Arks of America Read online

  “I’m still new to all this. I appreciate your advice, John. The wealth I’ve earned in such a short period of time is huge compared to what I grew up with; however, I know it’s small in comparison to many people in this area. I know I need to invest well and make good choices. Even so, I’m wary of many of the opportunities that get sent my way. Most of them sound too good to be true, like schemes. Perhaps I’m too eager to jump at this thing with Dave Cavanaugh. I’ve heard too many horror stories of people in this business who were broke as soon as their careers slowed. I don’t want to be like that when my career is over.”

  “That could be true,” John advised. “Let’s reserve judgement until you figure out what he’s proposing. If it’s something you should be involved with, we’ll make it happen.”

  “I’ll find out tonight!”

  “I’ll show you where to sign these documents and take care of sending them over to Mr. Cavanaugh’s people. Call my cell directly any time if anything sounds fishy or if you just need to talk.”

  ***

  The long drive up the coast from Los Angeles offered Liz time to think. The event was at a gorgeous private country club high above the ocean. It was timed perfectly to see the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean. Liz was glad Carol advised her to take a wrap because the breeze coming in was already chilling.

  The soiree was a low key yet still magnificent event. In attendance were perhaps a hundred and fifty southern Californians, a virtual who’s who of show business and finance. There were bankers, real estate investors, a few foreign billionaires who now lived in the area, and many of the financial people who backed the studio ventures and managed money for some of the wealthier people involved in the industry. Liz saw several other actors and actresses she’d worked with.

  The food and drinks were exquisite, and the crowd was enjoying themselves. The vibe at the event was totally different than many others she’d attended. While she didn’t know how he pulled it off, Liz noted the absence of paparazzi in or around the party. Most of the people were relaxing and having a good time like a relaxed social gathering. It was so rare that a group like this could get together and let their hair down without press, paparazzi, or large entourages. When the timing was right, Dave gave a signal to his staff. The bartenders, wait staff, and other service people discreetly exited. Dave’s team quietly began circulating and asking the few people who did have members of their entourage with them to ask them to move to another hall for a separate presentation. More than a few of the people became upset about this, and some chose to leave rather than be separated from their people. Liz was alone. She had asked Bill to stay in the car, having full confidence in the security at the event.

  Finally, the private room was closed and about a hundred people were left. Dave launched into his presentation, accompanied by stunning pictures of the South Park Valley in Colorado. He was a gifted orator, giving much the same presentation he had to his team in Colorado months earlier. This time, he showed pictures of the amazing progress being made and artist renditions of what the location would be like when it was complete. Dave held the audience enthralled, detailing the structure and how the home ownership and investments would work.

  It was at that point he began to see skepticism on the faces of more than a few. Many people were hoping for a get-rich-quick scheme. They wanted to give him a million dollars, hoping a year later he would return five or ten. This wasn’t that kind of opportunity. People would have to work and contribute both in their time and money to be a part of this. Dave expected skeptics and critics and forged on, happy that at least the skeptics were paying him the courtesy of continuing to listen.

  He decided to alter his agenda some, emphasizing more of the capitalism side of this venture. He didn’t want that to be the selling point, yet it didn’t hurt to let them know there was profit here too. Dave discussed the types of companies they wanted to build and buy, as well as the profit numbers they expected to make. That was when a few hands shot up.

  He called on one man, who said, “The returns are not as high or as fast as some of your other ventures.”

  Dave nodded. “You’re right. I expect with this undertaking the goal is for the company to not only be recession proof, but depression proof as well.”

  He observed more than half of them looking down at their phones or talking to each other. It was Hollywood, and very few comprehended that someday the goose would stop laying golden eggs. It was hard for many of them to grasp that at some point for this country, just as for them, the applause would end and the lights would dim. Many of them didn’t realize they were wealthy and well fed only as long as the country continued to operate with such a huge excess that people were willing to squander billions on entertainment. Few of them stopped to think that throughout history this was not common in their profession. Most nations did not spend these huge excesses on entertainment. The system created enormous wealth and a misguided sense of privilege. Dave scanned the faces of those who appeared not to comprehend his message. He wondered if any understood how precarious their position was in the current rare system of financial surplus. The abundance heaped on entertainers was precarious; if the prosperity failed or struggled, they didn’t have a plan.

  Dave introduced a break in the presentation, allowing the wait staff to come back into the room for fifteen minutes to refill drinks and bring in another round of hors d’oeuvres. After the break, many attendees did not return.

  During the second part of the presentation, Dave challenged those that remained. If they didn’t feel like it was for them, they could move to the more fun part of the festivities in another area. Dave’s team had planned both a Monte Carlo night and a well-known band performing a free outdoor concert on the cliffs with a spectacular view of the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean. Dave purposefully spent a great deal of money to get this year’s Super Bowl act to play the event. When he announced the band and the rest of the festivities, most of the remaining hundred people left. That was part of the plan. He didn’t want anyone in the last part of the presentation who was not a serious potential investor. If such great entertainment was right outside the doors, only those truly interested would stay.

  Dave scanned the room. Twenty-three people remained. “We will only accept investors who will commit to live in the communities for part of the year,” he announced. “As residents, you will have to agree to the community service clause.”

  “I can’t decide if you’re one of those wacko preppers or a sixties’ style hippy trying to build a commune,” one of the more uncouth attendees quipped.

  The comment was followed by nervous laughter. Dave smiled, stepped down from the podium, and pulled up a chair. By this time, they were all sitting in a rough semi-circle.

  “You’re partly right,” Dave said. “I do have a bit of prepper in me. I’m also a student of history, whether it be the sixties free love period or the Roman withdrawal of the English Isles. One thing that history has taught me is this. Our nation won’t stand forever. It was Edward Gibbon who said, ‘The five marks of the Roman decaying culture: concern with displaying affluence instead of building wealth; obsession with sex and perversion of sex; art becomes freakish and sensationalistic instead of creative and original; widening disparity between the very rich and very poor; increased demand to live off the state.’ Does any of this sound familiar?”

  Dave held up his hand to forestall replies. His question had been rhetorical. “I’m not trying to be an alarmist. Most likely this country will far outlive everyone in this room. However, most of us have families or extended families to think of when we contemplate the future mortality of this nation and our system of government. No other nation in the history of the world has ever lasted in perpetuity. All of them were either crushed from outside or rotted from inside. Why would we think this one will be the first to last forever? As governments go, we aren’t young, and by many accounts we’re in decline. Almost as many people each year are being turned on to the fact of a pot
ential downfall of this country as are aging into Medicare.”

  When several people started to speak, Dave held up his hand again. “Despite what some people might think, I’m not a wacko. I don’t have any reason to think I need a bug out bag beside me everywhere I go. I’m not advising you to build some bunker to live in with five years’ worth of food. What I am saying is this nation could be in decline for months, years, decades, or even centuries. As a betting man, I tend to think we will encounter some type of collapse in years or decades, not centuries. Even so, who knows if or when it will happen? At nearly seventy, I may not see the fall in my lifetime.” Dave stared directly at Liz Pendleton, a gorgeous and skilled actress in her early thirties. “But perhaps you will.”

  It was a powerful and poignant moment. After a moment of dramatic pause, Dave said, “However, this is a moot point because of two things. One, if you believe in an apocalypse or a fall, it’s entirely a personal thing, the same as how you propose to survive it is. And two, I will promise you your investment in this endeavor will turn a reliable profit. Additionally, the time you spend each year at your home away from home will rejuvenate you mentally and physically. It will be secure from press and paparazzi. I feel confident that a little community service will give you a refreshed outlook on life that will make you a better person for it. This profit and your increased mental and physical health, not to mention a few fun extra skills, should allay your other concerns.”

  Liz was enthralled. It sounded perfect. It was not only a reason, but a commitment to get away from the hectic Hollywood lifestyle from time to time. It would be a good place to park some of her money so it could grow. She wanted to be involved and learn more, though at the same time, she was afraid that as a younger person she didn’t want to appear too eager or naïve. Still, it was hard to hide her enthusiasm as she approached Dave after his presentation.

  << Dave >>

  Walking out with the sounds of the party in full swing echoing in his ears, Dave turned to his favorite sounding board. “Levi, what do you think? How did it go?”

  “I don’t know these things, Mr. Cavanaugh. I’m more at home in the desert or the woods with a gun in my hand. This country club millionaires thing feels odd to me. What did you hope to accomplish?” Levi countered, dodging the question.

  “I’d say the event went about as well as could be expected. I’ve already poured a lot of my personal wealth into this endeavor. It’s important to me that this succeed on a grand scale. If I’m successful on the scale I hope for, then I need to make this type of living and investing fashionable and cool.” Dave peeked at Levi with a sideways glance. This was the part of this plan that was most important to him and yet sounded a little silly when spoken out loud.

  “Why does that matter?” Levi asked, genuinely confused. “These communities are not huge. You already have all the money you need. These people you met tonight have all the money they need. Why does it matter to you that this becomes huge and fashionable?”

  “Levi,” Dave started, then paused, struggling to put his thoughts into words. “Every man wants to believe somewhere, somehow, even in a minor way, that he can leave a legacy or change the world during his time on this Earth. Most of us do that through our children, others through work or business. There are a few who can do it through art or science. I even believe there are a precious few leaders who were the right person in the right place at the right time to do it. Think of someone like Alexander the Great, Churchill, or Gandhi. Similarly, there are women like Harriet Tubman or Golda Meir. Those men and women left a legacy for the world with their leadership. While I don’t put myself on a level with any of those great people, I do believe this country has run through its lifecycle of the grand experiment in a scant two hundred and fifty years. That’s a short time for a country. We might last ten, fifty, even eighty more years, but we are destined for a fall. With these communities, we can make the skills to survive that fall fashionable. We can help ensure that not only do more people survive, but we can preserve more art, literature, medicine, and general knowledge than has historically happened during times of cataclysmic changes.

  “I know this plan can make hundreds of millions of dollars, although I’d be more than happy to see copycat corporations spring up all over. If that happened, we would have made self-reliant communities popular. We would have brought back pride in skills like gardening, sewing, preserving food, building, and farming. People will be much more in touch with the Earth, nature, and each other. We’ve forgotten as a people that we are at our greatest and most noble when we work together, not only as a community but as a lineage over time. It was once said that if we do great things, it’s only because we stand on the shoulders of giants. Do you know what that means?” Dave pressed.

  Levi nodded. “I think so.”

  “I would hazard to say that many people do on the surface, yet few people dwell on the deeper meaning,” Dave said with conviction. “It’s so important to realize how insignificant one life is by itself. When we cooperate with good people to form a community and we build and plan things that are bigger and take longer than a single lifetime, we are doing good things. Equally as important as doing good, we are fighting the evil of chaos and destruction by building and thriving as a community.”

  “Makes sense, I suppose I didn’t think of it quite that way. I mean, you’re not telling me anything new. Although when you sum it all up like that, it does make this whole thing sound more majestic.” Levi smiled, wishing more people could see this side of Dave Cavanaugh.

  “I’ve always been careful to invest in such a way that I could get my money back and turn a profit over time,” Dave said. “If I decided to end this endeavor at any time, it will still be worthwhile financially. That’s my promise to these people. I believe in what Ayn Rand said: ‘The man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.’”

  “People trust you. I don’t think anyone is worried this is a scam.”

  “I guess in a way I feel like Noah might have when he was building the ark. I haven’t had a vision or spoken to God,” Dave responded self-deprecatingly. “Still, I have to imagine that before others knew of the rains and flood, they must have thought Noah was crazy. It was that ark that saved so much of his civilization. It allowed the world the restart the way God intended without the need to start over from the beginning like cave men. Noah had his faith in God to tell him he was doing the right thing despite being ridiculed. I only have my personal faith that what we are doing is right.”

  “You do know I’m Jewish, right?” Levi chortled, adding a bit of levity to the conversation.

  “Yes, but the Noah story is transcendent. Many religions have a story of a great flood. This endeavor needs to come out in the open, and it needs to be accepted on its own merits. If people turn this into a religious thing or too much of a prepper thing, it will be too controversial to be trendy and gain acceptance. They need to start with seeing this as a different way to live and own property that holds a bit of nostalgia and safety in an increasingly unsafe world. They need to earn a profit while participating in something that is wholesome, good, and constructive. The plan is not to have this labeled as a ‘prepper’ community because that will ultimately drive away investors and bring in only a certain segment of the population. I desperately want a cross section of all types of people. We need all races, economic levels, trades, and skills.

  “If I shared all my deepest personal views at this time, it would only bring on unwanted types of news coverage and change the mix of investors and residents. These communities need to accomplish the useful side effect of making people more self-reliant and prepared as a community while creating wealth, safety, and bringing about a renaissance of community involvement and self-reliance.”

  “That’s a tall order, boss.”

  “Aim for the stars, Levi,” Dave quipped. “Then even if you fall short, you still dwell in the heavens. These communities won’t survive and thri
ve without a cross section of skills, people, and views. We need all kinds of people and ideas, not only the people who like to shoot and want to live in a cabin in the woods.”

  “A cabin in the woods sounds perfect to me,” Levi said wistfully.

  “Me too. It still may come to that for some of us. Who knows? I’m not denigrating a cabin in the woods. What I’m saying is that when we’re separated, hiding, and barely surviving in one of those proverbial cabins in the woods, we’re not at our best as a people. These communities are all about us being at our best as a community by combining our strengths and skills.”

  “Well, boss, I guess I’m starting to understand why you came here first.”

  Dave nodded and smiled. “Yes. These people would be the first to ridicule the peppers and cabins in the woods people. If they invest, it adds a West Coast legitimacy to the movement I want to create. Moreover, if a few famous and well-thought-of folks get involved, it’s a lot easier to sell these communities as something hip, cool, and to be envied.”

  “You’re probably right, Dave. It sounds so different than what people value today. I just don’t understand what people want like you do.”

  “You’re right,” Dave said. “I don’t know for sure that we can be successful in creating a movement that will sweep the nation. I mean to try, though.”

  Levi grinned. “Then I hope it goes well and they invest heavily and you have beautiful starlets in your communities gardening, riding horses, and shooting guns.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Dave said, “because it will be your job to guard those starlets and make sure they don’t fall off those horses or shoot each other with those guns.”

  ***

  “Six months after China pledged to halt cyber espionage against the United States, Beijing’s hackers continue to conduct cyber-attacks on government and private networks, the commander of U.S. Cyber Command told Congress.