Downfall from Greed

Describes how bonds are broken with greed.

Born in a rural area north of London, Thomas Edinburgh lives alone with his father in the little straw house built by his grandfather many years before. The straw house still stands there, in the little poor village in the wilderness. The house smells of dirt and rust, and the windows stained with years of erosion. The wooden roof often leaks rain and is repaired almost every month. The straw sheds and blows off with every storm. The father of the boy, Edward Edinburgh, is in charge. He works alone; preparing meals, repairing the house, taking care of cattle, and now raising his newborn son. There is only one market in their village, and the merchant asks him to care for his cattle, and in return gives him meat, bread, and milk.

            Just the year before, there was more life in the house. Edward Edinburgh used to live with his wife, a woman his age he met in the earlier years of his life, while attending school outside of the suburb. He lost her to the birth of their son. Thomas did survive his own birth with no lasting side effects; however, his mother was gone. Edward carried her from the house down to the area across the creek where the other villagers go to pray. Her body lies in the graves next to a few other ancestors and the man who constructed the house.

            Thomas is now only a few months old, and is already showing signs of connection with his father. Each day would be the same for them. Thomas would sleep and play in the dirt, while Edward would feed the cattle, and go to the merchant for his share. They would eat together, and Edward would always keep his son within eyesight.

            Life continued for them in this matter for several years, and by the time Thomas was old enough to go to school, things altered. The school was only a few miles away from their village, and is within reach by foot. Edward would walk Thomas to school each day, and then stand on the school courtyard afterwards. Thomas would see him there every day, and run to him every single day, full of excitement and stories to tell his father. Edward would just stand there and frown. The school was for the lower class, but no one looked quite as bad as the two Edinburghs. The fathers of the other young boys all wore suits and large jackets, while the children themselves had clean collared shirts, and ironed pants. Edward felt terrible, his clothes, like ones of a peasant. Thomas though, didn’t seem to mind. He would happily run to his father every day in the same manner.

            Despite of their economical standing, Edward still wants his son to be educated. He sends him to school every day. The school was just one classroom with one teacher, but nevertheless proficient in Edward’s mind.

“I hear some of the kids live in cities,” Thomas would tell his father during supper. “I once too lived in the city,” Edward responded. “I used to live with my father working with airlines, you know, airplanes.” “Why did you move here?”

“Had to, we lost the business,” “I know, this place is a total wash.”

“No it’s not, it’s great.” That night Edward tucked his son into the hay bed under the aged blankets, and the boy looked at his father. “I love you daddy,” He said. “I love you too Thomas,” was the reply.

            The next morning while they had breakfast Edward looked down at his plate. “What’s the matter daddy?” His son asked. “I just want to say I’m sorry” answered Edward.

“What for?”

“Everything, we shouldn’t be living like this.”

“What’s wrong with this way of living, daddy?”

“I had opportunities in the past; I once led a normal life.”

“Our life is not normal?”

“Never mind.” Conversations like this arose almost every day, and Edward just wasn’t able to get the point across. He used to live in the city with his father, and they didn’t have enough money to support the business. The airline was taken from them, and sold to another man. After working hard enough to repay the debt, they moved to the village and built the straw house.

The next day, Edward walks Thomas to school, but when the classes are over, Thomas is the last child left in the school yard. He sits on the gravel looking at the dirt path ahead, with no one in sight. The teacher emerges from inside the building, “I’m sure your father will come soon,” she comforts him. “I can’t stay here with you, I have to go,” she continues. Thomas just sits there pretending not to hear, his eyes fixed onto the dirt path. He can’t understand why his father isn’t coming. After a few minutes, he notices a shape moving from the forest. It keeps getting closer and closer; clearer with each step forward. Thomas gets a lift of excitement, and carefully studies the figure strolling down the path. The figure reveals itself to be the merchant from the village market. “Your father,” he says approaching the boy, “is very sick.” Thomas gets up and follows the merchant home. On their way back the merchant tells Thomas more about his father. “He hasn’t stopped by, nor notified me about any change in today’s routine.” “Figured something’s wrong.”

When they finally arrived to the straw house, Thomas ran inside and saw his father lying on his bed. His skin was red, and could only breath through short, choppy breaths. Thomas was near devastated to see his father like this. The Edinburgh family had a reputation for illness and weak immunity, and Thomas knew it. The flu has also just recently started spreading. “Will everything be alright daddy?” Thomas asked. “Everything will turn out just fine,” Edward responded. For the rest of the night, Thomas felt uneasy. He was scared of what could happen to his father. The next morning he stayed at home to assist his father, and help bring food to him. This slow and painful lifestyle continued for only a week until the father got better.

As the months passed, the agony of the near tragedy slowly faded away. Then, one day the teacher handed Thomas a letter. “Take this to your father,” she said. Being as poor as they were, they didn’t have any nearby post offices or mailboxes that letters could get sent to, so they were sent to the school, where the teacher could forward them to the recipient. However, this was the first letter that Thomas has received. He was excited to show his father the letter. He knew it must be something good. Edward had no idea of what to expect. He looked at the letter, and was almost afraid to open it. He hadn’t done anything important while living in the village, so it had to have been something regarding his past life in the city. He wasn’t even sure he’d want reminders. When he opened the letter he was astounded. It was from the city, but good news. It was a letter about his old accounts being inactive since he had just abandoned them when moving to the village. It also had a portion concerning the London Stock Exchange. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: The airline company had grown so much under its new ownership, that the little money he had in the stock market while running the business had grown to nearly two hundred thousand pounds! He was excited. He looked at his son and said “I can’t believe it, I’m not a failure after all!” Being only eleven years of age, Thomas didn’t quite understand what his father meant.

It was all already planned. The next Tuesday, Edward would organize a taxi to come and take him and Thomas to central London, where he would fill out any remaining paperwork, and withdraw his money. Everything did go as planned, and he so excited that he decided to buy a house or apartment that very day. “we’re going to need a car,” Thomas exclaimed. “We can’t live in a city like this without our own car.” “The kids at my school have them.” “Easy now, let’s not get too tempted, we shouldn’t get extravagant.” Edward replied.

“Whatever.”

They settled into an apartment that night, but there were still many plans for the future. The next morning, Edward walked Thomas to school, which was of course still the same school, as it was easily accessible from the urban city. He sat bored at school all day. He was mad how even his new, clean clothes don’t compare to the one’s of his classmates. He overheard them talking about their parents and what they do for fun. “My dad, he just bought a Lexus!” He heard one of the kids say. When his father finally came to pick him up, he was standing outside, not alone on the dirt path, but next to a brand new Toyota four door sedan. For once in his life, he was happy. He had new jeans and a clean polo shirt. He felt like he had finally reached the top, reached the point he had been dreaming about his whole life, no longer did he feel like he was an embarrassment, and that he made a mistake by bringing a child into his world. He now felt completely suitable and confident about raising Thomas, who was now indistinguishable from the other kids. But most importantly, he was excited about seeing his son’s reaction to the car, their first car. As Thomas walked out, he only nodded to the sight of his father, and walked to him. “What do you think?” Asked Edward excitingly. “It’s alright, I guess,” responded Thomas. On their way home, Thomas sat in the passenger seat grunting and complaining.

“The kids at my school have parents with better cars, like Lexus.”

“What would we need one of those for? It’s impractical”

“We have more money than them!” “Why don’t we use it?”

They continued to argue for the next few months. Then, one day, Edward was cleaning out his satchel, when a paper fell out. It was the old paper about the stock market that opened the door to his new life. He skimmed over it, and his eyes fell onto something on the paper. The date. He hadn’t looked at the date before. The year on the letter was more than twenty years older than the day at which he received it. That meant that the investment was worth two hundred thousand pounds ten years ago, it must have at least doubled by now! The next day while Thomas was at school, he made his way down to the London Stock Exchange and the bank. He asked to see the total amount he had, and wanted to withdraw it all and keep it in a bank account. six point four million pounds were the sum. With just a swipe of his card, he could have almost anything he wanted. From poor to multimillionaire in less than a year, yet he still protested to have a modest lifestyle. Of course, this led to many fights with his son, but that did not change his mind. For years Thomas felt anger towards his father and was aggravated by the students in his schools who all flaunted their lifestyles, but he had to live as a millionaire in disguise as average. Edward continued to feel good about himself, and he wasn’t expecting Thomas to act the way he does. For years, he had to drag Thomas around a straw hut and taught him to call it home, but felt guilt for not having a normal middle class household to properly raise Thomas. Now he has everything, but Thomas only despises him more and more.

Several years after, Edward once again contracts the flu, only this time, he goes to a public hospital. His situation only gets worse, and they call Thomas to see him. Thomas is reluctant and claims how his father is a boring man who only stares at the riches they possess, yet doesn’t use them. He finally decides to go and see his father in the hospital. He sits in the room watching his father suffer as his immunity gives out, and the illness swallows him. Edward looks at his son and only tries to say something in his last breath, but Thomas is already exiting the room, going to claim his inheritance.