To Have and Hold Onto

He has three homes - one, a prestigious Dallas condo with a star studded history of celebrity residents - and four cars - one an old and unreliable but still impressive Mercedes. He has closets overflowing with designer clothes and shoes and drawers full of priceless rings and watches. Antiques are perfectly positioned throughout the homes, side by side with the pictures of famous people he once knew - John Saxon, Angela Lansbury, Ann Miller - and he keeps plastic surgeons on call for the slightest sign of uneasy aging. He lives on vanity, memories of being at the top of his game, anonymous sex and a reputation for temper tantrums and self-centeredness. He does not like to dirty his hands among the lower classes, preferring to make his living off them while gossiping only about their betters. He allows the word "no" in his vocabulary but not in that of others and when traveling he stays in only the best hotels. He likes being catered to and expects to be accommodated regardless of how unreasonable or unrealistic his demands. His humor is malicious, edgy and targeted, unsparing and merciless. Worse, he has fallen on economic hard times he never reckoned were even possible and is lashing out at anyone close. This is a man who is finally encountering the consequences of a high flying lifestyle and coping badly. For the first time, no scapegoat is in sight and no rescue is at hand. This, after months of denial and wholesale firings, after all the creative financing and endless borrowing, after watching his world slowly crumble, this he will have to confront on his own. He talks of giving up.

His is a non essential service, a luxury that people are hard pressed to afford in a time of choosing between health care and groceries. He sells dreams and one in a million possibilities of magazine covers and stardom. He teaches how to walk and dress and apply makeup in a world of people who can't pay their light bills. He offers the vague promise of magic to children and parents who can't pay the rent and a glossy portfolio in place of a meal. His life is about appearances and possessions, about runways and cameras and being in the spotlight. He has not changed with the times, has not kept up or adapted and the dreams he promotes do not fight off foreclosures or bankruptcy or simple job loss. What he does has taken a distant fourth or fifth place to keeping a family intact and fed, in school and employed, out of crushing debt. The first class, designer days are fading fast and the future is cloudy with dread and uncertainty.

Despite the warning signs, reality often arrives when we are least prepared for it, when it's too late for compromise or cut backs. Reality doesn't negotiate.