Good to his word, Ed arrived at about eight the following morning. Over coffee, they discussed how to approach the situation in a logical manner and they decided that to clear away immediate concerns so they could focus completely on Walt’s problem would be the first priority. Ed had already made a series of calls to cover his obligations leaving him free for the next week.

He then looked at Walt and asked if he remembered working with the community design and planning committee. “Somehow I didn’t think so,” was his observation after noting Walt’s blank look. “Then you probably don’t recall working on the construction project out at Rivers Edge either. I’ll make the calls and that should cover most of your immediate obligations. If there’s anything else I’m sure they will call to see what’s happened to you. We’ll deal with that if it comes up.”

Ed then made a call to the local clinic they both used and pressed for an appointment ASAP. It seemed Murphy had taken the day off and the goddess of luck was smiling this day. “Yes, someone had just cancelled and they could see Walt at one thirty.” At that point, they felt they had covered most of the immediate concerns. Looking at his watch and seeing they had a couple of hours to kill Ed suggested Walt create some fresh coffee and Walt went inside to comply with his friend’s request.

Ed sat back while he waited mulling the situation over yet again, and, as each time he had considered before, could come to no satisfactory conclusion. He knew when Walt returned with the coffee they would return to seeking an answer and it troubled him. The only logical solution was some sort of physical or mental trauma but what baffled him was the detail of Walt’s memories. That was the part that defied logic, but maybe the doctors would have an explanation, so he mentally shrugged and prepared for another round of dealing with his friend’s alternate reality. Walt returned and handed Ed a steaming cup of coffee and took a seat across from him, so they sat back, both took a sip and knew it was time to play fifty questions again.

Ed looked with curiosity at his friend, and asked, “Walt, I feel I need to know more, have a better feel for the way you believe the world should be, can you describe it for me so I can better understand?”

After a pause, Walt began. “First off, things look mostly the same. I mean physically although some of what I remember is gone or changed, it, the general sense and look as a whole, remains the same. Think of it like leaving one town and traveling to another. They are the same in a generic sense, they are both towns and in many ways alike, still there will be differences. That’s how this seems in that perspective. The real difference lies in how it all functions.” With that, Walt began to describe how the world functioned, as he knew it.

He began, once again, with the concept of capitalism, using examples such as farmers owning property, raising crops and animals, hiring help to maintain and harvest. He explained how the produce was shipped and sold, and from his earnings, how the farmer would pay taxes to the government, which went to maintaining highways and infrastructure and protection. He explained about overhead, such as cost of employees, electrical service, buying and repairing equipment, paying for packaging and shipment. He explained how a person owning a restaurant would operate, possibly leasing a store from another who owned it, paying utilities and help. Buying supplies and charging customers in order to make a profit.

He tried to elaborate how competition played its role and then went on to explain how the concept grew and became more complex as larger industries, superstores, and chain restaurants entered the picture until in more recent history global conglomerates began to form by merging and take over of many smaller industries.

Ed sat back absorbing and contemplating the picture Walt painted. He waited for a pause in Walt’s account and rose to get another cup of coffee. Walt waved him off as he reached for his cup. When he returned he sat and began speaking, “I think I begin to understand this concept of business, competition and profit to some degree Walt, and even using money to acquire what you need, but what happens to me if I don’t have a way of getting this money? What if I don’t have a business or don’t have enough to pay what you call overhead? It sounds as if the majority of people work doing things so that just a few big, what you called corporations, can make a lot of this money. What are these corporations doing for me and everyone else? Don’t get me wrong, I realize they are providing goods, but it just seems as if their priority is more for themselves than serving those around them”

“Walt, maybe I do not fully understand what you’re describing but the picture I’m forming seems a bit unbalanced and even somewhat hostile. The system you describe sounds like it would be a difficult place to survive in and that many would not survive well.”

Walt casually replied to his friend. “Ed, there will always be poor people and there will always be those who suffer. There are always those more gifted who adapt better and live a better life. Those more capable will be able to produce more and will reap greater rewards. It’s just the way it is.”

Ed stared at his friend, for the first time wondering. Maybe… just possibly, this was ‘not’ the same person he knew. After a long pause he quietly spoke, “No Walt, it’s not. You see in our society as long as a person is contributing he gains the same rewards. Because I may be able to work with numbers or schematics or have a better understanding of language, maybe be a physicist or mathematician, anything Walt, this does not entitle me to more than one whose ability is less yet works just as hard at what they do. We are all in this together attempting to make it better for everyone. As long as we all do this as best we can there will be plenty for everyone. The more our technologies progress the greater the horizons for all and the better life we all live. This is what it’s all about. Isn’t it?”

They sat looking at one another, for the first time feeling that maybe, just maybe, a stranger sat across from them.