The Beginning - A Halloween Tale

It was a dark and stormy night, two years ago to the day – All Hallows’ Eve indeed. As the rain pelted the windows of my mansion, I gazed out at the common folk scurrying around with their tricking and their treating. Allowing the briefest of smiles to flicker across my lips, I picked up my phone and dialed the number. “Hello? “Jonathan, it’s me – Mark. Don’t speak, just listen. I’ve figured it out.” “What are you …?” “Remember what we always talked about? How one day we’d crack the system? How we’d ride this cosmology gig all the way to the bank? And how we’d make these poor saps so very very sorry for taking all that free knowledge for granted for all these years?” “Oh yes – that I remember! And when that day comes, we’ll squeeze the cash from those rubes so hard that the streets will run red with their blood!” “Well my friend, that day has come.” “Don’t toy with me Mark!” “Listen carefully. We begin tonight. We write, slowly but steadily. This will take two years. It will require patience, dedication and hard work, but I know we can do it if we keep our eyes on the prize. We are going to be rich beyond our wildest dreams, and we can bankrupt those losers at the same time. Jonathan, we’re going to write a Scientific American article!” A stunned silence followed from Jonathan, as I began my trademark cackle, imagining sucker after sucker shelling out their hard-earned cash for nothing but knowledge! It was beautiful – just perfect. A crack of lightening and almost immediate rumble of thunder drowned out my joy before it reached its enviable crescendo. “Was that a cackle?” “Yes Jonathan, it was.” “No Mark, this is a cackle!” And so it began. Happy Halloween!