Volume 1: Melancholy of Hugo Briggs
"I am stronger than I feel, wiser than I imagine, greater than I believe.No wind can blow me away ... because I am myself."

When we were young our grandfathers told us stories that the fathers before their fathers told them, unlike contemporary fairytales like Cinderella and Snow White they spooked us with local folktales and myths that were capable of making you shiver. These old men swore from the top of their white old heads to the sole of their sore foots that these stories were real, I could still remember the last folktale my gramp argued about before he died. The tale of two moon, it talked about two moons that rotated around the world - the white moon and the purple moon. The white moon which came from the east represented light, order, peace, blessings, life, good luck and everything positive while it's opposite the purple moon from the west represented darkness, chaos, war,curses, death, bad luck and everything negative. These two polar opposite traveled through alternate worlds and met every one thousand years.
Well I believed the earth had only one white moon and I believed that non of the myths existed until one fateful Saturday night when the fabled purple moon visited town. Unlike it's white twin that illuminated the fields and blew a gentle breeze during the hot summer, the night sky turned black and the stars vanished I could feel a dark vibe mixed with the breeze it brought. Though the breeze felt gentle one could sense the uneasiness of the purple moon.
Under the full moon the corn crops which grew in our town began to wither and turn grey... I suddenly remembered the story of the two moons. "This is a curse" I muttered
The next day our town incurred a loss of 30 million dollars. For generations our town Dewlake invested in agriculture, every household had at least five acres of cornfield which grew the best corn and cereals you could find in the state of New Mexico USA. Since there were no natural resources in Dewlake the town engaged in exporting farm produce and millions of dollars were spent on purchasing fertilizers and maintaining the farmlands, our was very rich and independent till the purple moon laid it's curse. The corns which ripe for harvest withered in every farm in town not only the crops but also every plant life in Dewlake and other neighboring towns, the woods also began to rot but worse of all the soil that had supported growth for more than sixty years became infertile. Instead of deep brown loamy soil it became weak and dusty like ashes as if it had been bathed with toxic chemicals for decades.
With the soil loosing it's ability to grow anything again and incurring a loss of million dollars the bars were soon full of drunk farmers who pondered on their mysterious loss but blames were not enough to feed their families. The prayers of the industrialists, realists, capitalists and mega businessmen were answered and it didn't take long before they arrived to scramble for our lands and that of the other towns. It was sad to see farmlands that had been passed on through lineage for generations being sold to these greedy business men , it didn't take long again the farmers soon became factory workers working in chemical factories which were erected on lands which were once theirs.

Well six years back in the present Dewlake had experienced an industrial revolution the fruitful farmlands and cornfields were now replaced by chemical factories on barren lands, standard of living down here became difficult... sometimes I remember the night when I saw the face of the purple fullmoon as it spread a silent horror though our town, this made me wonder if magic still existed and the tales people of the old narrated were much alive out there without our knowledge.

For those who don't know me I'm Hugo Briggs the ordinary guy who lives on Dewlake. I'm the kind of guy girls can ignore on the the streets just because he's broke, I'm also the kind of guy that people respect if they are in trouble and I'm still the type of guy you see at the convenience store down the street working to pay for his college tuition... and lastly I'm still Hugo Briggs.
People always ask me why all sorts of annoying questions like : "Hey Hugo why on this stinky dead end job, shouldn't you be robbing banks by now?" and since I had all the time in the world and if my questionnaires were kind enough to buy me a drink I tell them : "Look, back then shoplifting was lucrative for youngsters but now everyone's broke, the banks are broke, the mayor is broke, the government is broke, the lawyers are broke, the police is broke ,even the president is broke because you're broke . How can I rob I empty vaults when the chief robbers in the government can't squeeze a cent from you? " They ask me again: "Say Hugo why are you working your ass trying to enter the Ivy Leagues. Not that you're gonna pass the entrance examination" Then I tell them" If I can't enter Cambridge, I enter Harvard, if I can't go to Harvard, I go to Yale. I'm going to college so that I can become rich like Donald Trump, marry a pretty blonde and kick annoying people like you out of America " They laugh but deep inside I had tongue lashed them.

Today was another boring day, I worked at Chen Wun convenience store as a cashier, cleaner, security man, etc It was owned by Mr Chen a Korean( but people mistook him for a Chinese), we sold all sorts of commodities from smartphones to condoms to liquor to holy water. We had lots of customers because people thought Mr Chen looked like Jackie Chan who was going to use some kung-fu skills to chase the industrialists out of Dewlake, the only kung-fu skill I knew he had was to swear in Korean. As I flipped through the sports magazine I was reading at the counter while sipping a cold lemon soda the country music flowed through the store making the atmosphere more tasteless, a short boy of about sixteen walked into the stall he was dressed in a Star Wars tee-shirt ,a hooded grey jacket and a pair of faded jean, his hair was rough brown and untidy, freckles rested across his nose he had a mischievous smile on his face. With one eye on the magazine and the other on the boy which I used to monitor him in case he were a shoplifter, later he came to the counter with a bottle of beer to pay for it, I looked at it and shook my head
"Sorry kid we don't sell alcohol to underage. You could buy a soda instead if you like"
The boy squinted his eyes "what do you mean by underage?" he had a Scottish accent. I turned the bottle to the sign were it was written: Drink responsibly. Not for sales to persons under eighteen.
"oh I see" said the boy "they say we're too old to suck a woman's breast and too young to drink alcohol. What of you?"
I looked at him and responded "I'm twenty three"
"Oh I see I found it odd for you to be working here at this age, since you have a bad way of explaining things you will do well in handling chains of prostitutes on the streets" the boy said
Infuriated by his words "hey kiddo shouldn't you be at school?"
He brought out his wallet and fished out two hundred dollars, four times the money for the beer and kept it on the table... I salivated staring at the money and I let him pay for it. I was only broke. " Keep the change" he left
When the boy left I noticed he was barefooted and his feets were the largest I had ever seen, I counted the money It began to disappear before my eyes. I opened my mouth in awe, till all the cash vanished in thin air. Magic
I was still Hugo Briggs and I was still broke.

1mmanuel:
For those who don't know me I'm Hugo Briggs the ordinary guy who lives on Dewlake. I'm the kind of guy girls can ignore on the the streets just because he's broke, I'm also the kind of guy that people respect if they are in trouble and I'm still the type of guy you see at the convenience store down the street working to pay for his college tuition... and lastly I'm still Hugo Briggs.
People always ask me why all sorts of annoying questions like : "Hey Hugo why on this stinky dead end job, shouldn't you be robbing banks by now?" and since I had all the time in the world and if my questionnaires were kind enough to buy me a drink I tell them : "Look, back then shoplifting was lucrative for youngsters but now everyone's broke, the banks are broke, the mayor is broke, the government is broke, the lawyers are broke, the police is broke ,even the president is broke because you're broke . How can I rob I empty vaults when the chief robbers in the government can't squeeze a cent from you? " They ask me again: "Say Hugo why are you working your ass trying to enter the Ivy Leagues. Not that you're gonna pass the entrance examination" Then I tell them" If I can't enter Cambridge, I enter Harvard, if I can't go to Harvard, I go to Yale. I'm going to college so that I can become rich like Donald Trump, marry a pretty blonde and kick annoying people like you out of America " They laugh but deep inside I had tongue lashed them.

Today was another boring day, I worked at Chen Wun convenience store as a cashier, cleaner, security man, etc It was owned by Mr Chen a Korean( but people mistook him for a Chinese), we sold all sorts of commodities from smartphones to condoms to liquor to holy water. We had lots of customers because people thought Mr Chen looked like Jackie Chan who was going to use some kung-fu skills to chase the industrialists out of Dewlake, the only kung-fu skill I knew he had was to swear in Korean. As I flipped through the sports magazine I was reading at the counter while sipping a cold lemon soda the country music flowed through the store making the atmosphere more tasteless, a short boy of about sixteen walked into the stall he was dressed in a Star Wars tee-shirt ,a hooded grey jacket and a pair of faded jean, his hair was rough brown and untidy, freckles rested across his nose he had a mischievous smile on his face. With one eye on the magazine and the other on the boy which I used to monitor him in case he were a shoplifter, later he came to the counter with a bottle of beer to pay for it, I looked at it and shook my head
"Sorry kid we don't sell alcohol to underage. You could buy a soda instead if you like"
The boy squinted his eyes "what do you mean by underage?" he had a Scottish accent. I turned the bottle to the sign were it was written: Drink responsibly. Not for sales to persons under eighteen.
"oh I see" said the boy "they say we're too old to suck a woman's breast and too young to drink alcohol. What of you?"
I looked at him and responded "I'm twenty three"
"Oh I see I found it odd for you to be working here at this age, since you have a bad way of explaining things you will do well in handling chains of prostitutes on the streets" the boy said
Infuriated by his words "hey kiddo shouldn't you be at school?"
He brought out his wallet and fished out two hundred dollars, four times the money for the beer and kept it on the table... I salivated staring at the money and I let him pay for it. I was only broke. " Keep the change" he left
When the boy left I noticed he was barefooted and his feets were the largest I had ever seen, I counted the money It began to disappear before my eyes. I opened my mouth in awe, till all the cash vanished in thin air. Magic
I was still Hugo Briggs and I was still broke.

Why leave this one uncompleted what happens next