The Prodigal Son

by Tony Lawrence

8/15/"2097" A bronze plaque was installed today on the granite facade of Middleboro Town Hall. It honors the achievements of Dr. Dennis Garcia, the man whose pioneering cellular research is credited with leading us to the discovery of cures for cancer, Parkinson's disease, and many other cellular problems that seemed so intractable earlier this century.

Speeches were made, 3-D images were recorded, a small crowd clapped politely, and then everyone went on about their daily business. The plaque gleams brightly in the summer sun today, but over time it will acquire a patina of age.

It's already tinged with irony.

To understand why, we have to go back to 2010, when Dr. Garcia's parents found their way to Middleboro. Unskilled workers, they were lured by the promise of jobs in the Middleboro Casino, then nearing completion of its first phase. Few may remember now, but this casino resort was intended to be the largest of its kind in the world, and indeed was until it was eclipsed in 2020 by the Grand Imperial Sun of China, which has remained the de facto premier destination for the world's gamblers. But that was all in the future in 2010, and some 5,000 available jobs brought families like the Garcia's from near and far.

Amazingly enough, there was great local opposition to the building of that Middleboro resort, and it wasn't just within the confines of the town itself. Internet archives from the period show that surrounding towns were very concerned about the impacts of this new business upon their towns. In addition to traffic concerns, there was great worry about workers like the Garcia's. You see then, as now, it takes money to educate children, and some worry was that the parents and the children would not speak English, and therefore the schools would have to hire expensive language specialists because of their presence in the educational system (truly useful computer assisted translation capabilities were not perfected until about 2065).

As it happened, the Garcias did speak English, though not well, as the good Doctor recalled during my video conference with him earlier today. I told him about the plaque, and asked if he was aware of the swirling controversy just prior to his birth.

"Yes, my parents told me about that", he said. "I can't say I ever felt any overt discrimination in the town, but because my parents had made me aware of those things, I suppose I always felt a bit like an outsider."

I asked if he had memories of growing up in Middleboro.

"Oh, certainly", he responded, "but just mundane things, typical boy grows up in small town stories, nothing of import."

I mentioned that at the time, there were approximately 16,000 "unemployed" (people who had no jobs - ask your grandparents if you have never heard of this) living in the area. I asked if it seemed odd to him that the citizens wouldn't applaud the economic opportunity this must have represented.

"I imagine there are always people who will fear anything new. It's just human nature."

We chatted briefly about his years of research - that's all in any child's science book today, so I won't bore you with it here. As we were wrapping up the conversation, I asked if he'd like me to send over a 3-D high-def image of the building and its new plaque. He hesitated and cleared his throat lightly before answering.

"No, I think not. But I do thank you for the offer."

* Tony is a regular contributor to OakPointCommunity.org .