Big Bully

The little stone house stood proudly different between two 20-storey
skyscrapers, in the centre district of busy New York City. Cars slowed
down as they passed the house, thinking it was some kind of joke, some
advertisement, or at least something commercial, but in fact it was
just a simple house, somebody's home.
That somebody was Joe Herman. Joe stepped out into the crisp morning at
8am as he did every morning, and wandered casually over to the mailbox.
He looked like he had just crawled out of the gutter, with his rough
unshaven stubble, and his ripped jeans with a paint-stained T-shirt
just a size too small, but he was still smiling, such a simple human
movement that meant so much.
As he stepped closer to the mailbox he saw only one letter and that was
from Boing Ltd. Joe cursed softly under his breath. Boing Ltd was a
large corporation who wanted the space where Joe's house currently
stood, to build yet another skyscraper. Joe got hundreds of letters
like this every year, and usually just ignored them. However Boing Ltd
was being particularly prescient.
Thinking it was another regular offer, Joe ripped it open and quickly
scanned the contents. A few sentences through he stopped and stared in
amazement. This was no offer, this was an eviction notice. Boing Ltd
had communicated with the government, and probably bribed them, gaining
their permission to evict Joe from his home.
Storming inside he slammed the letter down on the table.

"What's the matter dear?" asked his wife, who sat at the table drinking
a cup of tea.

"Boing Ltd are evicting us with the help of what-his-name Bush!" Joe
shouted at no one in particular.

"You mean the president."

"Good for nothing piece of -"
His wife, Helen, cut him off in mid sentence.

"Now that's enough of that, thank you!" she lectured.

"What do Boing do anyway?" Joe said, calmed, he could never hold his
temper down for long.

"As I recall they make kids toys."

"WHAT! You must be joking! You mean that I am giving up my home so a
few spoilt children can have another toy at Christmas." Joe fumed with
rage, his face turning red with anger.

"Yes you could see it that way. And anyway Joe what are you getting so
worked up about, we could find another place to live, a much better
place than this, have you seen what they are offering, very
generous&;#8230;" Helen said holding up the letter and reading it as
she spoke.

"You really don't care, do you? My father, and his father before him
kept this house against all the odds, and all the offers, all the
temptation and threatening letters, even when things were bad, and I'll
be damned if I let this big corporate bully win on my watch!"

"You don't really have much choice do you?" Helen rebuked, still calm,
and gesturing towards the letter."
Joe did not reply and just stormed out of the room without another
noise except an almost inaudible grunt.

*

4 months later Joe was still there. Helen had left a month after the
eviction letter, when she realised that Joe loved the house more than
he did her. The demolition crews moved in and all Joe's worldly
belongings had been randomly dumped outside the house. Joe sat alone in
his empty home, determined until the end. A few bottom-end reporters
hung around, but this type of thing had been done before, and most
people just did not care anymore.

"This is your final warning Mr. Herman, come out now or we will be
forced to remove you by&;#8230;force." a voice over a loudspeaker
boomed.

A torrent of swearing and insults were hurled from inside the house,
and one of the demolition men gestured towards two policemen. The
law-enforcers marched inside, and screams and shouts echoed around
before Joe was dragged out, battered and bruised, his head hung
low.

Just as he turned around for a final look at his lifelong home, the
only thing he cared about, a wrecking ball hit it and with a mighty
crash the little house tumbled down where Joe's garden used to be. Joe
hit the ground in defeat and started to sob, staying amongst the ruins
of his former house long into the night.

The next year Boing Ltd stocks crashed, and the company went
bankrupt.
Joe Herman committed suicide by jumping off the top floor of the Boing
Ltd building and landing dead where his house had once stood.

THE END