Page 85 of The Pacifist
“You really did a lot of research, didn’t you?”
“Uh-huh. But that’s not all.”
“There’s more?”
“Yes, I might be a kid but I know that three hundred thousand dollars isn’t going to be enough to make ten million people feel wealthy. It will only get them thirty-three cents each.”
“Good point.”
“I had an idea of printing more money, but when I discussed it with Archer at school, he explained the concept of inflation to me.”
“Okay.”
“Then I talked to my dad about redistributing the wealth from the few to the many, but he didn’t take that well. I left when he began ranting about my mom raising me to be a socialist.”
“All right, so what do you plan to do?”
“I’m sorry to say it, Mila, but with limited means and time, all we can do is spend our money in a way that benefits the most people. If we give Boulder a hundred dollars it won’t make much difference to him because he’s already rich. What we need to do is spread the money like sprinkles on a birthday cake and make it look like a fortune.
“You mean philanthropy?”
Freya frowned. “No. Nmen are too proud for that. They need to feel that they earned it. What we need to do is create jobs for those who don’t have any.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Freya, that’s not an easy thing to do.”
“Why not? If we have the money, all we have to do is come up with something that needs to be done.” She angled her head. “How hard can it be?”
“Sweetie, three hundred thousand dollars might sound like a lot of money, but there might be expenses that you haven’t taken into consideration and until you’ve actually made the money, you can’t plan to use it.”
Freya looked so much like her father when she gave me a steady glance. “Then you tell me where to find money.”
“Well, I don’t have that kind of money lying around, but maybe we can do something else. Come with me.”
Freya was quick to crawl out from under the table and with eagerness in her steps, she followed me as I picked up a key from my dad’s office and took her down to the storage room in the basement.
“What is this place?” Her head was turning from side to side, taking in all the stacks of boxes, bed frames, pictures and furniture.
I grinned and spread out my arms. “This is a treasure chamber.”
Picking up an old hat, Freya looked skeptical. “You think we’re going to find money down here?”
“Believe it or not, there are people who are crazy for old stuff. If we can get our dads to give this all away, I’ll bet we can sell it for a lot of money.”
“You really think so?”
“Yes.” I walked over and picked up a small painting. “We could open an entire antique store with all the goods that are down here. I’ve heard of people paying more than three hundred thousand for a small painting like this.”
Freya gaped. “You’re shitting me?”
“Nope. Some people will pay more money for old things than for new, and imagine what it will do to the value of the item when the buyers learn that it came from the Gray Manor. The historical significance of many of these things alone will make them interesting.”
“But who has time to go through all this?”
“Someone who loves all things old.” I smiled at Freya and we said the name at the same time. “Christina.”
“But isn’t she busy working on that excavation?”
“Not while the ground is still frozen. She’ll have a least a month.”
