The Tragik Komedy of Precision Ben - Part IV

[A Tale in 5 Parts: Part I - 8/23, Part II- 8/28, Part III-9/04]

I will make my name in futures
I will forget the past

That was Ben's goal
His always plan
Time was short
Growing old man

And besides
I now owned half the present.

I will make my name in futures
I will forget the past

But I had bought it for Ben
...saved it for Ben
...desired it
...fired it
...hired
For Ben.
Everything
...I - we - us did
For Precision Ben
...for his dreams and energy and
...right on eye for detail.
You could hardly find that
Anywhere else
Hardly . . .

But - he - never
Forgave me
...for saving him
...and now
Humiliation
...was the daily mode.

"You do not have equal say."
But I did.
"You do not share the crown."
But I did.
"You do not-"
I did.

And the others
...the watchers
...the believers and the doubters
Divided themselves behind us.

And tho' I did believe
And tho' I did admire the plan
It became my role to defy Ben.

Who else would?

Who else could?

Those behind me feared
Those behind Ben believed
All blindly
...reactive
...pre-emptive
...proactive

We had become an armed camp
...of feudal turfs
...and capital means
...and protocol rockets
...fired at high-walled procedures
Their projections' red glare
Time bombs filled with hot air
As so proudly we failed
At the twilight's last meeting . . .

Impasse.

Precision Ben stared at me
...across the long glass table
...end to end
...a conference room devoid
...of conference.
We could only agree
...that everything had stopped.
...Heavily breathing
Agree
...to bring in a Board
To break our impasse.
...Holy ones
To save our ass.

And Ben retreated
...to his consoling
...mantra
I will make my name in futures
I will forget the past

I licked my wounds
...and wondered
...if I had just destroyed
What I worked so long to save?