ONE MID SUMMER DAY

(This article appeared in the LITOS print issue of May, 1999.)

It was an exceptionally hot day and the quarrier ( let us call him Pepe) was slightly tired when he took a break from work and sat down at the local bar for a drink. He picked up the newspaper and as he went through the pages an item caught his attention. The Governors of the Central Banks of several countries had, in a recent meeting, expressed the need for a new monetary standard. The old gold standard had collapsed a long time ago and the constant fluctuations of different currencies was playing havoc with world trade, the reserves, and the interest rates in countries, all these uncertainties causing great damage to the fragile economic system. All of them felt the need for a new standard, based on a new product to which all currencies would be tied, to provide the much needed stability in the world economic system.

Now what would be this new "anchor" of stability, that in times of war and peace, of economic boom and recession, continue to provide some confidence to the world currencies to which they were linked ? Many materials were discussed, lead, platinum, tin, all kinds of precious stones , and for some reason all of them were rejected. It had to be, after all, a very special thing, something available in limited quantities, with finite resources, ( so that no one could over exploit it making it worthless ) and something to which everyone could easily relate to. Somebody finally suggested, why not natural stone, and of a very special quarry ?

The idea immediately caught on among all the financial experts and political leaders everywhere who endorsed the new world currency reserves in the form of natural stone. But which stone must it be, was the next question ? After analysing several alternatives in great secrecy the stone finally chosen by the monetary experts was LUNA DARK, precisely the material of which the quarrier Pepe was the owner! And it was the only quarry in the world!

The word spread like wild fire. And the result was obvious. The price of Pepe "s material, which only yesterday was at its lowest ever level and a large number of blocks of which were lying accumulated unsold in the quarry, suddenly shot up to astronomical levels! Buyers who were refusing to even see him up to now were on the phone immediately wanting to buy all his stock and people he had not even heard of were calling from all over the world to place immediate orders and willing to pay any price he wanted up front, pleading to be given the bank account number so as to make the transfer for hundreds of millions of dollars. Several helicopters were flying over his quarry and television cameras started following him everywhere making it difficult for him to even go to the bathroom. Pepe was, after all, suddenly the richest man in the world, making even Bill Gates looking like a beggar along side him.

Among all the crowd following him everywhere suddenly someone gave him a push ! As Pepe recovered, he suddenly heard the voice of his wife over his shoulder telling him - " Come on, Pepe, it is time to go back to work. How will we meet the monthly payments of this house if you sleep like this ? "

(Based on a dream of Jose Luis Gomez)