“Keep it up son, thatta boy Richard.” My father has been dead over 20 years but I’m sure I can hear his voice jingle through the empty spaces in the house. “Keep it up son, keep this hand here and that one there. Thatta boy Richard.” He was perfect. Every instruction was detailed with every factual obligation an inspiring spine tingle should have. He spoke with such honor, such confidence. Every mission could be completed using the right set of tools, set in the right places with a calculated exact timing of every move. Chess was improbable to the man; there was no outside element, bargaining chip, possibility of an upgraded weapon attack that would ultimately level the playing field under duress. He would never kill another man or support the causes for warfare but in militant behavioral sciences that examined every known element of each variable and consistently keeping one step ahead of any opposition. I was taught exit points, tactical landmarks and recognizable influences. If I needed to ask a question, I was taught to meditate on each word of its answer as to never repeat the inquiry again.
There wasn’t a reason to know everything, rather to know everything about how to successfully acquire information about the unknown element. I was taught to keep recourses instead of friends. People were easily forgotten if their purpose was fulfilled in my growth. I was kind to computer genius that could locate the answer to literally every question on the internet via bit-torrent connections, the artist that could compliment any romantic setting, the athlete that could physically dominate any fight, the drug dealer that could get his hands on any prescription for cheaper than the pharmacies, and the girlfriends to help self-analyze idiosyncrasies to maintain a likeable personality. They were recourses to necessitate the upper hand. He was perfect.
In the last years of his life, I never left his side. I would go out of my way to joke, laugh, and utilize every positive emotion. Those last years were his proudest. I insured a lucrative inheritance by persuading his resource. I lived out his teachings and he was proud. After his last words, “I will always win” he left me out of his will and catapulted me into an extreme stage of bankruptcy for wasting the past few years on my father, a multi-millionaire, who couldn’t spare a breath in my direction once he realized my tactical checkmate. There always had to be an outside element and by leaving me out of his will, he insured a level playing field once under duress.