Finally, here is chapter 6 of Luxury of lies.
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LUXURY OF LIES
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER SIX
(MICHAEL)
The more expensive the alcohol, doesn't mean it's gonna taste any better. I quess if you have enough money to wipe your ass with hundred dollar bills, then it doesn't matter what it taste like as long as it's expensive. I sipped the brandy, waiting for my father to tell me and Chase his story.
"When I was ten I realized what it was to be poor," he said, "I grew up in West Texas, my father worked on a ranch for a man, who at the time was in fact the richest man I had ever met. He lived in a house, bigger then the run down shack we were living in, but nowhere near as big as this house. He had land, lot's of land, and cattle, thousands and thousands of them. My father helped with the cattle, well my mother helped cook and clean for them, kinda like Miss Barton does for you all. Anyway, Mr. Fisher, that was his name, had a son around my age, who was always dressed in the finest clothes, well I was forced to wear hand me downs, either from my older brothers, or other children on the ranch, who had outgrown theirs."
Chase took a sip of the Brandy, and I could tell by the look on his face he didn't like it either, "I didn't know you had older brothers?" he said.
"Two of them, " our father replied, "They both died at a very early age. Kyle died when he was twenty-two, and Mitch never lived to see his eighteenth birthday. The doctors all said, your grandma Moreland died of cancer, but I know without a doubt that she died of a broken heart. You see Mitch was her pride and joy, even though he was always a troubled child, who resented the fact we were dirt poor. Anyway, as I was saying, Mr. Fisher had a son around my age, I believe his name was Todd. We all knew Mr. Fisher had a son, and even though I had been born on the ranch, it wasn't until a few months after my tenth birthday that I finally met Todd. I can clearly remember, I was fetching wood for the fireplace, since it was the dead of winter and the weatherman had predicted a heavy snowfall, when I saw this young boy, who I had never seen before exit out of a black limo. I dropped the wood I was carrying and ran towards the limo, hoping to introduce myself and maybe make a new friend. The words he would tell me, when I reached the limo would chill me and stay with me for the rest of my life. I think it was at that moment when I made up my mind, that I wasn't gonna be poor anymore."
"What did he say, dad?" I asked.
"He told me that I was not to speak to him, play with him, or ever approach him without his permission, and when I did address him I had to address him as Master Todd, which I thought at the time was stupid, since I didn't know what he was Master of. When I asked him why we couldn't be friends, he replied, `because I'm rich and your poor."
"I cried myself to sleep that night, and when I woke up the next morning, I decided that I was gonna have more money, more everything then Todd Fisher, and one day I was gonna come back and throw it all back into his face. I tried to get a job on the ranch, but being only ten their wasn't much I could do, so what ever little odd jobs I could find I did, most of them only paid maybe a dollar or two here and there. I saved up every single cent I earned, sacrificing going to the Saturday picture show with my brothers and friends, what ever it took. After about a year I had barely saved up four hundred dollars. You realize I was only ten, and didn't think that most people made more then four hundred dollars a month. I figured it was a lost cause, and I would never have as much money as Todd Fisher. So one day, I took my four hundred dollars from out of it's hiding place, cleaned up the best I could and headed into town. I was gonna go and buy me a new set of clothes, ones that were my very own, go see a picture show, and buy me a shit load of candy and junk food. I was gonna spend that money I had worked for on myself."
(CHASE)
I was learning things about my father, I had never known. I quess I had always assumed he had been rich, since as long as I had been alive he had. One thing I didn't realize was why his being born poor had anything to do with the reason he couldn't show love to me and my brother.
"I don't understand, father, " I said, "what does any of this have to do, with why you and mother are so distant from us?"
"Let me finish my story,and then it should all explain itsef. "Like I said, I was gonna spend that money on myself, so first thing I did was go into the clothing shop, bought me a nice shirt, a nice pair of pants, news shoes, new socks, and even a couple of pairs of new underwear. The whole thing only set me back around eighty bucks, so I still had three hundred and twenty dollars, the picture show, back then was only three dollars, and if their was a double feature then you got to see both films for three bucks, and refreshments were a lot cheaper too. You could get a jumbo soda and popcorn for under a buck-fifty. And even after going to the movie's I was still gonna have quite a bit of money. I figured I'd go and buy some more clothes, that way I'd have another set to wear, whenever it was time to finally wash the ones I had bought earlier. I was walking in front of Mr. Jackard's Market, when in a single moment, one event would happen that would change my life forever. Most people in this life, don't realize that the most insignificant events, the ones we don't remember, are the turning points in life that we should have paid attention to when they happen."
"I was walking in front of Mr. Jackard's Market, when I saw this lady coming out of the store, struggling to hold four bags together, back then it was all paper sacks, so just like my daddy had taught me, when a person seemed to need help, then you helped them. I grabbed the two bags on top and told her to lead the way to her car. I put the groceries in the backseat. She thanked me, shook my hand and when I opened it, their was a five dollar bill sitting in the palm of my hand. I tried to give it back to her, but she said, that I had deserved it for helping her out."
"Where rich cause my father invented carrying out groceries, " I laughed, "I can't wait until I tell my friends that my father was the world's first carryout."
"Yeah, " Michael said, "we'd better call the National Grocery Museum in Piggly Wiggly, Montana and tell them the story so they can put in a shrine to him. On this day in the year, Robert Moreland, helped Miss, with her groceries, so she wouldn't break her eggs, or smash her bread. It's the first known carryout in recorded history."
By this time we were both howling with laughter.
My father ingnored our laughing and continued with his story, "Mr. Jackard had witnessed the whole event, and walked up to me and asked me how much the lady had given him, when I showed him the five, he was taken back. He told me that most people didn't even make that much in an hour, and if I was willing too he would let me work their everday afterschool, and all day on Saturday, since I was only ten years old, he couldn't put me on the payroll, but whatever tips I got were mine. I figured it took me two minutes to put that ladie's groceries in her car, and I had made five dollars. I quickly agreed to it, and by the time I left his store at eight when it closed I had four hundred and forty dollars in my pocket. I went to work everyday afterschool and at eight o'clock in the morning on Saturday's and by the end of that first month, I had saved up close to two thousand dollars. Now not everybody, who's groceries I carried out could afford to pay me five dollars, some just gave a dollar or a couple of dollars. Before long it was getting harder and harder to take out each and every person's groceries, since so many of them had become accustomed to me carrying out their groceries, so I came up with an idea to hire a couple of the other kids on the ranch, who might want to earn a few extra dollars. I hired three boys from the ranch, in exchange they would pay me each ten percent of what they earned in tips each day. So if one of them made ten dollars in tips that day, he would pay me one dollar out of his money. I realize that one dollar doesn't sound like much, but eventually if your wise with that dollar it will add up."
"How much did you make a day?" I asked.
"Anywhere from fifty to a hundred dollars a day," My father answered. "Anyway this went on for a couple of years, and when I was twelve I came up with an idea. A lot of Mr. Jackard's customers were elderly people who had lived in the neighborhood for years, and had been shopping at Mr. Jackard's Market for years. I knew what each and every customer's shopping habits, what they bought, how much they bought, and even what brands they bought. Mrs. Hayes, perfered Peter Pan, and Mr. Lyons, liked Skippy. I would watch them struggle day in and day out to come by groceries. I took some of the money I had saved up, and went a bought a couple of bikes, with baskets. I would ride to their home, take their grocery lists from them, go back to Mr. Jackard's market and do the shopping for them, deliver them, and collect the money plus a very substantial tip."
"When I was sixteen years old, Mr. Jackard offered to put me on the payroll. I of course delined, since I was making way more money then he could afford to pay me. It was funny, but without being on the payroll, I was making twice as much as his highest paid employee. I know your thinking, how was this all legal. Well in actuality it wasn't, but not one of us actually went inside the store. We would wait for the customers outside of the story, and when they came out we would help them with their groceries, that way if Mr. Jackard got into any kind of trouble with the labor department, he could say he wasn't involved in our little money making scheme.
"So shafting the government," I said, "that's how you became the richest man in North America."
"No," my father laughed, which was a rare sight, since he was always so stone faced. "I eventually bought Mr. Jackard's Market, with all the money I had saved up, when I was twenty-five. I expanded the operation, and used the profits I had made on the store to purchase another store in another small town forty miles away, and so forth and so forth, until I owned more then thirty grocery stores through out the West Texas area. I eventually found the glory of franchising, and before long I was selling franchise rights throught out the southwest. By the time I was thirty-five years old, I was worth an estimated four billion dollars."
"I still don't get what that has to do with anything," I said, "You had a rough childhood and rose above it, a great american success story, but it's not the first time or last time it will ever happen."
"I figured the only way to show you how much I loved both of you, was to buy you everything your heart desired. I quess it was still kind of my way at getting back at Todd Miller. I quess I never realized that sometimes just having us around would be enough for you all. I remember living on the ranch, with the love of my family wasn't really that bad of a time...Well Chase, I quess I'm just gonna have to call Mr. Westwood and tell him we are going to have to cancell our dinner date for Friday. I have plans to go and watch my youngest son's swim meet."
I stood up and did something I hadn't done in a long time, I walked over and hugged my father, and kissed him on the cheek. He hugged me back, and I knew things were gonna be different between us.
"Dad," Michael said, "whatever happened to Todd Miller."
"Yeah," I said, "did you ever get your revenge?"
He just smiled and said, "I'm still getting it today."