The Garden Club by James Gerard (bill gates best books .TXT) 📕

 It was nearly afternoon.  Hal sat alone in the studio apartment that had been a home for too many years.  He wondered if the building that had once sat on the very site was as dilapidated in its old age as was the massive apartment complex that was built in haste.

The thoughts drifted back to the vague memories of childhood to recollect what had actually existed there.  Visions of a massive warehouse came to mind.  With eyes closed images appeared.  The memories were not specific, yet they provided pictures of a building that once teemed with a flurry of activity.  But what he was not sure of was if the building had been razed before the war to end all wars or after.

Although the idea of economics could not be grasped by a mind still too young and immature at the time, he did remember an off-handed remark by some classroom teacher stating that businesses often fall victim to a bad economy.  The concept, however, was not grasped until the end of high school.

Thinking intently on those latter days of adolescence, remembrances of the empty shell of a building came into focus.   That’s right, he recalled, it had been the home of a thriving business but it sat abandoned for years.

Recollections of events after college, in the midst of the beginnings of a productive work life, brought images closer to the reality of the time.  The warehouse had existed as an empty shell that was then seized by the government days before the beginning of the wars to end all wars.  The interior of its hull was demolished and picked clean to make room for the manufacturing of weapons deemed vital to the war effort.

The warehouse’s demise then came further into focus as the mind joggled the memories.  It’s total destruction came at the hands of an economy that first began to wobble but then collapsed as the war to end all wars demanded more and more money, materials, manpower, and the sacrifices of the citizens to turn the tide of defeat into stunning victory.

As eyes stared at the cracks in the wall, the final death blow came to mind.  The war ended not with a victor claiming the spoils of the defeated, but it ends came by the hands of a world driven to end the lunacy that had been brought on by governments of every nation of the earth.

With the entire earth taken to the brink of total destruction along with the uprising against the governments ending quickly, the old building was razed.  Its space was caught up in the overwhelming enthusiasm that sprung up from the corporate leader’s campaign for a future free from the former rule of the oppressors.

“Wow,” whispered Hal, “the complex is sitting on an old weapons manufacturing site.  The toxic levels from all its leftover materials explain all the sickness around here.”

He had always suspected that his neighbors’ ill health, his lack of energy, was caused by just how fast the complex had been built and completed.  It was built at a pace mandated by the cooperative fervor seeded by the corporate leaders.   Because the apartment complex was needed to fulfill the promises of the new leaders, the very feat of its completion, as well as the billions of other like units and houses around the world, was based on utilizing any material suitable for construction.

The war to end all wars had consumed an exceeding amount of raw materials.  Much of what was needed for building the new future had nearly been exhausted.  In a desperate frenzy to fulfill the promises made, contaminated soil and gravel and sewage water were used to lay the concrete foundations for all the housing complexes.

The material for framing the buildings, all manner of wood and metal and plastic came from hastily assembled manufacturing plants that took whatever material they could lay hands on and recycle it, mold and shape it without regards to durability or structural integrity.  Even the mortar and stucco utilized for the units’ outside shell utilized contaminated water and toxic agents.  And while the new corporate leadership did not keep secret the use of such materials, they had made an assurance that as the new future advanced, corrections to the substandard housing would be remedied.

Within the span of a decade the building plan that had been drawn up collectively by corporate heads had been completed.   The success of the plan was made possible by the seizing of all forms of currency and precious metals and minerals from every former king and queen, chancellor, premier, president, and rulers by any other title.

The corporate leaders also raided the coffers of labor unions and its leaders which secretly held hundreds of billions of dollars to buy the services of any politician they saw fit to satisfy their agendas.   And all the hidden wealth was used to finance the plan and as incentives for the men and women carrying out the backbreaking toil.  The very same men and women that reaped the promises of the corporate leaders.

The world that was once ruled by laws, rules, regulations, and ordinances was now history.  The men and women that did everything but serve the public good were long gone.  The Earth blossomed into a world where everyone received the promises of work to earn the paychecks to purchase food and drink, clothing and housing, and the fruits of the technological revolution that had been denied to so many in the past.

The choice of where to live, to buy or to rent, to dwell in large houses for the needs of a family or for singles to dwell in cozy units designed for efficiency was a decision left for the consumer.  Although the thoughts focused on the present, the deteriorating state of the unit, and the realization of a life once lived in the past was considered.

Just after the war to end all wars, his brother Kenneth, having wielded a war hero status and popularity, used power of persuasion to convince the corporate leadership to yield the position of operating and managing the rain forest park to Hal.

Shortly after an existing home in Escondido was purchased to appease the wife, its quaint setting ideal for raising the children that would make them a family, Hal was happy.  He remembered how content those first few years were after the war that had ended all wars.  After the birth of a third child, however, the wife became unhappy with both the status and pay of the position at the park.  His life became an illusion.  It was shattered by the scorn of the woman in a divorce and the children whose mind she had poisoned.   With nowhere to go, Kenneth had worked his magic once again and an opening at the apartment suddenly became available.  Beyond that, his brother had lifted the downtrodden spirit with the promises of receiving all furnishings that were desired at no cost.

At one time pictures of his mother and father and brother, of paintings of green and lush landscapes, of tall masts of mighty sailing ships conquering the turbulent seas hung on sparkling white walls.   He had furnished the apartment with the finest leather furniture, solid maple end and coffee tables, crystal lamps, and an executive desk made of solid oak.  The furnishings at one time all sat on a carpet so plush shoes never touched it.

He had put together an assembly of electronic equipment with each component housed in compartments of solid oak.  There was the entertainment system that provided an exceeding amount of pleasure.   Room dividers once were used to partition off the kitchenette with every appliance needed to turn any ordinary food into food befitting a hearty feast, and the bedroom that featured a bed that was so comfortable Hal needed multiple alarm clocks to rouse him from the grips of the peaceful sleep.  But those were all memories.  The reality of the situation spoke volumes about the failings of the promises.

He sat on the sofa between the rips and stained stuffing and always had to be careful to avoid the jabs of the springs bent out of shape and poking through the surface.   The once sturdy and unbreakable end and coffee tables were peeling apart revealing the cleverly disguised bits of material sandwiched between layered veneers of metal and particle board.

The crystal lamps were discolored.  Their emitted light dimmed by yellow and brown stains and their sensors became unreliable from mere touch throughout the years.

The glue used to attach the legs of the desk had eroded away threatening the laptop computer and the antique frame holding a picture of his ex-wife and children.   The pictures and paintings that once adorned the walls now were lying on the stained, wet, matted carpet as the drywall had broken apart at the seams and was slowly crumbling away.

The big screen television had been replaced with a small set sitting on a makeshift box since the shelving of the entertainment system had split apart.

The bathroom shower, toilet, and sink were in various stages of disrepair.   Each were leaking and barely able to function as designed.

All the appliances, the bed and all the bedding, everything else that had been given at no cost was falling apart.   And although the corporate leaders had decided to affix a small fee to the purchase of any product—their idea of avoiding a guarantee tag on any item—the demand for repair was so great that they recommended purchasing new items so as not to miss out on the wonderful life they had given.   Hal had often considered a move for many years now, but had no choice but to stay since it was still affordable.

Although he was well-paid for the job at the park, financial obligations between alimony and child support payments, money for the frequent car repairs, inflated food and gas prices, essential items that simply needed to buy new, drained a large chunk of it.  Every other week it seemed the money kept shrinking and shrinking, but at least for the moment it managed to sustain the burden that weighed heavily on the mind.

Hal sat quietly on the sofa sipping from a cup of coffee.  He stared out the lone window that resembled a spider web more than a clear portal to view the outside world.  In the distance to the right and to the left and to the front of the complex stood the bulk of San Marcos’ apartment buildings towering up toward the unseen sky.  And though the site in itself offered no peace of mind, the silence of the moment did.

The usual gang of kids cutting through the property, romping about, spraying graffiti, the younger ones screaming to the older to “wait up,” were still in school.  Also, no music was blasting from any open windows.  But soon it would be dark, and the activities he hated so much would commence again.

Having kept to himself throughout the years, Hal wondered about the surrounding residents.  There had been plenty of time to meet with them since most of the free time was spent at home, mostly reading various e-publications and