The Magic Mirror

by Michael Gemignani

not within the very near future since your bank is doing well and there is no reason to blame anyone for its losing great sums of money. If you stay, your mental and physical health are truly in jeopardy. Now is the time to get out to safeguard them.@

  AAlright,@ agreed Robin. AThat makes sense. If I leave now for reasons of health, they=ll have no reason to frame me to protect themselves. Right now they don=t need that protection. By the time the bank is in trouble, I will be long gone.

  AWe will leave as soon as you wish. If I decide to stay at the farm, I=ll send for what I want. I could even return here briefly to arrange to sell my apartment and move my possessions.@

  AI hope you will decide to stay at the farm,@ David said. AYou may even find that you want to give what you leave behind here to some charity. Your possessions might only remind you of a life you would prefer to forget.@

  APerhaps,@ answered Robin, Aand perhaps not. We shall have to see, won=t we?

  AIn the meantime, I have a car parked outside, and you have your car. I suppose it would be best if I simply followed you. But, first, I=ll go back to my apartment to pack clothes and other items I will need for the trip. You can follow me back to my apartment, and we can leave from there.@

  And so it was.

  On the Road Again

  We stayed one more day in the city to allow Robin time to pack belongings to take on the trip to his parents and to make other arrangements concerning his departure. He gave the bank president notice of his resignation in a phone call, but he told us that the president made no effort to persuade him to stay, nor did he compliment Robin on the good work he had been doing, Robin had hoped the bank president would at least say that he was sorry to lose him, but it was not to be, In fact, Robin wondered if the president even remembered who he was.

  I myself recalled how distracted and busy the people in Robin=s office complex were. Some of them seemed unsure whether Robin was one of their colleagues, or even if he existed at all. Thus it is that when we fancy ourselves to be of great import, we often find that others think far less of us, if they think of us at all. Robin=s call to the bank president was a disappointment, but I=m sure it helped convince him that he his decision to go back to his parents was right.

  Robin allowed both David and me to come to his apartment to help him. The apartment was not as large as I thought it would be given Robin=s desire to display his wealth. This might well have been because Robin rarely invited anyone to the apartment, and, no doubt, spent no more time there than he had to. The walls were generally bare, except for two paintings, which I assumed were originals. The furniture was spare, and three bookcases boasted only a handful of books each. The kitchen had a pristine look as if it had never been used, which might well have been the case since Robin preferred to eat out, if he ate at all.

  Robin did not have much informal clothing; he always wore suits to work and to meet clients. He had just enough informal clothes to start our journey, but he would have to buy more clothing along the way. Suits were not the most comfortable attire to travel in, and would be impractical anyway back at the farm.

  Once Robin was ready, we set out, Robin following us as we retraced our route to return to Martha and Samuel. Although we had no mirror to guide us, both David and I wanted to revisit some of the places we had been before to see what had become of the people we had met. We could also thereby acquaint Robin with some of our adventures and make him more aware of some of the problems that ordinary people have. Robin=s life as a stock broker had, after all, left little opportunity for contact with common folk.

  But because we did not have the mirror, we were left on our own to try to find these places. I was sure that our detours into enchanted forests and our meetings with men who looked like those from whom we were fleeing were over. Now we did not need them, or the mirror. Or did we? We would only find out when we were tested by circumstances to see whether we had learned what we were supposed to learn from our experiences.

  Once again we drove through a countryside spotted with a few estates, whose well-manicured pastures, wrought-iron fences, and elegant buildings gave testimony to the affluence of their owners. But the estates of the rich were rare in comparison with modest dwellings, mostly trailers or prefabricated homes, set on smallish lots. Some reminded me of my parents= home with rusting cars or broken appliances in the yards, perhaps an animal or two as well.

  When we stopped for the evening of the first day, Robin expressed surprise that there was so much poverty in evidence. AI didn=t realize that so many people live in rundown houses. Some of the houses seem to be almost falling apart. They could at least keep their places looking nice.@

  ABut,@ I replied, Athey don=t have the money to keep their places looking nice. They probably don=t even have the money to paint their homes.@

  Robin looked puzzled. AHow can anyone live that way? Don=t they see the splendid homes of the rich and want to be like them? Can=t they go out like I did and make lots of money? How can they be happy living with so little?@

  AI lived in poverty myself,@ I answered. AI did not like it, so I ran away. But my parents, in their own way, seemed happy enough. I suppose that it doesn=t matter how much money you have if you at least have enough to eat and have a roof over your head. The poor can be happy or unhappy, and the rich can be happy or unhappy.

  AIf you are rich B as I think you found out, Robin B you still consider yourself poor in relation to someone who is richer still, and, if you are poor, you may be satisfied with what you have, enjoy it, and ask for little more. You may even consider yourself quite well off in comparison with those who have less.@

  AAnd what about those who don=t have enough to eat?@ Robin asked. AWhat about those whose roofs are leaking, but they can=t afford to fix them? I saw many homes that didn=t look fit for humans to live in.@

  David spoke. AYou are correct. I came from a wealthy family, but I=ve traveled enough to know there are too many people who don=t have enough to eat, and who don=t have a safe place to live. Should we stop at one of these homes and ask those who live there how they get along? What would they tell us? Are you willing to give them some of your own money so they can fix the roof? And if you do, how long will it be before the roof needs to be fixed again?

  AHow do we help these people, if they want to be helped? It isn=t that they=re lazy or stupid. They never had the chances that you and I did.@

  ABut I went to this city and made a fortune. Couldn=t they do the same thing?@ Robin asked.

  AYou were able to go to the city because you had enough money to make the trip,@ I answered, Aand you were lucky enough to find a job. You worked hard and advanced yourself, but not everyone is able to do that, especially if they don=t have any money to start with.

  AFurthermore, your parents made sure you had a good education so that when you applied for a job at the bank, you had skills to offer them. Without the education your parents gave you, the bank would not have hired you.@

  AWell, then,@ Robin answered, Aeveryone should have a good education.@

  AThey should,@ I responded, Abut not everyone does. Some children don=t get enough to eat at home so they have trouble paying attention in class. Some don=t have good clothes to wear, so they are ashamed to go to school. Others have parents who don=t care whether their children learn or not, so the children decide not to study and fail their courses.@

  AAnd how do you know these things?@ Robin asked.

  AI know because my parents were poor and did not care about my education. I learned a lot on my own because I was curious, but I still do not have the kind of education that would enable me to get a good job. Now that my adventure is coming to an end, I=m not sure what I >m going to do to earn a living and to help my parents.@

  AWell,@ Robin replied, Aif I take over my parents= farm, I would like you to work for me. Anyone who went to the trouble of finding me and convincing me to return home is the kind of worker I want.@

 
; AThank you for the kind offer. I accept it with gratitude because I will not only be close to my parents, but I will be close to Martha and Samuel as well, and I think I would enjoy working on the farm.@

  Robin extended his hand and we shook on the agreement. I was delighted that Robin was already thinking of taking over the farm. I was certain that he would use his expertise to make it more productive and profitable.

  AWell, Adam,@ David chimed in, Ayou now have a job when you get back. I still have to figure out how to handle my uncle and sisters. Maybe I should go to work on the farm as well.@

  AYou=re welcome there, if that=s what you want,@ Robin said with a smile, Abut I suspect you=ll do well with your family=s business. If not, come and see me.@

  AWe didn=t solve the problem of the poor, did we?@ I asked.

  ANo, we didn=t,@ Robin agreed. AI wish I could give them all jobs, or help them in some other way.@

  APerhaps some day you will,@ David said, Abut all the money you have would only help small number of the poor.@

  A small number is better than none,@ Robin countered. AI=ll be thinking a good deal about this problem, and then I=ll decide what, if anything, I can do.@

  Back on the Farm

  We continued retracing the route on which we had had so many adventures in our quest to find Robin. For David and me, the trip revived memories, but Robin had not been a part of them, and so we told him stories of the people we had encountered and what had happened both to them and to us.

  We ate again at the diner where we had met the lovers, Rick and Ashley. Ashley=s proud mother told us that they had married prior to our return and were now waiting tables, cooking, and learning all that they needed to know in order to run the business that would soon be theirs. They seemed more subdued and weary since we had observed them at a table gazing starry-eyed at one another.

  ACongratulations on your marriage,@ I told Ashley as she came to take our orders.

  AThank you, Adam,@ she replied. AI see David is still with you.@

  ASo you remember our names. Congratulations on that too. But you haven=t met our friend Robin. We are taking him back to visit his parents.@

  APleased to meet you, Robin. Welcome.

  AI discovered it=s important to remember the names of our customers,@ Ashley said with a smile. AThey feel more welcome if we can call them by name and are more likely to come back.@

  ASounds to me like you will be very successful,@ Robin remarked.

  We placed our orders. The food was even better than I remembered from on our last visit, and it was good then. Ashley told us that Rick was doing the cooking now. He appeared to have made improvements on top of the foundation his in-laws had laid.

  We left a generous tip, and as we were leaving we complimented Ashley and her mother on the fine service and the wonderful dinners It seemed Rick and Ashley would do well in their new venture.

  They thanked us for coming back. They did not mention the clouds building on the horizon for their small business. If we had been able to consult the magic mirror, we would have learned that a super highway was being planned that would bypass the town in which the diner was located. The locals might still eat there, but travelers on the super highway would have to exit to find it, which meant that David and I would probably not have found the place.

  Once the super highway was completed, life might be much harder for Rick and Ashley as well as for their town. Progress for some often means hardship for others. Rick and Ashley had their love for one another to sustain them, but the loss of the diner would have been a crushing blow. They would, I hoped, find a way to keep the diner alive, perhaps luring drivers off the super highway to