Chapter-1: The Old Business of Men
An hour later, one of Diego’s assistants knocked on his door. He asked, “Señor Diego, should I prepare a messenger for Don Amado?”
Diego looked up from the letter he worked on, and said: “Money as usual, Patricio. Make ready for the messenger to depart at five with this letter. Another thing, we’re going to run a skeleton crew starting at four thirty. Begin the preparations and send most of our personnel home. At most, I need one courier and either you or Marco to stay behind. All else may leave.”
Patricio thought for a quick breath and replied: “Yes, sir; and, if it’s fine with you, señor, I volunteer to stay behind. Marco assisted you with Doña Lupe’s avocado and livestock contracts … two weeks ago.”
Diego checked his grandfather clock once more. “It would be unfair to single out Marco again. I appreciate you staying.”
Patricio smiled and looked at the loosely folded newspaper on Diego’s desk.
“My pleasure, señor,” said Patricio. “You were right. For the past two years, you were right. The United States of America entered civil war this year, as you predicted.”
Diego reached for a folder and looked up and shook his head at the grandfather clock in his office, and said, “Not much of a prediction, Patricio. All human beings have a weakness for war, more so when money enters a riskier divided state of being. One month ago, Lincoln and the Americans reached their limits of uncertain risk. Of course they leaned into war.”
“Do you agree,” asked Patricio, “with the author of the article in that newspaper, Nuestra Palabra? He believes their war to be a conflict of morality and of consciousness.”
“A fragmented union means more competition,” said Diego, “more laws, more contracts and more agreements to manage.” He sighed and straightened up in his chair and pushed the newspaper aside with a smirk. “All that combined leads to less centralized business, less money and less certainty of control. It’s too risky. Consciousness, morality … that’s not even close. The true reason for any war remains unchanged throughout history—greed, money and control.”
Patricio tapped on the doorframe with his left hand. “Greed, money and control, señor … what about the other article on the front page?”
Diego secured his letter in the folder and placed everything in a leather satchel. He said, “I wouldn’t be too concerned about that other country; at least, not this year. Mexico still has time to iron out any disagreements and avoid another war. There is still time for peaceful business.”
Guiding questions for Comments: (What do you see?)
For those interested in leaving a comment, here is a list of questions to help guide your critique.
Within these two pages of the story, from my perspective, I think I have provided enough information to answer the following questions. But what do you see?
1. Which characters are talking during this scene?
2. Where is this scene taking place?
3. What year is this scene taking place?
4. What is troubling the main character?
Thank you
I appreciate your time in reading this blog post. Next Saturday I will upload the next part of Chapter One: The Old Business of Men, from my first novel: Guerrero of Passions.
Total Consciousness 