"Yes, I was a CEO. Yes, I am, was, the richest person on my home-world. So why am in this cell? I surrendered myself. Why did I do that? After what I saw, how they helped me, I grew something I didn't know existed. I gained humility. I hurt them. It's time I faced justice for my crimes. I deserve it. I'm so very sorry." -- Anon Guest
A wise man once wrote that it is often considered criminal to live in slums, it is never considered criminal to own them. Words like that often miss the person they're aimed at. And yet, there are always the statistical outliers whom the others wish they could not count. They make denying the possibility of change so difficult.
Such as Howell Troyus IV, who encountered a change of mind via a change of fate. When one practices the Faith of Prosperity[1], it's easy to believe that the poor are naturally evil. After all, they are obviously being punished for the sin of not having money. However, all it takes is one terrible accident to reverse one's fortunes.
He has encountered such a fate, and not violently. All he had to do was encounter bigger sharks than himself, running a more corrupt enterprise than he had ever dreamed. The next thing he knew, he was spending the last of his ready finances on fees, charges, and fines that he should have been able to skate away from. And then somebody rolled him for his suit.
Shorn of everything that ever said 'class', Howell believed that nobody would have a reason to help him. He could not fathom the sins he might have committed to have his deity turn against him like this. Facing consequences for the first time in his life, he hid in a corner and wept.
He never expected the blanket. He certainly didn't expect the steaming cup of nutritious broth entering his field of vision. They were someone Howell would have walked past at best or criticised at worst. Someone to be ignored because they were expected to work on their feet and clean everyone else's mess at all times. They were un-people. Scenery. Assets to take in the parcels, take out the garbage, and constantly take the blame.
Howell, taking the cup of kindness, looked a Lesser in the eye for the first time and saw no duplicity there. "Why?"
"You're lost, scared, and alone. Why wouldn't I help you out? You've probably just had the second-worst day in your life."
"Worst," corrected Howell, taking a sip. It was warm and salty and tasted vaguely of brown.
"Oh, there's always room for improvement," said the stranger. They sat by him and began rummaging in a large backpack. "Let's see... Are you an omnidress or a unitard kind'a guy?"
"I've never worn a dress or a unitard in my entire life. I'd rather go naked."
"Suit yourself," the stranger shrugged. "M' names Gendy, by the way. I have spare sockassins if you don't want your toes froze."
"You have to know who I am. There's no other reason for you to be this nice to me. I shall have you know that all my available assets are currently in a non-liquid state."
"Sir, your asset's dang near swingin' in the breeze," Gendy chuckled at their own joke. "This station's got indecent exposure laws, so you better find something other than a blanket to cover your private territory, there. It's neck-to-knee in these parts and all you have tighty whities and a toga."
Howell almost went on a rant about how laws were to keep the poor at heel, but remembered that his assets were in a non-liquid state. He had no ready funds and was, technically, poor. "I don't have any money. How am I meant to escape?"
That was just the beginning. Howell got the cook's tour of life in poverty as he traded stories for change, and change for the bare minimum of clothing, food, and shelter. Things were a lot crueller in the Lesser realms, but all that cruelty came from above.
Those underneath the heel of the rich and powerful didn't have much, but what they did have, they shared. Howell earned his first blister in repetitive, mind-numbing, disheartening, and pointless work. It was allegedly good for his spirits, but... all it did was decrease his faith in the way the world was meant to work.
There were no avenues to scam the rich. There was barely any energy left to scam the rich, and the necessity of constantly proving his truth eroded his spirit... which may have been the point.
When he was finally able to prove his identity, he had seen it all, and turned himself in to the Cogniscent Rights Committee. Howell willingly signed over his assets - including the Human ones - to the CRC to do with as they pleased.
He hadn't sinned to become poor. Nobody had. He had sinned to become rich.
Some said his heart grew three sizes, but that was not the truth. He had grown something else... a conscience.
[1] Prosperity Doctrine conveniently ignores all the holy words that have anything to do with giving money to the poor and doing good things for other people. Instead, it favours the concept that the deities reward those in their favour, and what better reward than having money and power? This also ignores the fact that those with money and power frequently have to perpetuate a lot of evil to get it and maintain it.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / porteador]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [46 remaining prompts!]
