A Social Carol
By Gregory Coffin
The story begins with Evan Sanders in a hospital as the last protest he participated in turned violent. The protest was directed at different targets, but Evan was focused on the deals between a prominent businessman and the governor, and the extra deals between them. However, other elements among the protesters were focused on other businesses for different reasons, with different levels of protesting: the store that received the most attention for its luxury was a nearby jewelry store. The protest escalated, windows were broken, some protesters rushed in and during the violence as Evan tried to stop the fighting from escalating, his friend Jimmy was killed.
While being examined at the hospital, a doctor looks at a mole and advises Evan to see another doctor to look at it; the mole bothered Evan anyway and he was going to have it examined. Hungry and angry, Evan stole from a vendor seeing the vendor as part of the system of exploitation that was to be rebelled against. After the theft, Evan visits Doctor Baldwin who refused government payment, but agreed and bartered with Evan for the examination. While Evan is at the clinic, he sees the businessman he protested: Unwin. Unwin is trying to lure another doctor who seeks employment with Baldwin, because he had to close his own clinic from all the regulations. Evan gets his examination; however, afterward he gets arrested for the theft.
While in jail, Evan is visited by Jimmy’s ghost who confides to Evan about the erroneous path he was on. To help Evan get off the wrong, collectivist path that led to Jimmy’s torment, Evan will be visited by three spirits: the Spirit of Money Naught, the Spirit of Money Aught and the Spirit of State Regulation. They will try to change Evan’s collectivist course for a Capitalistic course.
Each spirit will take Evan to a world that is based off what Evan had originally hoped for, and from there Evan will see the full consequences – intended and unintended – of what he wants to have in place for society. The Spirit of Money Naught shows what the world will be like if the formal formation of money was denied; the Spirit of Money Aught shows what the world will be like if money was continuously printed so all could have some; the Spirit of State regulation will show the world whereby all actions are to be supervised by the State to ensure everyone was treated fairly. In each world, Evan sees the same people he knows in life, but they each act accordingly to the world that the spirit is showing Evan.
After experiencing the worlds represented by the spirits, Evan learns and changes his course. He finds how he was wrong and starts again, working toward the same end of contributing to society to help improve it, but in a different manner than the force he originally thought was necessary. He seeks out to talk to each one who was in the worlds he visited, and talk about what he learned. But, not all see that his new course is correct.
You can purchase the book online from Smashwords in multiple eBook formats at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/226259.
eBook formatting by Shelley Glasow Schadowsky.