Reboot

I was sitting on my porch that same evening, eyeing the horizon, looking for answers. William was next to me. “How do we respond? We have to respond, right?”

“I think so Robert,” said William. “But it has to be done correctly.”

I pondered all this for a while and then said, “I don’t see any other way out of this, do you?” William shook his head. I continued. “If we drop this, we leave Mooney up there, in charge, with access to assets that could be very dangerous. He’s proven incompetent at least, if not completely nuts, right?” William nodded. “So the only option we have is to take him down before he hurts more people, right?” William nodded. “Even if some people have to die first, right? Bear with me please, I just need a little reassurance.” William nodded some more. “You know, one of the main problems throughout history was that we had to continuously defend ourselves. It’s rife in our past isn’t it? If you didn’t have strong enough walls or good enough weapons or the best tactics, you were obliterated. Always. Are we going to have to go through all that again?”

“According to Rourke, that’s what’s been going on out East.”

“Hopefully not everywhere.”

Dutch joined us. He’d brought a bottle of something strong. “I think we could use a bit of medicine tonight,” he said. And he poured us all a good large glass. “You know what this means?” He asked both us, and then he went on: “It means that Mooney will do anything. This is just the beginning.”

After a few silent drinks, I started again, almost whispering. “Have you ever been to court?”

“Duh,” said Dutch.

“No,” said William. “Why”?

“Well I have. I spent a day there once, just watching, and you know what I saw? I didn’t see any criminals. All I saw was hopelessness.”

“How do you mean?” asked Dutch.

“One man had stolen wood to heat up his mother’s home. He was treated like a criminal. One Latina woman had stolen money from people’s wallets in the hotel rooms she was hired to clean, small amounts because she couldn’t make ends meet to feed her family. She was probably kicked out of the country after that. Another was a man who threatened his wife out of desperation because he wasn’t allowed to see his kids.”

“So?” asked Dutch.

“I saw no criminals. I saw anguish. People who were kept at the limit continuously and who had no chance of getting out or moving up. Maybe they made bad choices in their lives before that or maybe they just had bad luck or weren’t as smart as others, but so what. During that day I kept imagining these same people without fear. What would happen to them if they didn’t have to worry about heating or feeding their family? How would they choose to live their lives? I believe that most of them would opt for finding something fulfilling and useful to do.”

“Maybe you’re right,” said William. “You’re thinking we can do something about this?”

“Yes. Yes. We have a chance. Let’s take it.”