1001 Nights Cast

It was time for a change. Nick D’Ancona was sure of it. He stood looking out the window of his office, eyes focused on the skyline. The setting sun bounced its rays off the wings of light planes over the city. A clear day like this one brought out the amateur flyers in droves. It was something he’d enjoyed watching before, but this evening he wasn’t seeing them.

In his head he could still hear Nadine’s brittle voice. ‘This is the ultimatum, Nick. Let me have what I want, or my lawyers will break you. Your call.’

He shook his head now, remembering her anger, extreme even for her. Their married life had been a roller coaster ride from the beginning. In the early days, when they dated at university and then after the wedding, her fiery nature had been thrilling to him. When they made love, she was totally there, present to him with an open heart, her body responsive in a way he had never encountered before. His earlier fumblings with girls at school hadn’t prepared him for the volcanic personality that was Nadine.

Over time, the fire had burned him in painful ways. She had wanted him to rise in the world and to take her with him. He came to understand that she had viewed his law degree and connections with Metro Music and mogul Dennis Pryce as a ticket to bigger cities than Indianapolis and better things than being Metro’s resident law jockey. While he was content to remain there, earning good money, socialising with Dennis and his friends and acquaintances, who were many and varied, Nadine had grown disenchanted with him in every way. Her bitterness poisoned her, and she in turn had made every effort to poison him with her fevered ambition. He never could figure out why she didn’t simply rise to the top herself. She had the drive. What she lacked, however, was the brains to make it through law school.

Once he had said to her, in the midst of an ugly fight, ‘You know, Nadine—if you slept with the right people, you could end up in Chicago or New York yourself. You don’t need me to take you there. You have real-time knowledge of gourmet sex. Guys like Dennis pay good money for an inventive call girl.’ She had grabbed the nearest table lamp and thrown it at him. He narrowly ducked it. When she set upon him with teeth and claws, he pulled her to the floor. It was one of the highlights of his marital sex life, her rage inspiring nearly demented passion.

Now as he stood watching the sun go down over the city, he laughed humourlessly and muttered, ‘She would have made a fine courtesan.’ As a wife, on the other hand, she was a back-breaker like none other.

The phone rang again. With dread, he picked up. ‘Metro Music, Nick D’Ancona speaking.’

‘Ciao, Nick! I’m leaving for the club. Are you free to come along? I need to talk about a new contract, but I’d like to do it over food and wine.’ The voice on the phone was smooth and persuasive.

Nick smiled, immediately relaxing into an old friendship. ‘Sure, Dennis. I’ll close up here and meet you in the lobby. It might take me a few minutes.’

‘Excellent. I’ll be there. Take your time–I’ll have the papers with me, so I can read them while I wait. Ciao.’ He rang off with his usual impatience. In a mere mortal, Dennis Pryce’s manners might offend, but he was, to Nick and to many others, a local hero and thus exempt from the customary rules.

Nick grinned and shut down his computer, gathered some papers into his briefcase, and turned off the lights. Looking around his plush office, he thought yet again how much he loved this life. No amount of nagging, persuasive sex, or furious recrimination from Nadine could have pried him away and sent him off to a place he didn’t love.