There’s always a price tag

Some of those in my age group who love books are apt to recognize this title as a book by one of the greatest crime novelist of the 1950s James Hadley Chase. His books were unique in the sense that there was never a hero, only characters with varying shades of villainy. Of course in the end justice prevailed and often the ‘hero’ ended up in a bad spot finally.

The above catch phrase though nearly a century old is as relevant today as ever. As I have said before humans are unique in the sense that they are the only sentient being of all the creatures in this world or at least the world we know of. Being sentient they have the power of choice, the power to choose between alternates. In our lives we constantly make choices, some we boast of as great ones others we do not publish since they are not that great choosing to internally think “if only I had…”

Investors bet money on stocks that claim astronomical returns, retirees  put their savings on deposits that promise returns that beat the market benchmark and so on..

On the darker side the tendency to believe what you want to believe is a boon to thousands of ,scamsters who dupe people of money through promising schemes.

Throughout our lives we make choices. What we study, what work we do who ,we marry how we bring up our children, how we progress our career and finally how we finish our spell on earth.

The thing here is to be mindful that there is a cause for every choice we make. A person from a poor background would aim at becoming successful in accumulating wealth, some one would aim to dedicate all to knowledge , some would embrace the spiritual path etc. Every choice has a cause that causes the choice to be made, it may be buried in our subconscious also and we may not be clearly aware. However since there is a cause there is also an effect, a price tag.

We have to live with the effects of our choices there would be good effects and also challenges.

A story by Robert Louis Stevenson named the ‘Bottle Imp” drives home this better than any thing else, am attaching a summary below ..

. Keawe is a young Hawaiian man who is poor but intelligent, brave, and hard working. He finds a job as a sailor in order to visit distant cities and, on a journey to San Francisco, happens upon a wealthy neighbourhood full of beautiful homes on a hill. He meets an old man living there, who invites him inside one of the houses. Keawe is surprised that the old man seems unhappy and says that if he lived in the house he would never be sad. The old man tells Keawe he can also have such a fine home and explains that the secret to his fortune is a magical bottle containing an imp (Devil). The bottle grants wishes to the person that owns it; however, there are some conditions to this good fortune. One is that the bottle must always be sold to someone else for less than the owner originally paid for it—it cannot be given away or destroyed. The bottle cannot be used to wish for immortality. Most importantly, whoever owns the bottle will be eternally damned as long as he owns it. If the owner dies with the bottle in his possession, he will go to hell. The owner may use the bottle to get what he desires, but he must sell the bottle before death to escape this damnation. Keawe is initially skeptical, but the old man persuades him to try a demonstration. Keawe buys the bottle for $50 and then wishes for his money back. The money appears, and Keawe is frightened by the realities of the bottle and the possibility that he might now be damned. However, the old man refuses to buy back the bottle, saying, “It is yours now; and, for my part, I am only concerned to see the back of you” . Keawe makes several attempts to get rid of the bottle and, after realizing that he is stuck with it, returns to his ship. There he confides in his friend and shipmate Lopaka, who advises him that they might as well use the bottle to gain some good before they get rid of it. Lopaka tells Keawe that he will buy the bottle from him once Keawe has fulfilled his wish for a house; Lopaka wants to buy a schooner and start a trading business. When they return to Hawaii, they receive word that Keawe’s uncle and cousin have drowned, leaving Keawe to inherit his uncle’s land and just enough money to build his dream house. Initially, Keawe is devastated, but Lopaka counsels him to take the good while he can. Keawe orders the house to be built and resolves to make no more wishes. Lopaka wants to test the truth of the bottle before buying it and persuades Keawe to ask the imp to appear. Its appearance is so terrifying that both men cannot speak and sit in silence for a long while. Reluctantly, Lopaka fulfils his end of the bargain and takes the bottle with him, humorously remarking that he hopes they “both get to heaven in the end Keawe lives in his house, nicknamed the Bright House, and is happy there, becoming famous all over the island for his good fortune and beautiful home. He meets a lovely young woman named Kokua and she promises to marry him. However, he realizes shortly after the proposal that he has been infected with leprosy. Rather than living in exile or selfishly keeping his disease secret, he resolves to find the bottle and brave damnation for a cure. Lopaka has long ago left on his schooner, but Keawe traces a trail of wealth and misery until he finds the current owner of the bottle. The owner now is a young man who has resorted to the bottle to escape the consequences for embezzling money. He is relieved to see Keawe but gives him terrible news: The price for the bottle has fallen so low that Keawe must buy it for one cent. This means that there is no lower price available and that Keawe will be stuck with the bottle and his soul will be owned by the Devil. Keawe agrees to the price, for regaining his health and his love. However, after his marriage to Kokua, Keawe cannot be happy. He is plagued by nightmares of hellfire and eventually his misery causes Kokua to lose her joy as well. She finally asks him why he married her if she has caused him so much misery, and he explains the bottle and the deal he made. Kokua declares that she has a solution. She takes them to Tahiti, where the coinage is the centime, much lower than a cent, and where they will have opportunities to sell the bottle for a lower price. Once in Tahiti, they find that the islanders are suspicious of witchcraft and refuse to purchase the bottle even though it promises great wealth. Kokua decides to sacrifice her soul for her husband since he had done the same to be with her. Kokua knows that Keawe will not allow her to purchase the bottle, so she asks a kindly old man to purchase the bottle for four centimes and promises him she will buy it back for three. She hesitates momentarily to repurchase the bottle, and the old man pities her and offers to keep the bottle. She cannot allow herself to damn the old man, so she eventually purchases it back despite her hesitation. Now, the roles are reversed—Keawe is overjoyed, but Kokua can find no happiness while she contemplates losing her soul. Keawe is secretly ashamed that he is rejoicing at the old man’s damnation, not knowing about the other transaction that occurred after. Keawe mistakes Kokua’s gentle defense of the man’s motives as evidence that she does not love him. He goes out carousing with friends to celebrate his freedom and to forget the fight. When he is out drinking, Keawe meets the boatswain, a drunken former criminal, who  hints that Kokua might be unfaithful. Rushing home , Keawe  spies her  sitting in despair with  the bottle on her lap and realizes what she has done for him. Determined to save her he asks the boatswain to buy the bottle for two centimes and says he will buy it back for one, damning himself for good this time but freeing his wife from the curse. As Keawe waits for the sailor to come with the bottle he hears a drunken song and sees the sailor coming unsteadily towards him, bottle in hand. As Keawe reach out the sailor snatches the bottle back and declares he would clobber Keawe should he attempt to swindle him of the bottle paying just a centime.

Í asked it for a drink and it gave me one, he declares, I would be a fool to give this to you says he and runs away .

Needless Keawe and his wife are overjoyed at this happy fortune and live happily.

This is a fiction, life unfortunately is more unpredictable. We make our choices and live with what they bring, good as well as bad, there’s always a price tag!

With acknowledgements to: Supersummary