Jackie didn’t know exactly when the lights in his walk in wardrobe had deactivated himself but neither did it bother him. He was going to leave the company and after he’d just dismissed his personal assistant he wasn’t planning to go straight out and ask her to call out a a repair crew or an electrician to fix up some broken lights or a circuit board on his behalf.

‘Darkness. Nothing new to me. Where was the door again? I’ve been inside here long enough to know my away around by touch.’

He’d grown up in relative poverty when blackouts had been common enough back on his family farm when his parents and siblings had to work by candelight and emergency lamps.

The journey to becoming the CEO of one of the largest coffee companies in the world had been a little more than tiring in his mind. Everything was prepared for him to fully resign, hand over his position to be divided between the board and according to his personal recommendations those members of staff who had proved themselves to be committed, loyal and hard-working to the ethos of the business.

Part of him was sad that he had to give up this life but another was pleased to return back to his roots even if technology had rapidly increased and he was a beyond wealthy individual. The fact that he’d never married nor had any children had never bothered him. He’d adopted more than a few times in his life, mostly those who had been abandoned and divided his time between his work and raising them.

As a single father his adopted kids had always asked why he didn’t go on dates or marry when in truth he wasn’t interested in either gender of the opposite sex. Yes, he’d shown love and attention for his family and cared and given up his time to those children who been given up by their own parents but for him romance and love were simply expressed in a different form.

‘When did I get so old? I don’t remember my walk-in-wardrobe being quite this large. Or I’ve just died and this is the pathway to the afterlife. I expected a little more than this than pure darkness.’ said Jackie.

He grasped his arm and gave it a squeeze to see if was breathing before he put a hand over his mouth and breathed. Warm, moist breath came into his palm as he realised that he hadn’t died but nor was he uncomfortable with standing in the dark after walking for a few minutes.

Considering taking off a shoe and throwing it against the wall to measure distance Jackie simply stood still. He’d heard old myths about the gods of Terrus and how some of them had liked to play tricks or mess with individuals like this. Not that he was interested in standing for it, those were stories though and was an old man. Not one in his lifetime had he ever experienced a brush with the supernatural. A few close shaves with death with various industrial company accidents due to bad working practices and worse ethics which he’d resolved but nothing out of the ordinary.

The alternative was that a suprise party was being set up in a rush outside his personal office and Daphne was in on it. All they had to do was turn off the lights in his walk-in wardrobe, get him a little disorientated and then as soon as they were prepared the lights would turn on and he’d either get a heart attack due to the sudden noise or reward them with one of his rare smiles.

Standing still in the dark Jackie decided that the situation was going to be the latter. One last big farewell for the old grumpy man who only smiled truly with his eyes and mouht when he was genuinely happy or at shareholder meetings.

‘Alright, alright. I’m clearly being recorded so you can share this moment with all the company staff. Not like you’re going to spend the money to fit all of them into a massive event centre. Better to give them a month bonus reward out of my pocket eh? Fun is fun. You can turn on the lights now, I’ll leave and pretend to be surprised. Sounds good?’ said Jackie.

For a moment he wanted to strip off his clothes, throw them to the side and show them how an old seventy-five year old man looked who kept himself in great shape and focused on daily training routines.

He’d do it as long as it meant that they’d close their eyes and let him grab his clothes, run from the party, avoid that final board meeting and finally retire.

‘I’ve come up with a better plan. You either turn the lights on Daphne or whomever is outside my office and then I won’t strip naked and come out in my birthday suit. How does that sound? Consider it a final request from an old man who wants to retire and go back to his old coffee plantation. I know the places are mostly automated but I deserve that much at least. Here, I’ll sweeten the deal. I’ll even finish dressing up as a promise. My finest business suit, shoes, trousers and jacket. All good?’

Inside his walk-in wardrobe with his arms still folded Jackie tilted his head back with arms folded as the interior lights lit up again. Nodding to himself he congratulated himself for his efforts in negotation. He’d always been a tough but fair leader but fired those who were toxic, lazy or came up with excuses. The fact that his company had grown so much had been down to his leadership he knew and he personally held himself accountable for all the decisions and influence he held.

‘Better. Leave the lights on, I’ll get dressed and then walk out into my personal office with a look of surprise. Wait, let me practice. How does this one look?’ said Jackie.

He opened his eyes wide and stuck his hands by his mouth in a gesture of mock surprise at odds with his business suit before he switched to another pose with a hand on his hip.

The suprise party had likely been planned by one of his adopted kids. They’d all grown old enough to be in their forties to fifties and had their own children, the ones who’d chosen to get married that was.

Jackie had always held a tight control on his emotions after he’d been betrayed both in business deals and in close friendships by those looking to take control of a popular rising star. The benefit of his preference towards both men and woman and his complete lack of interest in carnal desires and romance meant that anyone who’d tried to honeypot him or marry him for money had been in for a good surprise.

The only ones he had truly cared about were the kids that he had raised and all of them had worked their own ways up in Empire Strikker Coffee. Some had taken the corporate path, others had worked in research and development departments but he’d made them all work hard for their success just as he had.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

‘I’m getting dressed. Turn off the camera or nano-bots recording me or whatever the technology is these days. I’m an old man and old men want peace and quiet when they’re choosing a decent tie to match a fashionable suit.’

Jackie walked over to the same mirror he had seen himself in earlier. He wasn’t sure if it was side-effect of being in the dark but his short cropped hair appeared little less grey than before or if was more just the hopeful wishes of an old man who wanted to look better.

In the corner were the discarded t-shirts he’d tried on and thrown aside as were the pair of baggy skinny jeans he’d been wearing. Giving it a second thought he grabbed one the shirts and put after taking off his business jacket and shirt and folding both up neatly and putting them on nearby shelf pulled it over his head and gave himself a once over.

‘There you go old man. Give your kids a surprise that their old man can change. I think I’m going to make a last minute change and skip the tie. The shoes can go as well. In fact, I’ve been wearing the same outfit for decades for work. Why not change the whole thing? They can laugh at me during the board meeting but given it’s my last day why not? I’m an old man. What do you think old man?’ said Jackie as he looked over his reflection in the mirror.

He put back on his baggy skinny jeans, added the orange t-shirt with faux leather tiger stripes and furred collar and grabbed a black puffer jacket as he searched around the piles of freshly ordered clothing for a pair of colourful striped socks and finally a pair of custom-made lace-up military style ankle boots.

‘Better. I look like an old man who lost his mind or worked in the fashion industry for decades. Change is good and I can donate the rest of the clothing to charity. Can’t imagine the look on the faces of everyone at that surprise party when I go out like this. No. Needs more. I need accessories. Just a little though. Got it, a single earring and a chain necklace. No, a gold chain necklace and a few golden rings for my fingers. I think they call it bling-bling. Yeah, I’m not the CEO of a coffee company. I’m a retired pop star who grew old but kept in shape. Heh. Looking good old man.’ said Jackie as he turned sideways to look at his slim figure in the reflection.

A faint voice entered into his ears.

[You...uh….you look pretty good. Are you dressed yet? I mean, I’m kinda trying to get the mixtures right but...to be honest it smells bad and looks worse. Sorry, sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken. I’m..uh..sorry. I’ll see you when you come out. Sorry. I’ll get back to making the coffee.]

Jackie paused for a moment. He’d asked the people outside at his likely surprise party to shut down all nano-cameras, even if he’d ingested some. Or the installed camera inside his walk-in-wardrobe. Sending him a direct messahe while not a major issue would have been nice if they asked first.

He decided to cut whomever had sent the message some slack. They sounded awfully young, early twenties at most or maybe an older teen and more than a little nervous. The person could have been one of his grandkids from his adopted children who’d grown up but he didn’t recognise the voice. There was a mild distortion to it that he simply out down to the electronics failing in the room or something had happened when they turned off the lights

‘Hey kid. No, that’s pretty offensive to call you that. I was called that plenty of times when I was young a million years and ago and grew to hate it. Young person of unknown personality. Better? I don’t know who put you up to communicating with me but I promise you that any coffee that you made for me as a final farewell at that party outside is going to taste amazing. And if it doesn’t? Then I’m going to drink it, just for you and you have plenty of time to improve. Just believe in yourself and only apologise if you want to. I’m dressed. You like my outfit? I’m going bling-bling all the way today. I’m Jackie. Jackie Imperial. Your voice isn’t familiar but in case we didn’t meet before nice to meet you. Give me a second to put these tried on clothes in few bags so they can be given to charity along with the rest of the stuff in this room.’ said Jackie.

He could have easily left his walk-in-wardrobe to be cleaned up by a member of staff but his parents had taught him four things in life. To care about those close to him, to be polite with good manner, a strong moral work ethic and always tidy up his own messes.

After admiring himself in the mirror and forcing down a grin as well as the rising sense of embarrassment he was experiencing Jackie folded away all the discarded pile, straightened out the ties, shirts and business suits he’d brushed aside and generally left the condition of the space the same as when he’d entered earlier.

As an afterthought he grabbed a deep purple tie and fashioned it around his neck so it looped underneath the golden necklace and around the furry collar attachment of his t-shirt.

‘Old habits die hard you ancient geezer. Huh, my hair does look different. Guess a change of clothing really does make you feel young once again.’

He looked at his hair once more and ran his fingers through it sure that the reflection in the mirror of his new fashion choices had altered his hair as there was a small thin streak in the front of brown where it had been purely grey. Or he’d rubbed some colour into it after his hands had touched some clothing.

After he laced up his military style ankle-boots he gave himself one last look in the mirror and a fake smile before he walked over the entrance door of the large walk-in-wardrobe and gave it several knocks to let those outside that he’d be out.

The same voice from before called out but the sound wasn’t as faint as before but there was a noticable worried tone.

[I uh, I like your fur collar. The jewellery is a good idea, you can trade it when you arrive at a town for mercenary protection. Great idea having a thick jacket and tough boots. The weather can get pretty cold on the continent.]

This time Jackie had no clue about what the voice was planning as he’d made no plans for immediate travel except straight back to his family coffee plantation but he was glad that whomever had been speaking had a measure of confidence.

‘Sorry, but I have no plans to travel. How’s the coffee coming along? You sound a whole lot more confident. I like it. Say, what’s your name? Do I know your Dad or Mum? I’m an old soon to be retired man. Forgetting things allowed at my age.’

His hand grasped the door handle to his personal office as the voice spoke once more but this time Jackie almost paused before he began to pull the door open with one ringed hand.

Shaking his head at the attitude of the young generation which was scared of making the same mistakes he did he yanked over the door with more force this time and stepped through trying to frame his face for the right look of surprise for his farewell party.

He hadn’t expected to enter a Coffee House.