Chapter 1
Daniel was home in Cork, dealing with the stresses of his family. Even though he was off trying to improve himself, and had made a success of his life, he did not feel appreciated by his family. Maybe it was that they seemed to dote on his younger brother, who thus far had been unspectacular in life. He wondered if his parents were of the opinion that talented people did not need reinforcement like average people, or less spectacular people needed.
"Clean up your room," Daniel�s mother shouted.
"You never ask Jacob to clean up his room," Daniel replied.
"He is 21 months younger than you," Daniel�s mother replied.
"You�ve always asked me to clean up my room. Why can�t you be a bit fair about the way you treat me? You get to see Jacob all the time and you show him favoritism, and you never see me and spend your time complaining at me," Daniel replied. "If you want to make up for lost time, there are better ways of doing it."
"I know, things are just stressful for me," Daniel�s mother said.
"Do you think they�re any less stressful for me? Yet you don�t take it out on Jacob," Daniel replied.
"Why don�t you just find a way to get out of my hair," Daniel�s mother said.
"Alright, I�ve got plenty of reading to catch up on," Daniel said as he went to his room.
Daniel walked to his room and talked to himself a little while he read some books off of the shelf. It wasn�t fair how he did so much and yet his family harped on him, while they let his less ambitious brother get away with everything. It simply wasn�t fair. Why did he have to be responsible and get no credit for it?
"My brother could screw all the peasant girls in Cork, impregnate them all, and he would still be loved and accepted in this house. The same is not true for me," Daniel said. "Why is this so?"
While Daniel was reading about wars caused by family strife, he could not help but wonder why some families had to be so messed up. Why did older siblings act responsibly and get no credit for it, and yet irresponsible younger children got more attention, more love, and an easier standard of behavior. Life simply was not fair for the oldest child, particularly the oldest child of a poor family like this one.
Seeing something outside his window, Daniel looked to see Jacob with some half-dressed peasant girl. She probably wasn�t even a freeholder like they were. He was treating her like some kind of cattle. It hurt Daniel to watch, and he turned away as he ravished her. Looking at the scene had made Daniel realize something. Everyone sees themselves as above someone else.
After all, Daniel was not interested in sex for its own sake, but living in a town like this for much longer might have made sex an attractive form of entertainment. It was sad how small towns had lost the vitality they once had. Without a sense of community it was unbearable to live either without or within the company of other human beings. It was a sense of being part of a greater whole that made it bearable to deal with the inevitable imperfections and quirks of people. In search of the greater good, minor personal differences are ignored.
But where were those to serve the greater good? Society was completely atomized. The poor were divided hopelessly among themselves, as the industrial workers, themselves divided by trade and level of skill, scored the farmers, who were themselves divided between tenant farmers, seasonal labor, and freeholders. No, the poor were too fragmented to withstand the power of the elite classes.
And the wealthy? They were no better off. The wealthy were divided among those who made their profit as wealthy landowners, and who were patrons of large fiefdoms, and those robber barons who made their money in the cutthroat world of industry. These two sides hated each other and even among them there were splits based on region, family, and current favor with the government. The wealthy constantly jockeyed for position, at times bribing the army to quell hopeless revolts of the poverty-stricken working classes with a minimum of fanfare, and at times pandering to the interests of the lower classes so that the workers and farmers did not unite. The prospect of the solidarity of the poor kept many tyrannical wealthy landowners and industrialists tossing and turning in their nightmare haunted sleep.
And the middle class? They were of no help to anyone. Constantly dealing with mass-marketing designed to make them envious of their slightly wealthier neighbors, they were easy marks for businessmen trying to get them to use up all of their salaries on shoddily built homes, vehicles that needed constant repair, and home technology that was as frivolous as it was irresponsible. No, the middle class was of no help to anyone but themselves. As long as there were gated communities and traffic to work was light, they did not trouble themselves with mingling with those of the unwashed hands, whose very neediness was deeply disturbing to the bourgeoisie. They refused to believe that hard work alone was not enough when someone was luckless and born into poverty.
Yet while Daniel himself wanted to be different, he too had his flaws. For Daniel himself knew he was a young man of driving ambition, who refused to let anything get in the way as he clawed his way out of poverty and ridicule. No, Daniel knew that in his drive he would let nothing chain him to his childhood memories of being mocked by everyone in his school, as he was annoyingly bright and socially awkward. He was haunted by nightmares of the boys who would bully him, and the girls who would call him �weirdo� and �crazy� and �kootie boy� and run away from him, knowing that he was different. He would pass them all by, leave the small town far behind, but deep within in his heart, Daniel knew he would always be driven on by dark demons. Until the day he died Daniel knew he would be tormented by the same mind that was a tremendous gift and blessing to him.
The rest of the break filled Daniel with more inner torment. He had no friends in this small town, and the jealousy of neighbors who could not believe that the one who made it was the one they hated the most. Such was the life. Those who are accepted have no need to prove themselves. It is the outcasts who struggle for the acceptance that eludes them, and the love that flees far from them. There was little more lonely during that vacation than for Daniel to sit alone and look out on Cork as his neighbors and former classmates kissed and hugged and enjoyed the break while he sat miserable in his house.
He dreamed every night about Delia, when he was not tortured by his nightmares about his childhood. He wondered how things were going in Puria, and if she was having a better time than he was. He also wondered how Cherie was doing. Cherie was the closest thing to angelic he had ever seen a young lady, and yet she was pregnant at 14. He sighed to himself.
To relieve the boredom he decided to write some limericks. There was a yearly poetry festival in Cork, a festival of light poetry, and he decided to write some clever verses:
There once was a young man from Cork,
Who everyone thought was a dork.
So from the town he went away,
And was gone to stay,
For he knew the value of hard work.
There once was a pleasant young miss,
Who would give every young man a kiss,
Wherever they wanted,
And her sins she flaunted,
�Till she found love with a young man quite amiss.
There once was a small farm
Where peasant boys would try to charm
Young ladies to bed
To calm their little head,
Until a baby�s crying was their alarm.
There once was an arrogant man,
Who from trouble often ran
Until he found out
And exclaimed with a shout,
That his mind the troubles did fan.
The people loved the silly limericks, not realizing the personal points therein. At the poetry festival he ended up winning first prize in a landslide. Having won the prize, he resolved to put it into savings in the capital, where he would be able to put some money aside for himself. He felt glad, and thanked his neighbors for their hospitality, for once. That done, he got ready to go back to the Imperial School and begin his second semester.
"Oh, I am so proud of you son," Daniel�s mother said.
"For what," Jacob said.
"For winning a poetry prize and bringing pride to the family. Even the Duke was pleased to hear your poetry," Daniel�s mother said.
"What? Some dumb rhymes brought respect to our family?" Jacob said.
"My poetry was clean, not disqualified for improper language like yours," Daniel said. "Besides, it is nice to know I am liked about something."
"That is the only thing you will ever be liked for in this town," Jacob said.
"Will you stop it you two," Daniel�s mother said. "You should not let a fight spoil this occasion."
"Yes, mother," the two sons groaned, keeping quiet as they went home just before Daniel packed to leave.
[ Chapter 2 ]
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