Paradeisia: Origin of Paradise Read Online Free Page B

pivotal meeting.  As you know, when I spoke at TED, my talk was censored, that is, removed, so I am grateful for this opportunity.  Thank you, members of the Security Council, for indulging me with your time.  And thank you, all of you who are here or watching remotely, for lending your ears to this subject, a subject which is quite certain turn your little worlds,” he giggled, wiped sweat from his forehead, “upside down.”
     
     
    Jet Conference Room
     
    Maggie met Aubrey outside the now-closed double doors of the jet's conference room.  “Henry said he would like you to sit in this meeting, but they're about to start.  If you listen, you might learn something.”  She led Aubrey into the room where they took seats against the wall, off to the side of a table where there were seven men in suits, including Henry, and one elderly woman in an elegant-looking emerald-green pantsuit.  Seated at the head of the table, she had a hawkish nose, but this feature was grandstanded by her large, piercing eyes.
    “Are we quite ready to begin?” she inquired impatiently.  Receiving nods from around the table, she tapped her hand and said, “Good.”  Then she declared, “Let me be abundantly clear:  What we have received for our trouble is an utter catastrophe.”  Her small lips curved downward into a sneer of disgust, “When my feckless nephew came to me and asked for a considerable investment in this scheme, I didn't have the foresight to cast him from my threshold like the black cat he was.  His sales antics were far better than his business acumen proved to be.  So, alas, I invested.  And when that investment was brought to nothing, he exploited the good faith I had placed in him to bewitch all of you,” she motioned to the men around her, “who invested.  And when that was lost, and he had the nerve to come cooing around my doorstep once more, what do you think I did?”  She waited expectantly for an answer.
    Henry Potter, resting his chin on his hand with one elbow on the table, raised his other hand and offered, “Invested again?”
    “No indeed I did not!  Merciful heavens,” she scowled at him.  “I plucked the toy from the infant's grasp and took up the chairmanship of this miserable board.”  Her comment received looks of gloomy agreement from the men.
    “Unfortunately, I was far too late,” she continued.  “Waste, exorbitance and no plan whatsoever to earn a single farthing back has been our return on investment.  This aircraft itself—” she made a sweeping motion to their luxurious surroundings “a corporate jet the size of a commercial airliner—is evidence of my nephew's excesses.
    “Now for your part, Mr. Potter,” she fixed her eyes on Henry in a stony glare, “your miraculous history of resurrecting corporate debacles seems too miraculous to be true.  But our expensive consultants have told us that you are the man of the hour.  So here we are, throwing ourselves upon your mercy.
    “I have contributed my largest and, I expect, last infusion of currency to keep the fiasco afloat for now.  Please accept my sincerest wishes for your success.  So tell us...  What is your plan?”
    Aubrey watched as Henry sat there for a moment, listlessly gazing out the window.  Then, clearing his throat, he straightened his posture and said, “Lady Shrewsbury, you call your nephew feckless, but in fact it was you who was feckless.”
    She hardly had a moment to take offense before he continued, “Has he ever done anything positive with money before he came to you for it?  My guess is 'no;' otherwise he would have had no need for your patronage.  Yet you knowingly shared your considerable wealth with him.   Without any logical evidence that his proposition was worthy of the slightest consideration, you invested.  This, this was feckless indeed.  So do not castigate your nephew for doing what anyone would have done in his shoes.  Everyone spends money freely that is freely