Creature Discomforts

cash, too.” His hands were now empty. He brushed them off. “To start with, I’ve got nothing.”
    “And who are you?” Gabrielle asked. “In this game, I mean.”
    “Ponzi,” Steve said. “I’m Mr. Ponzi. And have I got a deal for you! Gabrielle, Quint, Effie, I’m offering you a special investment opportunity. The three of you give me some money, and I’m going to double it for you.”
    “Why should we trust you?” Quint asked.
    “Because you know me. And I’ve explained what a great deal this is. It’s special, it’s not open to just anyone. All the same, because you’re cautious, you want to test the waters. So, you don’t invest everything. Not to begin with. You try this deal out. You invest a little.”
    “Why not?” Gabrielle gestured to her pile of pine needles. “I’ll start.”
    Steve took her up on the offer by removing about a fourth of her capital and placing it on the ground in front of him. “Quint and Effie, you can pass up the opportunity for now, but all these other investors”—he pointed to the stones—“are going to take advantage of it.” He removed greater and lesser amounts of play money from the stones, and added it to his own pile. Then he gathered and lined up more stones and supplied them with fresh pine needles from the nearby woods. “Now these people are investing, too.” He took some of the fresh investment material and added it to his own pile, which was now quite 'large. “Now, Gabrielle, it’s time for you to get the return on your investment.” He paid her from the big pile. “Double your money?” he asked. “Satisfied?”
    “Yes,” she said, “except that...”
    “Exactly,” Steve said. “Except that I paid you with the money I took from these other people.” He pointed to the new row of stones. “But what do I care? There are more stones where they came from. More investors. Take Effie and Quint. You two were careful before. But now you’ve seen the results. Gabrielle invested. She doubled her money. So, why not you, too?” He removed half of Effie’s pine needles and half of Quint’s. His own pile was now big again. “What about you, Gabrielle? The investment opportunity is still open. What are you going to do about it?”
    “I’m going to ask where all this money is coming from,” she said.
    “And Mr. Ponzi is going to tell you,” Steve said. “It’s all invested in this special deal. Everything’s going great. You’ve seen for yourself, haven’t you? You doubled your investment in no time. Why not do it again? Where else can you get that rate of return? And are you going to leave your friends out? Opal is an old friend of yours, isn’t she?”
    “Of course,” Gabrielle said.
    “So, let’s share a good thing with her. And with Wally, too.” He removed some of their pine needles. “Let’s not forget the other initial investors!” He distributed some of the growing hoard of pine needles in front of the first row of stones. “And you, Gabrielle, are going to reinvest.” He removed most of her stash.
    “But there’s no actual investment!” Gabrielle protested. “It’s just other people’s money.”
    Steve wore the satisfied smile of a teacher who has gotten the point across. “You said you weren’t sure what a Ponzi scheme was. Now you understand it.”
    “But it can’t go on forever,” Gabrielle objected. “Yes, I got paid, but...”
    “Initial investors do,” Steve agreed. “If they don’t, it’s not a Ponzi scheme. Or it’s one that never got off the ground.”
    Gabrielle was still concentrating on Steve’s demonstration. With the exception of my father and Malcolm Fairley, everyone else, however, was shifting around uncomfortably.
    Waving a hand over the display of stones and pine needles, Gabrielle said, “Fine! I understand. It’s all a house of cards. But this has nothing to do with anything...” She hunted for a word. “With anything real. With anything relevant! This kind of thing couldn’t go on for long. You can fool some of the people some of the time, or whatever it is, but eventually, the whole thing would collapse.” Her voice now carried a hint of desperation.
    Steve nodded.
    “So, what happens then?” Gabrielle demanded. “When it collapses?”
    Steve bent down, swooped up as much as he could hold of the big pile of pine needles, and made a show of striding off.
    Gabrielle was suddenly angry. “Stop that! This is ridiculous!”
    Steve let the pine needles fall to