Untitled - Ben Trayne

Harry the FreemanbyBen Traynefreeman, noun- a person who is free; a person who enjoys personal, civil, or political libertyHarry didn't consider himself to be a lazy man, just bored - sometimes he wasbored nearly out of his mind. He knew in his heart he wouldn't be bored, if only he couldbe free. To Harry, being free meant being able to do just about anything he wanted. Hedreamed of being able to experience it, even if it was only for a while. While mostpeople feel the same at some time in their lives, Harry thought about it almostconstantly, such that he carried it out just a bit to the extreme. It was only because of hisvivid and active imagination.He quite commonly daydreamed as he drove to work. On a Monday morning,Harry was driving in traffic, while in his thoughts he was about to jump from anairplane. The plane was cutting through the air in broad circles at its service ceiling offourteen thousand feet. Wind whistled past his ears as Harry leaned outward from theopen door of the Cessna. A light cross-wind buffeted the little craft in an azure sky thatwas dotted here and there with fluffy white cumulus clouds. Far below, a rolling countrylandscape lay, with a narrow, silvery-blue river winding between the low hills. Deepgreencarpets of wooded land alternated with fields of corn and with golden fields ofwheat. Harry smiled. It was now or never. He jumped.The extreme part of it was, he had no parachute.It was anything but a death-wish. But a parachute dictated what he would be doingnext, and that was not the freedom he craved. Nobody's perfect, nor is any plan,although oftentimes it may seem perfect to the planner. Fortunately, Harry was not an

engineer.The wind roared past Harry's ears as he manipulated his body in mid-air, until hewas diving earthward head-first. He would reach terminal velocity as quickly aspossible, and then extend his arms behind his head so that his trajectory would resemblepulling out of a dive. Before hitting the earth, he would flip and tumble so that the partof his body that impacted the earth first, would be unknown. What a rush!Suddenly Harry realized he was approaching the car in front of him much tooquickly. Whether it had slowed or stopped, he didn't know and he had no time to judge.He jumped on the brakes but could see he wouldn't get stopped, so he released thebrakes and yanked the wheel, swerving onto the berm. He finished stopping almost acar-length ahead of the automobile he had just nearly hit. Parked on the berm now, helooked ahead and realized that a flagman had stopped the entire line of cars for a roadconstruction project. Had he been paying any attention at all, he would have had plentyof time to stop. “You idiot!!” the driver shouted through his open window, as he pulledalongside. “If you can't drive, why didn't you stay the hell home?”Harry hung his head in shame, choosing not to look up until after the car hadmoved on. As he did raise his eyes, he was greeted by the driver of the next car who wasgiving him the finger. No question about it. Driving in traffic was not the freedom hecraved, either. Nevertheless, he began to smile. If he had rear-ended that car, it wouldhave been a “smashing” end to his daydream. In fact, he realized, he had been drivingfaster than usual because of what he had imagined himself to be doing. In some oddway, then, he'd been living in that moment, as if it had been real. Harry murmured tohimself, “How cool is that?”He drove on to work in silence, thinking about various ways he might simplify hislife. Anything at all to move even a bit closer to really being free.Later that morning, the budget manager shoved a folder full of requisition formsin front of him. “Sign these,” she said, “And don't make me wait all day. It'll only take

you a few minutes to review and sign them.”“More work for me, huh?” Harry smiled.“Huh, your ass,” she blustered, “If you wouldn't keep buyin' things, you wouldn'thave to sign for 'em! It's you who makes work for me! You can stop, any time!” Withthat, she stalked away.Harry thought about that. She was right, of course. They worked for a largeresearch and development firm, and all the work that came to his unit came through himfirst. Harry wasn't an engineer, but he did help with project designs, as a technicaladviser. His job was to assist potential customers in the selection of materials, to suggestappropriate hardware, and to resolve design issues. He also took work orders and madesure all parts and materials were purchased, for each project.But today, he decided to try something different. Soon the doorbell sounded, andHarry put down his pen and ambled out to the counter. The customer, a grayingtechnician, spread his sketches out for Harry to see. “I need a water reservoir for mycooling system,” he explained. “This tank should be about a foot high, a foot wide andabout two feet long. It can be made from just acrylic sheets, I think,” he said, “with aninlet fitting and an outlet fitting. And a cover.”Harry asked, “Do you need the clarity of acrylic sheets, or this specific volume?”“Nope,” the customer replied, “I just need a tank. I need it to be cheap.”“Well,” said Harry, “Then why have one built? For about eight bucks, you can buya plastic storage container at any department store, with a fitted lid. Plastic hose fittingsfrom the plumbing section of a building supplies store, a utility knife to make holes forthem, and you're in business. If we built this for you, it would take a day. At shop rate,you'd have maybe four hundred dollars in it.”“Wow! Hey, thanks! I hadn't thought of that.” The customer scooped up hissketches and headed happily to the door. Harry went back to his desk to finish signingrequisitions.The very next customer, a scientist, didn't have a drawing. He carried in some

steel parts and placed them on the counter. “I need to couple two shafts together,” heexplained. “Here they are. Can you make me a coupler? I need it to reach shortersamples on our tensile testing setup.”“Sure, we can,” Harry replied, “but it isn't like you need us to. Look, both endshave a threaded hole. If you order a simple threaded stud you can simply screw it intoboth shafts. If you're only pulling and not rotating the shafts, it will work fine.” Harryfound the part number and wrote down the supplier's website for the scientist, who wenthappily on his way. “Two down,” thought Harry. “Maybe twenty or so more of themtoday.”Harry yawned and went for a cup of coffee. Even though he knew he would bebusy, he always minded the passage of time. Each day followed the one before it, withanother to come right after, and his life was slipping away. Make money, pay taxes. Paytaxes, make money. Had someone actually coined the phrase, “tax freedom day”? Whatabout the time of one's life, being sold to pay taxes? Out there, outside these brick andmortar walls, was a world. He had to be in here, just another victim of the beautyblindnessof humdrudgery.And there would be no coffee for Harry this morning. A group of his co-workersstood surrounding the coffee maker, and Harry knew it would take a few minutes just tofind out where the end of the line was. The end of the line! It would be coming alongone of these days. Harry was already over thirty, and he felt like he'd never really lived.If only, if only he could think of a way to change that. Another customer was already atthe counter, and yet another was coming through the door.Harry stayed with his new approach, making suggestions that solved problems atlittle or no cost. A fuel scientist wanted an engine stand built. Harry referred him to aman for whom they'd built one, a month earlier. That research project is complete now,why not call him? There's no need to construct a new vacuum oven when the heatingchamber in the one you have is already sealed, fittings and a vacuum pump are all thatare needed. You say you require a new cabinet for a heavier temperature controller? Do

you see why the old system didn't work? Install a deeper well for the thermocouple, andyou won't have to replace your controller. Here's the company that sells the thermowells.The day, and then the week slowly passed.Friday afternoon, Harry was called to his superior's office. “Harry, sit down,” saidthe boss. “I've been trying to figure out all week what's been happening to our orders.I've narrowed it down to you! What the hell do you think you're doing out there?”“Why, I'm doing my job,” Harry answered. “Is somebody unhappy?”“Damn right, I'm unhappy,” the boss exclaimed. “Multiple people have remarkedto me about what you're doing! We need orders to keep our shop busy, and you keepgiving them cheap, 'nothing' alternatives! Convincing customer after customer they don'tneed what they came in for!”“But in each case,” Harry began...The boss angrily interrupted him. “In each case you seem to have cost us a job!Don't you know how things work here? Each department builds its own little empire!The prototyping shop is my empire! Did you think perhaps we didn't need the work?What am I going to do with machinists and welders standing around?”“But...”“But nothing! You thought we wouldn't miss the work? I hope you won't miss thepaycheck! You're fired!!”At first, Harry was shocked. But as he thought about it, he began to feel like agreat weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. Unemployment benefits could holdhim for quite a while, and since he had no family, the money he already had would makethat fairly easy. And at least for a while, he could enjoy conditions that were a lot closerto freedom.A contented smile slowly formed on Harry's face. “Thank you,” he said. “Have anice day.”This was not at all the reaction that Harry's boss had expected. A little sobbing, alittle groveling seemed to be in order, but this guy seemed happy? Maybe he'd been

trying to get fired. Well, whatever. If so, it had worked. He picked up the phone andcalled human resources to advertise for Harry's replacement.Harry decided not to even clean out his desk. The things in it weren't needed now.He smiled and whistled a merry tune as he walked through the door. Harry's boss leanedforward and shouted, “Hey Harry! Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!”Harry laughed aloud, then stopped and deliberately allowed the door to do justthat. Then he smiled and walked away, leaving a small crowd of co-workers staringincredulously after him.But it was almost as if Harry's brother was the CEO, which of course, he was not.Within three minutes of Harry's departure, the vice-president of the company steppedthrough the shop doors and walked to the office of Harry's boss. “Good afternoon, Bob,is it?” The VP extended a hand and smiled warmly. “May I take a minute of your time?”“Bob” stammered, “Certainly, sir, w-what's this all about?”. He had never actuallymet the VP in person, but knew him to see him. That was because his photograph washanging in the front foyer of the administrative office building.“It's all good news to you, Bob. It's about the reports I've been getting from ourproject managers. It seems you have an employee here, is it Harry? I hear he's beensaving the company a bundle! Why, if we can save that kind of money in our variousresearch budgets, our rates and therefore our bids can be more competitive! That meansgrowth, and that makes me very happy. And you allowed him to do it, which franklysurprised everyone. Great job, Bob!”“Bob”'s face had just turned ashen white.“This means a promotion, both for you and for this Harry fellow. We want toreorganize a bit, and will be placing all of the prototyping facilities under your control.Glassware, stockroom, electronics fabrication, and of course the shops. We want to giveHarry a nice raise and to get him to train others with the techniques he's been using.Because we know he won't be able to handle all of the incoming work orders by himself,for sure. By the way, can you call him in, and get him in on this?”

“Um, um,” Bob tried to think of an answer. “He went home for the day. That's it.He'll be back tomorrow, um, I mean, Monday.”The VP stood up. “Well alright then,” he added, “This weekend, give somethought to how we should arrange this thing organizationally. We'll be tapping you forhelp with those decisions.” He smiled and again extended a hand. Bob rose and acceptedthe handshake, then waited for his visitor to leave. Then he exited the shop doors, andran at breakneck speed though the corridors.He was too late. Harry's car was already gone. He returned to his office to cancelthe request for an ad, and to get Harry's home address. He could sob and grovel a little,if that was what it took. But he wouldn't find Harry at home.Harry arrived at his home about fifteen minutes after he'd left his former place ofemployment. He'd begun to put a change of clothes in a backpack, but he stopped.Freedom needed to be free. If that meant getting a little sweaty and dirty, so be it.Motorcycle and the clothes on his back, that was the ticket. He checked his wallet to besure he had some cash, located his credit card, and left.About a half an hour later, Harry had cleared the city and its traffic, and was wellout into the countryside. There before him was an unplanned possibility. He made a slowsweeping right turn, his big Harley putt-putting, at a sign that said, “County Airport”.After a brief conversation with a pilot, Harry took one of the two seats in the front of asmall plane, and the pilot gunned up the engine. After a few minutes the little craft roseeasily into the sky.Soon, the plane was cutting through the air in broad circles at its service ceiling offourteen thousand feet. Wind whistled past his ears as Harry leaned outward from theopen door of the Cessna. A light cross-wind buffeted the little craft in an azure sky thatwas dotted here and there with fluffy white cumulus clouds. Far below, a rolling countrylandscape lay, with a narrow, silvery-blue river winding between the low hills. Deepgreencarpets of wooded land alternated with fields of corn and with golden fields ofwheat. What a gorgeous day.

Harry smiled.*****************************Copyright 2012 Benjamin Trayne