The man sat on his couch. He was alone in his house filled with fine furnishings. In front of him a large screen television was playing multiple news channels. The man had muted the volume and merely watched the scrolling headlines of each channel. The news wasn’t good and he knew it to be only a matter of time before chaos erupted to turn his own life upside down. There was no other conclusion.
He glanced at his glass coffee table and could see the ornate bible laying on the lower shelf. It had belonged to someone in his family lineage, but he’d long forgotten their name. Now and again a girlfriend had asked him why he kept it there, and he’d jokingly replied, “in case of emergencies”.
Looking back at the television, he used the remote to pull up the stock market channel. He could see he was bleeding money fast. The riches he’d spent so many years of his life accumulating were dissipating as though he’d never had them. He wondered how long it’d be before his luxury home would again belong to the bank.
He turned off the television, leaning his head on the back of the leather couch. Closing his eyes he wondered at the meaning of it all. He was already in the latter years of his life and here he sat alone. He hadn’t made time for having a family and those who were closest to him were business associates. Since the turn in the market, his once busy phone was quiet.
Opening his eyes he looked around the room. Everywhere was opulence and yet the thrill he’d once gotten for having such things was no longer there. Now they all looked like empty trinkets; things to be auctioned off to the highest bidder once the sharks came to break apart the pieces of his life.
His face felt strange and reaching up to touch it, he realized he’d been crying. His beard was soaked in his own tears. A sorrow entered his heart for all the waste. Leaning forward he reached under his coffee table to the lower shelf. The time of emergency had finally come; he could only hope it wasn’t too late.
