Sponsored Fiction: Donor House Collection: John Good Road - A Conversation with Nick - 2008 words

[k_a_webb]

Character named by: ysabetwordsmith
Story written for: ysabetwordsmith
Story sponsored by: ysabetwordsmith

“Have you ever given anyone something without expecting something in return?” John asked, looking at Nick.
 

“No,” Nick replied.

“Why not? You're hundreds of years old and during that time I'm sure that you've had things that you don't want or need.”

“I sell them.”

John shook his head. “You're such a European.”

“What does that mean?”

“If your money disappeared tomorrow what would you do?”

Nick stared at him. “Cry, probably.”

“Exactly. You've never lived a life without money. During your lifetime it's changed but you've never not had it. If you want something you buy it, and then if you decide you don't want it any more you'll sell it. Have you ever thought you might have been happier if you'd just given it away?”

“No, I like money.”

“That's great, Nick.” He looked at the vampire in front of him, wondering why he was trying to explain something so alien to him. “When you give someone a present how do you feel?”

“I don't know.”

Sighing, John thought about throwing something at him but decided not to. “I'm Alice. You've just given me a nice bracelet. How do you feel?”

“Like she's probably about to throw it at me.”

“Nick! Right, fine. You've just given Issac a nice watch. How do you feel?”

“Happy, I guess, as long as he likes it.”

“Do you expect something in return?”

“If it's Christmas then yes, but if it's his birthday then no.”

“It's neither. You're just giving Issac a watch because he's your friend. Do you expect something in return?”

“Well, no, I don't. I mean I've given him a surprise and there's no way he could know about it.”

“Ok, now you're giving Issac a watch because it's something you don't want any longer.”

“Why would I do that when I can buy him one?”

“Because you're playing along.”

“Actually, I think I have several watches that I don't want any more. Maybe I'll put them online to sell.”

“Or you could give them away.”

Nick looked down at the table thoughtfully. John watched him, wishing he could know what was going through his head. Talking to a vampire of Nick's age who had grown up in Europe was frustrating but he knew that it would be good for him to understand a culture that was the opposite of his. John was born Lakota and he would always be Lakota, even though he'd been living in Europe for decades. Having to get used to using money hadn't changed his love of the gift culture he had left behind so he was trying to explain it to the people who had entered his life since he had become a vampire, all of whom had always had money of some form in their lives.

“Yeah, I guess I could.”

“Would you want something in return?”

“I think I would. I spent good money on those watches.”

Brick wall, John thought, before coming up with a new way of explaining it to him. “What did you have when you became a vampire?”

“Nothing. I had to leave everything behind.”

“How did you get clothes and everything else you needed?”

“My creator gave them to me.”

“How did being given them make you feel?”

“At the beginning it made me feel happy, but then I realised that I had to help him in return for what I was given and then it wasn't so good. I thought he was giving them to me because he'd taken me from everything I knew and that was his way of making it up to me.”

“What did you do?”

“I walked away. He wanted me to do things that I thought were morally wrong and a few bits of fabric wasn't worth how it was going to change me.”

“What would you have done if he'd just been giving them to you?”

“I probably would have stayed.”

John nodded. “What did you do when you walked away?”

“For the first few years the only thing I could do was beg. I was lucky really because I didn't need food so all the pennies I managed to get went towards buying clothes. During those years I watched people who weren't as lucky begging for money to get food and no one cared enough to give them a penny so that the poor people could afford to eat.”

“I'd never seen a beggar until I moved to Europe.” John sighed. “I'm not saying they don't exist in America, because I know they do, but they're not something you'll ever see in a reservation. Until the Europeans moved over to America there was no money and a lot of my people still don't really want to have to use it but sometimes have no choice.”

“What do you do?”

“We give, Nick. If I have something, say for example a book, that I don't want any longer then I'll give it to someone who wants it. If I have a sandwich and I know someone who's hungry then I'll share my sandwich.” John smiled. “You could easily have a system where one person farms wheat, another person grinds the wheat, and then another person bakes the bread, which then gets shared out between all the people who took part in the system. Each person could share out the bread and then those who have received the bread may give their giver something in return if they have something that the giver needs or wants.”

“So what I'm doing if I give my watches away is to become a part of a system like that?”

John nodded. “Just don't expect anything in return. Sometimes you'll give something to one person and then you'll end up getting something from someone else that you wanted. It's the way the universe works.”

Nick looked at him thoughtfully. “Why have you been telling me about this?”

“You've always had money. I haven't. When I look at the donor house that you've set up I see something innately European and I wonder how something like that would have worked at home.”

“Are there many Lakota vampires?”

John shook his head. “I'm the only one I know of.”

“Tell me what your donor house would be like.”

“I don't know, Nick. I'm not sure if it something we would ever have thought of. Someone would probably offer to give a vampire blood if they needed and then, if I was the vampire, I'd make them a cabinet or something.”

“There may be people in here that would offer to feed a vampire but I'm not sure they'd do it in return for a cabinet.”

“They donate blood in return for nothing.”

“Yeah, but that's because it feels good. Vampires are not always good people and I think that a lot of humans would feel they're doing a bad thing by keeping us alive.”

“So basically you're bribing people with money.”

Nick smiled. “You could see it that way.”

“Don't you think that some humans might just do it to have a roof over their head and some food in their stomach?”

“It's possible, but Europeans are used to getting money in return for services and donating blood to vampires is technically a service. What we're doing keeps a roof over their family's head as well as their own, which I think is a good thing.”

“That I agree with, but maybe you could give the donors an extra incentive that they wouldn't get if they weren't at the house.”

“Like what?”

“Well, after centuries of life, you must have skills that you can share. You could let some of them help in the kitchen; some could set up a kitchen garden. There are other things that you could think of that I can't. You know what Europeans like doing better than I do.”

“It's worth talking about. I'm not sure what Issac or Lewis will say because they're both as European as I am.”

“Being European isn't a bad thing, Nick. Money itself isn't a bad thing. I don't actually understand how your economies work and because of that lack of understanding I worry that some day it will fail without anyone knowing how to get along without money. So I teach people, usually vampires, about the giving system in an attempt to stop the world from falling apart simply because there is no money.”

Nick nodded, smiling. “I get it. If I can convince Issac and Lewis that it would be a good idea then I'll implement some of the things you suggested. Especially the kitchen garden. That sounds like it could keep the cost of running the donor house down, which Lewis will like.”

“If you want me to talk to them I will.”

“That might be a good idea actually. I honestly don't think I could explain your system well enough to get them to understand.”

“I wasn't sure I'd be able to explain it well enough to get you to understand.”

“I do, in a basic way. People give what they can without expectation and in return they may receive something that they needed or wanted, although I'm not sure that it would always work here.”

“I doubt it would because it's not something that's always been but you can start integrating it with what you already have now. If you teach the donors the gifting system then hopefully they'll go out and teach others so after a certain number of years it might become normal.”

“Do you ever wish you could just get rid of money?”

“It serves its purpose but I think that money makes people different. You're more materialistic and I hate the way people feel the need to keep up with their neighbours. People cling to items because they've spent money on them rather than passing them on the way we would. What I love about our gifting system is the understanding it breeds between neighbours. No one really knows their neighbours here or what they like and I think you have much less of a community.”

“I do agree with you. I've always been materialistic and I cling, but I think that some of it for me is losing everything twice. Now I just want everything that I can have which then just clutters up my space.”

“Try giving it away Nick. If you don't know what people would like then set up a giving shelf. Anyone who has something they don't want or need can put it on the giving shelf, and people who walk past that do want it can take it.”

“I'll think about it.”

“You do that.” John smiled. “If you learn to give then you might be happier.”

“I'm not doubting you but it's hard to let go of a habit I've had for the last few centuries.”

“Of course it is. I had difficulty getting used to using money for everything, rather than just saying to my neighbour that I needed a hand with something and if he knew anyone who could help then I'd be happy to make them something in return. A couple of times I got someone turning up with the skill because a friend, a neighbour or a family member needed something made and they were offering their services in return for the item they needed.”

“That's really nice.”

“It's who we are, Nick. From the day we're old enough to understand what we're doing we learn how to give. Tutoring someone in English in return for them tutoring us in Maths. Giving old toys to a family having a baby. Sharing packed lunches. It's normal.”

“Some of that does happen but I think we always have money in the background and we think that we'll be happier if we have more money.”

“Have you ever found that to be true?”

Nick shook his head. “Money won't make Alice like me.” He sighed. “I don't know what I can do to make Alice like me.”

“Stop trying. Once you start being your normal self around her maybe she'll like you more.”

© K A Jones 2011


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