Olice's Raven: A Folk-Tale about Fortune/Princeton

Narrated 'claim' of an American 'prince' who seeks American 'dream-byroads' to story-dough.

An offbeat 'American Dream' fable, inspired by various media/literature, which I think you'll enjoy reading (and thanks for reading!), 

DISCLAIMER: This work of fiction contains images/references with no formal representative views or commercial association with any persons/body and therefore is cast as a personal/exercise presentation in 'dramatized' human conditions (open for distant interpretations!).

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My father Danyel was an Algerian-born diamond-merchant who emigrated with me when I was young to New Jersey (North America) and trained me to be hard and cynical, as he indulged in drink and made himself appear to me in private as a willful man of great unhappiness and antisocial sentiments; all the while I fostered my love of self-education for escape and developed my 'American dream' of going to Princeton and becoming a cyber-writer of great fortune faerie-tales, but first I'd have to 'transcend' his brand of villainy, with the 'aid' of some culture atmospherics and my 'trained' eye for Western fantasy/design(s).

My name's Olice, and my father had this 'custom' of taking me to the Olive-Garden Italian restaurant on Friday nights to get me fat with drink and food as I was growing up in New Jersey, and I learned to develop in secret my 'sideshow' hobby of folk-arts and literature to get away from him, but I needed an ally 'system' really, and one incorporating 'cues' from the world, and one involving the 'folks' of remedy all around us in this modern Earth capitalist race of commerce-life Ego distances/daydreams/dollars. I decided to 'enlist' the assistance of two of the Olive Garden (NJ) waitstaff in this 'Crusade' to find redemption and drew from my 'pocket(s)' my 'good knowledge' of culture-commerce life diadems like media/market magazine story-images of fortune, ambition...and chess.

DANYEL: Come, son, let's to the Haddonfield cemetery to recount youth.

OLICE: Now that I'm a grown man, invested in cyber-enterprise (Princeton)?

DANYEL: You've (now) the look of a man of culture/society with a 'tie' for chess too!

OLICE: It's not such a 'dark-challenge' to find intelligent faces/allies in social-media society, Danyel.

DANYEL: Did I say I doubted that, Olice?

We arrived at the Olive Garden (NJ) one Friday while I was in high-school and during that 'visit' I entreated my pre-educated waitstaff members, a man/woman of great sharpness (Marcus/Ezzy) who'd approach my table, for drinks/food/condition checks and offers, alternating in timing, while offering me in separate times a special set of sports-market 'football cheerleader trade-cards' which was 'claim' of a restaurant-staff Friday's Eve 'gift' token offering (complimentary) for the pre-weekend dinner experience. My father Danyel was both pleased...and humbled.

OLICE: Wow, daddy; both Marcus/Ezzy impress us; surely, we accept the treasure (for our Princeton-journal!).

DANYEL: Alright!

EZZY: Well, seems 'father-and-son' tonight have the 'look' of a special American treasure for diner's liberty.

DANYEL: Accept the cheerleader card, Olice; find a 'story' to place-set the treasure and I'll get you a special adventure-game for your birthday (before your Princeton-departure).

OLICE: Alright!

Now, this special sports-media 'treasure' the Olive Garden waitstaff gifted us that Friday night in New Jersey was a 'cool' Chiefs-cheerleader sports-card, a trade-card of nice ornamental powers, and I used it to persuade my father to allow me to find my own way in this American 'landscape' of personality-chess driven fortune/ambition superstition(s).

DANYEL: Alright.

Years later, in Princeton, I found myself teaching courses in folk-writing about fortune and a cyber-chess administrator and double-life blood-diamond intelligence operationalist (with Interpol-relation) working to cut insurance-corruption tracks with an ally with 'swift' securities-swaps involving conflict-zone gem bond journals (great for cyber-tales about 'masked' espionage!).

DANYEL: I've mailed you a 'robo-chess' set to your new Princeton-abode (for honors).

OLICE: Thanks, Danyel; I'm doing just excellently int his new life of Ego (ha).

DANYEL: Alright.

I buried my father years later and recounted all our memories and that ritual of Olive-Garden visitations which yielded my right imagination and message-delivery to his subconscious which freed me from his 'divine-plan' for my life and yielded for me his consent to seek my own 'form(s)' of American Dream excellence. To this day, I wonder what was more poignant about this 'chess' dream in New Jersey --- sportsmanship...or diplomacy (ha).

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone" (John Maynard Keynes).

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)