The Man

THE MAN stood at a window, overlooking his empire.  Cars drove below past houses he owned, indirectly, through the different mortgage companies.  They were his, the people and machinery.  But there was no love or paternal affection.  It was purely lust and domination, driving him.

Radio played the music he liked; television the shows he watched.  And the man watched and liked what made the money.

No one stood up to him.  Many doubted his existence.  The man was folklore and that’s how he preferred it.  The truth was often too dangerous or surreal for anyone to know for sure.  People merely liked the idea of controlling their own destinies.  Too much or too little liberty would always lead to chaos.  And the man saw this as his role, his purpose if you will.  He called the shots so no one else had to; a silent dictator by trade.

The story of Job often came to mind.  He, like most was a man blessed to live in ignorance.  Of any force protecting him, he was blissfully unaware until a day came when he was left to endure the full brutality of nature.  It took his health, his wife and children.  Job appealed to God, but in a larger sense any degree of control.

The Man realized he wasn’t God but  figured he had to be close.  He gave and he took: money, life, happiness, the whole kitchen sink.  If his interests were affected in the slightest there was hell to pay, and all too often… war.

He was often responsible for or played a large part in virtually every armed skirmish around the globe.  It was a necessity controlling the gun industry while at the same time being a major player in Sierra Leone.  Diamonds were lucrative and aided in his womanizing.  The man treated women not too unlike business.  They weren’t people, they were objects and disposable.  But then again, no one really qualified as human in the man’s chess board of a world.

Dinner was brought in.  The man sat still as a servant placed a napkin in his lap and cut food for him; lobster topped with Almas Beluga Caviar.  It was always delicious, but more importantly, expensive.

Most men would feel lonely in such seclusion but not the man.  He wanted nothing else.  Friends, family and relationships were simply a means to an end.