The Next Great Paulie Fink: Part 5: List 2

I take a few tentative steps, and everyone explodes into cheers.

Gabby jams something into my hands: THE MEGASTAR CREED.

The winner of this competition will be the student who best embodies the spirit of Paulie.

Behind them, the PICK A WINNER shirt billows a little in the breeze.

But Yumi’s favorite song sounds sort of like a ukulele version of a funeral dirge: depressing and oddly cheerful at the same time.

Timothy starts romping toward his brother on all fours with his tongue out.

“Yup. To some degree all of us are affected by circumstances outside of our control. That was especially true in the ancient world. Back then, a single drought could destroy an entire community. Famine was common. The ancients lacked the medicines we now have, so epidemics were rampant.”

“The process was called katharsis, which is the Greek root of the modern word catharsis, with a c. When we use the word now, it means a great release of powerful negative feelings, the kind that ends with a sense of relief—like a good cry, or a primal scream. Chasing out the pharmakos was a way of trying to find relief.”

Can you imagine how it feels to be the scapegoat?

“Soooo,” I drawled, “did anyone ever tell you that you’re...a giant...dork?”

We’re talking about this because we have a $387,000 structural deficit in our budget. We’re in a financial death spiral here. Do you remember what happened over in Marshall Falls? Their deficit wasn’t much bigger than ours is now. Within three years, it ballooned to more than $2 million.

The man’s skin is much darker than Gabby’s, but his eyes are the same: brown and warm and wide and earnest.

As soon as Mom says that, I see what she’s seeing: wildflowers, a riot of them, rising through the cracks in the abandoned lot, like they’re determined to reclaim the place.

I realized that this meant Diego, in addition to being my best friend, was now officially my mortal enemy.
My nemesis.

I could practically recite the whole article now. Budget crisis. Town funding insufficient. Unsustainable. Needs influx of cash. A bunch of boring-sounding words that all add up to one thing: we're in trouble.

On the way out, Mags tells us every society has wrestled with the idea of what constitutes a good life.

“The Greeks had a name for their version of the good life: eudaimonia. The concept incorporates all the things it takes for a person to flourish: joy, hard work, learning, and ethics. Eudaimonia isn’t about short-term happiness. Rather, it’s a way of asking the question When I look back on my life, what will I want to have done?”

We step outside. It’s a bright, brisk day. She wraps her sweater around her and looks at us.

Maybe someday, years from now, Fuzzy will watch the footage and remember that all of this—this ramshackle mansion, these cranky goats, this makeshift fort, and this strange crooked scarecrow surrounded by sacrifices—even existed.

Maybe someday, years from now, Fuzzy will watch the footage and remember that all of this—this ramshackle mansion, these cranky goats, this makeshift fort, and this strange crooked scarecrow surrounded by sacrifices—even existed.