Morning all and welcome to the middle of the week. I hope yours is going swimmingly thus far. Shall we set the timers and see what pops out of the brain this morning? Excellent. Timers set and off we go.
I like the idea of this but I am not certain it is the beginning. I think the development of the con so to speak should go first instead of the incensed that they were used scene. Unless the story is what follows after people were destroyed by the con. Something to think about.
Wednesday, August 27th: He cleared his throat.
He cleared his throat. It was clear that he expected the sound to quiet everyone down so he could speak. It didn’t work. His face radiated shock. Conversations, many filled with outraged voices continued around him. His throat clearing did nothing. He frowned, glared at the room and the many arguments flowing around him. He tried again, this time the throat clearing was far more dramatic. Loudly over the top and obviously designed to garner attention.
It didn’t work any better. In the back of the room, sitting out of the way and nearly in shadow I watched. I wasn’t part of the arguments. I made up my mind long ago about the issue and thus far no one came up with a convincing argument that caused me to change my mind. I listened to them all but for the most part every argument I heard was more self promoting hype than rational discussion.
Of course now it all fell apart.
Those who promoted the agenda hoping it would serve their own self interests were realizing it wasn’t going to help them at all. Listening to them it was less an argument and more of everyone trying to retroactively claim they knew better and to blame the greed of those around them.
As Agustus glared at those who failed to heed his throat clearing I wondered what he would actually say if he was given the chance. He was, as far as I was concerned, the greediest of the lot. He saw piles and piles of money coming towards him on an endless stream and as a result fell harder for the scheme than anyone else.
‘I suppose that is why he is angrier,’ I thought. Looking at him and the crowd I wasn’t sure angrier was quite the right word. Everyone was angry, but there was a shadow behind the anger. Watching them I wasn’t entirely sure if it was embarrassment or shame. I was certain they were embarrassed at the fact they were taken advantage of in the first place. But in letting themselves be taken advantage of they had given into their baser instincts. They followed their greed, but they also abandoned common sense, common decency and even common curtesy.
‘Oddly enough becoming common criminals in the process.’
That was, I thought, the cause of some of the panic fueling the arguments. There was talk of repercussions and no one wanted to face them. At the front Augustus was turning red with rage. He looked like his head was going to explode right out of the top of his shirt collar.
He was not used to being ignored. He was used to his mere presence causing others to quiet and turn to him expectantly. Even the first soft throat clearing was more than he was accustomed to.
I decided that I really had no interest in the outcome. If everyone got themselves together then would still argue about blame. They didn’t have to find a scapegoat. The man who duped them was to blame. I suspected the rest of the afternoons agenda would involve finding ways to exact retribution. Once they worked their way through that they would work on their own pr campaigns as they tried to make themselves look better.
I had no real interest and stood, slipping out of the side door. I listened to enough of their arguments and had my own plan I was ready to enact.
They wouldn’t like it, but for some it might actually get them out of some of the hotter kettles of water they were now boiling in. My plan in going had been to see who might be interested. ‘Too soon for that,’ I decided.
Ten til Midnight 