Cosmopolitan

Chapter 6

Without him realising it, this one first evening at the Cosmopolitan had an unimaginably huge influence on Alex and slowly but surely made him a different person. It was not immediately clear to the others either, it was a subtle development that first became apparent on his 20th birthday.

Naturally he spent his birthday in Geranium Hall, his family would not have allowed anything else. As usual, his three faithful companions, Clarence, Ivy and Daniel, had come as guests, as well as a friend of Lady Catherine and, of course, his brother.

Alex stepped outside the front gate to greet his friends, and he was a different person. He was wearing a white suit combined with a light pink silk waistcoat and two-tone leather shoes.
When the cars stopped in front of the estate, he melodramatically spread his arms and bowed. "Welcome, my dears!" he shouted and laughed in a bright, bubbly way. "What do you say now? One more year and I will be of age!"
Again he giggled. Puzzled, the others looked at each other. This was a different Alex, not the cheerful innocent boy from before, nor the cynical, dark man who had come home from the war. Instead, he seemed to them like a slightly displaced mixture of both.
Moreover, although it was still early in the day, he seemed quite drunk.
As soon as they were in the house, Alexander entered the parlour and poured himself a glass of whiskey with a strange matter of course that they had never known from him before.
Travis came to greet them as well, and as he entered the drawing room, he briefly gave Alex and the glass in his hand a worried look.

The greeting was followed by an embarrassing silence until Ivy enthusiastically said, "Here, Alex, I have a great birthday present for you!"
She hurried out and came back a little later with a wooden box. Alex opened it and looked at it with big eyes. Inside the box was a silver shimmering snake skin, artfully twisted and fixed with three wafer-thin needles.
Alex stared at Ivy. "Where did you get this?" he asked.
"Oh, I've been asking around a bit," she replied evasively.
Alex carefully placed the box on the mantelpiece.

But the most beautiful present he received was undoubtedly from Daniel. He had bought a cigarette holder, about 15 centimetres long and covered with black and white grained nacre.
Alex, who by now had drunk two more glasses of whiskey and a raspberry brandy, went completely crazy, ran to Daniel and kissed him right on the mouth.
Travis almost fainted and quickly hid his face behind a newspaper lying around.
Alex, however, didn't seem to be aware of the situation at all, but sat down comfortably in an armchair and watched the cigarette holder with concentration. Finally he took out a cigarette, put it in the holding device and looked around waiting. When nobody moved, he said reproachfully: "Won't any of you give me a light? Where have you left your manners, really! And on my birthday too!"
As still no one made any effort to move, he sighed and lit the cigarette himself. Elegantly he placed the whole construct between his index and middle finger, smiled with relish and remained in this position for a while. Then he suddenly jumped up and said loudly: "Where is the cake? No birthday without a cake! There is the most wonderful walnut tart for you!" He told them to follow and led them into the dining room, where indeed a cake of considerable size was on the table.

As everyone was about to eat their cake, Clarence quietly said to Daniel and Ivy: "Well, I don't know what to think of this new Alex. He's so weird!"
"I like him that way," Ivy laughed.
"I know you're talking about me," said Alex, and for a second something flashed in his eyes that both Clarence and Daniel knew only too well from school. It was Alex's genius, his wisdom and extraordinary powers of observation that he always tried to hide. He thought it was better to be considered simple-minded by other people because it allowed him to study them at his leisure, but sometimes a revealing remark or a glance would escape him and shake his facade.
"Of course I'm going back to London tomorrow," he said to the group. "Who would like to come along?"
Travis muttered something about business in the country and Daniel too had to help his brothers in the factory for once. Ivy wanted to visit her mother.
"Sure I'll come!" said Clarence and grinned. "No mischief without me, you know that, don't you, Alex?"
Alex smiled with satisfaction. Of course he did.