The Child
Host - “Our first guest met him while growing up in a rather poor community as a child. Despite the years that have separated that meeting and this interview, memories have not faded. Please welcome Magistrate Lewis to
The Legacies He Left. Magistrate, you have told us before the show began that you met him years before you came to lead your people. Can you tell us your opinions and memories of this larger than life man?”
Magistrate - “I am an old man now, but I will never forget the greatest hero we have ever known. He never thought he was anything other than a thief, but where I grew up, we needed a thief. For you to understand him and why we needed him, you need to understand just how poor we were. My people were slaves and tried with all they were to scrimp and save enough to get off planet. The problem was that the magistrate that enslaved them at the time was a cruel and wicked man.
No matter what people did, there was always another cost; another debt to be paid. The magistrate ensured that he kept my people under his thumb by stealing from them with taxes. He lived on the hill, growing wealthy off the backbreaking labour of the people, while they toiled and struggled in vain.
I was only a boy when I met the man, but our hero came just when we could take no more. I stood by, unable to do anything as my family was beaten and their spirits were driven down into the mud that had become our home. Their hopes had been crushed, but still they dug hoping that I would have a better life. One day, the man came to town. As I mentioned, he was a thief. He wasn’t just any thief though; he didn’t rob any of us. Yes, we were poor, but he could have been the kind of man to steal what little we had. It would have been a lot less risky than what he did.”
Host – “And what, exactly, did he do?”
Magistrate – “He played the part of the hero. All he cared to know was that the current magistrate had grown rich and had kept all currency within his home. He saw the magistrate as a prime target and with his partner, infiltrated the house and stole all the money. For that act alone, he would have become a local legend for us; he gave our owner a figurative black eye and made him look like a fool. Like I said though, this man was a hero. He took it a step farther.
Why he did it, I’ll never know. Maybe he just cared about seeing people in need. Maybe he thought it would make the magistrate angrier to see his money raining down. Whatever the reason was, after the money had been loaded into his ship and he could have taken off to the sky, he turned around and poured it all down on our homes and yards. I didn’t really understand the significance at the time. It was simply something to be excited about to have money raining from the sky from our hero.”
Host – “That must have angered the magistrate to have been humiliated and then to have his money turned over to those he enslaved.”
Magistrate – “It did, but the magistrate was a coward at heart and he didn’t dare treat us quite like he had before. I think he must have been afraid that if he did, the man would come back and steal from him again.
My people idolized our hero; he truly was larger than life. And though we never expected him to come back, his simple appearance that day was the reminder of hope that had been lost. We realized that there was decency beyond the mud and we determined to someday get off that moon.”
Host – “What an interesting story. So, Magistrate Lewis, he was a hero to you and your people. It is amazing the kinds of
Legacies He Left.”
Magistrate – “Excuse me, but that wasn’t the end. Our hero returned and again humiliated the magistrate. He taught us we could fight back, and his allies even turned the magistrate’s son to our cause.
And, like all good heroes, he refused to be celebrated. He shouted that he was no hero, that he was just an ordinary person. We knew it was just an act though. He refused to be recognized for his heroic actions even though he gave us hope and a future, and then returned to help us again. Despite what anyone else says about this man, he will always be a hero to the people of the mud.”
Host – “Thank you very much, Magistrate Lewis. So there you have it; to an entire people,
The Legacies He Left were legacies of heroism and hope. Please join us again as we continue to hear stories and memories of those who knew this great man. Goodnight.”
