GREED AND CONSEQUENCE

Introduction

2008

Jeff looked all around him but saw only blackness. There was a dripping sound coming from far away, or at least it sounded so faint that it had to be far in the distance. Fear like he had never known before overwhelmed him as he listened to the continuous dripping.

He shuddered, his teeth chattering as he realized how cold he was. He could not be sure if the cold was real or if it was his body’s reaction to the absolute terror that engulfed him. He was frozen to the spot, yet something inside him told him he had to move.

He instinctively knew that calling out was not an option and would bring more harm than good. He did not know the reason for this intuition, but, in any case, his vocal cords were shut down. Meanwhile the darkness remained and the silence, apart from the drip, drip.

He felt nauseous and quite beaten up, but he quickly realized that nothing was broken and that he was able to move his arms and legs. He forced his right and then his left foot forward; the natural reflex which had enabled him to walk during his entire life was not there and he had to put a concentrated effort into trying to remember how his father had taught him to move all those years ago.
He was thankful for the trainers that he was wearing and the grip that they gave his unsteady legs on the slippery floor or track that he was now slowly negotiating. Why he was wearing the trainers, as opposed to the smooth-soled brown Italian loafers that he usually favoured, was not quite clear to the groggy brain on which he was now functioning. He was very thankful, nonetheless, that the loafers were parked. He ran his hands over his head and down his sides, checking out the surface of his body. Thankfully, it all seemed familiar. The hooded tracksuit top and bottoms which he now wore, even though damp, felt much more comfortable than the specially tailored Saville Row suits. In the past he had spent eighty per cent of his time in suits.

The haze gradually lifted inside his head, yet he still could not recall what had happened and why he had found himself in his current predicament. How had it come to this? He quickly realized however that the fear running through his brain allowed only one action and he knew that walking was the only option. At a later time, when he got himself out of this mess, he could sit down and figure out where it had gone so wrong; but for now that dripping sound was his focal point.

He took a step to his left hoping to find a wall to guide him. ‘Funny’, he thought, ‘how a wall which was barricading him from light and freedom could give him as much comfort now as a friendly smile’.

Slowly, arms reaching out in front, he continued. It seemed like forever but eventually his hands touched something wet and greasy with a spongy texture. Another image from his past entered his consciousness. While exploring the countryside in his youth he had come across an underground cave. The sensation running through his fingertips at this present moment reminded him of that cave so many years ago.

Exhausted, he sat down on the cold wet floor. Not until then did he realize the true enormity of his situation. He buried his head into his hunched up knees, arms wrapped around in front, the closest he would ever consciously allow himself to being in the foetal position. For the first time in his life his own powerlessness overwhelmed him.

He dug deep into his soul for solace and courage, and they came through the words of his long dead mother. “Accentuate the positive,” she always said. Amazing, how when at one’s most vulnerable times it is parents and their advice that come to mind. All those wasted years spent thinking about how superior one is to them in knowledge and experience, but when the shit really hits the fan, every man wants his mother there with him.

Dragging himself up, clinging on to his wall of solace, Jeff got to his feet. ‘Accentuate the positive,’ he chanted silently to himself, as he again put one foot in front of the other. He thanked his mother for the strength she had instilled in him. Here he was, a man of the world, connections in the highest echelons of power, the world at his feet but none of it of any help at this, his most dreadful moment of peril. It was now that he finally realized that whatever little good was inside him and anything that was good about his life, owed its origins to his long dead mother. He realized that he had a respect for his parents, a respect that he had never shown them, in fact which he never knew he had. He had always despised them when he was growing up. He thought of them as weak for not using their wealth as he would have and which he eventually did.

How long had he been here? He had no idea. He tried to piece his last memories together. Judging by the clothes he was wearing, he assumed that he had been out jogging, a part of the new regime that his Harley Street physician had recommended to battle his cholesterol.

It began to dawn on him how far he had removed himself from his upbringing and how everything in his life now had a label attached: Saville Row, Harley Street, Italian Loafers. This was not how his parents had raised him. They had tried in vain to instill value rather than label as the important factor when purchasing goods. Was his Harley Street doctor any better than old Doc Henson? Of course not; but Jeff had bought into the façade which money brings with it.

Snapping back to the present, he realized that he had been out jogging and that someone had grabbed him and shoved him into a van. Before he could figure out what was happening, he had a hypodermic needle in his arm and then nothing!

With this new knowledge he asked himself: Who? Why? But it was useless,-nothing came.

This was not the time for questions; action was needed and his mother’s words came back to him. He had no broken bones. He had a goal. It was to get out of this situation and he knew in which direction to move. These were the positives; so, one foot in front of the other was the action required and on he went.

As he continued along the wall he realized that the fear had subsided inside him and it had been replaced by a courage that he had never experienced before. His mother’s courage was now running through every vein in his body and the comfort he garnered from this brought a little smile to his face. He took a moment to remember all his successful business transactions he almost laughed at his own vanity. Now, for the first time in his life he was alone, stripped of all material protectors, and life and death depended on his instincts.

Up until that very moment in his life he had never given any thought to his own mortality. Even when his parents had died his selfishness and ego stopped him from realizing that he too was mortal. He never feared death, as it never seemed to apply to him. But now it was a real possibility and rather than fear, a long dead stubbornness entered his body. If he was going to die and his light was to be extinguished, he was not going to go without a fight.

The dripping continued and so did his journey towards it.