Pros and Cons

Pros:...let’s face it...that’s a lot of money.

Cons: Let’s face it...your father has been buried for a month.

Pros: Sure...sure, but the money’s not coming from him. And with that money, all $20,000, I could pay off the rest of my debts--$15,000--and I wouldn’t have to risk my neck making deliveries anymore. I wouldn’t have to assume that risk of being caught by police. I wouldn’t have to worry about hauling unmarked bags and parcels all over town, sometimes being attacked with the objects I’ve delivered. Since I took this job I’ve started grinding my teeth. Kay kicks me out of bed now. I brought up the risk to the boss, and she didn’t care.

Cons: Okay, so say you use that money to pay off your debt. Great, what would you do? You owe $15,000, and then you’d be left with five. We’re not talking about a huge sum. And I hate to tell you, but your past decisions aren’t really the soundest signs of financial judgement. What would you do?

Pros: Simple. I’d buy another adjective. Assume new attributes and more debt. They’ve put aside ‘industrious’ for me. It costs a lot, but I could place a downpayment. Just think about how I’d manage to pay off all my debts and the job security I could get when I show potential employers I’m fast, lucky, AND industrious. The two previous ones are the only reason I’m still alive.

Cons: They’re also the only reason you're still in debt.

Pros: True, true, I admit, they are expensive, but I think that in the name of self-improvement, this could work. Besides, Kay has been busting it at her job and letting me tag along. She says she doesn’t mind, but sometimes I see her looking at other men. Not like, for a long time, but it’s embarrassing. And we don’t go out as often as we used to. We’ve been together for so long...and...I’m like...what are those things...a tick. I’m like a tick just feeding from her. Now, with industrious, I’d be able to make things work.

Cons: You really think she’d go for this?

Pros: There’s a chance, right? I mean, if I can buy that adjective, I could take up an apprenticeship, save up for another adjective for my name, start a business perhaps, even get married. At least Kay won’t have to hide me when her friends come over…

Cons: But?

Pros: It’s just…that black notebook my uncle sent me.

Cons: The one with the proposition?

Pros: Yeah. So this notebook of his says that my father’s first business had originally been my uncle’s idea. And there’s proof. He didn’t remember until recently, after learning about my father’s death. He said on the back of a family photograph in my grandparents old house, there’s a note, dated before he left town and dated before my father opened up his shop and made his fortune.

Cons: And the picture is...what?

Pros: It’s a family photograph of my grandparents and my dad and my uncle, at a beach. It’s an unremarkable photograph, but my uncle described it perfectly to me. I find it odd that he ‘just remembered’ now that my father is dead.

Cons: Do you? Think about it. If he tried to get at it with your father still alive, your father would have stopped him. And if your father knew what your uncle had written on the back of the picture, how long do you think it would take for your father to destroy the evidence? But really, what I want to know is, did you find the photograph?

Pros:...yes...

Cons: And more importantly, did you find the note that your uncle described on the back of the photograph, date and everything?

Pros:...yes…

Cons: Okay! Well, there’s something to consider. At least you know that your uncle’s story is true. But be reasonable. Siblings often share ideas with one another. And who’s to say your father hadn’t mentioned something like that before to your uncle. The idea stewed and your uncle wrote it down or something like that. I think it’s fathomable to suspect that at least a bit of an idea exchange may have occurred. Should we really fault your father for that?

Pros: No, no, I guess not…but he did make a lot of money from the idea...

Cons: True and I’m sure that stings, but let’s not forget the main catch to this. You give your uncle that photograph, and then what? He writes you a check for $20,000? Is that what he said?

Pros: Hold on...yeah, yeah here it is.

Cons: Say your uncle doesn’t pay you. Or, wait, let’s say HE DOES pay you. He pays you and you’ve given him proof of the fact that, in his mind, your dad ripped him off. Took his idea and ran with it and your uncle left town. There are plaques all around town where your father was honored. I mean, after he died, he left a vast fortune to the hospital. They say a wing will be named after him. Is that a legacy that you feel should be tarnished due to a jealous sibling?

Pros: But the money my dad left…

Cons: I suspect that the money your father left all those places is secure and going nowhere. But the legacy of your father...his reputation. If rumor comes out to his critics that he stole the idea, then his name could go down the gutter.

Pros: My uncle wrote a note to me in the book. It says that he knows about my debts and my financial issues and that he’s giving me all he can reasonably afford. He also mentions it’s a shame my father didn’t leave more to me.

Cons: How could he know how much your father left to you?

Pros: It’s rather public how much my father gave. His assets weren’t endless. And his ornate funeral...his donations...he gave me some, but I needed to pay off part of my debt.

Cons: Geeze...how much did you really owe?

Pros:...anyway, let’s think about this. Why didn’t my father leave me more? Why did he decide to give everything away, to everyone else?

Cons: You just said…

Pros: Sure, he gave me some, but a fraction of his total assets. He always went on and on about how he wanted me to work hard and start a place of my own, like he did, and he lectured me on...the merits of...originality and hard work…

Cons: Oh…

Pros: Yeah...

Cons: Okay...what about your family ties? Your connection to the past?

Pros: I guess there’s that. But, I feel that with the money he spent on his tomb, and the donations, and the meager inheritance I received, that connection isn’t that strong...

Cons: Look, I mean, last thing. And then I’ll let it drop. Take a step back. Your dad raised you, and gave you a decent education and a good upbringing. And now you hold the key to potentially shaming his past for what? An adjective? Industrious? Would Kay buy that? I thought Kay stuck with you because despite being LUCKY and FAST she speaks about you as loyal. And you didn’t even buy that adjective. Do you even buy your arguments? I guess, what I mean to say is, well, sure, $20,000 is a lot of money. But is that sum the ideal price of selling out a past life? Say your dad’s reputation goes unblemished. This doesn’t gather the traction your uncle hopes it does. You still took the money. You still compromised something about yourself.

Pros: Yeah...true...but let’s face it...that’s a lot of money.