How to Get Rich Quick

East Los Angeles. 1969. Hope works to live and lives to work. She drives a taxi for a living. The job has her working late nights, lending her a less than charming demeanor. She attends group therapy in some attempt to combat her insipid attitude towards life, though neither the well-meaning advice of her group members nor her medication make much of a difference. She mostly sleeps during the day, though she sometimes occupies a chair in the back of a dingy storefront church, silently wishing she could find meaning and solace in something...anything.

Late at night Hope can be found eating greasy fast food at a local dive, across the table from her only partner in misery, Sean, a fellow group therapy member and taxi driver. Sean fills the silence with his latest get-rich- quick schemes which fizzle faster than the coffee can grows stale. Hope’s only other haunt is a local Bodega where she nourishes her smoking and gambling habits. If only there were a way out of this rat race. If only she had some money to get on her feet a bit. Pay off her debts. Maybe go to school. Maybe start a business. Maybe move away from this wretched place and live out her life in Bali.

One night Hope slouches in her armchair, cigarette dangling from her lips, and mindlessly flicks through the endless channels on the old TV. A Western, a gameshow, skin care cream, blah, blah, blah. She is ready to give up and call it a night when she lands on something that grabs her attention. A handsome man, his long hair pulled back, dressed in a sharp, expensive-looking suit. He smiles and looks right at Hope.

"Are you a sad, sloppy loser?"

Hope picks a little loose tobacco out of her mouth.

"Have you given up hope of ever achieving health, wealth and happiness?"

Hope leans forward in her chair.

"What if I told you that you could change all of that? What if I told you that I have three simple steps to unlocking the power within yourself. And obtaining riches beyond your wildest dreams..."

A massive auditorium. Thousands of people pack every seat. Hope sits in the front row, a little black notebook in her hands, her gaze glued on the handsome man. This is Ethan Paradise and he is going to change her life.

"Step 1: write down your goal."

Hope feverishly scribbles in her little black notebook.

"Make it a strong, confident resolution. Write down the exact amount of money you will obtain. You must be specific."

Hope scribbles. I will have $1000.

"You are the master of your own destiny."

Hope crosses out what she's written.

"No one can set your intention but you."

Hope scribbles once more. I will have $5000.

She looks at her little black notebook, unsatisfied, and crosses out that line, too. She sits there and thinks. Then, finally, she puts pen back to paper.

I will have $20,000.

She looks at this new number, content.

"Step #2. Repeat your resolution every night before you go to sleep.

Hope lies in bed, her eyes barely awake.

"I will have $20,000."

"And every morning before you wake up."

"I will have $20,000."

"You must repeat these words throughout the day."

Hope showers.

"I will have $20,000"

"You cannot merely say the words. You must believe them!"

Ethan's words echo in Hope's head.

"You must attach an emotional connection to your resolution. Why do you want this so badly?"

Misty eyed, Hope picks up a framed photograph of a young couple and baby. Recent immigrants. Smiling, happy.

Hope looks up, resolute, a fire in her eyes.

"I will have $20,000. I will have $20,000."

Every moment, every day Hope repeats her new mantra. In the shower, on the can, and in the car while she does her rides (now with fresh gusto).

"And finally, the third and final step...begin to behave as if you've already achieved your goal."

"How would someone act if they had what you desire."

So Hope begins to act the part.

"Eliminate distractions"

She purges the apartment of clutter and waste.

"Destroy all bad habits."

Hope throws away a carton of cigarettes.

"Maintain laser focus,"

At the crack of dawn Hope is up, running in the LA river till her breath is ragged and she can no longer feel the pain in her shins.

"Your mind is the most powerful tool in the universe."

As time passes Hope gets faster and faster. Her breathing controlled, her movements confident.

"I will have $20,000."

As the weeks go by Hope begins to look a new woman! Her confidence is contagious.

"Master your mind and possess everything you've ever dreamed of."

She begins to live the strict, disciplined life of a monk. When she drives it is no longer with the desperation of a woman with nothing to lose, but rather one who has everything to gain.

"Failure is not an option. Weakness is not. an. option."

Hope runs faster than she's ever run before, adrenaline pumping like a piston, top gear.

"I will have $20,000. I will have $20,000."

Weeks turn into months. Hope is unrecognizable. She stops going to therapy and no longer sits in the back of church. Little by little she grows apart from Sean until their friendship fades altogether.

And so it is that Hope drives her cab one night as usual. She finds herself doing a drop off somewhere deep in the canyons. Once her passenger is dropped off she turns her meter off and heads home for the night, down the dark, wooded road.

"The enemy of desire is the limit of your imagination."

And then, as she takes a blind corner...

BAM!!!

A man comes out of nowhere and slams into her windshield with enough force to send him flying over the car and onto the street.

Hope jumps out of her car. The man does not move.

"You must first believe that you are capable of achieving greatness, and greatness will follow."

Hysterical, not knowing what to do, Hope suddenly sees something in the road. Too frantic to notice it at first, Hope now sees that it is a leather briefcase with something sticking out of it.

"Good fortune, wealth and happiness are all within your reach."

Despite herself Hope trepidatiously walks over to investigate. She kicks the briefcase open...

"Manifest your thoughts and opportunity will arise..."

Cash. Green, beautiful, crispy cash.

Speechless, Hope bends down and looks through it. There are several bundles, all in 100 dollar bills. Hope does some quick math. It's exactly $20,000.

"The only thing remaining is to reach out..."

Hope slowly stands back up, her mind paralyzed. She did it. She actually did it.

"...and take it."

She just stands there, beside the lifeless body, a small fortune in her hand. Alone in the night.