Eve Of A Thousand Wakes

30 The Bachelor Party

The 50th floor of Malory Towers had a banquet hall so spacious that it dwarfed the town hall of Norwich City. Ten years back, when the 50th story was constructed, Jake's late father, Richard Grayson, had named the cavernous den Chive hall after a street he grew up on.

Chive street belonged to rural Scotland. The name was reminiscent of Richard’s journey from a hapless boy on the streets of central Scotland to the wealthiest man in one of the leading cities in America. His rags to riches story was fit for a movie screenplay.

Unfortunately, Richard suffered a heart attack three years back, leaving his staggering empire for Jake. His son was a swashbuckling businessman and took Grayson Enterprises to greater heights. However, he did not share the same roots of sentimentality characteristic of the founder of the company. The previous year, Jake had renamed the banquet space to Elysium Hall.

Regardless, Elysium Hall lived up to the grandeur of its name. The ceiling, fifty feet high, was