Ma was a corporation now. It’s an odd thing to say, an odder thing to be. Besides the group of us who worked for her full time, she had scores others reliant on her success for their bread and butter. There was the woman who did her hair, her make-up guy—who, of all things, was straight—her clothes stylist, her personal assistant, my personal assistant, Brian’s assistant, and the myriad of marketing people that worked for him, off and on. There was the pool boy—now he was gay, and amen to that, because what a waste of a perfectly good fantasy otherwise—plus the maid who travelled with her from house to house, the occasional limo driver, the gardeners, and all the rest who were hired when needed. All this I kept up with, cutting checks like a mower cuts grass: in great swaths.
“What’s it l
