Family Business

Prudence Sternwood

Wednesday May 22nd 2019 6:30am MontClair New Jersey

One minute thirty nine year old Prudence Sternwood was leading a board meeting, the next she was breathless, stuck in a tunnel. She shuddered at the sound of rapid sprinting behind her, the light at the end of the tunnel drew nearer and nearer yet she couldn't move. A voice continuously hissed out "Prudence!". She clutched the left side of her chest with her right hand. Metal chains wound around her pin stripped black business suit began to tighten. A sudden hand on her shoulder causes her to flinch and waken her up.

Her surroundings a blur. The red neon light from her alarm clock totally unreadable. Her right hand reaches out and she presses a button on top of it. "6:30"am the automated alarm voice advised. In five minutes her alarm will go off, for her normal daily slog, get up shower, put on a suit.

Exactly at 6.35am her alarm goes off. She fumbles on the pine bedside locker with her left hand until she reaches the alarm and turns it off. She next fumbles some more until she finds her spectacles box. She opens it and places her thick circular gold rimmed glasses on her hawk shaped nose. She yawns as she lifts up her cell phone and opens up her diary for the day while yawning. The early start at the NBC business breakfast show in New York and another long day in the family business exhausted her. Today will be another long day like all days.

She groans and sits herself at the edge of her bed. She sits momentarily in her white silk trouser pyjamas. She stares at her black two piece suit for the day ahead her uniform of choice practically everyday. She stares down at her tossed lavender duvet, it will be well after midnight before she sees this bed again.

She places a pair of yellow crocs on her feet and slowly shuffles to the adjoining ensuite where she takes a white bathrobe from the white bathroom door folds it over her right arm neatly and enters for her morning shower and teeth brushing.

Prudence grew up with one older sister Rosamund. Together they run Sternwood Hospitality & Financial Services. This consists of a chain of restaurants guesthouses, boutique hotels, catering, catering supplies, a hospitality school resourcing and financial services businesses. As well as this they had a one thousand acre farm they used to grow organic fruit and vegetables, as well as farm animals that roamed the fields added value to their restaurant menues as well businesses they supplied. The business was set up by her parents now in their seventies; Martin and Daisy Sternwood were semi retired, they did like to engage in the business still, from going in and talking to staff to visiting their restaurants and the big hotel chains where they outsourced services to Sternwood Hospitality & Financial Services.

She received her business acumen from them. Every Sunday night, her mother and father laid out their business attire for the week. Everything was prepared right down to cufflinks and socks. Herself and her sister, would prepare their school and non school clothing for the week ahead. Her mother would inspect everyone's even their fathers. She was a stickler for his ties, "a businessman's tie must match the occasion and be properly presented" she would say. Not only would her father have one tie selected per day but a spare tie always close at hand.

From a young age her parents thought her that in order to succeed with a demanding business and family everything had to be planned. Even as children if they had to go to one of the restaurants or guest houses while her parents worked, they were told to select two toys each to bring and mum and dad would select one surprise one. Each time Prudence and her sister done this, they earned extra pocket money so buy in wasn't an issue.

They thought her how success in work starts with pride in yourself. Both her parents would never go into a location or business meeting without a crisp clean suit on. If they were working from home, suits remained on all day. Her father would take his time tying a tie, he would say "A businessman's tie is like your resume, a tie is part of what sells you and your business. Every morning her mother would reinspect his tie. Her mother would always tighten and adjust it more. Same with Prudence and her sister as school children if their tie wasn't properly tied they were made start again.

Both herself and Rosamund studied Hotel and Catering Management at the prestigeous Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland. On completion of that both siblings completed business and financial masters with Harvard. Today Prudence is the Chief Executive Officer and Rosamund the Chief Financial Officer. The Business ownership was now thirty percent each to both siblings and twenty percent each to both parents.

Prudence alights the ensuite wearing her bathrobe which stretches down to below her knees after that her immense calves that draw in towards her swollen ankles are visible. She closes the ensuite door and waits for her glasses to steam off. Once done she sways towards her dark mahogany suit stand which holds her black two piece trouser suit, white collarless and and white ankle stockings. Stares into an adjacent full body wall mirror. She adjusts her glasses on her nose examining that her hair is perfectly washed and dried.

She unties her bathrobe revealing her huge flabby frame with nothing on but a white bra and white silk knickers. She removes the bathrobe and stands now fully naked. She stares at her extensive frame in the mirror. She is content in her body, "I'm a businesswoman not an athlete" she tells her sister Rosamund who scorns her about her weight. It didn't affect her in the business world she is highly respected and regarded. She is a workaholic working at least fourteen hours a day and exercised little. The industry she worked in didn't help her love of good food nor did a troublesome thyroid which also added on the pounds. Despite this she knows at five foot three in height she is carrying too much weight and though she is content in her body she accepts that she needs to lose weight. She found herself more and more huffing and puffing after the slightest exertion, struggling to keep pace with people when walking as well as back and joint pain.

First up is her morning battle with her socks and suit pants. She removes both from the stand. Carefully she places her suit trousers on the bed, while she sits on a purple sofa chair. She leans a little forward, her chubby fingers fumble with the seam of her socks as she struggles to glide them around her feet. Her heart pounds while she draws short shallow breaths. She gasps in relief when both socks are fully on. Next up is the suit trousers. She stares at it momentarily hoping it would put itself on but lets out a shallow exhale and gently removes the suit trousers from the bed. She groans from the physical challenge as she threaded her legs through the trousers with effort. The cloth material clung to her thighs with stubbornness as she forces the trousers upwards. Sweat begins to form on her brow. Eventually her trousers reaches her broad waistline she struggles with the clasp, She presses it in against her waist beneath her hanging belly as best as she can until it eventually is fastened. She takes another few shallow breaths and removes some tissues from a box on her bedside locker and wipes her brow.

Beside her bed are her Prada black leather support shoes. Standing against the magnolia painted wall is a shoehorn with a custom made handle up to her waist. She removes her crocs and with the aid of the shoe horn wiggles her feet into the shoes

She removes the blouse from the stand raises her arms in the air and wiggles her beefy arms and head through their arm and head holes and finally she carefully pulls it downwards concealing her rolls of belly fat.

She stares in the full length mirror examining that her blouse sits properly. She turns with caution and makes her way to a make up desk. She sits down on a leather seated and backed chair. She mastered the art of applying make up with glasses on, she would struggle otherwise. She chubby cheeks were flush with her jaw line now hidden behind a double chin. She hated that chin but choose to accept it was there. She began to apply make up. "A businesswoman should never have too much makeup" her mother would say "Your judged on your appearance as well as the clothes on your back so important to get both right."

Once makeup was applied she put on a white pearl necklace with matching ear rings and bracelet. She returned to the stand put on her jacket and buttoned it up. She examined herself in the mirror pushing down her jacket to straighten it more.She firmly believed in her mothers expression that nothing says businesswoman more than a good quality suit. Look of contentment draws on her face, she looks to be every bit the successful businesswoman that she is.

She places her cell phone inside her Vera Wang black leather hand bag, while she double checks she has everything she needs in it.

She exits the grand bedroom shutting the door behind her and enters her home office. The walls covered in family and holiday photos and educational certification.
She opens up a black leather laptop bag, checks her laptop is there and brings it with her as she exits the office.
She let's a shallow breath on sight of the stairwell. Before descending she double checks she has everything, last thing she wants is to have to walk up the stairs. She clasps the outer oak handrail tightly in her left hand and slowly begins to descend. Each step a slow calculated move to ensure each foot landed safely on the step before reaching the next one. She was afraid to go quickly, what if she fell, she could not be laid up away from business. Prudence also worries that sudden fast movement on the stairwell could put added pressure on her joints and bring on pain. 'I'm going to have to lose weight' she says to herself, but her biggest enemy was time something she didn't have enough of and the most important thing her health was suffering for her wealth.

"Thankfully" she states as her right foot lands on the white tiled floor, which is joined by her left foot. She re-examines her attire at an adjoining wall mirror. She opens the Dark oak front door sets the alarm and shuts the door behind her. Parked as close to the front door as possible is her two year old white Lexus LT SUV. She opens the drivers door, it's tan leather interior gleaming as good as the day it left the factory.