Budget Reports

I had just sat down to my lovely chicken and rice dish from the conveniently placed Japanese foodery when Jelly turned up, a bit earlier than usual. I said, “You’re a bit early Jelly,” and he replied, “It’s never too early for Jelly”, and I had to agree. We delighted once again in the resplendent faux Egypt age of the pharaoh style architecture of the Paramount, although the mirrored columns were more than an echo of New York’s infamous Studio 54 in the 70’s. Why, I almost expected tanned, gold-panted, blonde-headed boys to be cascading down the stairway presaging a night of wicked fun and debauchery. But soon I was back in reality. I texted Butter to find out “where he was at” and he replied in text, “On my way c**t.” He has a way with words that one. When Butter arrived he mentioned how he could really do with a black-bottomed snake (or words to that effect). We all laughed heartily, as we have done so many times before at the excellent wit and aptness of his statement. “You’re telling me,” I chortled. As usual, I couldn’t finish my dish and had left some leftover rice on the table. Jelly started taking exquisite photos of the scenes around us. They will be coming out soon in his forthcoming, exclusive photo history of the paramount called, I Paramount or The Arse of Paramount: A Photographic Rendition of the Age of the Food Court. It was his black and white photograph of the single grain of rice that moved me to tears. “You can see the whole world in a simple grain of rice,” I opined and the others didn’t say anything, like they hadn’t heard me at all. But I had heard me and that was all that mattered. Jelly left early due to work commitments leaving Butter and I to chew the fat. Unfortunately, halfway through a foul-mouthed tirade against the confinements of the working paradigm, Butters noticed that his soon-to-be former supervisor was sitting at a nearby table. I reassured Butters that he had said nothing out of order and all those bastards had it coming anyway. But when at last we parted, and I looked at his thin figure striding in determination back his job at the Department of Unearthly Delights, I wondered how long it would be before he paid dearly for his rash words at Paramount and borrowing money from his gainfully employed, fellow chaps Jelly and Peanut.