The meeting continued with short and redundant presentations of the projects RowZero was working on. They patted themselves on the back, as well they should, for doing exceptional work. After that, they went through the benefits, which were considerable if you accepted the far lesser pay of being a salaried employee. Further, the company gave everyone a shiny, new, prestigious cell phone. Sadly, the shipment was a little short and some would be going home without. I knew I would be one of those. Ahmad didn't like me.

He harbored a lot of envy because he didn't have the same type of life Geoffrey and Silas enjoyed because of their whiteness, or more accurately, their normalcy. That didn't apply to me. Ahmad despised me because I didn't have the desire to spend so many hours filling his pocket. That I had an extensive life outside his operation made him grind his teeth. I left the meeting, knowing he had snubbed me in front of everyone. I had exposed Ahmad earlier, to him only, proving that RowZero was stealing from its employees. By the time I got into that bed of mine, the one that looked out over Newport Beach and the Pacific, there was no way I could justify trading my experiences in flying and sailing for what those guys were doing. I compared my experience in Alaska the previous summer to the types of lives described at the meeting and slept soundly.

I went back to what I wrote in March that year: One morning on the way to Cabo, Judge and I got into the rum a little early. He toasted me with the old saying, "Living well is the best revenge." I told him that it was more important to make freedom than money.