A Bayou Dream
© 2010 - William C. Highsmith

"Mr. Boulding, I was just wondering. What is the significance of that photograph above your desk?" asked the young woman.

"That is a picture of heaven," he answered.

"Sir?"

"That is an image of the place where my dreams began. It is a picture of my home place."

From his office overlooking the world famous Central Park, Mark Boulding began to reflect upon his childhood.

The path to this high rise office began on a bayou in the South. The community consisted of a few houses of humble means. The access road was built upon an earthen dam that served to hold back the brackish water from the low marshes. It was eight miles to the nearest town and the school he dearly loved. A fourth grade teacher in this school encouraged his innate interest in mathematics. Mr. Thomas was instrumental in his ambition to go to college and to finally work on Wall Street. It was a long hard trip from the access road to Manhattan.

"Mark, stop your daydreaming and finish raking the yard. Your daddy will be home soon," he could still hear his mother say.

She was right. He often mused about leaving the bayou to see the world. This neighborhood was mostly made up of family. An uncle and his family lived in one of the houses. His mother's parents lived in another. The men were fishermen who made only a scant living from the bounty of the nearby ocean. "I don't want to be a fisherman when I grow up. Mr. Thomas says I can make a lot of money if I learn my math. He says I can get a scholarship to go to college if I continue to work on it."

The boy finished his chores on this day and the many days that followed. Time passed and took him through high school and finally college. Days turned into years and the access road and the tiny village were left far behind. He met and married the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Upon the occasion of the birth of his first child, he began to value the little place on the bayou. It was during a visit to see his folks, he took the picture that now hangs on the wall.

Suddenly - he was jolted to the present by one of his secretaries. "The market will open in three minutes!"

By William C. Highsmith - May 14, 2010