a manager?”
“Nope. On the grill, the drive-through, cleaning the bathrooms, and putting out the trash. I even worked overnight… You don’t look surprised.”
“Should I be?”
“I guess not.”
“Was that it? McDonald’s?”
“No. I was a car salesman for like six months. I worked as a cashier at Winn-Dixie, a server at a restaurant on St. Charles… Get this, my cousins and my ex all came in one night, and guess who got their table?”
“Nah… No way!”
“It was David, his wife Laura, my cousin Mark, Chris, who’s my ex, and his sister Kelly.”
“Did they know you worked there?”
“No! They don’t even know I’ve ever worked or had a job.”
“What’s the problem? What do they do? Don’t they have careers?”
“That’s beneath them. They’re too entitled. They’ve never had to do anything their entire lives.”
“So, did you serve them?”
“Uh, no. There was no way I was going out there. I asked my manager if I could go on break, but of course, we were way too busy.”
“You were worried because of what they might say?”
“More that I wouldn’t want to have to go through all the trouble of explaining myself. I don’t tell them everything I do or why I do it. They wouldn’t understand it anyway.
“And to be honest, Dillon, the reality of it is that I could never truly understand. I quit that night. I exited through the employee entrance, headed down the ramp to the street, got on the bus, and went straight home.
“Knowing that I didn’t have to work those jobs to support myself and that I could just walk off when and if it got too uncomfortable, could never fully give me the appreciation of what it’s like to be a person who didn’t have that option.
“It’s as if… I wanted to know how it was to be a normal person, Dillon.
“So much so that I’d even considered giving up all my wealth so that I could have a real life with real struggles alongside real people.
“But, as an heir to my family’s estate and the bearer of their name, I have responsibilities. I have a legacy. There are foundations and charities that I’ll one day be in charge of. There are people who are going to depend on me.”
“That sounds heavy. You must really be rich, Camilla.”
“I’m not rich, Dillon. I’m wealthy. Very wealthy. There’s a difference.”
“I’m not either, so I’ll have to take your word for it.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Your wealth?”
“Yeah.”
“I guess I don’t feel one way or the other. There’s nothing wrong with being wealthy or having lots of money. If you’re born into a comfortable life, it is what it is. You shouldn’t be shunned or punished for it.
“You’re still a human being. You have emotions and feelings just like everyone else, rich or poor. If you were a snob or had an entitled mindset like your cousins… I guess that would be different. But, from what I know of you, so far, you’re a warm, kind, and wonderful person, Camilla.
“I like you. I like you a lot. I really do.”
“I like you, too, Dillon. You being so natural and down to earth may be just what I need in my life.”
“And your ex still hangs out with your cousins? What’s that all about?”
“It’s a long and complicated story. He’s not even worth mentioning right now.”
“Not right now…? So, he’s going to come up at some point. That’s what it sounds like to me.”
“It’s only because they’re all friends.”
“There’s some history there.”
“You’re not just a pretty boy. You’re smart too.
“Okay… I went to four proms and all our high school functions with Chris. We were that couple, you know?
“Chris, David, and Mark have been friends since kindergarten. Kelly and I were also. Laura met David in freshman year when we all started at Tulane.”
“It’s like you’re one happy family…”
“Family, yes. Happy, not all the time. I’ll hang with them everyday and then I’m gone for weeks. I have to get my distance sometimes.”
“On one of your jobs with the regular people.”
“That hurt, Dillon.”
“I’m not meaning like that. I’m seeing your struggle. It’s like you have a want to be more rounded; have your feet on a solid foundation. Move to the beat of your own drum.”
“That’s a way of putting it.”
“Do your folks know about your working?”
“Yes, they always encourage me in whatever I do. Especially my mother. She would even be with me when I’d go and feed the homeless…”
“Go? In person?”
“If you could see the light in their eyes when they’d see us pull up…”
“That’s incredible, Camilla. You really are a giver. And you’re not doing it for recognition. It’s from the heart.”
“It is, Dillon. It is.” Camilla grinned. “Are you sure you don’t want this cash?”
“I’m sure.”
“Five thousand… Going once… Going twice…”
“Gone!”
Creole Gaudet
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