Page 4 - The Houseguest

LANCE AND KARINA
I was born Lance Powell Richards, III. If a name itself could be presumptuous, that would be mine. It’s funny how a name chosen randomly by indifferent parents can subconsciously help you form your own opinion of yourself. Or perhaps a name such as mine simply leads one to unknowingly seek and expose innate characteristics. Regardless, I felt the conflict my whole life. I wasn’t the man one’s imagination would conjure when hearing Lance Powell Richards, the third. I was Lance. Just Lance. Until I lost everything. Now I’m not sure who I am anymore.
Growing up in the quintessential New England town of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts on the northeastern shore of Martha's Vineyard, every autumn of my life was like living inside a picture postcard. Looking back, the beauty that cloaked my childhood days was almost surreal. On Saturday mornings, I would walk myself down to the Flying Horses Carousel in town, quietly reciting the clichéd jingle the whole town had memorized, whether they wanted to, or not:
There’s a Carousel in Oak Bluffs town, The horses don’t go up or down, The horses just go ‘round and ‘round, On the Carousel in Oak Bluffs town.
I became so accustomed to the autumn hues, the gingerbread cottages and the beachfront homes overlooking the waterfront that it felt like emotional whiplash when we moved to New York during our firm’s acquisition of Walter, Daniels and Reed. I was 27 when I left Oak Bluffs and had already begun a successful law practice following in the
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The Houseguest by Linda Ellis www.LindaEllis.life