‘Oh, don’t I know,’ said Prasad looking ardently at Roopa. ‘Without peace of mind, money is mere burden.’
‘That’s what all the moneyed say, while making more of it all the time,’ said Sathyam in irritation. ‘The only attribute of man is his wealth and you very well know about that.’
‘I won’t fault you for your feelings,’ said Prasad solicitously. ‘But it’s the sore foot that knows where the shoe pinches, does it not?’
‘Show me the currency,’ said Roopa thoughtfully, ‘that could be exchanged with happiness.’
‘How true,’ said Prasad ardently. ‘If there’s one, won’t my lot be a lot better.’
‘I’m sure you won’t part with a paisa ever more than needed,’ said Sathyam, serving himself another large. ‘That is, even for curing your ailment, whatever it is.’
‘Well, for a late starter,’ said Prasad playing up to Sathyam’s ego, ‘you seem to have covered a lot of ground.’
‘Capacities do differ, my boy,’ said Sathyam. ‘Well, I can stand on a bottle even.’
‘Because my sister is able to stand you,’ said Prasad. ‘What do you say, Roopa?’
‘If only I lose my patience,’ she said in half jest, ‘then you would know.’
By then, as he felt that it was wiser for him to leave the scene before he was forced to take sides, said Prasad joking, ‘I had better left before that happens.’
When Prasad was all set to leave, Sathyam insisted that he stayed on for dinner. However, the guest excused himself to review the situation as he drove home.
‘Oh how does one go astray when exposed to things that he was deprived of for years!’ thought Prasad getting into his Benz, ‘Sathyam is eyeing money as much as I ogle at his wife. Sure he won’t let go an opportunity to grease his palms to the hilt. Left to himself, he might soon acquire the vice for making money, and could end up being a hoarder as well. And that might suit his progeny, if they ever arrive, but what of me. But wouldn’t that jeopardize my plans of making it with her?’
‘It’s about time that I had activated the second string of my bow,’ he resolved, answering his question all by himself. ‘As Sathyam makes those extra bucks, I should enable him to part with some of them to the sex workers and as they give and take as well, are there any that deserve better than them. Besides, even if the last vestiges of hesitancy were to prevent him from going the whole hog at extortion, then the need to foot the bed bills and all would ensure a vice like grip on his corrupted psyche. Well, it’s time that Sathyam got hooked onto the whores. All said and done, only the charms of the call-girls could wean him away from his wife, to make way for me as her paramour. And the craftier they are, the better it is for me, isn’t it?’