Part 2! And I have some readers! I guess that means I have to make it worth the read right? I'm still not sure what to call this story... I'm sort of making it up as I go along... Hmm... So our friend was pondering on his lonely mountaintop... and then he decided to see his daughter before she died of old age... I think we'll pick up there..
***
As I looked around my lonely mountaintop, I realized that I had nothing to pack but a few sorely outdated changes of clothes. I may not age, but my clothes do. 'Maybe I should invest in some leather?' I pondered, 'I've heard it lasts longer. Well, no matter.' I gathered what clothes I had that were still in decent condition and would not be noticeably out of fashion. It's funny how concerned humans can be with frivolous things like fashion when all their basic needs are met. But take away food, shelter, clothing or protection and those frivolous things go right out the window. I chuckled softly. The sound was strange to my ears. It was then I realized that I had been on this mountaintop for far too long.
I changed my clothes, and grabbed another pair and placed them into an old leather shoulder bag, which I then swung onto my shoulders. I suppose I would need money as well. Bartering seemed to be so much more useful than this currency thing. People would gather useful things that others needed, and then would trade one set of useful goods for another. Using money... well, while it may be the same, technically, I believe it takes something out of the transaction. But when you get to be as old as I am, money just seems to accumulate.
I chuckled, 'The last time I did anything with money was over 50 years ago. I wonder what kind of interest I have gained in all this time?'
I began my trek down the mountain. My mountain lies in the Northern Woods of Wisconsin in the United States. Very few people come around up here, and the breeze through the woods is pleasant to the eye. My mountain is not the highest, nor the most exciting to climb, or anything else. In fact, my mountain is rather boring. But that's the point isn't it? I needed some space, open air, and solitude, and so when I looked around, this seemed the best choice.
A few hours later I was down the mountain, and onto a service road. There was a small town 20 miles up the road. That was my destination.
Time seems to pass differently when you're immortal. Those 20 miles, while they took half a day to cover, seemed to only last long enough for me to take a breath. I didn't need directions. I could sense the town from the mountaintop and 'see' what was going on in the town over the years. There was a bank back in the mid 50s. It was called the Chase National Bank back then, but today it has grown into one of the largest banks in the world. I could only hope that my money had found its way into the new JP Morgan Chase Bank company. Though I don't see why it wouldn't have.
100 years before Chase National Bank, I was in California. I was around 170 at the time, and still held onto many of the things that made me human, like excitement, money, and women. But in the 1850s, it you wanted to make a substantial amount of money, the new state of California was the place to be. Gold was on everyone's tongue and the glint of it was in everyone's eyes. Back then a single troy ounce was worth $18.93. It may not seem like it today, but those eighteen dollars and ninety-three cents were like having over 500 dollars today. The things you could do with that little troy ounce of gold, trust me when I tell you I did it all.
Can you imagine a chunk of pure metal the size of a marble could be worth over $500 today?
I had gotten lucky back then.
I had purchased a cheap parcel of land at the base of a mountain next to a stream. Land was abundant, and the government was all for collecting their money in exchange. It was just me and my pickaxe. I was immortal, so time, hunger, exhaustion, none of that meant anything to me. For 6 months straight, 24 hours a day, 6 days a week I dug. I managed to make quite a large cavern in that mountain. In doing so, I had dug up over 5,000 lbs of gold. 5,000 seems like a lot, but it was only a little under 200 bars once it was smelted and purified. You could easily fit that onto a wooden pallet.
I took half of those bars and sold them. They gave me $1.5 million dollars for it. Back then, you were higher than a king if you had that much money. The other half I held onto, moving them from bank, to bank to bank, until eventually they ended up at Chase National. I think somewhere along the lines when the Federal Reserve was in trouble, they offered me money for the bars with a 25% bonus. Well, at the end of the day I had around $7million dollars in the bank at Chase National. That was the last bit of information I had about that money before my daughter and I faked my death.
Such things are necessary when you're immortal. People need to see that I've passed on, otherwise they get suspicious. I think I've faked my death about 10 times since my new life began.
My ponderings took me the rest of the way into the city and right onto the steps of the bank. I had known there was a Chase branch in this small town, which was why it was my first stop. Unfortunately, it was dark and the bank was not open. I didn't expect it to be, but I suppose I could have left at a better time so I would not have to wait. But, then again, what is a few more hours?
I walked over to the park and passed my night walking under the trees. There was a nice breeze.
***
Ahh, it midnight! Time for bed! Gotta be up in 6 hours!
To be continued!!!!
***
As I looked around my lonely mountaintop, I realized that I had nothing to pack but a few sorely outdated changes of clothes. I may not age, but my clothes do. 'Maybe I should invest in some leather?' I pondered, 'I've heard it lasts longer. Well, no matter.' I gathered what clothes I had that were still in decent condition and would not be noticeably out of fashion. It's funny how concerned humans can be with frivolous things like fashion when all their basic needs are met. But take away food, shelter, clothing or protection and those frivolous things go right out the window. I chuckled softly. The sound was strange to my ears. It was then I realized that I had been on this mountaintop for far too long.
I changed my clothes, and grabbed another pair and placed them into an old leather shoulder bag, which I then swung onto my shoulders. I suppose I would need money as well. Bartering seemed to be so much more useful than this currency thing. People would gather useful things that others needed, and then would trade one set of useful goods for another. Using money... well, while it may be the same, technically, I believe it takes something out of the transaction. But when you get to be as old as I am, money just seems to accumulate.
I chuckled, 'The last time I did anything with money was over 50 years ago. I wonder what kind of interest I have gained in all this time?'
I began my trek down the mountain. My mountain lies in the Northern Woods of Wisconsin in the United States. Very few people come around up here, and the breeze through the woods is pleasant to the eye. My mountain is not the highest, nor the most exciting to climb, or anything else. In fact, my mountain is rather boring. But that's the point isn't it? I needed some space, open air, and solitude, and so when I looked around, this seemed the best choice.
A few hours later I was down the mountain, and onto a service road. There was a small town 20 miles up the road. That was my destination.
Time seems to pass differently when you're immortal. Those 20 miles, while they took half a day to cover, seemed to only last long enough for me to take a breath. I didn't need directions. I could sense the town from the mountaintop and 'see' what was going on in the town over the years. There was a bank back in the mid 50s. It was called the Chase National Bank back then, but today it has grown into one of the largest banks in the world. I could only hope that my money had found its way into the new JP Morgan Chase Bank company. Though I don't see why it wouldn't have.
100 years before Chase National Bank, I was in California. I was around 170 at the time, and still held onto many of the things that made me human, like excitement, money, and women. But in the 1850s, it you wanted to make a substantial amount of money, the new state of California was the place to be. Gold was on everyone's tongue and the glint of it was in everyone's eyes. Back then a single troy ounce was worth $18.93. It may not seem like it today, but those eighteen dollars and ninety-three cents were like having over 500 dollars today. The things you could do with that little troy ounce of gold, trust me when I tell you I did it all.
Can you imagine a chunk of pure metal the size of a marble could be worth over $500 today?
I had gotten lucky back then.
I had purchased a cheap parcel of land at the base of a mountain next to a stream. Land was abundant, and the government was all for collecting their money in exchange. It was just me and my pickaxe. I was immortal, so time, hunger, exhaustion, none of that meant anything to me. For 6 months straight, 24 hours a day, 6 days a week I dug. I managed to make quite a large cavern in that mountain. In doing so, I had dug up over 5,000 lbs of gold. 5,000 seems like a lot, but it was only a little under 200 bars once it was smelted and purified. You could easily fit that onto a wooden pallet.
I took half of those bars and sold them. They gave me $1.5 million dollars for it. Back then, you were higher than a king if you had that much money. The other half I held onto, moving them from bank, to bank to bank, until eventually they ended up at Chase National. I think somewhere along the lines when the Federal Reserve was in trouble, they offered me money for the bars with a 25% bonus. Well, at the end of the day I had around $7million dollars in the bank at Chase National. That was the last bit of information I had about that money before my daughter and I faked my death.
Such things are necessary when you're immortal. People need to see that I've passed on, otherwise they get suspicious. I think I've faked my death about 10 times since my new life began.
My ponderings took me the rest of the way into the city and right onto the steps of the bank. I had known there was a Chase branch in this small town, which was why it was my first stop. Unfortunately, it was dark and the bank was not open. I didn't expect it to be, but I suppose I could have left at a better time so I would not have to wait. But, then again, what is a few more hours?
I walked over to the park and passed my night walking under the trees. There was a nice breeze.
***
Ahh, it midnight! Time for bed! Gotta be up in 6 hours!
To be continued!!!!