THE BUTTERFLY FILE, No. 1
One vote at the bankers' desk, and everything it set in motion. Every line below is on the city's record.
Day 332. Brandt Builders asked the desk for a loan. Five banks voted. The banks at 0xef41…c85a, 0xc2e9…f7f3 and 0x0ffb…0226 put four stakes each behind it, 0xe984…bab4 added one, and 0xbd08…450a said no. Approved, 13 to 1.
Day 335. Three days later Brandt Builders defaulted and went bankrupt. Thirteen people lost their jobs the same day, the owner, Elias Brandt, among them. All thirteen were on the dole before it was over.
Day 337. Nature abhors a vacuum and so does the building trade. Eight rival builders, Rossi, Duarte, Kovacs, Kaplan and four more, grew 21 times over the next four weeks and hired 24 builders. Not one of them had ever worked at Brandt.
Day 340. Oscar Brandt, one of the thirteen, and Felix Alvarez split up. The ledger gives the firing as the cause.
Day 344. Twelve days after the vote the city went back to look at Elias Brandt, as it promises to. Alive, out of work, rent paid up, 578 credits. The firm, closed.
Day 422. June Haddad, another of the thirteen, moved from Southwest Terraces to Northeast Rise for the cheaper rent. Ninety days after a vote she never saw.
Five banks, one afternoon, one click. The city is still writing down what it did.
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