My cousin Roy was getting married; he was
getting married on his 50th birthday party; and better yet, Roy ’s brother David was
paying for all the expenses! Wonder why? I’ll tell you all in the
next 7 minutes.
Roy
has always been the fun topic of the family for years. Not only because of he
is the youngest of the six siblings; but also because his care-free lifestyle
and spontaneous never-ending charm.
Unlike his older sisters and brothers who
were born in Shanghai , and later moved to Hong
Kong with my rich Aunt and Uncle; by the time Roy was born in the mid 1950s, my Aunt and
Uncle had well settled down in HK. Growing up, Roy was the most fashionable kid in the
block. A head taller than the tallest brothers, he was also a popular
basketball star throughout his early school years. When Roy
was 17, all of his siblings had left for the US to study for their PhDs or
masters degrees. Roy
hated to be left behind, so he came to the States to finish his high school
studies.
There his less ordinary life began to take
shape. Roy
never really received his bachelor’s degree. Rumor in the family says
that the last day before graduation, he was all packed to go; only to find out
that he was 1 credit too short from getting the diploma! There was no way
that he’d stay for 1 more semester just to fulfill one dreadful credit.
So that was the end of his higher education.
Afterwards, Roy
became a furniture store owner selling exotic bedroom furniture, first in California , and than in Las Vegas . My uncle’s family always
had money so resource wasn’t a problem; whether the store was profitable wasn’t
a problem either, so long as Roy
was happy. And happy he was. Roy
has a natural talent in art decoration; he exercised his skills passionately on
his showrooms. Besides that, every several years he would renew his
top-notch sports cars, as well as his Barbie look-alike girl-friends.
Besides being a handsome 6-footer, Roy
has a very affable nature. Those who around him fall for his charm
irresistibly; and of course his expensive hobbies and his wealth were also very
prominent.
Roy
never liked to think about marriage. Guys like him could never be
confined with a single relationship, or to take on so much responsibility as to
support a family. But one day, some 16 years ago, Roy
got a phone call from Catherine from Phoenix
. Catherine was a former modal for the Playboy magazine, but she was not
one of the girl-friends who had sustained for more than a couple of years in Roy ’s life; she was a
one-night stand from several years ago. Catherine told Roy
that she was to be married soon; “Good for you”, said Roy
light heartedly; then Catherine told that she and Roy had a son named Alex; Alex was at the
time 4 or 5 years old. The news stunned Roy at first. When he came about, he
steadfastly denied any existence of such a thing. Calmly Catherine said:
“Fine. I am only telling you about Alex out of courtesy. My fiancé is
happy to father Alex if you don’t”. That was absurd; Roy couldn’t let his own flesh and blood be
out there in the world without knowing who his real father is! So went
the blood work and the DNA test. Sure enough, Alex was THE “royal”
blood. Thereafter till this day, little Alex lived with his half foster
family on Roy
’s fat check, with visitations to the Royal premises 4 times a year.
Even though Roy looked 15 years younger than his real
age, appearance doesn’t always justify for a younger body. Earlier this
June, Roy was having extreme tiredness and
fatigue; one morning Jana, his girlfriend of six years, drove Roy to the hospital for a checkup. As
it turned out, Roy
had a severe heart condition called Aortic dissection, where the inner
and outer layers of a major artery are split; causing blood budges between the
layers. Should the pressure bearing outer layer ever burst open, which is
practically at any moment, then within 20 short minutes Roy would be sent to the better world
above! The inevitable operation was scheduled for the same day. At
this unfortunate turnout, Roy
’s 2nd brother David rushed to the hospital. Roy said to David:
“This really sucks, I am not even gonna make it to
my 50th birthday!”
“Stop that nonsense!” David said, holding his baby
brother’s hand: “Just be a good boy and we will get through this
operation. I promise you a big birthday party in September.”
The unspoken truce was that they both knew Roy ’s chance of survival
was only 50 percent.
Halfway to the operating room, Roy fumbled through his belongings in search
of his cell phone.
“What are you doing?” David asked.
“I need to call my lawyer.”
“What for?”
“Jana.”, Roy
said solemnly, “If I am gone today, I don’t have anything left for Jana…”
Fighting back tears, David reassured Roy that should the adverse happen, he will take care of
Jana for Roy
. David had always been the most dependable and caring brother in the family;
a promise of this magnitude was not to be taken lightly. With that
thought, Roy submitted himself to the able hands
of the Las Vegas
surgeons.
As you have guessed, looking forward to a free
birthday party and dreading on the opportunity of David taking care of Jana, Roy survived the
operation. Not only that, he recovered quickly in the following two
months and resumed his daily rituals. The doctor assured him that his
repaired vessel will last for another 60 years without a glitch. Feeling
grateful for his new life, Roy did not forget
the deep emotion and the surge of responsibility that he had for Jena during his near
death experience. He casually told David who was busy arranging for the
upcoming birthday party, “Hey brother, while you are at it, Jena and I will get married as well.
And don’t worry about the wedding cost. I’ll cover that by myself.”
That’s where I was two weeks ago in Las Vegas ; attending Roy ’s 50th birthday party and his
wedding both at the same time, along with 300 other guests. All paid for
by Roy ’s
brother, David. Oh, Roy
’s share of the “wedding cost” turned out to be a $100 donation to the priest.
