| This is the final chapter in the story of a misunderstood Canadian and his efforts to create an ideal society where everyone can seek riches or accept poverty as they choose. The moral of the work: making money and spending it is the highest of human achievements. We find our hero riding in the back of a late model European sedan as it crawls through the streets of London.
"Welcome back, Earnest, surprised to see me?" asked the international arms dealer and Earnest’s former captor, Manucher Khashoggi. Earnest was surprised, but not at seeing Manucher again – he had not thought about the arms dealer since escaping from him in Kosovo. Earnest was stunned to see the woman sitting beside Manucher.
"Elena, my sister, you’re alive!" cried Earnest. "I thought you were blown to pieces by the National Albanian Army."
After several hugs, Elena explained that Manucher had saved her life by adult-napping her before she left the Prishtina Hospital. The siblings shared their stories until Manucher told them to shut up.
"Your stories of survival are charming," said Manucher. "But I have important business for you in Africa." He explained that he had a plan to set up an arms dealership in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, the centre of Africa’s continental war, where millions have died from starvation and massacre.
"I think you are just the two to run my franchise," Manucher said. "But don’t think of escaping. Such wonderful kids as you wouldn’t last long in central Africa."
When Earnest, Elena and Manucher arrived at the Bukavu airport, a great crowd was gathered to witness the departure of a general from neighbouring Rwanda. His troops were leaving the country, and the crowd had gathered to both cheer and lament his departure.
Earnest asked a man why he was sorry to see a foreign army leave. The man replied, "They were cruel, but they were soldiers. They only wanted money and women. Now, we are at the mercy of madmen and child warriors. They will kill you for your shoes. If you put up a fight, they eat your heart to make them strong."
Earnest, wiser after his travels through the war zones of Asia and Europe, did not question the man. He simply said, "Surely the United Nations peacekeepers will protect you."
"Here we call them murder-witnesses, not peacekeepers," replied the man.
As they set up Manucher Khashoggi’s arms dealership, the Inter-African Security Exchange, Earnest and Elena did indeed witness many gunfights and rapes while the UN peacekeepers stood and watched.
One day, Earnest and Elena saw a shriveled figure on the side of the road. The man was emaciated and missing a hand. The figure coughed and lisped, "Do you fine visitors have a little soup for a dying man?"
Earnest recognized the voice. "Lamsid, my mentor, it is Earnest," he said. "What fortune has kept you alive and brought us back together?"
Tears ran down the old economist’s face as he told his sad tale. Nursed back to health after being thrown into a gorge by Pakistani fundamentalists, Lamsid tried to survive by teaching villagers about capitalism. Unfortunately, an Islamic court found him guilty of corrupting the villagers and ordered his hand cut off and his teeth kicked out. Eventually, a slave trader shipped him off to work in Africa’s coltan mines, where he contracted HIV. He had been sent to Bakavu to die.
"Surely you can access the wonderful medicines that slow HIV and AIDS," said Earnest.
"My dear pupil, I have not a penny, and prescription drugs are expensive. You know it must be so for pharmaceutical corporations must pay for expensive research and marketing and still have a profit left over for the shareholder’s dividends. Drugs are a business – not a charity."
Earnest knew it must be so, and he begged Manucher to pay for Lamsid’s care. The arms dealer, flush with the success of his arms dealership, agreed. In return, Lamsid explained the inefficiencies in the coltan mining business, and how a good businessman could corner the market on the mineral that powers cellphones and video games.
Always interested in diversifying his interests, Manucher partnered with the most ruthless warlords, cornered the coltan market and made millions. He was so happy with his success, he granted Earnest and Elena their freedom and gave them some venture capital to get started.
Our hero, always on the lookout to help the developing world, used Manucher’s contacts in the Chinese army to start a chain of used car and autobody dealerships across China. He lived happily ever after, secure in the belief that he was giving the less fortunate a taste of the American dream and a greater purpose in life. |
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