Brotherhood of Gold by Ron Hevener

Author:Ron Hevener [Hevener, Ron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Pennywood Press
Published: 2016-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Some Lessons Don’t Come in Books

Diane Wallace cocks her blonde head and raises her chin as if to make a challenge. “A person is curious…why did the fact that Ezra owned the land make such a difference to Wembly?”

“At the time, I didn’t make any connection and I didn’t know,” Ben says. “It was a government project funded by taxpayers, as these things are. Anything else he said about the properties, I didn’t see a connection. I just knew it was a wildlife refuge, you know? Fishing, hiking, ducks, geese. You know.”

“And what did you uncover?” she asks, somewhat suggestively.

“For me? Nothing, Diane. For Wembly, it was a different story. For a while, things were unreal. My life was changing, but I was far from ready to understand the responsibilities he had left me. Wealth is a responsibility. Just like poverty is. Wembly was in charge. Directing things—gladly! Diane, I’ve been accused of interfering in government at times. But may I ask you something?”

“Turnabout is fair play,” she says, for viewers who could catch the double entendre.

Ben doesn’t get it and sticks to the subject. “Do you believe government is so smart, so omnipotent, that it always does the right thing?”

She smiles, too smart herself to risk controversy. “Maybe you’d like to answer that,” she decides to say.

“OK, do you think the American government, great as it is—and believing it could be even greater—always makes the right decision in matters of national importance, for example? It’s a simple question.”

“And a fair one, too, Ben. But, the answer would be a matter of opinion, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, in your opinion, then. Do you—a reporter, a successful journalist. In your wildest dreams, do you even remotely believe this country—this whole world—is doing everything right?”

“Do I look to you like an expert in foreign affairs, Ben Hoover?” she scolds, amused.

“You look, to me, like someone who has her finger on the pulse of the nation, yes. His eyes narrow shrewdly. “How could you say anything that could offend your viewers? Do you think they like living in a world where tax collectors treat you like dirt? Where weapons are more and more sophisticated? Where gangs rule your cities and terrorists threaten the subways you ride? I see a world of real danger out there, Diane. A world where free-thinking people like you and me won’t be able to walk into an airport, or a court house or any government building without taking off our shoes, our belts, our jewelry and going through an Xray machine.”

Her shock escapes the camera, but her voice thickens with disbelief. “Not. Ever. Ben.”

“No? I beg to differ, Diane. All it takes is fear. Oh, it might not happen overnight. It might not happen in five years, or ten. But it could happen in twenty, and that’s a whole generation. And, then, you have a whole generation of citizens—voters, Diane—who make decisions and laws and policies; who run the corporations that give jobs so people can buy their groceries and pay their bills.

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