SHAWN
The venue of the gala is steaming with people, just like I expected.
Expensively dressed people were already making connections as they waited for the guards at the entrance of the hall to scan their tickets and let them in. The air outside was thick with the scent of heavy perfumes and the ozone of high-end electric engines idling in the circular driveway.
Outstretching my hand, I helped my mother out of the car like a gentleman, my fingers brushing the silk of her gown as she stepped onto the red carpet. My grandfather got out of the other side of the car with his staff, looking fastidiously classic in a sharp black suit and leather brown shoes that shone like dark glass under the floodlights.
Grandpa Max stood with a spine as straight as a bayonet. He had that old-world eleg
