Empty Harvest

Chapter 1: A glorious family of the Communist Party

Town of Steele is a quiet little town within a Communist country. This year, a year around the 1970s, people in town again gathered together around their families to celebrate the lunar new year.

Feys Robinson is an old man, and he is the chief of the town, as such, his family, The Robinsons, is a glorious statue that everyone in town looks up to.

Today is the first day after the lunar new year. Relatives and old friends are walking into each other’s home, and sharing their great laughs.

Peter is a good old friend of Feys, and a high official of the Communist Party, who can arrange a lot of stuff, to make certain things happen. And he is in Feys’ home to spend some time with him.

Peter has already done the speaking with Feys, now he is in another room of the house with Feys’ eldest son and child, Joel Robinson.

“Feys is such a good old comrade of the Party. He deserves so much warmth and love from his family. ” Peter speaks to Joel Robinson, “and yet, out of all his three sons, you are the only one here to spend the new year with him.”

“Alright.” Joel laughs and says, “My two younger brothers are very ‘busy’ men. They live overseas, you know, America, and Canada. Their new years are different from ours. They are probably busy working right now.”

“Right, the wealthy and rich western nations.” Peter says, “A lot of people here admire their riches and their lifestyle. They really want to live there too, you know.”

“Yes, so do I.” Joel laughs.

“You are the eldest son.” Peter says, “When people look up to the sons of this family, they should look up to you. Now your younger brothers steal your spotlight. They are so admired by people around the town right now, you know, for the riches they make, and the beautiful houses they live in, overseas.”

“Right.” Joel stops a little bit and says, “I am not doing bad as well. I am a head manager of a local state owned power plant. Thanks for the family honor within the Communist Party.”

“That’s it? Do you really think that is all you deserve, compared to what your brothers have?” Peter says, “I know I am an outside man of this family. But I do think this is unfair.”

“I am already pretty satisfied with my life right now.” Joel says, “But if there is anything better to happen, I would wish my daughter, Rachel to live a better life.”

“You daughter, how old is she?” Peter asks, “And what is she doing right now?”

“She is about 20, and she has just finished school.” Joel says, “Now she is a teacher, teaching English.”

“She speaks English!?” Peter says, “Wow, I am impressed. You know, people with English speaking skills are in hot demand right now.”

“Really!?” Joel asks.

“Yes.” Peter says, “I knew an agency in the UK, who demands a large number of workers that speak English, to work in the UK. For every worker I refer, they will split some money with me. And if the person I supplied is very productive after years of service, I will then get a lot of more reward money. It is basically like a huge fraction of his or her actual paycheck, before it would come into his or her own hand. So if you know anyone, I mean anyone, you can just tell me. In return, I will arrange some good benefits for you.”

“What benefits?” Joel asks.

“For example, there are luxury houses being built up around here.” Peter says, “I can arrange a good low purchase price for you, before that house is to be released on the open market.”

“Really!?” Joel says, “Can you arrange for Rachel to work in the UK?”

“Listen.” Peter says, “Those jobs given are pretty hard. Basically dirty heavy jobs that no one else wants to take.”

“But it pays right?”

“Not a lot.”

“But even a little salary, compared to the living standard here, could be a lot of money, right?” Joel keeps asking.

“That is true.” says Peter, “You know what, I am totally fine with that. Why don't you talk to your daughter, Rachel, to see what she thinks.”

“I will work this out with her.” Joel says with confidence, “Just trust me.”

Chapter 2: The Proud Dad

“What? Me, going to the UK? To a rich western country?” Rachel speaks in excitement, “I cannot believe it!”

“So, what do you think, do you want to give up your job, and head overseas?” Joel asks.

“Of course, of course.” says Rachel, “My two brothers seem to have so much great time over there, and I am so envious of them. After all, I am the eldest grandchild. If there are any good fortunes in this family, I should enjoy it no less than any of my younger cousins.”

“You will be working on whatever the jobs that the agency would ask you to do. Life could be hard, Rachel.” says Joel, “Promise me, whatever happens, just don’t kill yourself.”

“Alright, alright father, take it easy.” says Rachel, and kisses on his father’s cheek, “I won’t kill myself, I promise you.”

So it is. As time goes fast, only a few weeks later, everything is arranged, and Rachel is on a vessel heading towards the UK.

“What is life in the UK going to look like?” Rachel wonders alone on the boat, “Is it hard? Is it easy? And Will I ever meet my handsome prince?”

It is not too long, until Rachel arrives at a place that she believes she is destined to be in.

She walks along the port, sees all the high rises and prosperities shine upon this nation.

“When will be my time, I wonder.” Rachel asks.

As she walks and stops, and walks, she sees a group of people standing in a crowd, where each of them holds a sign that has a person’s name on it.

“Rachel… Rachel… Rachel…”, Rachel mutters, as she is trying to find her name on one of those signs.

“Ah ha, Rachel Robinson.” Rachel applauses herself, “That is me! I have found it!”

“Hello Miss Robinson.” says the person meeting Rachel, “I am Robert, here to lead you to your temporary shelter. Please take a deep rest, because tomorrow, you will be undertaking the jobs provided by our agency, and you will find that you did need a good rest, just trust me.”

“Oh, OK, thanks Robert. I will.”

Rachel meets the agency after a rest. She is then given a job as an assembly worker, working 60 to 80 hours each week with little pay.

As time goes on, Rachel grows tired of her living style in the UK, and begins to miss her life back in the Town of Steele.

Many years have passed on, and for each lunar new year, she did come back to Steele to meet with her family. She was disappointed during those family meetings as she found out her father was only interested in showing off his daughter as a successful immigrant to the west, with little care or help for how much hardship she had gone through. Well, she did not want to talk about them either.

Her father, Joel Robinson, has reached his highest moments, ever, during his entire life. With a western immigrant daughter to show off, now he also buys a new luxury house, as promised by Peter. The buying of the house was arranged, so Joel could spend far less than what that house would cost on the open market.

Rachel begins to feel being sold and betrayed. She wants her life back at Steele. But her father has praised her too much, across the entire town, that, if she ever returned to Steele, and went back to the poor communism lifestyle, then she must have been a big loser in the UK.

One day after Rachel goes back to her residence after work. She checks the mail box, and finds out a letter from her mother, Lewis Robinson. She opens the letter, it says that her father is injured when he plays within his garden, and the wound was infested. Her father, Joel, is now really sick, and probably on the last days of his life.

Now it is really an easy decision for Rachel to make. She immediately resigns the job that she is on, and breaks all contracts with her agency, and then quickly jumps on a boat that would take her back to the Town of Steel.

Chapter 3: The Big Betrayal

Rachel heads toward her father’s house as fast as she can, but when she arrives, she only finds a portrait of her father being put up on a table, with candles shining around it.

“Father, what happened to my father, where is he?”, asks Rachel.

“Rachel, daughter, only if you arrived here a few days earlier, you would have seen him one last time, before he passed away. ”, says the mother of Rachel, Lewis Robinson, the only other person in the house, while crying.

“No! Father, No!” Rachel screams out aloud, with tears, “Father, I am so sorry! Please forgive me!”

Rachel then bows on the ground before her father’s portrait, crys hard for a long time.

“Rachel, Rachel. Listen.” says Lewis, “You father is already buried. Let us go to his graveyard, shall we?”

“OK, mother.” Rachel weeps, while swiping her tears clean.

A while after, Rachel and Lewis are standing in front of the ground where Joel was buried.

“That’s it, just two of us, here for him?” Asks Rachel.

“There has been a political movement led by the Communist Party,” says Lewis, “a movement that againsts the ‘bad riches’.”

“And my father is one of the ‘bad riches’?” asks Rachel.

“Yes, that is why no one wants to talk to us right now, even our close relatives wouldn’t show up to his funeral.”

“How? He is such a good person.”

“I know. But people can get jealous.” Lewis weeps hard, and says, “Joel recently bought a new luxury house, and starts to spend hardly over his brand new lifestyle. He even bought a new car for himself, and that is a first, in our town, for someone to own a car. Everyone in our town knows it, and I believe that is what makes him a target of the movement.”

“Father!” Rachel cries and bows in front of her father’s tombstone, “You had lived such a good life in those recent years, but do you know what my life was like, back in the UK? It was hell! I wish I could have someone to talk to, about my miserable life, someone like you. My life in the UK was not shiny like you said to other people, not at all! Can you hear me father? I really need someone to hear my pain, Please.”

“Rachel, daughter, please, stop crying so hard.” says Lewis, “Prepare yourself, our real hardship is probably yet to begin, with all these political movements that are going on around here right now.”

“Or, it can stop, once for all.” Peter suddenly sneaks out from nowhere, and speaks, “But I do need your cooperation.”

“Peter, you? Have you been following us?” says Lewis.

“Yes, Joel was one of the ‘bad riches’ after all”, says Peter, “I do have to put an eye on him, and his family, Right?”

“I know what you are up to.” Lewis finger-points at Peter with fierce in her eye, “Don’t even think about it.”

“I do need to talk to your girl, Rachel,” says Peter.

“No, Rachel, don’t talk to him!” says Lewis, “and don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth!”

“Actually, it is the Communist Party that wants to talk to Rachel.” says Peter, “Mrs Robinson, Please don’t make this too hard.”

“It is OK, mum, I will talk to him.” says Rachel.

“Then come with me to my office please, Miss Robinson.” says Peter, leading Rachel to his office, while leaving Lewis crying alone over her husband’s grave.

“You know what, Rachel,” Peter begins talking at his office, “Me and your father made a deal years ago, to arrange for you to work in the UK.”

“What deal?”

“I know an agency in the UK, the one that supplies jobs for you. It handles all kinds of crap jobs that nobody else would like to take, like the kind of jobs you are taking.” says Peter, “The people who were born and living there, won’t take those jobs. And we had to find people overseas that can work a lot more for less, and those workers also have to speak English.”

“So you know me speaking English well, and you set me up for this, right?” asks Rachel.

“No, No, No, girl, it’s NOT me.” Peter laughs and says, “Me and your father had a deal, that he would put you into the hands of my Agency, and in return, he would buy his new house at a very very low price.”

“What!?”

“Yes, Rachel,” says Peter, “Your father SOLD you, like a stock. He sold your life in Steele, and stole your future.”

“No, No, that can’t be right.” Rachel shocks in disbelief.

“Listen Rachel,” says Peter, “The Communist Party has quantitative demands on how many people should be put up as the bad riches in each Town. I have had a really hard time to figure out which of my best old friends in town should I turn up against.”

“And you picked my father?” Rachel cries over and over, and speaks.

“He deserves it Rachel,” says Peter, “He is like the richest dude in town. Owning all these real estates for very little hard work. He is a very bad influence and role model for our town people to look up with. And he is a bad image to our Communist Party. More importantly, he is dead. If I did not put him up to fill up the number, I would have broken another good family. He is dead anyways, and he pays up his debt to our society by filling up the bad book to save one other good family, understand?”

“No, No, this can’t be true…”

“Listen Rachel, I know you are worried about your future here in Steele.” says Peter, “Especially after your father had died, and your family had been politically targeted. Listen, Rachel, I have figured all this out for you. The crops trading business is owned by the state. And each town has a state appointed crops dealer to distribute crops from suppliers to our town people. Everyone needs to eat, you know, so it is a juicy business. And the seat for that dealership in our town is currently empty.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Rachel, all you have to do is, to testify against your father in court.” says Peter, “And if you do that, I will put you up as our town's newly appointed crops dealer.”

“What!?”

“You have everything to win in this move.” Says Peter, “You will be politically separated from your father, which makes you no longer a target of the movement. And, you will be owning a very profitable business. Think about it.”

“No, no… that can’t be right…”

“Listen Rachel, don’t just think about yourself,” says Peter, “Think of your mother also. With all this movement against your family, who will be taking care of her, after the death of your father? Come on Rachel, you know what to do, step up, and speak for both of you and your mother, against your father. So your mother is no longer under the isolation of our town people, and you will get a good source of income to take care of your mother for the rest of her life.”

“I can’t believe it, what should I do right now?” Rachel suddenly loses her strength, and drops her body down onto a chair.

“I know it is a hard decision,” says Peter, “So I will give you some time to sort this through. And once you are clear, and decide to testify against your father, please tell me. And the crops dealing business in our town will be yours.”

After those words, Peter walks out of the office, leaving Rachel sitting there alone, and feels lost in tears.

Chapter 4: The Rise and Abuse

Weeks later, inside a courthouse:

“Rachel Robinson, are you testifying against your father on the riches that he owned?” says the Judge.

“Yes, your honor. My father got his house by conducting an illegal inside trade.” says Rachel, “So he could purchase this property at a fraction of what it would cost on the open market.”

“Really? So he gets his riches in an illegal way then?” asks the judge.

“Yes, your honor.” says Rachel, “Me and my mother were not aware of this at the time. But now we do, and we feel so ashamed by my father’s actions. The lifestyle he had lived recently before his death, we are so disgusted by it. I think it is a shame to have one in our town, who was living such a luxury lifestyle based on very little hard work. Me and my mother are totally against it. The way he bought his property, and the wasteful way that he was living.”

After hours of legal showdown, Joel Robinson, after his death, is now officially and legally on the bad books of the Communist Party, which is sentenced by the court.

Outside of the courthouse, after the court was dismissed, Rachel walks along the side way. She is not proud of what she had just done, but she does feel released because she just has got one big nasty thing over with.

“Hey, Miss Robinson, congratulations on your recent appointment as our town’s new crops dealer. I am Tom, your secretary of the Crops Dealing Authority.” says Tom, as he walks towards Rachel, while Rachel is stepping out of the courthouse.

“Hey Tom, what is going on?” asks Rachel, “Sorry if you find me behaving weird, I am in a very bad mood right now.”

“Oh I know, you have just finished your father’s case, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can we still talk right now?”

“Sure.”

“OK, Miss Robinson.” says Tom, “It is about the sales of our crops.”

“What about it?”

“Well eh, we don’t have much harvest this year.” says Tom, “But the demands are very very high. Our crops suppliers simply cannot keep up with the demand. All crops currently on reserves are already sold out.”

“What?”

“Yes, many people are now crying in front of our doors, asking to purchase more crops for food.” says Tom, “But we just don’t have it anymore.”

“Have you talked to our suppliers?”

“Yes.” says Tom, “They say that they will send us more crops soon. But it will not be a lot, since this year’s weather has been bad, so they have very little reserves of this year’s harvest to supply to us.”

“What should we do now then?” asks Rachel.

“There, eh, is an easy way to counter this type of situation.” says Tom, “We simply raise the price, so the crops will not be fastly eaten by the high demand, and we will make a lot more profit. It could be a win-win situation. ”

“Alright, why don’t we just double the price of the crops.” says Rachel, “No, triple it, or more.”

“Alright, that sounds like an ambitious plan.” says Tom, “It might work.”

A few months have passed, due to the huge rising price of the crops, Rachel sees a sudden influx of huge profits. But many town people are not happy about this, and it does not seem to concern Rachel at all. She now has a plan for her future. She would like to transfer the huge amount of profit that she makes here, to an oversea bank in the UK, so she could just spend the money there, and forget about all the bad memories and crap that has been going on around Steele.

Since Rachel is already a boss of her own, and now answers to no one. She quickly executes her plan. With such high profits constantly draws in, she is so confident about her riches in the future, that she even borrows a huge amount of money in the UK from the banks, to buy a huge luxury house, car, and many expensive jewelries.

Back in Steele, two boys who are badly starved because of the crops price, try to sneak into the crops reserve of the Crops Dealing Authority, and in hope to steal out some crops for food.

“What is that bird on top of the barns?” asks one boy, “It looks like an owl, is it a BARN OWL?”

“I think, maybe.” says another boy, “Why don't we just go in and get some crops and get out fast?”

“Aright.”

“Wow, wow, look at these crops in the barn.” says one boy, “They are already rotten. The dealer cannot sell all these crops with such high prices. I knew it.”

“But why?” says another boy, “If they can’t sell them, why don’t they just lower the price?”

“Who is there?” a guard brings out a dog heading towards the barn.

“We have to run.” says one boy, “Quick, quick, grab whatever the good crops we can get on our hands, and just run!”

About the same time, in the UK, Rachel is enjoying her luxury new house, wearing her favorite jewelry, while enjoying her best champagne. And all the sudden, her phone starts to ring. Rachel picks up the phone, and it is from one of the crops suppliers back at Steele.

“Listen Miss Robinson.” says the crops supplier, “I have a serious issue that I want to talk to you about.”

“Fill me in,” says Rachel.

“It is about the price that you resell our crops to the town people.”

“What about it?”

“It is too high.”

“Excuse me!?” Rachel laughs suddenly, spits out her champagne, and says,”I am the official crops dealer in town, I set the retail price for the crops that I resell to the people, not you. It is my business, not yours. You only supply it.”

“Have you been Steele recently?” asks the supplier, “Do you know that our town people are starving? Many poor people who cannot afford food are now eating mice, tree-branches, and even their own shoes? Have you seen this? Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

“Eh, No.” says Rachel.

“Have you considered dropping the price for the crops in our town?”

Rachel suddenly feels stunned, she looks around her big new house, the expensive furniture, and her golden jewelry, they all remind her of the money she borrowed from the bank. If she cannot keep up earning such high profits from Steele continuously, then she cannot pay off the loans in time, and then the high interest will then eat her up, alive.

“Eh, excuse me sir,” says Rachel, “It is not our fault, OK? It is your fault, the suppliers. It is you who cannot keep up with the demands. It is you, who have shortages in supply. And in return, the dealer, me, has to raise up the price after all, because there just aren’t enough crops to sell. If the price is too low, then we can’t keep up with the demands, simple.”

“You have crops sitting there and got rotten in your reserve barns, god dammit.” says the supplier, “Everybody in town now knows that, OK? Your price is simply too high to sell.”

“Why are you telling me what price to set for the market?” says Rachel in rage, “It is NONE of your business.”

“Your pricing strategy has damaged our brand name.” says the supplier, “We put our brand name on each bag of the crops we supply. When people get starved, they don't just blame you, they hate us, the suppliers as well.”

“You know what, it is impossible to keep up with what everyone's thinking, and it is impossible to set a perfectly just price as well.” says Rachel, “It is our job to set the resale price, and I cannot discuss my own business with you.”

Rachel then slams down the telephone, lays down on a sofa, and opens the TV, while hoping all of these troubles in mind could just blow away, like a wind.

Chapter 5: The Fall

A few years later, after Rachel had deeply enjoyed her wealth as a crops dealer, she suddenly realized that her contract with the state, which certifies and legalizes her as the official crops dealer, is about to expire.

She does not yet seem to treat this as a problem. She believes that she can somehow just show up in front of Peter, and with a few good talks, it shall be naturally taken care of, and extended, or at least that is what she believes.

She packs up her good stuff in the UK, even brings along one of her very expensive cameras, and she is ready for a vacation style travel, back to Steele, just to get the contract extended with Peter.

“I regret to inform you, Miss Robinson,” says Peter, “that we cannot extend our contract with you anymore, and therefore you can no longer be our official crops dealer in Steele.”

“What? Why?” Rachel is shocked in disbelief.

“People in town are so fed up with your extremely high crops prices, that is why.” says Peter.

“But that is because of the lack of supplies.” Rachel defends herself.

“No, No, you have a very large amount of crops that are rotten in the barns of your reserves.” says Peter, “and I have talked to the suppliers, they are already doing everything they can to push up the supplies. I have checked the numbers, and the fault is on you. I see you have brought a very nice camera with you here, do you want to take a photograph of your barns with that camera?”

“No, listen to me, I… I… eh…” Rachel is trying to argue against Peter again, but this time she is running out of words.

“It is not just the People who are fed up,” says Peter, “The suppliers are fed up, because you have wasted so much of their supplies, allowing their crops to rot. And you have tainted their brandname, because when people are hungry and angry, they will attack everyone they can, including the suppliers, for not being able to put the crops directly into the hands of the hungry people.”

“That is not…”

“The Communist Party is also fed up with your performance.” says Peter, “With your poor conduct as a crops dealer, the people in town are now turning to black markets. The black markets are on the rise now, eating up our official monopoly over the crops distribution. And the Party has taken a huge hit for its own reputation because of you, for not being able to properly feed its own people.”

“I… can explain…”

“No, it is already done.” Says Peter, “You are fired, Miss Robinson. The party has already made the decision on who our next official crops dealer will be. And we are already in discussion with our new guy.”

“You can’t just throw me out, right?”

“Oh yes I can.” Peter says, “Miss Robinson, you should just leave right now. If you keep wasting my time, I will turn you over to the court immediately. We have a bunch of clear evidence that could throw you in jail.”

“You throw me in jail? Ha ha” Rachel loses herself and laughs, “Remember, years ago, you sold my father his house below market price, and got him in the bad books? You are guilty too, I could just put you in jail with that.”

“Oh, throw me? In jail? Ha ha ha.” Peter laughs aloud, “I did not sell your father anything, not even a house. What I did basically, was just to refer him to talk to another guy. That’s it. I did not participate in the trading of that house at all. What he did to get that house is between him and the other guy, and I had NOTHING to do with it.”

“You bastard!” says the angry Rachel.

“Leave at once, Miss Robinson.” says Peter, “or I am calling the cops right now, and throwing you in jail for starving our town people.”

Peter picks up the phone as he speaks, and begins to slowly dial in the number.

Rachel suddenly loses all her grounds, she cannot say anything anymore. She just turns away, walks out of Peter’s office immediately, and shuts the door behind her, very loudly.

Afterwards, Rachel then quickly rushes back to the UK, with no more stream of income, she clearly cannot pay off the bank’s mortgages anymore. So she quickly sells everything that she has in the UK, the house, the jewelry, the camera, the car, the furniture, … everything. So she could pay off the bank as fast as she can, to avoid higher interest costs.

She now can no longer go back to Steele, because not only her father is the bad rich, but she herself has starved the town people badly, so she just cannot go back anymore. There is simply just no place for her in Steele.

After Rachel has pretty much sold everything, she now goes back to her job agency and starts her new life again as a hard labor. Except this time, for every paycheck she receives in her hand, she now has to split a huge amount of it to keep paying off the banks. She also has to take out whatever little that she has spared, and transfers it back to Steele, to support her widowed mother. She feels that is the least that she could do for her mother.

“The life I had before, when I firstly entered the UK, which I believed to be hell, now feels like a piece of heaven.” Rachel has always wondered that when she is alone, like in her own room, and in between the breaks of the jobs.

Back in Steele, the town has now gotten its new crops dealer. To save their brand names, the crops suppliers have reached a deal with the new crops dealer, that the suppliers will immediately donate a large amount of crops to the town people that are badly starving. And the new dealer has promised to keep the crop's price low, to save the face of the Communist Party.

And so it is, everything goes back to normal, as the sun is still shining upon this beautiful earth from high above.