Page 139 of The Ruler
Another memory flashed and I gasped as it hit me square in my chest. How could I have forgotten?
“What do you think I should do?” my father asked after carefully explaining the conundrum to me, his fifteen-year old heir. “We have people living in the streets and I want to help, but if I raise the taxes my people are going to be angry and possibly storm the Manor to start a rebellion.
“If I don’t raise the taxes, we’ll have to choose between helping the poor or paying the soldiers to protect us, and as you know, without soldiers we’ll be vulnerable in case the people attack us anyway.”
I thought about it. “Isn’t there a third option?”
He swung his hands. “If so I’d like to hear it.”
“How about we make the people contribute voluntarily,” I said.
My father angled his head with a small smile. “And how would you do that?”
“We could give them something in return for their money. How about we invite the best entertainers to join a summer festival here at the Manor and then we charge an entrance fee.”
My father laughed. “I’m a ruler, not a businessman.”
“No one would need to know you’re doing it for money, and you wouldn’t have to be involved directly yourself. Sell it to the people as a promotion of our finest performers and athletes. We have the amphitheater so why not use it? We could fill it every week over the summer with entertainment of different kinds. Sport, music, acrobats, and magic shows – I think people would love it.”
My father leaned back and gave me a lopsided grin. “That’s fucking brilliant. What’s that friend of yours called? Boxer?”
“You mean Boulder?”
“Yeah, I’m told he has a head for numbers.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You two work on the plans and give me an estimate of how much we can bring in.”
“I’m on it.” I got up, eager that my father trusted me with something this important.
“And Khan,” he called after me. “I fucking like how you think.”
I was shocked. Mostly because for years I’d convinced myself that my father was a monster. But now flashes of his encouraging me and praising me came back to me.
The man had been unpredictable, and probably under a lot of pressure at times. But that wasn’t the whole story.
If you want to focus on what’s wrong, you also have to acknowledge what’s right.
Pearl’s words from the other night came back to me and I rubbed my face. My father had been a gigantic asshole, but there had still been good times too. Why had I forgotten that? Why had I obsessed about the bad stuff and completely suppressed the good stuff?
And then the answer to Pearl’s question lit up in my brain. I loved chess because it had connected me to my father.
A wide smile spread on my lips as a new peace settled inside me. Gathering my things, I rose up from my chair, suddenly missing Pearl like crazy and eager to join her and the others on Boulder’s island.
CHAPTER 32
Welcome and Goodbye
Pearl
“I’m so glad you stayed for the girls’ arrival,” I told my mom and hooked an arm under hers. Isobel had worked as hard as anyone these last two days to get everything ready for the students’ arrival.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said and gave me a genuine smile.
“Will you come and visit us?” I asked her, “Or have the men scarred you for life?”
She squeezed my arm. “I’ll come back – and I think I owe you an apology.”
