When the Dust Settles in Lower Manhattan

A Novella

By: L. David Harris

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

David stepped onto the pavement of Lower Manhattan, just outside his office building. A distinguished, fashionable man in his early 40s, he wore a sleek pinstripe suit and jet-black, greased hair. He had the look you’d expect straight out of the movies. David was among the last of a rare breed, an idealist who loved numbers and wanted to use his gift to make everyone, especially the poor, realize their full potential. David was a lot like the company, born from humble beginnings and rising from the ashes of obscurity through hard work and a bit of being in the right places at the right times, and then there was the break. The truth of the matter was that BD&A would have fallen like Lehman Brothers if David hadn’t demanded a meeting with the CEO and President, Howard Bentley, just before the newest partner, Jim Dan, was about to dive deep into the foolhardy and complex world of mortgage-backed securities. BD&A avoided the pitfalls of the subprime crash of the mid-2000s in large part due to David’s foresight. At the time, fellow analysts called him naïve, and, frankly, he was. It just so happened that most of the time David’s naïveté worked in his favor, that and the fact David was the most gifted programmer Wall Street had ever seen. The break – September 11th, 2001. How would David and his colleagues cope during one of the most pivotal days in U.S. history? As the dust settles in Lower Manhattan and the world as we once knew it changed forever, how will this simple man with undauntable dreams and a gift for computers and motivating people make a lasting impact on those around him? This is a thrilling tale of honesty, determination, courage, and scarcely tapped dreams becoming reality. Where were you when the dust settled in Lower Manhattan?