Short Story | Fiction

The Grand Scheme of Things

The Best Laid Plans

In the grand scheme of things, Simon always made money his first priority.

He grew up in foster homes, bouncing from poor situation to poor situation, learning that he could only rely on himself. Most of his years as a teen were spent planning for the moment he aged out. As soon as he could, he put his plans into place.

As an intelligent young man, he knew he could become whoever he wanted.

He applied and was accepted to attend the best university in the country. He was grateful to be accepted on a full scholarship but was disappointed when he discovered that his classmates were made up of the privileged elite who were more interested in partying than getting ahead.

There was no time to fool around. He knew there were only so many hours in the day and he planned to use every single one to get where he wanted to go. His plan didn’t include making poor choices. There was no room for mistakes.

He worked hard and graduated with honors. There were many employment offers from important firms but he decided to take another route.

Starting at the bottom felt beneath him but he had a plan. He would learn the business from the bottom up, impressing the owner. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter to him if others ignored him. As a mailroom employee, he had access to everyone and every piece of paper crossed his desk before it went anywhere in the company.

It was a perfect plan.

He was able to be in the exact right place at the right time, providing answers and suggestions before they knew they had a question.

He moved up quickly, making it a personal goal to know the exact needs and preferences of every person above him in the company. He dashed as many of their dreams as possible, without them realizing he was behind their failures. As they crashed and burned, he was there to pick up the pieces, polish them up and present them to the president.

Every year he would list his goals for the next twelve months, reviewing and revising his plans from the last year to ensure he was on track. When his friends from college invited him to their weddings he declined. It wasn’t part of the grand scheme of things.

Soon he caught the eye of the president and was promoted to vice president. First to arrive and last to leave was his motto and he made the needs and dreams of the president his new focus.

Becoming the new president was the inevitable result in the grand scheme of things and he continued to grow the business until he was able to go public, amassing more money than he would ever be able to spend in ten lifetimes.

He traveled the world, living inside the bubble of his servants and staff. They protected him from the world and curated his experiences. He acquired beautiful art and massive estates which he filled with antiques and treasures from remote corners of the world.

A private helicopter flew him from his mountaintop retreat to his private yacht which was anchored off the coast of his private island, where he was personally served a five-star meal by a top chef and a full staff. In the grand scheme of things, he’d arrived.

Sipping his glass of very expensive and exquisite wine he noticed a small boat entering the bay.

A young boy and a man were on deck, and they worked together to set the anchor. He could hear the happy voice of the boy call instructions to his father, who responded to the directions with good humor. There was a young woman coming up from below, with a small girl following her. They carried drinks and sandwiches, and a blanket to spread over the seats in the cabin. After they ate, they took turns throwing crusts at the seagulls who had joined their picnic.

Then they found a bag of marshmallows with long sticks for toasting them on the small barbeque hanging from the stern.

They watched the sunset over the ocean, the man had his arm around the woman and the two small children snuggled close.

Simon was surprised to find there were tears in his eyes as he realized what was missing in his grand scheme of things.

Thanks Stuart Englander for the inspiration and #Catchphrase challenge.

I invite the following writers to consider participating in Stuart’s challenge.

Phil Truman, Agnes Laurens, Deena Thomson, Christine Graves, Ntathu Allen, Dr John Rose, Stuart Englander, Dew Langrial, CR Mandler MAT, Lee Nourse, Lawson Wallace, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Marne Platt, Rebecca Sealfon, Jessica Cote, Penofgold, Geetika Sethi, Karen Madej, Thewriteyard, Joe Luca, Vee Goldman, Paroma Sen, Denise Scholander, janny’s heart, Britni Pepper, Robert Trakofler, Dr. Preeti Singh, Christine Graves, Liam Ireland, Obsidian Eagle, Steve Alexander🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸, Penofgold, Hunter Eskew, Annelise Lords, T. Mark Mangum, Shreya Sinha, Jim McAulay🍁, Christopher Madsen,

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