Mayor Harken had a point about staying grounded in faith. More than a few residents had begun to lose their minds as a result of the wonderful phenomena consistently delighting the town. Everything kept running smoothly, surprisingly enough, and as the mayor implied there hadn’t been any negative consequences of the waking dreams, but when it comes to matters of the soul it’s usually best to err on the side of caution. Heaven did in fact want to swing down and carry them away. How the people were reacting to this incomprehensible blessing was of the utmost importance. One man climbed to the roof of his office building and jumped off. Luckily the police had already received a tip from one of his coworkers to whom he’d been bragging about his power of flight, and they set up a rescue air cushion in the nick of time. Other incidents were far less dire. Crowds spontaneously dancing in the streets and other public places, strangers exchanging hugs for no reason, the wealthier people throwing ten thousand-dollar bundles of cash to whomever wanted the money—Weatherview seemed like the best place in the world. When things start feeling too good to be true, it’s probably time to take the mayor’s advice and make yourself as low as possible.
One of the beneficiaries of the upper class’s recent generosity, Leonard Harris, had collected close to six hundred thousand dollars. He’d gone to the the bank to find out what he should do with the money. After a half hour of listening to a wealth management advisor talk about mutual funds, high-interest debt, retirement accounts, and diversified portfolios, he decided to go to a coin and bullion dealer and buy gold bars. When he came home his wife and children were at the dinner table trying to wait for him before eating their food. Leonard set the heavy bag on the table beside his plate and started removing the treasure and setting it in front of them.
“Woahhh, ahhh,” they said after each bar was set down.
“You bought gold?” his wife asked.
“I don’t like all that mess. Like they’re from another planet talking a different language.”
“They are from another planet, the one we’ve been trying to get to.”
“All they want to do is complicate it. Gold is simple, and its value keeps rising, same as interest at the bank. Long as we hold onto these, we’ll be fine. We can sell them back if we need something.”
“If you say so.”
“Can we see them, Daddy?” asked his daughter.
The Harris’s lived downtown. Like so many other cities Weatherview had fallen victim to urban sprawl in the fifties. Those who could afford it moved out to the suburbs in search of their American dream, nice house, green grass, white picket fences. Those who couldn’t afford it stayed behind in an increasingly vacated city full of empty buildings and worsening conditions. Needless to say what’d been happening lately was a welcome change for the city’s working class.
Leonard didn’t want to pick up and move to the suburbs. No, his American dream was rooted in where he grew up. He walked the same sidewalks he learned to ride a bike on when he was a kid. Of course it wasn’t the shiny new bike he wanted, the kind most of the white kids had. His was rusty and squeaky with a chain that slipped off when he rode over bumps. He had observed over the years that money isn’t very important to those who have it. To the rich it just comes and goes, leaving more than what was there before, flowing in and out like the tide as the surface level rises ever-higher. To those in poverty money holds the key to an enormous gate standing between them and a free life, their happiness so often stifled by a barrier overshadowing their entire future. Now Leonard finally held the key in his own hands, a key made of solid gold, and with it he intended to open the gate for his children.
After dinner Leonard forbade them to play with the gold bars should they find where he hides them, and directed them outside to have some fun. A few toys were strewn about the yard and as soon as the children stepped out through the front door the toys began to levitate. A large inflatable ball, a wiffle ball bat, and a frisbee hung motionless in the air before them. Emitting squeals of laughter they ran toward the toys which started bobbing and weaving, evading their pursuers. They finally caught each of them and beaming with joy proceeded to play a game of their own invention.
Leonard watched them for a while out the window. Children knew what was truly important. A small fortune was sitting right there on the table and his three kids had already forgotten all about it. Instead they were literally floating above the ground trying to drag their toys back down to earth. Life was a strange journey. So full of problems and hardship, yet underneath it all, or perhaps all around us, love kept on winning—keeps on winning—no matter what. The mystical events in Weatherview had allowed him to solve one of his problems, hopefully forever, and he was very grateful.
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