A thing happened on Saturday that destroyed my Short Term Emergency Cash stash. While I managed to get the important stuff covered, it left me with no cash on hand until Wednesday. I resolved to do a thing to bring some money to my hand because I am very uncomfortable not having a cash buffer for Just In Case.
Sunday, before I got my thing done, I was sent on a wild goose chase with a certain amount of cash. The cash was to be my payment for the wild goose chase.
Neat. This will make me comfortable until Wednesday. Ah. Wait. I didn’t do the thing, and this doesn’t have any scent of serendipity on it. Who sent this?
-I did.- “Uh…”
-You mistrust me?- Shit. Trick question. “Yes. I do. I thank you for the generosity, but you must understand, I am always looking for the hook in the bait. Nothing is ever free.”
-Then let the debt be paid now.- My phone rings.
“Since you have money, and you can’t say you don’t because I just gave you some, buy me…” Aww… fuck. There goes the buffer. Okay. I grit my teeth and noted that after the wild goose chase, I am not any worse off than I was before. Which I count as a Good Thing. This Guy wanted to teach me a lesson about trust, lesson learned. Right?
Wrong.
“Thanks for getting my stuff. Here’s the money back for it. Since you had to spend what I gave you, might as well reimburse you for it, right? And keep the change from the run.”
Poker face: On
-Trust me now?- “What’s the catch.”
-I wanted you to have this. Nothing more.- “Nothing?”
-Do you always suspect honest gifts?- “Yes. Implied debts are a bitch.”
-No debts implied. My gift to you.- “For what reason?”
-My own.- ~sigh~ “I accept. Thank you. It does place me at ease.”
-You’re welcome.-
And that was that. Until this morning. When I received an email from a servicer. Fill out a survey, receive a credit to my account. The credit will pay for a full month of service. The credit is also the same amount as the individual cash drops yesterday. And the email has his ‘scent’ all over it.
God damn it, this is not helping my paranoia. Not one god damn bit. It takes me a long time to get to know a person to the point where I can receive a freewill gift from them without looking for the hook in the bait.
I think there are some missives I better look over very carefully. He looks lovely in that tailored suit, and gold graces him so well, but he’s mafioso through and through. And sharks have no conscious.