Page 6 - Just Deserts

Prologue

That brought my resentment to the surface. “Just how much
spying on us have you done? Is there a hidden video camera in
here somewhere? I don’t know about you, but I have gone to a
lot of trouble and expense to disappear into the middle class. What’s
next? Blackmail?”
Doreen scowled. “Richard, if I had a good enough cause to
fight for, I might just do that. But I don’t need the money—or
did that little detail slip your mind? What disheartens me is not just
the unsatisfying self-indulgence of the past few years, but my inability
to do very much good with the resources at my disposal. If any of
you think you have been a target for con artists and sycophants,
consider me—a woman! I remember back in school we used to
debate the politics of ends versus means, of the inevitable corruption
of power, of good intentions gone bad. But it was all rather abstract:
we were in no position to experience the effects of applying undue
influence to social problems. Sure, I can turn my back on the rest of
the world and pass my remaining years in idle luxury, but something
will always be missing—something I don’t think would bother a
person born wealthy.”
At that point I believe we stopped talking for a few minutes, trying
to get our bearings and a few more cookies. Then wise old Gerald—
he had to be over thirty—pursed his lips and cleared his throat.
“While I appreciate your maritime simile, Doreen, my own
preference is for the railroad. Before we hit the jackpot, our lives
were on track for a certain destination, whether we knew it or not:
bureaucracy. Each of us would have become workers in a university,
a hospital, a corporation or some abominable government office.
There we would have received minimal rewards for public service; we
would probably have married, possibly raised families. It is a well-
traveled route, and we would have had little trouble finding our
way among the multitude of people going in the same direction.
In any event, in the calculus of value humans general apply to
themselves, we would have found ourselves slightly on the
positive side of the ledger: a bit more good than evil, but not
much of either.”
“But the lottery derailed us. Suddenly all the previously
unavoidable negative aspects of our future lives were erased. No
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