Gold, Fire & Refinement

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured." ~Mark Twain

By the time Thurgood got there that evening, the formal dining room on the main deck of the TLC was already buzzing with chatter and laughter. The wafting aroma of delicious food started teasing his taste buds as he stood for a moment taking in his yacht's exquisite décor. Elaborate vertical surrounding windows streamed in plenty of natural light while offering panoramic views of the splendid Miami seascape. The spacious room—with satin-finished cherry walls and French oak floors, a room that could easily host sixty people, that evening hosted only thirty, and most of the group would enjoy a self-serve, elegant and decadent seafood buffet dinner. Twelve round, dark cherry wood tables boasted impeccable style, and the most elegant among them was the Captain's table. It was where Dinah and Grandma Betty were seated, already waiting for him to join them at the front of the room. His was the only table being attended by waiters with menus because he wanted to give his guest a glimpse of his nothing-short-of-perfection style. 

Minutes later, shortly after he and the two women gave the waiters their orders, his staff began serving them the best lobster, shrimp, and cracked crab dinners money could buy.

After dinner, expensive wine and champagne flowed freely as many of his employee guests relaxed and chatted at their tables. With classical music playing in the background, some were strolling about, taking in awe-inspiring views of the Miami skyline and the Atlantic Ocean. When the music stopped, the tall, well-built and handsome CEO stood up and walked to a podium placed near the front of the room. With all eyes on him, he raised one hand to let his guests know he wanted their attention. After flashing a captivating smile, he glanced around the room, smoothed his tie, and zeroed in on several of the most beautiful young women in the room. As he suspected, they were checking him out. Dressed in black business attire for the evening, he knew he looked the same way he felt—like an absolute winner, and as the center of attention, he was in his element. It was a triumphant feeling, a one-of-a-kind high.

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By the time he opened his mouth to speak, the attendees, already impressed by his presence, seemed anxious to hear what their invitations promised: Thurgood Williams' "Rags to Riches" story. As the evening's only speaker, the first thing the boss told his audience was about the one question he kept in his mind, from the time he was a teenager bent on making his first million before he was thirty, until he made his first million—before he was thirty. Just one question, he said, challenged his mind day in and day out. "And that question, was how?" He looked down for a moment, then up. "I lost both my parents," he said, "My mother and my father, before I was five years old. Growing up, I could have been a mad little kid, I could have been a sad little kid, and-slash-or, I could have been a bad little kid. I was an orphan. I could have gotten lost in a messed-up social system, and any or all of a whole host of horrible things could have happened to me. But it didn't. Why? Because I'm blessed. Because God blessed my mother with one sister—and my aunt took me in, and she, with help from her mother, raised me as if I were her own child. Then, one summer my twenty-one-year-old aunt went on summer break from college. She was working on her master's degree in English, and she took a job as a babysitter for a very rich white man. That man was Robert Tyler Wilson Sr., and he was a very famous attorney who was raising his two young boys by himself after his wife died tragically, as the result of a bad car accident. Before long, R. T. Wilson and my Aunt Mary Jean fell in love, and eventually, they got married and had two daughters. That's right. In Jackson, Mississippi. Our black and white blended family was 'unorthodox' to say the least. For Mississippi, for the 1970s and 80s, and for America. We were not The Brady Bunch." Laughter rippled throughout the room. "Our story was different, but it was real." He shook one fist. "And real ... real is always more interesting, more unpredictable, and sometimes a lot funnier than fiction." Laughter rose up again, this time followed by hearty applause. Looking around the room, Thurgood knew he had his audience in the palm of his hand. Not just because he was their boss, but because he was a great speaker. Next, he told them how, after getting his bachelor's degree in journalism at Columbia and his master's at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communications, he started his broadcasting career in Chicago. He told them he fell in love with broadcasting while working in the field as a TV news reporter and anchor, for seven years.