The Billionaire's Hair

O1: The Billionaire's Daily Routine

It was the day after Ernest Michaelson's 56th birthday that he decided he needed to retire. He sighed with relief as he was ushered into his limo as soon as he was finished signing all the papers. Staring out at all the buildings zooming past, Ernest couldn't wait to get home and tell his wife and kids of the latest development. The sky was blue, basketball was a sport and Ernest Michaelson was no longer employed.

"Is the cat still stuck?" he heard his driver angrily but quietly screech into his cell and he wondered what the context was. As they drove past drab skies and equally drab buildings containing sad employees inside them, he wondered how he would announce his retirement to his family.

"Then lure him out with food," he heard Louis forcefully mutter into his phone again. "It's been months, Rachel."

Now Ernest was pretty intrigued. The sky had begun to weep before them now and as much as he tried to feign disinterest he wondered how a stuck cat would react to the increasingly pounding, angry rain. He chose to switch on his laptop and work on something to pass the time and not be worried about the matter and it was only before he loaded up his estimates sheet that he realized he had to work no more. Retirement would take a lot more time getting used to. He still lit up a new datasheet on his screen anyway and tried to think of animal responses to rain.

Just as Ernest got to the 5th row on his code, he heard an exasperated noise from the driver's seat.

"Fuck's sake, we got rid of his balls for a reason." Louis moaned ruefully into his phone. He seemed to consider smashing his head against the steering wheel for a fleeting moment before he realized his employer's amused gaze on him and he straightened up. "Rachel, take care of him. I'll call you later."

"Is everything alright, Louis?" Ernest couldn't help himself, he wanted to piece together the problem from what he'd heard, but the latest exchange had left him with more questions.

Louis furrowed his brows, conflicted on whether or not to answer the question. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, Ernest's phone rang.

Ernest was most surprised to see the caller to be his son. He knew that this could only mean two things: he'd been kicked out of school again for some kind of farce or that he'd landed himself in a situation requiring immediate financial aid. Neither scenario sounded too good to him, but he picked up the call anyway, somewhat relieved River still had the sense to call him, which was probably a good sign. Probably.

"DAD?" River bellowed at the other end, making Ernest promptly shrink away from his phone.

"River? Is everything alright?"

Just as Ernest asked this, he heard several whooshes of wind, some indiscernible curse words and an unexplained 'MROW'.

"River-" The line went dead and just as Ernest considers calling back, he hears Louis clear his throat.

"Sir, I believe your son is uh, at my residence currently." He looked visibly distressed. "My daughter has informed me of the problem at hand. It seems they are trying to rescue a blind cat."

"Rescue from what?" questions Ernest.

"Sir, it is blind."

____________________________________________________________________________

It had taken Ernest the simple reasoning to deduce that the described feline was blind, and the fact that both his children were washed up at Louis' house in the middle of a storm. He thought to himself that it was quite kind of both River and Tiffany to be attempting to save the cat, and that he should probably help them.