tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80320375629788145812024-02-22T00:29:22.319-08:00Lewis Smith's Literary LairLewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.comBlogger253125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-62410292734297465802024-01-15T06:42:00.000-08:002024-01-15T06:42:49.632-08:00A New Short Story for the New Year! <p> Technically, this isn't new - I wrote it last fall. But it's a fun story that I haven't shared online before, so I hope you enjoy it. It's about a loyal son, a dying father, and a quest for a magical (?) artifact that goes spectacularly wrong. Let me know what you think!<br /><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> “YOU MUST FIND IT!!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> A SHORT STORY BY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Lewis B. Smith<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger’s father, Morris, was
dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cancer had come back, and no
treatment seemed to slow it down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Morris
had been in hospice care for a month now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The morphine kept the worst of the pain at bay, but it also left him
delirious much of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger and
his siblings took turns sitting with him at night so their mother could get
some rest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Each evening, there was about an hour after
the morphine wore off, but the pain was still suppressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During these times Morris was clear and
lucid, and Roger enjoyed these fleeting chances to talk with his dad. This particular evening Roger was sitting trying to read a book as Morris dozed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger had eaten a sandwich, but Morris could
only sip protein shakes through a straw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even that left him nauseous some of the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Son?” the old man’s voice
quavered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Roger, is that you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m here, Dad,” Roger said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Of course you are,” Morris said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m sorry, my vision is going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I see you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Son, there’s something very important I have
to tell you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pain is building again,
but I need to say this before I get more drugs.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sure, Dad, what is it?” Roger said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Morris tried to pull himself upright
and groaned as the tumors in his abdomen pressed against his stomach.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sumbitch, that hurts!” he
groaned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Getting worse all the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s gonna eat me up soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was I saying?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You wanted to tell me something
important,” Roger said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gotta hold it together here,” Morris mumbled.
“OK, son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crystal ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She lost it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to
find it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t tell your Mom, whatever
you do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you must find crystal ball!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Crystal ball?” Roger repeated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d seen all of his parent’s knickknacks
over the years – they collected oddities from all over the world – but he’d
never seen a crystal ball in the collection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“She needs to have it back, or she’ll
destroy everything!” Morris rasped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Oh,
dear God, this hurts, son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can I have
morphine yet?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger looked at the clock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a half hour before the next dose was
due, but did it really matter at this point?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He took the syringe from the shelf where the nurse had put them and
injected it into the bag of saline solution, then hung the bag and attached the
tube to his dad’s IV. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here you go, Dad, this should give
you some relief,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thanks, son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember: find crystal ball!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And . . .” Morris sighed as the first of the
morphine hit his veins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Don’t . . .
tell your mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, that’s
better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I can sleep now.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You just rest, Dad,” Roger said,
kissing his father’s forehead. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He sat back down, his book forgotten
for the moment, pondering what his Dad had said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A crystal ball?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A woman who would “destroy everything” if it
wasn’t returned?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why couldn’t he
tell his mother?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would have dismissed
it as a morphine-fueled fantasy, but Dad’s eyes had been clear when he said it,
and he’d seemed very earnest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But why
couldn’t he tell his mother about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Was there a real danger to his family?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger thought about it for the next
two hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At nine, his sister Amy came
in to relieve him, and he pulled her aside for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amy was six years older than him, and might
remember things he didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Did Mom and Dad ever have a crystal
ball?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No,” she replied. “They had one of
those ‘Magic 8 Ball’ things when I was little, but Jerry broke it open to see
how it worked, and they threw it out. Why do you ask?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Dad got all worked up earlier about a
crystal ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said if I didn’t find
it that ‘she would destroy everything,’ whatever that means,” Roger explained.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Who did he mean by ‘she’?” his sister
wondered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He wasn’t talking about Mom,
surely!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No, in fact, he made me promise not
to tell Mom anything about it!” Roger explained.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You might try Aunt Carol,” Amy
suggested. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s a good idea!” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She’s a night owl, so maybe I can catch
her.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Carol was Morris’ older sister, and
lived a couple of hours away, in Cleveland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A spry seventy-five-year-old, she loved to read till midnight and get up
around ten the next morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger
walked across the street to his house and dialed her as soon as he got home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She picked up on the second ring, and her
voice betrayed her anxiety as she answered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Roger, sweetie, is Morris. . . ?” she
began.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He’s resting comfortably,” Roger
reassured her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The doctors say he has a
few weeks left, give or take.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s cold comfort when your baby
brother is dying,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I know
they mean well, it’s just so – so cold of them to put it that way!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, what do you need, sweetie? You didn’t
call to listen to an old woman ramble about the shortcomings of for-profit
medicine!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger chuckled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His aunt was an unrepentant 1960’s flower
child liberal; his Dad a MAGA Trump supporter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Roger himself hated all politicians equally, not least for making his
family’s holiday gatherings so combative. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No, I didn’t, Carol,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I called because of something Dad told me
tonight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you remember Dad ever owning
a crystal ball?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A crystal ball?” she asked. “Let’s
see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a boy, he collected toy cars,
fossils from the creek, arrowheads from the fields across the way, and baseball
cards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His room was like a cut-rate junk
emporium!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I don’t remember him ever
having a crystal ball or anything that resembled one.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, he must have at some point,”
Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Because he asked me to find
it, and made it sound pretty urgent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
said ‘she’ll destroy everything if she doesn’t get it back!’ – and that’s a direct
quote.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Who she?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your mom she?” Carol asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not Mom,” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“In fact, Dad specifically said not to tell
her about this.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hmmm,” Carol mused. “Morris was
stationed in Okinawa back in his Navy days, and I know he continued to collect
all sorts of oddments while he was over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had this one Navy buddy that he shared an apartment with off base
back then. That fellow might know. What was his name – Thackery or Tackery or
something like that. . .”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Tadbury!” Roger exclaimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I think Dad got a Christmas card from him
last month.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes, Dennis Tadbury, that was it!”
Carol said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He might know about this
mysterious crystal ball!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ll find his address in the
morning,” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mom never throws
cards away!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The next day Roger went over to his mom
and dad’s house and waited till his mother was busy trying to get Morris to
eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He then went to the drawer where
she kept the family Christmas cards, all bundled by year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most recent set hadn’t been bundled yet,
and flipping through them, he quickly located one from Dennis Tadbury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He snapped a picture of the return address on
his phone, then went back over to his house after making sure his mom didn’t
need any help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once there, he looked up
Dennis Tadbury on the internet and found that the Navy veteran lived in
Buffalo, NY, but didn’t have a listed phone number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger thought about it for a bit, and then
remembered the urgency in his Dad’s voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He called the local airport and booked a commuter flight to Buffalo,
which would leave later that afternoon. He called Amy and Jerry to ask them to
cover his shift with Morris that night, and drove to the airport.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger wasn’t wealthy, but he had won a
half million dollars in the lottery a couple years before and used it to clear
all of his debts. He’d banked the remaining money and let it earn interest,
while continuing to work his job as a travel agent. Since he was divorced, with
no children, he had more disposable income than any of his siblings. That, he
thought as he drove to the airport, was probably why his Dad had asked him to
find the crystal ball.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He had a rental car waiting for him in
Buffalo and drove to the address on the card after grabbing a quick meal at the
IHOP near the airfield. The house was neatly kept and the yard mowed, and the
name “Tadbury D, USN” was printed neatly on the mailbox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He rang the bell, and after a short delay,
Tadbury answered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He was a spry,
white-haired man of seventy years or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He wore a grey cardigan and a bright green bow tie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Morris thought he resembled an extra from a
Hallmark Christmas movie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Can I help you, young man?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m Roger Hendrick, son of Morris
Hendrick,” Roger began.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Of course!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You look just like Morris did when I knew
him!” Tadbury exclaimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You Mom told
me Morris has cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hasn’t passed
on, has he?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No,” Roger said, “but the doctors
have told us it’s just a matter of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He’s eaten up with it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Damn!” Tadbury said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s terrible news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what brings you out here, young sir?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I appreciate the update, but there has to be
more to it than that!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, sir, you know how my Dad always
collected all sorts of eclectic junk,” Roger said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh yes,” replied Tadbury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Our little apartment on the Ginza was overflowing
with all the stuff he bought or found in Okinawa!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shells, Japanese carvings and porcelain, bits
of uniforms and weapons from the war, you name it!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Did Dad ever have a crystal ball?”
Roger asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The old man thought for a long time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not that I know of,” he finally
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He had a lot of weird things, but
I don’t recall ever seeing anything like a crystal ball, or even hearing him
talk about it!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger slumped with disappointment. The
old man patted him on the shoulder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Come on in and have a cup of coffee,”
he said, “and we’ll try to figure it out.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger sat down in a comfortable
recliner and explained his father’s cryptic request as he sipped the rich dark
brew that Tadbury poured him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You know, your Dad did have an
interest in occult items for a while, after he got out of the service,” Tadbury
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He wrote me about it all the time
while he was in college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a fellow
he roomed with at MIT that shared his passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What was that guy’s name?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ledbetter – no, that’s not it, but close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a second.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tadbury got up and went over to his
desk. After a bit of digging, he produced an ancient manila envelope filled
with old letters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He dumped them out on
the table and began flipping through them and skimming, humming a Rolling
Stones song as he did.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here it is!” he said. “Leddenfelter!
Such a weird name, I remembered it forty years later!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, sort of remembered, anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arthur Leddenfelter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and your Dad got in some trouble over a
collection of shrunken heads they were caught with, back around 1980 or so.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think Mom mentioned that once,”
Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She made him get rid of a
bunch of that stuff.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, if your Dad ever had a crystal
ball, my guess is that Arthur Leddenfelter would know about it,” Tadbury said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do you have any idea where
Leddenfelter lives these days?” Roger asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No, but that can’t be too common of a
name,” the old Navy man replied. “You should be able to track him down on that
Facey-gram thing that everyone raves about.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not a fan of the digital age, I take
it?” Roger asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not in the least!” the old man
replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“All it seems to have done is
given all the stupid people in the world a place to band together and reinforce
their idiocy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And everyone knows there
is nothing more dangerous than stupid people in large numbers!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thank you, Mister Tadbury,” Roger
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You were a huge help.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Glad to do so, for your Dad’s sake,” Tadbury
replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Give him my best wishes, and I
do hope you’re able to give him some peace about this.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I will,” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He still has his lucid moments.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And when the time comes, please let
me know,” Tadbury said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’d like to
come and pay my respects.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I will,” Roger promised, and headed
out to his car. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When he got back to the hotel, he
plugged up his laptop and did a search for the name Leddenfelter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tadbury was right – it wasn’t a common
name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were only fifty
Leddenfelters in the entire United States. Only two of them were named
Arthur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of those was a
sixteen-year-old TikTok star, so that ruled him out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other one lived in Spokane, Washington,
and was seventy-two – only three years younger than Morris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger saw with some relief that his number
was actually listed, and after calculating the time difference, he dialed it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This is Arthur Leddenfelter,” a
quavering voice said on the other end of the line. “May I help you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I certainly hope so,” Roger said. “Were
you a college roommate of Morris Hendrick?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I certainly was!” Leddenfelter said,
with considerably more energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He and I
were quite the young terrors back in our day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We haven’t spoken in several years – I’m afraid his politics came
between us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How is he?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not well, I’m afraid,” Roger
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He has terminal cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I am his son, and he’s asked me to track
down something of his.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think his
mind will be at rest till I find it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, he left a lot of his occult
stuff with me when that gal of his made him get rid of it,” Leddenfelter
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So there’s a chance I can help
you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do you remember a crystal ball?”
Roger asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There was a long silence on the other
end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a moment, Roger thought that
perhaps his phone had dropped the call, but then Leddenfelter gave a sigh.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m sorry, young man,” he said, “but
I was in a car wreck ten years ago that damaged some of my long-term memory and
left me with mobility issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t
recall a crystal ball, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Problem is, those boxes of your dad’s are up
in my attic, and I can’t do stairs anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You are welcome to come out and search for it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger swallowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spokane was on the other side of the country,
and he had already missed one night with his Dad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knew how many nights the old man had
left?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, as he recalled the anxiety
in his Dad’s voice, he decided that he had to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He called Jerry and Amy and told them what
was going on, asked them not to tell his Mom, and then booked his flight.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The next morning he flew across the
country, arriving in Spokane late in the afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He took his rental – a grey Toyota – to the address
Leddenfelter had provided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The house was
a large but decrepit bungalow-style dwelling with a circle drive up front.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger parked his car, mounted the steps, and
knocked on the door. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Come in, Mister Hendrick,” the voice
he had heard earlier sounded through an intercom. “The door is open.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He entered the front hall and found a
wizened old man in a wheelchair waiting to greet him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leddenfelter smiled and offered his hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You look a great deal like your
father,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I know you probably
don’t want to be away from him for long, so there’s no need to stand here and
make small talk. Upstairs you’ll see a pull cord that brings down the ladder to
the attic. There’s a light switch to your left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Your Dad’s boxes, as I recall, are all at the far end, on the right
side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take as much time as you need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hate to think that my dying friend is troubled
because of something that I’ve held onto for thirty years!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I can’t say how much I appreciate
this,” Roger told him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Think nothing of it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now go start digging,” Leddenfelter said with
a cackle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger needed no further
encouragement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He mounted the steps and
found the pull cord, then climbed the ladder into the attic and switched on the
lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the far end, he found a pile
of eight boxes with his dad’s name neatly printed on their lids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One by one, he dug them out and went through
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of what he found was amusing,
some disturbing, and some just plain bizarre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But even after emptying all eight boxes and going through everything in
them, there was no sign of a crystal ball or anything resembling one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After diligently digging for two solid hours,
he gave a sigh and packed everything back up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He stacked the boxes the way they had been and came back downstairs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He found Leddenfelter seated at the
kitchen table, eating a bowl of soup and sipping a cup of coffee which appeared
to have been fortified from the open bottle of Jim Beam next to it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No luck?” the old man asked him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not a crystal ball, a baseball, or a
football!” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I really thought
this would be where I would find it, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is there any other place where some of my father’s stuff might be
stored?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Leddenfelter thought for a long
moment, and then brightened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There’s an old junk store down the
road,” he said. “I remember now, right before the accident, I was clearing out
some things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a couple of
boxes your dad had sent me later on, stuff he said wasn’t as important to him
but he thought I might like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had so
much clutter already, I called him a few months later and asked if I could take
those boxes to the junk store, since I was getting rid of some of my stuff,
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said it would be no problem, he
was better off being rid of those things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I took six boxes down there, but I’d printed his name on those two,
just like on the ones upstairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
that’s where they wound up.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Blast!” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Who knows where they are now!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Probably still there,” Leddenfelter
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Old Oscar that runs the place is
as crippled up as I am, and he had a ton of inventory he’d never unpacked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d bet those boxes are still there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thing is, he only opens three days a week
nowadays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might could catch him in
the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oscar Forrester is his
name, and the store is called ‘Forrester’s Junk Emporium.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this mysterious ball isn’t there, I don’t
know where it is!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger sighed and thanked the old man,
and then drove back to the Best Western where he’d booked a room for the night.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bed was hard and lumpy, and the room
smelled of stale Cheetos and beer. But Roger dropped off to sleep almost right
away when he turned the light off. In his dreams, he chased a glowing crystal
ball down the steep slope of a mountain, but it always rolled just out of his
reach, no matter how hard he ran after it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The next morning he called Forrester’s
Emporium, and the recording informed him the place would open at ten o’clock. Roger
packed his bag, checked out of his room, and put his suitcase in the car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he ate a small, wrinkled apple and a
fresh -cooked waffle that constituted the hotel’s “Continental Breakfast,” and
read his book until ten.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The location was about ten miles down
the road, and Roger got there just in time to see an old man on a walker unlocking
the front door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He got out of his car
and followed Mr. Forrester – he assumed this was the proprietor – into the
store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once there, he explained his
errand and asked for permission to search for his dad’s boxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forrester was reluctant at first, but a
twenty dollar bill improved his disposition, and he unlocked a back room where
he said all of his “recent inventory” was stored.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I keep thinking I’ll unpack all those
boxes when I sell of some of this junk,” he explained, “but business is slow,
and people keep bringing me more things, so I never got to those boxes old
Leddenfelter brought me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re still
where I put them ten years ago.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger groaned when he entered the storage room
– it was piled to the ceiling with boxes of junk!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took him an hour of searching and moving
stacks to find the two boxes with “M. Kendrick” written on the outside in black
marker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pulled them out and emptied
them, going through the contents and finding nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as he sighed in defeat, he noticed a
small pile of junk behind where the shelf where the two boxes had been. One of
the box lids had been open – could it be that those things had fallen out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used a broom to pull the pile towards him
and saw to his delight a dark sphere in the miscellaneous junk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He reached under the shelf and grabbed it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was covered with dust and grime, but there
was no doubt about what it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
carried it in triumph out to the shop and asked for a rag to clean it with.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was a hideous thing, about six
inches tall including its pedestal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
crystal was a muddy amber color, and embedded in its center was a disturbingly
realistic glass eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looked like a
cheap horror movie prop, but Roger was glad to have it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’ll be fifty bucks!” the old man
said when he saw what Roger had.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Fifty buck for this piece of junk?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I already paid you twenty just to look for
it!” Roger said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And it’s exactly what you came for,
so fifty more bucks is a small price to pay for your dad’s peace of mind, now
innit?” the old man cackled.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Forty and not a penny more!” Roger
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Fine!” the old man snapped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now get out of here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re so filthy you’re going to scare away
my customers!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger stared around the empty store
and chuckled – you had to admire the old man’s optimism!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he looked at the tawdry globe he held in
his hand and breathed a sigh of relief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now his dad could pass away knowing the crystal ball had been located!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, he still had to find out who ‘she’
was, but hopefully his Dad could tell him in a lucid moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He slapped two twenties down on the counter,
and then after a moment’s reflection, he dropped another ten down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You really were helpful,” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So I guess I’ll be OK with
fifty.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He changed clothes in the airport
bathroom, ate a huge lunch in one of the terminal restaurants, and by sunset he
had boarded his flight back east.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
about nine the next morning when he claimed his baggage and picked up his own
vehicle from the lot where he’d left it three days before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A snowstorm had come in, and after he got
home, he took a long hot shower, and then bundled up in a thick coat before
walking over to his folks’ house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
crystal ball was a dense, heavy weight in his pocket. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His mother was standing by Morris’ bed
when he got there, and his dad was sleeping quietly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Roger!” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s so good to see you back!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was this mysterious business that called
you away?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Something Dad asked me to find,” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But he didn’t want me to tell you
about it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Katie Kendrick rolled her eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Son, he’s only had one or two waking
moments since you left,” she said. “Honestly, he’s slipping away fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You had better tell me; I don’t know if he
will wake up again before the end.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“OK, Mom, I guess I will,” Roger said
after thinking for a minute. He pulled the globe from his pocket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Dad sent me to find this, and I’m supposed
to return it to someone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thing is, I
don’t know who. He just said I had to get it back to her, or she would ‘destroy
everything,’ in his words.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger’s mother stared at him for a
long moment, her mouth frozen in a perfect ‘O’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Tell me exactly what your father
said,” she demanded. “Word for word, please.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger closed his eyes a moment, trying
to remember his dad’s demand verbatim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He told me ‘Crystal ball – you must
find it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s lost it again, and she’ll
destroy everything if she doesn’t get it back. Don’t tell your Mom!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s as near as I can remember it,” he
explained.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Katie’s reaction stunned her son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She threw back her head and laughed, a hard,
long belly laugh such as she hadn’t had since before Morris got ill.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Please tell me you didn’t have to
travel too far to find that monstrosity,” she said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It was in Spokane, Washington,” Roger
said, feeling suddenly stupid.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His mother laughed even harder at
this, so hard she had to reach for a chair and sit down, holding her sides as
she shook with mirth.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What the hell is so funny?!” Roger
finally demanded in frustration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Katie took a few deep breaths and
dashed some tears of mirth from her eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Crystal’s ball,” she finally
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s what he told you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not ‘a crystal ball!’ Crystal was our cat,
back when we were newlyweds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had a
hollow metal ball with jingle bells on the inside that was her favorite toy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would bat it around and chase it all over
our little apartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But every now and
then, she would hit it to some place where she couldn’t reach – down the grate
or under the fridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she would go
absolutely nuts!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She would shred
curtains, pee on our bed, knock every dish off the shelf, and generally trash
the place until we got her toy back. Oh, Roger, son, oh my!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With that she collapsed into another
fit of laughter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then what is this thing?” he asked in
frustration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I have no idea,” his mother
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve never seen it before in my
life!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Roger?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>came a weak voice from the bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Morris Kendrick was awake again, his eyes
clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Did you find Crystal’s ball?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That cat will destroy everything if we don’t
get her ball back to her, and your mother will kill me!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Roger turned to face his dad, still
holding the crystal globe in his hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The old man’s eyes widened slightly
when he saw it, and then his brow furrowed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Son,” he said, “What on earth is that
hideous thing?’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But Roger could not answer over the
sound of his mother’s laughter. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-49820140161229301402023-12-18T10:12:00.000-08:002023-12-18T10:12:52.584-08:00A New Short Story for Christmas - THE UNIVERSAL REMOTE<p> I saw a FB meme the other day in which a man expressed his disappointment that the Universal Remote he had purchased did not, in fact, control the universe. I got a chuckle out of it, but then I thought - wait a minute! What if it DID???</p><p> This was the result of that thought. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> THE UNIVERSAL REMOTE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> A Short Story</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black", sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> By</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Lewis B. Smith</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I want a Christmas present for my
Daddy,” six-year-old Samantha said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But
all I have is ten dollars!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I see,” said the shopkeeper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was tall and skinny and had a grey beard,
with white hair that stuck up in funny tufts on either side of his head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And what would you like to get for your
father?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Something nice!” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Something to make him happy, because he
works all the time and is always tired.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A noble sentiment,” the old man
commented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And what about you, young
man?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>David rolled his eyes, not too happy about
having to take his little sister shopping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This is her gift,” he replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I already bought Dad something from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m just the chauffer and chaperon on this
expedition!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A kind thing to do for one too young
to drive herself,” the shopkeeper said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He reached across the counter and extended a long white hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I am Mister Cain, proprietor of this
establishment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who might you be?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“David Simmons, sir,” Dave replied.
“I’m a junior at Hamilton High.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Eleventh grade, is it not?” Mr. Cain
asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A challenging year, but an
enjoyable one, or so I have heard.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That sums it up,” David replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m taking all honors and dual credit
courses, and I have a lot of homework!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it’s nice to have a car, and playing on the varsity team is way
better than JV.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cain lowered his glasses and looked
out the window at the 2015 Toyota the siblings had emerged from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was clean and well-kept but had seen
better days.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“An old car for a young man,” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It was what we could afford,” David
replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Dad helped me pick it out, and
I work part time on weekends to help with the payments.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Tell me about this father of yours,”
he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Both of you, if you don’t
mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That will help me pick out an
appropriate gift for him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He’s the bestest daddy ever,”
Samantha said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He reads me stories and
carries me piggy-back and got me a puppy for my birthday!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He does sound like a fine father
figure,” Mr. Cain said with a wry smile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“What can you add to that, young man?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Dad’s pretty cool,” David said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I mean, he’s kind of a geek, but he’s a good
geek, you know?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knows all sorts of
stuff about history and science and animals and loves to tell funny stories and
lame jokes.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Does he like to drink?” Mr. Cain
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I have some fairly nice wines I
could let go of for a reasonable price.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh no,” David said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He hates alcohol!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doesn’t like the taste or the effect, is how
he puts it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He looked down at his
little sister and leaned forward, lowering his voice to a whisper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Our granddad was a mean drunk when Dad was
little,” he explained. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That will sour any man on the joys of
the vine,” Cain said soberly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Does your
father have any other vices, or is he a straight arrow all the way around?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If he were any more square, he’d be a
Rubik’s Cube,” David said with a laugh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“But, honestly, I like him that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He’s good to my Mom, even when she’s a pain, and he’s patient with me
when I get a case of the stupids.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And he taught me how to ride a bike!”
Samantha piped up. “He’s super smart and knows how to fix computers and stuff!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He sounds like a most admirable man,”
Cain commented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What is his
profession?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, he used to be a science teacher
at our high school,” Dave replied. “But he got really angry about standardized
tests ‘dumbing down the curriculum,’ as he put it, and quit when I was in fifth
grade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now he works as a manager at a
computer store and does some freelance PC repair on weekends.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mommy works at the mall in the
jewelry store,” Samantha added.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But
they keep slicing her minutes!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Cutting her hours, silly,” said
David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She isn’t making as much as she
did last year, and it’s been hard.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“But this is for Daddy!” Samantha
said, waving her ten-dollar bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now I
want you to find him something NICE!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mister Cain threw back his head and
laughed at this, his thin body shaking with hilarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His teeth were crooked and a bit yellow, but
there was nothing mocking in his laughter. In fact, David found himself
laughing, too, without knowing exactly why. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, it sounds as if this paragon of
manhood certainly deserves a nice gift, young lady,” he finally said, drawing a
worn handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Let me rummage a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I have just the thing.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He turned and disappeared into the
recesses of the shop, and they heard boxes being shifted around in the back
room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David studied the place while they
waited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building had been empty ever
since he could remember, but the windows had been obscured with shoe polish
several weeks ago, and last weekend a large sign had appeared over the battered
wooden door that read ‘CAIN’S JUNK EMPORIUM – WE’VE GOT JUST WHAT YOU NEED!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few days later the windows had been freshly
washed, and a new OPEN sign was hung out on the front door. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David had been curious about the place, but
this was the first chance he'd had to browse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There was a huge bin full of ancient
VHS tapes on one side of the counter, of all genres and ratings – a battered
copy of THE LAND BEFORE TIME rested on top of a luridly illustrated case
containing a movie called THE MICROWAVE MASSACRE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were DVDs, too, as well as several
shelves of books – some new, some old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
frame of Indian arrowheads hung on the wall between a black velvet painting of
Elvis and a print of some trippy Renaissance artist whose name David couldn’t
remember. There was all sorts of glassware too, from old medicine bottles to
decorative angels, as well as sleeves of collectible coins, baseball cards, and
furniture that looked like something George Washington might have thrown out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here we are!” said Mr. Cain suddenly,
and David jumped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had been so focused
on the contents of the shop he hadn’t heard the old man walk back up to the
counter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What is it?” asked Samantha.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s a Universal Remote,” the
shopkeeper said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was holding a
rectangular black box about eight inches long, and as he held it out, David
could see the label on the side with the slogan underneath – ‘Makes Everything
Work the Way You Want!’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What does it do?” asked Samantha,
staring at it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It will control everything in the
house,” said Mr. Cain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Your Dad can use
it on the TV, his computer, the air conditioning and central heat, you name
it!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How does it work?” she asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Dear me, I don’t know,” the old man
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m not what you call
tech-savvy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the one I have at home
works wonderfully!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Can I see it?” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He opened the box and slid out an
electronic device that was covered in buttons, dials, and knobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was enclosed in a clear plastic bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a small booklet rolled up inside
the box as well, that slid halfway out. David could make out the word ‘Manual”
at the bottom. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“One thing I do know, though, is that
your Dad must be the first one to take it out of the plastic and touch it,”
said Mr. Cain. “Otherwise, it won’t work at all.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How is that possible?” David asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think it reads fingerprints,
maybe?” Cain replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“All I know is
that it will only respond to the first person to touch it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I want it!!” Samantha exclaimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How much does it cost?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“For you, my dear child, I can offer a
discount,” Mr. Cain replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A loving
gift from a sincere young heart will cost you $9.99.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“But all I have is ten dollars!” she
wailed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>David laughed out loud, and then took
her ten and handed it to Cain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nine dollars and ninety-nine cents is
one penny less than ten dollars,” he told her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“But is there any tax?” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Already built into the price,” Cain
explained. “Young lady, here is your father’s gift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me donate a proper Christmas box to put
it in!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He ducked below the counter and came
up with a festive red box that sported a large bow on top. He took the lid off,
placed the black box holding the remote inside, and then handed the box to Sam.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I hope your father enjoys all the
benefits of his new, universal remote, as well as the blessing of a little girl
who loves him so much,” he said, smiling benevolently.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thank you, Mister Cain!” Sam said
excitedly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thank you, sir,” echoed David – but
after his little sister turned to the front door, he whispered: “That better
not be a piece of useless junk you just sold her!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I assure you, my dear lad, that it
most certainly is not useless!” Cain said with a wink. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>David wasn’t sure what to make of
that, but he drove Sam home and helped her write a label for her gift – she
knew how to write her name but often got her letters reversed – and then they
placed it under the tree with the other presents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About that time his cell phone rang and
seeing that the call was from his girlfriend Denise, Dave ran up the stairs and
almost forgot about his sister’s gift until Christmas morning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was a pleasant Christmas – the
family didn’t have as much to spend on each other as they had in previous
years, but everyone made an effort to be as cheerful as possible. As Dad read
the Christmas story out of the Gospel of Luke, Dave thought that money wasn’t
really the key to happiness many people thought it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was glad that his parents were still
together and obviously in love, and while Sam could be annoying, like all
little sisters, he had to admit she really wasn’t the spoiled brat he pretended
she was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, David Simmons loved
his family, and they loved each other. In light of that, who cared if the
presents were cheap this year?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I wonder what this could be?” Doug
Simmons said as he lifted the gift box containing Samantha’s present. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I got it for you, Daddy!” she
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mister Cain said it was a very
nice gift for an executed father figure!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think he said ‘exemplary,’ Sam!”
David explained, but Dad was already doubled over with laughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went red in the face, and Mom, who took
their reduced financial status harder than he did, got caught up his mirth as
well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Finally, Doug caught his breath and
looked at his daughter with joy in his eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sam had not been an expected baby, but she was a treasured one from the
day she was born. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And who is this Mister Cain?” he
asked her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He’s the funny man at the junk shop,”
she said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That new emporium that opened
downtown,” explained David.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I see!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, now I am very curious to see what he
thought would be a nice gift for me,” Dad said, and untied the ribbon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He took the lid off the box and saw the
smaller box within.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A black cardboard box!” he exclaimed.
“Thank you, Samantha!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was just
thinking I needed one of those.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s in the box, silly Daddy!” she
said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He turned the black box over and saw
the label.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah, a universal remote!” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I don’t recognize this brand,
though. It doesn’t look like anything we sell at the store.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He pulled it out of the box and
studied the buttons and toggles on it through the plastic wrapping.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Odd - I don’t even recognize some of
these,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I mean, PLAY, PAUSE,
FAST FORWARD, REWIND, those are pretty standard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there’s a button here that says LESS and
another that says MORE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s MUTE, and
another that just toggles from a smile emoji to a frown.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Mister Cain said that you have to
take it out of the plastic yourself and hold it in your hand for a couple of
minutes to activate it,” David said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He
said that after that it will only respond to the person who activated it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That sounds high-tech! Did he say
what all it works on?” Dad asked him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He said it will let you control
everything in the house,” David replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, I’ll play with it later,” Dad
told him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now, you open your gift!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>David got a signed copy of Stephen
King’s newest book – Doug had stood in line for three hours at the Barnes and
Noble in Chattanooga to get it autographed – and Sam got a large dollhouse
which David and Doug spent the next two hours assembling in her bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom was not forgotten – she opened a small
package to find a diamond tennis bracelet which was worth more than everything
else under the tree combined. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Doug, we agreed to spend less than a
hundred each on ourselves!” she exclaimed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I did,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I spotted it at an estate sale last fall,
mixed in with some costume pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You’ve taught me enough about jewelry that I realized it was a good
piece right away.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A costly mistake on their part,” his
wife said, admiring the bracelet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I tried to tell them that it was
worth way more than they were charging for it,” Doug said, “but the lady
thanked me and said I could have it for the marked price, for being honest with
her.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“My paladin,” Vicky Simmons said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I may have an extra present for you later!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do I get to unwrap it?” Doug asked,
arching an eyebrow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“DAD!!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to have an appetite for Christmas
dinner!” David groaned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why shouldn’t Daddy unwrap a
present?” Samantha asked, and her older brother decamped to his room,
red-faced. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later that afternoon, Doug sat in the
recliner while Vicky bustled about in the kitchen, washing the dishes from
their family dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing the black
box under the tree, he opened it up and looked at the plastic-wrapped remote.
Sam was up in her room, entranced with her new dollhouse, and David had his
nose buried in the new King novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
figured this was a good time to try and figure out his new device. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He used a pair of scissors to cut away the
clear plastic and dropped it into his right hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug dealt with electronics every day,
but he’d never felt any kind of controller like this one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its exterior was soft but firm, and it seemed
to mold to the contours of his hand immediately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was warm to the touch, feeling almost
alive. As soon as he gripped it, the black remote vibrated gently two or three
times, and a red light began blinking at the top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Underneath, in tiny letters, it read
INITIALIZING: DO NOT PUT DOWN.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The red
light continued to blink for a few minutes, and then went out and a green light
next to it came on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The letters under it
read: ACTIVATED. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The television in the den was on, even
though no one was watching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug pressed
the red button labeled OFF; the TV immediately went dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was fast, he thought to himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remembering the manual in the book, he pulled
it out of the box and began to skim through it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>“Welcome to the new Universal
Remote!”</i> the first page said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>“We
put the world at your fingertips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
remember, a remote this powerful can only have one master.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you have activated it, the remote will
respond to your touch only for as long as you have it.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Fingerprint
technology? he wondered to himself, and then read on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i>The True Universal Remote will not
only control every electronic device in your home, but it will also remotely
start your car, lock your house for you, and even move objects around at your request.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Study the buttons very carefully; use them
sparingly at first until you’ve had a chance to learn their effects. The True
Universal responds differently to each person, so the effects described in the
book may not be the same as the ones you experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just remember, for good or ill, this
magnificent device is now YOURS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use it
wisely.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What an odd
introduction, Doug thought, and turned the page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next page was blank, as were all the
others after it. He shook his head in wonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Was the manual misprinted?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
studied the remote and saw a green button labeled ON.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pointed it at the television, which
immediately came back on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He glanced at
the book and saw that an entry had appeared where only white paper had been a
moment before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It read: “<i>The ON
button instantly activates whatever electronic device you aim it at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scroll button next to it will allow you
to browse channels, adjust thermostat settings, set oven temperatures, and browse
your internet bookmarks.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Doug blinked
several times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could have sworn that
page was blank, but the letters were clear as day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must have skipped a page, or something.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Doug!” Vicky called from the
kitchen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Get in here, please!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The TV was blaring loudly enough that
he had a hard time making out her words, so he looked at the remote and found
the MUTE button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He punched it and the
sound disappeared.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What do you need, dear?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How many times do I have to tell you
what shelf the drinking glasses go on?” she asked sharply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vicky Simmons was a bit of a neat freak and
couldn’t stand it when things were put away incorrectly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She came to the door of the kitchen and stood
there, her voice taking on that correcting gone that Doug couldn’t stand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Plates on the bottom shelf, saucers
and bowls on the next, drinking glasses above that!” she said. “It’s a simple,
workable system that you should be used to by now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why you can’t -”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Suddenly her voice cut off abruptly.
Her mouth was still moving ninety miles an hour, but no sound was coming
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug stared at her in wonder, then
looked down at his hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He realized
that he had involuntarily pressed the MUTE button when he turned to face her. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Are you pranking me?” he asked, and
her mouth continued to move soundlessly, even as her expression grew more
frustrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He glanced at the manual and
saw that a second entry had appeared beneath the first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to read it, but Vicky was growing
more frustrated by the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least,
she seemed to be, judging by her expression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Doug looked next to the MUTE button and saw another labeled PAUSE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the heck, he thought, and pushed it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Vicky froze in place, her mouth wide
open in mid-rant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug stood there in
shock for a moment, then looked down at the manual again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were three entries where he had seen
two before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sat down heavily and read
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i>The MUTE button will silence any
television, computer, car alarm, cell phone, or any other noisemaking device it
is aimed at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can also silence the
human voice for up to five minutes at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pressing the button a second time will immediately turn the sound (or
voice) back on.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The PAUSE feature will freeze your
favorite TV program, internet video, radio song, live news, for up to ten
minutes at a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can also pause
time itself when aimed at a person, animal, or moving vehicle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its range is limited, but in the bubble it
creates, all motion except that of the remote’s owner is frozen for up to five
minutes. Pressing the button a second time will resume the program or cause a
person to resume what they were doing when the button was pressed.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“This is
impossible!” Doug shook his head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No
device can do this!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But his wife was still frozen in
place, her mouth wide open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was
more than that – as he listened, Doug realized the entire house was dead silent
and still.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think I’m losing my mind,” he said
to himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he stood, faced his
wife, and hit the PAUSE button again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“ – you need to put your new toy down
for a minute and listen to me!” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I know you think I’m anal retentive, but stuff being put away wrong
bothers me a lot!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I know it does,” he said, “and I am
sorry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let me put them away correctly,
and then I’ll help you finish the kitchen.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He set the remote down hastily and
went to help in the kitchen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why were you looking at me so
strangely just then?” Vicky asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
know I was a bit wound up, but you looked really freaked out – almost scared!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I just kind of zoned out for a
minute,” he explained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That new remote
is more complex than I thought.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, let’s finish this and you can
go play with it some more,” she said, and they did. Once all the dishes were
washed and put away, and the leftovers safely encased in Tupperware and placed
in the fridge, Vicky went for her daily walk, and Doug sat down again with his
remote. As he picked it up, he saw a small stack of mail that he hadn’t gone
through yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He flipped through the
envelopes, discarding the junk mail and setting the bills aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All three credit card bills had arrived
within a day or two of each other, and he opened them and scowled at the
charges. Might as well take care of these, he said to himself, and moved to his
computer chair.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Opening his online bank account, he
saw that his balance in checking was $4,559.10 - about a thousand dollars less
than the combined total of his card statements. That was the case more often
than not these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t get paid
again till after the new year, and he needed to spare enough money for groceries
and utilities. He was trying to figure out how much he could afford to put on
each bill when he glanced over and saw the remote on the table next to his
recliner.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not possible!” he said to
himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the itch was there now,
lurking in his brain, urging him to try it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He got up and grabbed the remote and the manual, and then sat back down
in front of his computer screen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pointing
the remote at his bank statement, he put his finger on the button that said “More”
and clicked it once. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The screen blipped,
and suddenly the balance in his account jumped up to $45,5910!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug gasped and stared at the new
figure for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He refreshed the
screen, but it didn’t change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He logged out
of his bank account and logged back in, but the figure remained ten times higher
than what he knew he had in his account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hands shaking, he picked the remote up and clicked the button
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The screen flickered, and his
balance was $455,910.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again. $4,559,100.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again. $45,591,000.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug realized he was hyperventilating
at this point. He looked at the remote’s manual and saw a new entry:<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
MORE button will increase the volume or value of whatever you aim it at – you can
increase your wealth, the amount of groceries in your pantry, the value of your
vehicle, or anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The LESS
button will reduce the desired amount in equal increments that the MORE button
increases them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use these functions
wisely.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t need forty-five million
dollars,” he said to himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He clicked
the LESS button until the amount dropped back down to forty-five thousand. He
stared at the screen for a long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That much money would let him pay off every debt he had and leave him
with about ten thousand to tuck into the kids’ college funds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, how would he explain having that much
extra money so suddenly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug Simmons had
always prided himself on being an honest man, and this seemed too much like
cheating for his taste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also knew
that he and his family would be all right, despite the current hard times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sighed and clicked the LESS button one
more time, and then paid a thousand dollars on each of his credit card accounts
from the money that he and Vicky had earned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He figured if something unexpected happened, he could always use the
remote’s power to create enough wealth to deal with it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For the next half hour, he tested the
remote’s settings and interactivity with every device in the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was indeed a universal appliance, and a
very handy one, but its other properties defied any rational explanation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow, he thought, Samantha had given him a
real-life magical artifact for Christmas!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just for kicks, he pointed the MORE button at the Christmas tree and
clicked it. Suddenly the tree was a foot and a half taller, and the number of
ornaments on it doubled!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lights in
colors that Doug had never seen blinked in a gorgeous display.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Where did all that come from?” Vicky
asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She must have come in from the
back door after her walk, because Doug had not heard her enter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was staring at the tree in surprised
delight.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Momentarily panicked, Doug hit the
PAUSE button and Vicky froze in her tracks. He then pointed the remote back at
the tree and hit LESS, reverting it to its original state. Then he turned to
his wife, his finger on the button. But before he could hit PAUSE again, he
paused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Curiosity gnawed at him. Vicky
was standing in the kitchen doorway, still wearing her navy-blue hoodie, her
face flushed from her afternoon walk, and her eyes sparkling – still as
beautiful as ever, after twenty years of marriage. Doug hit the MORE button to
see what would happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a flash, Vicky was bundled up in a
parka and hood, with fur-lined boots and a heavy scarf.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She looked like an extra from a movie set in
the Yukon winter! He hit LESS and she instantly reverted to her sweatpants, hoodie,
and high-topped Nike jogging shoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug
hit LESS again, and then she was standing in front of him in nothing but her
underwear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He admired her figure, then chuckled
for a second and took his finger off the LESS button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with his bank account, this just seemed too
much like cheating!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, how would
he explain it to Vicky when the PAUSE effect wore off and she was standing there,
sky-clad, in the kitchen door?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hit
MORE again, and her attire returned to normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then he hit the PAUSE button a second time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“All of what, dear?” he said sweetly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The Christmas tree!” she said, but
then gave a little gasp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Wait, where
did it all go?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What do you mean?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I swear, for a second the tree looked
twice as big and beautiful,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
mean, I must have imagined it, but it was so real!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were lights that looked brighter than
any I’d ever seen, and the star was nearly touching the ceiling!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That sounds beautiful,” he said, “but
I rather like our tree as it is.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Me, too,” she said after a
moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But that surely was weird!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think I might need to lie down for a bit.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Want some company?” Doug asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That might be just the thing,” she
said, and he left the remote on his desk as he followed her upstairs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Early the next morning, Doug came down
and picked up the glossy black device again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was a button in the lower corner that he hadn’t tried yet. It
simply read FIX.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went out to the
garage, where his riding mower sat, the motor disassembled after it had broken
down earlier that fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t have
the money for a new engine, but the pistons on this one were damaged and Doug
had not been able to order replacement parts yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pointed the remote at it and clicked the FIX
button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instantly, the motor was
reassembled and re-installed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He walked
over and turned the key. The Cub Cadet started with a roar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time, he didn’t undo the magic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fixing the mower was necessary and felt
right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Then
he looked out at David’s car, pulled up by the curb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew that driving an eight-year-old
vehicle was not something any teenager wanted, and he’d felt bad they couldn’t
afford something nicer for his son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
pointed the remote at the car and hit MORE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The 2015 Corolla shimmered for a second, and then in its place was a
much nicer 2020 model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looked sharp,
he thought, but how would he explain it to David?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Hey
Dad,” his son said, “I see you got the mower running again!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yeah,
I woke up and felt like tinkering,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“How are you, son?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Slept like a log, although Stephen
King gave me zombie dreams,” David said. I may drive over to Denise’s house
later – she said her parents had a gift for me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m sure her parents’ gift is the
ONLY reason you want to go over there,” Doug quipped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hey, I’m just glad her folks like me,”
David said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But it won’t be for a
while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey, you want to toss the
football around before I go?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sure thing!” Doug replied. “Let me
set this thing down.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>David looked out at his car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You know, I’m so glad you and Mom got me
this newer one,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That 2015 you
nearly bought me really was an old junker!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug laughed silently – that was one
problem solved!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As he carried the remote back to his
chair, David looked at it curiously.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Does that thing even work?” he
asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I was afraid Sam was getting
ripped off when she bought it for you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It works insanely well,” his dad
said. “Better than anything we have at the store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now grab your football!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was a bright, clear day, and the
morning frost was melted off by the winter sun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They tossed the ball back and forth, getting further apart with each
pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David loved the sport, as did his
father, and he had been a star receiver in the season that had ended a month
before with his team making it to the second round of the division playoffs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug was a decent passer but didn’t run as
well or as fast as he once did, so he stayed in one spot as David ran back and
forth, catching the ball on the run.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They had been working out for about a
half hour when Doug threw a hard, fast pass, leading his son as David sprinted
parallel to the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the teenager
stumbled slightly, and the ball flew past his outstretched hands into the
street.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ve got it, Dad!” David cried and
ran after it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As he darted into the street, a U-Haul
truck going far faster than the posted thirty mile-per-hour speed limit came
roaring up the street. Doug opened his mouth to shout a warning, but it was too
late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David barely had a second to
realize the danger before the truck struck him full-on, throwing his body
forward and then rolling over him with both tires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too late, the driver slammed on the brakes
and tried to swerve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truck hit a
parked car, rebounded, and rolled over on its side. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug ran out to his son’s side, his
mind unable to process the horror. Half of David’s face had been torn off,
broken ribs projected from his mangled chest, and his right arm was shattered
and crushed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As his father helplessly
watched, David Simmons twitched spastically two or three times, spat out a
gobbet of blood, and died. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug stared in shock at the ruined
body of his son, barely registering the fact that his wife had come running out
of the house and was screaming David’s name over and over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was dimly aware of screams coming from the
overturned truck, where the driver’s arm had been pinned between the door and
the pavement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All he could see was the
ruin of his happy life lying before him, and the prospect of endless days and
nights of grief stretching forward into his old age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only he could take it back! If only there
was a way to stop his boy from running after the errant pass. . .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Suddenly, Doug pushed his screaming wife
aside and ran back into the house, grabbing the universal remote. Samantha was
on the stairs, a curious expression on her face, but he could not spare a second
for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ran through the yard and up
to the street, where Vicky had David’s broken body cradled in her arms, his
blood staining her favorite blouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hands shaking, Doug pointed the remote at the scene and hit REWIND.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Suddenly, Vicky got up and ran
backwards into the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could see
himself in the street, rising and backing away from Dave’s body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truck ran over his son in reverse,
passing over a crushed and bleeding form and retreating from a David that was
alive and unharmed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David sprinted
backwards into the yard, and the ball began to follow him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When his son was ten feet away from the
street, Doug hit PAUSE.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The football was in the air, just out
of Dave’s reach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug walked past his
own form, arm still extended from releasing the ball, and positioned himself
between his son and the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
U-Haul was still about forty feet away from the spot where David’s death was
waiting to happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug braced himself,
and then hit the PAUSE button again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The ball sailed past him, and David
cried “I’ve got it!” and turned towards the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug launched himself with all his strength
and will, wrapping his arms around his son’s waist, and bore him away from the
street to the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Dang, Dad, when did you get so fast?”
David said as he sat up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At that moment the truck ran over the
football, squashing it beneath the front tires with a loud pop that echoed down
the street like a rifle shot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Holy crap!” David said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I was about to chase that thing right into
the street!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You saved my life, Dad!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s how I got so fast, son,” Doug
said, embracing his boy, relishing the feel of those strong, unbroken arms returning
his hug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I saw that truck coming and
all I could think about was keeping you safe!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, you did that all right,” Dave
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I guess I need to change before I
head over to see Denise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Um . . . can we
not tell Mom about this?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“She won’t hear a word from me,” Doug
said.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A word about what?” Vicky said
from the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Your playing tackle ball
with your Dad when I have told him over and over again that he’s too old for
that nonsense?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re going to break Dad’s
leg out here one of these days, David!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It was my idea,” Doug said, rising
and heading into the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Are you off
to work?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh yes,” Vicky said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A thousand gift returns await the weary jeweler!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug kissed her then, a long, hard
kiss, and said: “Be careful out there, babe!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t want anything to happen to you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She laughed and kissed him back<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ll be fine, as long as I know that
my family is waiting for me to come home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Enjoy your day off, dear,” she told him, and climbed into her car.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug went upstairs to the privacy of
their bathroom, threw up the bagel he’d had for breakfast, and huddled on the
bed crying for the next hour.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Finally, he got up and retrieved the
Universal Remote from the floor where he’d dropped it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He changed clothes, washed his face, and drove
downtown until he spotted the brightly painted sign of Cain’s Junk
Emporium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pulled into the angled
parking, and then saw the CLOSED sign hanging on the door. He knocked anyway,
but there was no answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dejected, he
returned to his car and stared at the remote, turning it over in his hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t want this thing,” he said to
himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s too much power for any
one man to have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m glad I could save
my boy, but I hate this thing!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I will admit, that is a most unusual
response,” a calm voice with a faint British accent broke the silence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>David looked up in shock and found
that an old man in a tweed suit with unkempt grey hair was regarding him with a
calm gaze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He took a deep breath and
looked down again at the remote, then back at the stranger sitting in his
passenger seat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You must be Mister Cain,” he finally
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That is quite correct,” the man
replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And, as I said, your response
to the True Universal is quite unusual – extraordinary, in fact!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All previous owners have used the device for
selfish purposes, to enrich themselves or to manipulate others to do their
bidding. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You used it unselfishly from
the moment you discovered its abilities, and now do you truly wish to disown
it?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Absolutely yes!” Doug said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m just a man, not a god, and I don’t like
having the powers of one!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could
literally hear a voice whispering in my ear of all the awful things I could use
this for, and it was so tempting to listen to it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m afraid if I keep it, even with the best
of intentions, that voice will ruin me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This thing will turn me into the very kind of person I cannot stand if I
keep it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please, take it back!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cain regarded him with a combination
of amusement and disbelief.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A true paragon,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There are very few men like you in the
world, Douglas Simmons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your son and
daughter both told me of your moral rectitude, and I will admit I was
skeptical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what will you tell
Samantha when you no longer have the gift she got you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t know,” Doug said. “I’ll tell
her I dropped it and broke it or something!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I liked that little girl,” Cain
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“She has a sweet, innocent heart
and loves you dearly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, I will
save you the difficulty of having to lie to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will take the True Universal Remote back and
give you this in its place.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He handed Doug a smooth black device,
similar to the one Sam had bought for him but with fewer buttons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This will control all the electronics
in your house,” he explained, “but nothing else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No magical powers, no instant wealth, just
the ability turn on and operate your appliances.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thank you,” Doug said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Who are you, exactly?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh, just an old peddler, giving
people what they need – or what they think they need!” Cain said with a
chuckle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mainly I enjoy watching what
people do when they are given power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Power, after all, is the most potent and addictive drug there is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who can resist it are few and far
between.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What happens to those who don’t?”
Doug asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Usually, their own desires destroy them,”
Cain said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“People are, after all,
selfish beasts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You, my dear sir, are a
glorious exception to that rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, is
there anything else you would like to use the True Universal for before I take
it away forever? This is your last chance.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doug thought for a moment about the $1400
left in his checking account, and remembered watching those numbers jump up at
the push of a button.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he swallowed
hard and faced Cain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I never want to see that thing again!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cain clapped his hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Splendid!” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You, sir, have restored my rather small faith
in human nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I shall save the
True Universal for its next lucky owner then, and I wish you a long and happy
life.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He opened the door and got out of the
car, fumbling with a ring of keys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
before shutting the door, he leaned back in and looked at Doug.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I know that you and your family are
struggling financially,” he said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Let
me offer one last gift – nothing supernatural, no hidden strings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take this five-dollar bill and go buy
yourself a scratch-off lottery ticket at that store across the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any five-dollar ticket will do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you get home, you will find that you
have won a hundred thousand dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That should be enough to square your debts and set aside a nice amount
for your children’s education fund. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider it a parting gift from one who holds
you in the highest of regard.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He dropped the bill in Doug’s lap, and
then closed the car door and walked up to his shop door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cain let himself in, closed the door behind
him, and disappeared into the recesses of the shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doug stared at the five for a long time, then
got out of his car and walked over to the convenience store that Cain had
pointed out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What the heck,” he said to himself,
and then bought a ticket.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When he came out, the brightly painted
sign that marked Cain’s Junk Emporium was blank, and the shop was boarded up,
with nothing to indicate it had ever been there at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-5791782308754254952023-10-29T15:26:00.007-07:002023-10-29T15:26:57.600-07:00Just for Halloween - My Latest Short Story! A Little Sherlock Holmes/H.P. Lovecraft Mashup!<p> I normally try to write one or two horror stories every year for Halloween, but the story I started the first week of October came to me slowly. Then, when the muse finally started singing, it turned into a full operatic production! But I finally finished it yesterday morning, and here it is! Hope you enjoy:<br /><br /><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> UNNAMEABLE HORROR<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> (From the Memoirs of Dr. John H. Watson, MD)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> As Edited by Lewis Smith<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>During the long years of my friendship
with the late Sherlock Holmes, it was my privilege to watch the world’s first
consulting detective tackle many strange and sometimes horrific cases, solving
heinous crimes that had baffled Scotland Yard and bedeviled the lives of his
clients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout those years, I
observed on several occasions his skepticism, bordering on hostility, towards the
idea that supernatural forces might be at work in a criminal case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On several occasions – as noted in the adventures
I titled “The Sussex Vampire” and “The Hound of the Baskervilles” – crimes
attributed to various demons, boogums, and things that go bump in the night
were found to be the product of sheer human malevolence masquerading as dark
forces. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There’s more than enough human
devilry in the world, Watson,” he observed on one occasion, “to leave the Lord
of Darkness, if he exists, with very little to do!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is not to say that Holmes was an
atheist – something I have often been asked about – for he did believe that
nature abounded in evidences of a Grand Designer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But on the whole, he was skeptical of the
claims of all religious extremists, while enjoying conversation with believers
who took a more intellectual approach to their faith. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Curiosity about my friend has grown
exponentially since he passed away ten years ago, and last week a young
journalist, interviewing me on that sad anniversary, asked me if I could recall
any case in which Holmes concluded that there was indeed a supernatural entity
involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hesitated before answering
in the negative, for Holmes insisted that the events I am about to chronicle
were best left unknown to the public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For there were elements in this case which defied natural explanation,
and the final horror Holmes’ investigation revealed left him deeply shaken. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Upon refection, if there is one thing
the twentieth century has shown us in thirty-five years, it is that man’s
capacity for evil transcends anything the unseen world can offer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A generation that survived the horrors of the
Great War and now seems hell-bent on repeating them – at least if a certain
German demagogue has his way – is now, I think, prepared to hear about my
friend’s single encounter with a terror so unspeakably vile that a gentler,
more innocent generation would have been unable to bear knowing of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore I have decided to set pen to paper
(yes, I still prefer ink and foolscap to those noisy mechanical typing
contraptions!) and finally record this unusual case while I remain in the land
of the living, for I am eighty-two and I know that my time among mortals is
drawing to a close. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was in the spring of 1891, and the
skies had opened up for three days in a row, washing London’s streets and
gutters clean of the filth and debris that normally cluttered then and
assaulted the nostrils of pedestrians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This April morning was decidedly cool, and Holmes was reading through
the <i>Times</i>, puffing on his pipe, and surrounded by a cloud of tobacco
smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fire was crackling in our
hearth, and I was enjoying a novel by Walter Scott.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The remnants of the excellent breakfast Mrs.
Hudson had prepared for us were still on the table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had moved back in with Holmes after the
tragic death of my wife Mary, but my medical practice had not yet picked up after
my long, grief-filled sabbatical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was debating
whether or not to have one last scone dipped in marmalade before our landlady
came in to take the plates away, when Holmes snorted in disgust and tossed the
paper aside.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The appalling lack of talent and
intelligence among the city’s criminal element seems to have no bottom,
Watson!” he snapped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Cat burglars,
jewelry snatchers, crimes of passion that leave a trail of evidence so wide and
garish that even Lestrade and Gregson have no trouble apprehending their
authors!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are times I almost miss
Professor Moriarty and his minions.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I do believe that Lestrade has encountered
a case which is beyond his talents this morning, Holmes,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What makes you say that?” my friend
asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Because he is about to knock on our
door!” I replied, and sure enough, I had hardly finished the sentence before
the door shook with the force of the Scotland Yard inspector’s fist drumming on
it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Holmes had astonished me so many times
with his deductions that I relished the momentary look of surprise on his
face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth was, I had seen Lestrade
dismounting from his cab as I stood to walk to the table, but Holmes’ outburst
against the criminal classes had prevented me from telling him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well done, Watson!” he said, glancing
at the window as he rose. He strode to the door and opened it wide, admitting
the portly form of the Scotland Yard detective. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Come
in, Lestrade!” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s a beastly
day out, and I believe there is still a bit of tea in the pot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There may even be a scone or two, if Watson
hasn’t nipped the last of them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lestrade
removed his hat, and I was taken aback by his countenance. The Scotland Yard
inspector was normally a rather arrogant man, condescending in his attitude
towards Holmes until he needed something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On this damp morning he was pale, harried, with dark shadows under his
eyes and a grim, haunted expression I had never seen him wear before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He shook his head at the mention of food and
slumped into the guest chair across from Holmes’ usual seat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
wouldn’t refuse a glass of brandy, Doctor,” he said, “but I don’t think I’ll be
able to stomach food again anytime soon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Good God, if you gents had seen what I just saw!” he exclaimed, burying
his face in his hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
went to the sideboard and poured some brandy from the decanter and brought it
to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Inspector raised his head as
the aroma reached him and drank the entire glass in three quick gulps.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m
sorry, Mister Holmes,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“No
doubt you think I’m daft, raving on like this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But if ever we could use your methods, now is the time!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
leaned forward, his keen eyes glinting with anticipation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ennui that had enveloped him in the
previous week dropped away, and he looked like nothing so much as a greyhound
straining at its lead, waiting for the chase to begin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“So
tell me, Inspector, what has transpired on Westchester Street to unnerve you
so?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“By
the devil, sir, I won’t be distracted by your so-called deductions this time!”
Lestrade snapped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If you know the
street, then you must know what I’m here about!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
beg your pardon, Lestrade,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I just noticed the red clay on your heel, which matched the layer
recently exposed by the building of the new gas lines up and down
Westchester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I have no idea what might
have transpired there since this deluge swept the city two days ago.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Sorry,
Holmes,” Lestrade replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This
morning’s horrors have rattled me worse than anything I’ve seen in recent
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no explanation that I
can see for how a man could have been slain as Daemon Pittsinger just was!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Pittsinger,
the noted mystic?” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Pittsinger
the noted crank?” Holmes said with a chuckle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
same,” said Lestrade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But when you see
what I have seen, you’ll have no trouble believing the man was in league with
dark forces!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
have always been skeptical of such allegations,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“However, the true analytical mind is always
open to new evidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please, sir, tell
me everything that has transpired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Omit
no detail, however small.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“More
brandy, if you please, doctor,” Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I need to settle my nerves just a bit more before I relate it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
refilled his glass, and he sipped slowly this time, rolling the drink around in
his mouth before swallowing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He set the
drink down and sighed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“As
you know, Pittsinger – or Peittzinger, to give him his birth name – is a
controversial figure,” Lestrade began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“He started out as a mediocre parlor magician, but in recent years he
has become increasingly fascinated with dark powers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently, his performances became very
disturbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women fainted at some of his
stage acts last week, and rumors flew around that some audience volunteers
simply disappeared, or returned from wherever he transported them to with their
mental faculties damaged and their personalities altered . . . never for the
better, either.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’ve
seen the newspaper articles,” I said, “but I figured that those stories were
publicity stunts to draw more people to his performances.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If
that was the case, it backfired spectacularly,” Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“After his last performance, five days ago,
the <i>Millennial Emporium</i>, where he has performed his act for a decade,
canceled his contract – and no other theater will have him!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Wait
– was that the performance which caused a gentleman named Fitzsimmons to go
home and -” I began.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“And
cut the heads off of his wife and three children two days later?” Lestrade
finished for me. “Yes, that was it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
man wrote a bizarre poem on the wall in their blood before driving the same
carving knife he used on them through each of his eyes, and then his heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We didn’t call you on that one, Mister
Holmes, because his guilt was so plainly evident.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
read of the case, and found it bore some points of interest,” Holmes replied,
“but I was in the midst of recovering a set of valuable jewels for a certain
duchess and chose not to intrude into your investigation without an
invitation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If
I had known what was going to follow, I would have called on you sooner,”
Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We knew he had visited
Pittsinger’s magical show two days earlier, and those who saw him afterward
said he seemed powerfully affected by the act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pittsinger had little to say when we interviewed him, and none of us
thought a magic act, no matter how disturbing, could have inspired such a
horrific act from a man of sound mind.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Tell
me what happened to Pittsinger, then,” Holmes said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“His
wife, or mistress – I’m not quite sure which she is – called Scotland Yard this
morning, shrieking and hysterical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
we could get out of her was ‘they came for him!’ and ‘he paid the price!’ over
and over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gregson is on holiday, so I
took two detectives to his house to see what the devil had happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no idea how appropriate that turn of
phrase would be!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Go
on,” Holmes said quietly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“She
explained that Pittsinger had locked himself in his third-floor study the night
before, saying he needed to protect himself from those who sought what he had
taken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to find out what she
meant, but she was too hysterical to make much sense. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had the key, and unlocked the door this
morning to bring him food breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
she came in, she found him as we saw him, and called us right away.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“And
what was it you saw?” Holmes asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Something
impossible,” Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“One of my
men literally fled the house when he saw it; the other left the station when we
got back and said he was quitting the force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I . . . Mister Holmes, I cannot describe it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You simply must come – and you, too,
Doctor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But be warned – it is not a
sight for the faint of heart.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Watson
can tell you that I have been complaining about the lack of imagination among
London’s criminal classes of late,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Frankly, there is little that could persuade
me to leave our comfortable digs on a day like this except the promise of a
case that would nullify my lament!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
may wish you had stayed home when you see what I saw,” Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But I am still grateful for your help.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We
donned cloaks, hats, and boots before descending the stairs, for the rain had
picked up during our conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw
that Lestrade had paid the cab driver to wait, and as soon as we ascended into
the carriage, the hansom took off through the streets of London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Traffic was minimal, as the streets were
still running with water and only the busiest and most dedicated Londoners were
venturing outdoors. We covered the length of the town in a half hour, and as we
pulled up in front of the sturdy Tudor manor overlooking Westchester Street,
the clouds began to part, and the steady fall of rain faded to scattered drops.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Pittsinger’s
house was set on a large lot – doubtless it had stood on a small estate outside
the city of London when it was built four centuries before – with towering oak
trees in the front yard and a stone wall separating it from the busy street,
where clumps of the red clay Holmes had recognized on Lestrade’s boots were
scattered, half melted away by the rains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Two uniformed bobbies stood outside the door, calmly surveying the
grounds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Any
changes?” Lestrade asked. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
lady of the house came down and asked when you would be returning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She seems to have composed herself
considerably,” the older policeman said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“And just now, the coroner sent word that he would be by to pick up the
body within the next hour or two.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“How
many people have trampled the scene of the crime?” Holmes asked. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Just
myself and the two detectives who accompanied me,” Lestrade said. “And neither
of them ventured close to the body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had to force myself to do so.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That
is good news,” Holmes replied. “The fewer the feet to trample the scene, the
easier it is for me to determine what happened.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If
you can find any reasonable explanation for what transpired, then I shall
retract every negative thing I’ve ever said about your unorthodox methods!”
Lestrade replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“First
let me interview our sole witness,” Holmes said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Very
well – I don’t blame you for deferring the sight of the crime for as long as
possible!” Lestrade said, opening the door for us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Madame
Tatiana von Kurtz – for that was the name of Pittsinger’s live-in mistress –
was a striking woman, tall and slender, with skin as pale as ivory, hair black
as a raven’s wing, and wide, almond-shaped eyes that were the color of the sky
on a bright winter day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had
obviously been weeping but seemed calm and composed as she greeted us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Herr
Holmes,” she said, “and Doctor Watson – my beloved was quite fascinated by the
published accounts of your cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was
glad when the Inspector said he was bringing you in to investigate his death,
although I fear that this killer may lurk beyond the reach of any mortal power.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Please,
madam,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I have yet to
encounter a murderer who could not be dealt with by human agency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you would, tell me exactly what transpired
last night – and anything you can think of that might have led up to the
tragedy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Daemon
desired more power than any mortal man should possess,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“When I met him a decade ago, he was a
dedicated student of mesmerism and a rather amateurish stage performer. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time, I was nineteen and not at all
interested in marrying the industrial baron my parents had chosen to be my
husband. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Daemon I saw a man destined
to rise; a deeply curious soul burning to understand the secrets of the ancient
world and apply them to modern times. He immediately saw the benefits of having
an attractive stage assistant, and we became business partners and lovers from
that day forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had nothing but
scorn for the Cristian church, regardless of what label it bore, and insisted
that us living together out of wedlock would add to the mystique and appeal of
our act. Over time, he became a master illusionist and a gifted practitioner of
mesmerism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he always longed for
something more, something that would give him the power of compulsion over
mankind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two years ago, he found
reference to an ancient letter from Doctor John Dee describing a loathsome book
of ancient spells, so awful it had been suppressed since the latter days of
Queen Elizabeth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He began devoting all
his attention to finding this letter, spending hours among the ancient,
crumbling texts of the royal library. Three weeks ago, he found it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wanted to come along and help him look for
a standing stone bearing the carved sigil Dee had sketched in his letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he forbade me to come, saying that the
search had become too dangerous.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">She
sighed, and a single tear rolled down her fair cheek. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Two
weeks ago, he came through the door shortly after dawn, filthy, disheveled, and
reeking of wet earth and rot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would
not show me what was in the bundle he carried, wrapped up tightly in his
greatcoat, but he crowed that now he would now show the sheep of London what
true power was all about!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He carried the
parcel upstairs to his library and locked the door behind him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that, he became increasingly withdrawn
from me, spending hours at a time in the library, chanting incantations in
languages I could not understand. He came out to eat, or when he – when he
‘needed to draw energy from me,’ was how he put it – and on performance
nights.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“His
performances changed, did they not, after this discovery?” Holmes asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes!”
she said sharply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“My love was a
talented performer, but before he brought home that accursed book, he was just
a performer!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He pretended to summon
spirits and dark powers, and he was very good at convincing his audiences that
he had done so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it was all smoke and
mirrors, Mister Holmes – I know because I helped him provide the distractions
that made his sleight of hand so convincing!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But after bringing that book into our house, he said I was no longer
needed to pull strings and release smoke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘No need for deception anymore, my dear!’ he exclaimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘No need to pretend!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I can show the people the things I only
pretended to have knowledge of!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told
me I could sit in the audience during his act, or even stay home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw things, Herr Holmes, things that I do
not understand and have no wish to understand!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The things he summoned to the stage in front of those people were not
tricks, or costumed actors – they were real, Mister Holmes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What they were, I have no idea – but they
terrified me!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
am sure they were very convincing,” Holmes said, “but that does not mean they
were supernatural!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
have not seen what I have seen,” she said, her voice suddenly flat, “so I will
forgive your presumption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But after that
performance which drove poor Herr Fitzsimmons to kill his family, Daemon began
to act differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had been
swaggering with confidence and projecting an aura of power, but suddenly he
became afraid. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He planted odd talismans
around our windows and doors, and his chanting took on a different tone –
wheedling and pleading, rather than commanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He commented over supper two days ago: ‘I thought the guardian was
slumbering, but it is awake, and seeking what I took!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That evening we were having drinks in front
of the fire when I heard a strange sound at our window, and Daemon turned
deathly pale when he glanced at it. I turned quickly, but all I caught was a
fading green glow as something moved away from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After we went to bed, he woke up screaming
that someone had removed the talismans from our window, even though we were on
the second floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He left our chambers
and barricaded himself in his library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Last night, after midnight, I heard horrible screams coming from the
library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I ran up to see what the
matter was, there was a flickering green light coming from under the door and I
heard sounds – sounds I cannot describe, Mister Holmes, though I can never
forget them!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The door was locked, so I
ran downstairs to fetch the key. When I came back up, the light under the door
had faded, and the house was silent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
unlocked the room and stepped in, but all was black.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turned on the gas lights, and when I saw
what was left of him – well, I fainted dead away, even though I have never
swooned before in my life!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
daylight when I woke, and what I had seen. . .” she broke down in sobs at this
point, her feminine form shaking with the force of her grief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw a brandy decanter nearby and poured her
a glass, which she took gratefully. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
I saw was unchanged, only rendered even more awful by the light coming in the
window,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I withdrew from the library,
locking that horrible sight behind the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You may go up and see for yourself, Mister Holmes, but I will never set
foot in that room again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Daemon – he
meddled with powers that no man should possess, and those who control such
powers have exacted a terrible price for his pride and ambition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I bet you, leave a broken-hearted woman
to her grief!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man I loved was
changed by whatever was in that book, but I loved him still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I think that the thing that I found in
there was once him, I cannot bear it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Please leave me, sirs!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“By
all means, madam, and my condolences on your loss,” Holmes said, rising. “Let
us inspect the scene of the crime now, gentlemen.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
may wait outside the door this time, Mister Holmes,” said Lestrade. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve seen the remains of poor Pittsinger once
and have no desire to view them a second time.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This
comment caught me off guard, for despite his bluster Lestrade was an
experienced, hardened detective who had seen death in its most awful forms,
including the savage butchery of Mary Kelly by the fiend known as the Ripper,
one of Holmes’ most difficult cases, regarding which I am still bound by an
oath of silence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If
Holmes was put off by Lestrade’s reaction, he gave no sign. Indeed, he ascended
the stairs as quickly as if he took the steps two at a time in his eagerness to
confront this ghastly crime. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We caught
up with him at the door; he was on his hands and knees carefully studying the
hardwood floor in the hallway. After going over the boards carefully with his
magnifying glass, he rose and held his hand out to Lestrade for the key.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inspector handed it to him, and Holmes
opened the door and let it swing ajar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
sun had come out from the clouds while we were interviewing Frau von Kurtz, and
enough light was streaming in through the windows to illuminate the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was baffled at first, for there was no sign
of a body on the floor or in the large chair behind the massive wooden desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were some drops of green, viscous fluid
scattered here and there, and a standing marble lectern was generously coated
with the stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But where was the
body?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holmes was also surveying the
scene curiously, and when he looked upward, I heard an unconscious gasp come
from his lips – a strong reaction from this most taciturn of men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I followed his gaze upward and found my gorge
rising at the sight that met my eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
body of Daemon Pittsinger was lashed to the ceiling by some strange cords of a
deep purplish color; how they were affixed to the beams I could not see. The
German mystic was fully clothed, but his garments were soaked with greenish
ooze, some of which had dripped to the floor beneath him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The corpse looked strangely flattened, almost
deflated, and the head was missing altogether. Sinews and veins dangled from
the stump of his neck, but there was no neat line marking the passage of a
blade – it looked for all the world as if his head had been ripped from his
body by sheer brute force.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
stood stock-still and stared at the corpse for a long time, and then he flung
himself down on all fours and whipped out his magnifying glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The floor under the body was covered by a
deep-piled, expensive Oriental rug woven with arcane symbols, and Holmes
studied every square inch of it, glancing up from time to time at the horrific
sight directly over his head. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a
half hour had passed, he left the carpet and crawled across the floorboards
towards the window facing out into the garden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He studied the floor below the windowsill and then examined the sill
inside and out, opening the window and leaning outwards to stare at the flower
bet some twenty-five feet below. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he
searched the fireplace on the far side of the room, giving a small grunt of
satisfaction as he extracted a small, unburned fragment of paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, he pulled one of the guest chairs
over and stood on it to study the corpse itself, surveying the sad relict of
the German mystic from the shredded stump of its neck all the way down to its
feet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hopping
down from the chair, Holmes then studied the top of the marble lectern, coated
with the same green slime that had drenched Pittsinger’s corpse. Finally, he
went to the man’s desk, carefully studying the few papers lying on top of it,
and then gingerly trying its drawers. When he saw that they were locked, he
finally rose and confronted Lestrade and me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Despite his determination not to view Pittsinger’s remains a second
time, the inspector had eventually crossed the threshold into the library and
watched Holmes’ investigation with rapt interest – although from time to time
he looked up at the awful corpse, strapped to the ceiling with those strange
crimson bands, and shuddered. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
do you make of this, Holmes?” Lestrade finally asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Daemon
Pittsinger has been brutally killed,” my friend replied brusquely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
could have told you that!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But how?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And who could have done it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you not hazard a guess?” the inspector
demanded.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
never guess, Lestrade, as you well know,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is an appalling habit, destructive to
sound reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have not yet gathered
enough information to formulate a hypothesis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I need to view the outside of the house now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lock the door behind me, and ask the coroner,
if he arrives before I return, to not disturb the scene just yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come, Watson!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With
that he tossed the key to Lestrade and bounded down the steps, leaving me to
follow as fast as my game leg would allow – the nasty weather had stirred my
old wound throbbing again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outside, I
found Holmes studying the window nearest the front door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a strange ceramic object placed on
the sill; it was made of fired green clay in the shape of an eight-pointed
star, with some strange glyphs or runes carved into its center. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Have
you ever seen such an artifact?” Holmes asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
can’t say that I have,” I replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It
looks like some sort of occult emblem, but I cannot recognize the language on
it. It does not look very old, though.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You’re
right there. It looks freshly cast, but the characters are the ancient cuneiform
writing from Mesopotamia, I believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you look at down this wall, you will see one of these placed in every window on
every floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now let us round the corner
and see what lies below the window of the library where poor Pittsinger met his
demise,” he explained.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We
rounded the corner, and even lacking Holmes’ eye for detail, the fragments of green
ceramic littering the flower bed were evident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One clay talisman remained on a ground floor window, the rest appeared
to have been shattered and dropped into the garden.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
dropped to his knees, muddy turf notwithstanding, and carefully examined the
flower bed from one end to the other, paying special attention to the ground
directly below the library window, far overhead. After about twenty minutes he
slowly stood and brushed the mud and wet grass from his sodden knees. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“This
was no accident,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Someone
deliberately smashed every single talisman above the ground floor, and most
that were on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they did so without
setting foot in the flower bed – there is not a single fresh footprint or any
indication of a ladder or scaffolding here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Then
how the devil - ?” I pondered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Projectiles,”
Holmes said, holding up a small lead ball about the size of a marble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“My theory would be a slingshot.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
handed me the ball, and then swiveled his head abruptly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A street urchin, about twelve years of age,
was watching us intently over the low stone curb that separated the side yard
from the street. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’ll
warrant that boy knows something,” my friend whispered softly, and then took
off at a sprint, calling “You there, lad!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I need to talk to you!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
startled urchin took off, but Holmes’ long legs propelled him like a greyhound,
and he cleared the stone curb in a single, graceful leap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boy ran straight down towards
Westchester, but as luck would have it, the coroner’s cart was clattering down
the street towards the house at that moment. A patrolman who was riding in the
passenger seat had seen the chase and leaped out to intercept the lad even as
Holmes was catching up to him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Here
now, boy-o, why are you running from Mister Holmes here?” the policeman said,
and the urchin wailed and struggled mightily at the sound of that name.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It’s
all right, Constable,” Holmes said, coming up behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Let me have a quick talk with the lad.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
if you are sure, Mister Holmes,” the bobby replied, “you may have him!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Thank
you, Jamison,” Holmes replied. “Now, lad, come up here and have a chat with
Doctor Watson and me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re in no
trouble, and there is a guinea in it for you if you can help us!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
meant no harm,” the lad said plaintively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I don’t know why you and the coppers are here, but I swear I didn’t
hurt no one! I just did what I was paid to do!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Did
someone pay you to smash the little green sculptures on the windowsills?”
Holmes asked him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This funny man, all red-faced and bald on top
with a scar on his nose and big muttonchop whiskers, saw me practicing with my
slingshot and told me he’d give me twelve pence if I could break as many of
those funny green things as possible from a distance, especially the ones on
the upper floors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He told me to do my
best not to break any windows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t
like the sound of him at all, to be honest, sir – it was all thick and snotty
and it seemed like his voice didn’t belong to him, somehow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So anyway - last night, while it was raining,
I climbed over the curb and took out as many as I could – but then someone came
to the window, and I ran away before they could come after me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That
is very helpful, young man,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Now, if you are so much in need of money that you are willing to break
peoples’ property for a few farthings, perhaps I can set you to earning a more
honest living.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
don’t want to go to no workhouse!” the boy wailed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“My brother went to one of those places and
wound up getting his arm smashed in some gears at the factory they sent him
to!”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I would not dream of sending
you to one of those ghastly establishments,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But tomorrow, I want you to make your way on
over to Baker Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a
locksmith’s shop called Wiggins’ Watches and Gears, run by a young man of my
acquaintance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You just tell him that
Mister Holmes has recommended you join the Baker Street Irregulars.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You’re
that Mister Holmes?” the boy said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve
heard all about you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They say you’re a
real swell to work for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll trot over
there tomorrow, I promise!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Good
lad!” said Holmes, dropping a couple of coins in his palm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now off with you, and don’t come nosing
around here anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dark things
happened in this house last night, lad, and I’m not sure the threat is entirely
gone.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lestrade
and the coroner were waiting for us at the door, and Holmes gave the inspector
a long, quiet look before speaking.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Lestrade,”
he asked; “Fitzsimmons - The man who killed his family after attending
Pittsinger’s magic show – what did he look like?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Stout
fellow, red in the face, mostly bald but generous whiskers,” Lestrade said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Did
he have a scar on the side of his nose?” Holmes asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes,
he did!” Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Did you see him
at some point and not tell me?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No,”
said Holmes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But someone else did.
Curiouser and curiouser!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
I have come to collect Herr Pittsinger’s body,” the coroner said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“May I remove it yet?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Give
me just a moment,” Holmes replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
need to speak to Frau von Kurtz again.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We
found Pittsinger’s paramour in the study where we had left her, warming her
hands before the fireplace and sipping another glass of brandy.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
am sorry to intrude, madame,” Holmes said, “but Herr Pittsinger’s desk was
locked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you know where he kept the
key?”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He always had it on his
person,” she replied. “Usually in his vest pocket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He kept all his private papers in that desk.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Thank
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am hoping that his writings may
shed some light on the strange fate that overtook him,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I bid you adieu for now, but I may call on
you again for further information.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
have told you all that I know,” she said. “Please find out what did this!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With
that, Holmes trudged upstairs to find the coroner staring up at Pittsinger’s
corpse, still affixed to the ceiling with those mysterious bonds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“How
on earth am I supposed to get him down?” the man wondered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
shall try and cut the bonds for you,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Watson, bring me that stoutest chair.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
scooted a tall, sturdy wooden chair across the rug until it was directly under
Pittsinger’s feet, and Holmes leapt up on it and pulled a sharp, gleaming penknife
from within his waistcoat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hacked and
sawed at the strange crimson bonds which tied Pittsinger’s feet to the overhead
beam, with no result.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’ve
never encountered this substance before,” he said, “but my knife makes no
impression on it at all!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Something
is bothering me about this whole situation, Holmes,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“A
man is dead, his head ripped off, and his body is affixed to the ceiling with
bonds of a seemingly impervious substance,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I find the whole situation vexatious in the
extreme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But pray tell, my dear friend,
what is bothering you about this crime scene?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Where
is his blood?” I said, “Pittsinger was alive when he came into this room, he
died in this room, his head was torn off in this room, and his body was left in
this room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There should be a small lake
of blood underneath his corpse, or on the spot where he was butchered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I haven’t seen a drop!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
have,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“One drop only, and
it’s on the windowsill over there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
you are right; there should be a gallon or more of the stuff spattered all
over!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
turned his attention back to the cords that bound Pittsinger’s body to the beams
of the ceiling, sawing at them in frustration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“They
shouldn’t be so tough,” he finally said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“My blade sinks in a bit, but then it just doesn’t cut anything!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watson, I need better light. If you would,
open the curtains there, and take that hanging mirror on the far wall and use
it to reflect some sunlight up here. These cords defy all logical explanation!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
pulled back the curtains. The sun was now beginning to sink into the west, so I
removed the heavy mirror and set it in the middle of puddle of sunlight on the
floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I slowly angled the mirror until
the reflected beams struck Pittsinger’s corpse and its bizarre bonds – and then
the unthinkable happened!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
minute the sun’s reflected rays touched those purplish cords, they simply
melted into crimson liquid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a matter
of a second or two, the tough bonds ceased to exist, and huge gouts of bright
red blood fell to the floor, followed by the mangled, drained corpse of Daemon
Pittsinger!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The body’s sudden fall
knocked Holmes off his chair, and he tumbled to the floor, managing to keep his
feet under him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crimson puddle was
splashed all over his face and clothes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sherlock
Holmes slowly stood, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, and wiped his
face clean, then blotted all the blood he could from his clothes before it
soaked in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
think we have found Herr Pittsinger’s missing blood,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Bloody
hell!” Lestrade exclaimed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Quite
literally,” Holmes replied, regaining his composure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now, Doctor Sloan, before you take his body
away, I want to quickly check Pittsinger’s pockets. Gads!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This green ichor burns!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Despite
the discomfort, he fished into the pocket of the dead mystic’s waistcoat and
produced a ring of brass keys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
quickly withdrew his hand and stepped over to the sideboard. There was no
water, so he poured some brandy from the decanter over his fingers and wiped
them clean with a small dishtowel that was folded there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Be
careful of that green slime,” Holmes warned the coroner, Sloan. “It is quite
caustic!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, let us see what our German
mystic kept locked in his desk drawers.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
third key that Holmes tried opened the two main drawers, and he withdrew a
leather-bound journal and a sheaf of letters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Inspector
Lestrade,” he said, “with your permission, I should like to take these back to
Baker Street and peruse them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
could come by about nine in the morning, I may have something to share with you
then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doctor Sloan, if you would be so
kind, please send a copy of your autopsy notes to me as soon as you have
completed them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If
the Inspector allows, I should be glad to,” the coroner replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Mister
Holmes has my full confidence,” the Scotland Yard agent told him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If he cannot solve this case, I am not sure
who could!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
gentlemen, I shall leave the removal of the body to you,” Holmes said. “I need
to go to Baker Street and change clothes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I must thank you, Lestrade, for calling me in on this case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It presents more points of interest than
anything I have encountered in years!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Watson, if you are ready?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Absolutely
so, Holmes,” I said. “I shall be glad to be away from this horrid scene!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
we left the house, Holmes looked in on Miss Tatiana one last time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Madam,”
he said, “forgive this last intrusion, and please forgive my soiled attire, but
I would like to ask you one question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This forbidden book that Daemon Pittsinger sought – was it called, by
chance, the <i>Antioch Grimoire</i>?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">She
nodded slowly, and when she spoke, her voice trembled.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Some
called it that,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But I also
heard Daemon refer to it as the <i>Index Pandaemonium</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Thank
you, madam,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I feared as
much.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
did not speak a word until we had hailed a cab and were clattering back towards
Baker Street.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
know, Watson, it has long been an aphorism of mine that when you have
eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbably, must be
the truth,” he commented.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
have heard you say that many times, my friend,” I replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“In
this case, I am having a devil of a time doing it!” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Doing
what, Holmes?” I queried.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Eliminating
the impossible,” he replied. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
did not say another word all the way to Baker Street, and once we got there, he
turned to me with an apologetic air. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Watson,”
he said, “I find this case is going to require some intense concentration on my
part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would it be presuming too much to
ask for you to find occupation elsewhere this evening?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fear I may not be fit company.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Shaw
has a new play out this week,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I shall go and catch tonight’s performance, and perhaps go to the club
afterward for some brandy and a cigar or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been needing to get out anyway, and the beastly weather has kept me
cooped up for days!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It
was long after midnight when I returned, and I could hear the plaintive wailing
of Holmes’ violin from the window above as I dismounted my cab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our flat was filled with a dense cloud of
tobacco smoke, and in the center of it my friend was seated, his Stradivarius
tucked under his chin, filling the air with the strains of Mozart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lowered the violin as I entered the room.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Watson!”
he exclaimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I thought you planned to
stay out late.”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It is half past twelve,
Holmes,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I have been gone for eight
hours!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Remarkable!”
he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I would have said two at the
most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a most baffling case,
Watson!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Have
you arrived at any conclusions?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“If
there was another human being in that room, besides Pittsinger, his mistress,
and the police, then he somehow managed to enter, perform a most gruesome
murder, and depart without leaving a single trace of his passage on the carpet
or floorboards,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That is
what I was referring to when I mentioned being unable to eliminate the
impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Human beings cannot float,
Watson!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet that is seemingly what this
killer did.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Could
it have been an animal of some sort?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
found no claw marks, no fur, no feathers, no droppings,” Holmes said. “I have
seldom been so baffled!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Did
Pittsinger’s journal hold any clues?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Not
exactly,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The entries
primarily centered around his search for the <i>Antioch Grimoire</i> and the
occult powers that he believed it would unlock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He did include a transcript of the John Dee letter that started his
search, however.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
did not find the original letter in his papers?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
retrieved a tiny fragment of very old paper from the fireplace,” Holmes
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Only a single word survived the
fire, but the script is Elizabethan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
believe it was all that remained of Dee’s letter.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Is
there anything of interest in the letter?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
entire letter is a fascinating study in sixteenth century occultism,” Holmes
said, “and in conjunction with Pittsinger’s journal, I believe it can lead us
to the place from which he retrieved the grimoire. The journal is written in a
cypher, so decoding it has been slow work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But this quote from Dee’s letter may shed some light on the case.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
handed me a sheet of foolscap on which he had transcribed the following: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“<i>The
Bloodweaver, He who floats upon the Darkness, hath a particular interest in
this text, and none who possess it are safe from his grasp. Although the powers
that canst be commanded by mastery of the Antioch Grimoire are great indeed, they
are not sufficient to ward off this ancient evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the token of Belshazaar, lost in
Mesopotamia a score of centuries past, may ward off the power of Gizalkagath,
the Bloodweaver, devourer of souls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Therefore I have taken it upon myself to hide this accursed text from
all mortal eyes, until such time as the talisman be found again.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
set the paper aside with a shudder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“This
being Dee describes here does sound capable of killing a man in the way we
saw,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
have no doubt that is what we are meant to think,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A diabolically clever killer left Pittsinger
as we found him, intending to create the idea that this ancient demon, the
Bloodweaver, was behind the murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
how he was able to do it – that is beyond me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now, if I may, I need to concentrate again.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He retrieved his still-lit pipe,
took a good pull on it, emitted a long puff of cheap tobacco smoke, and then
picked up his violin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fled to my
bedchamber, buried my head under the pillows, and knew nothing more till dawn’s
rays climbed through my window and woke me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Donning
my dressing gown, I emerged from my quarters to find Holmes seated at the
table, Pittsinger’s papers and journal spread out before him, and Mrs. Hudson’s
breakfast tray sitting, most woefully neglected, on the sideboard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I poured myself a cup of coffee, filled my
plate, and sat down at the opposite end of the table.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Have
you reached any breakthrough?” I asked when Holmes did not speak for several
minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
gave a wistful sigh, and then pushed the journal aside.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Nothing
that makes any sense, Watson,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I think that, after Lestrade drops by this morning, a pilgrimage to the
moors might be in order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to see
where Pittsinger found the grimoire, and hope that the site may hold some
further clues as to the identity of his killer.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
then, some nourishment is in order, if we’re to spend the day tramping about in
the mud,” I told him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do join me before
our breakfast becomes completely cold.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
grunted, and then got up and filled his plate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friend was notoriously indifferent to food
when enthralled by a difficult case; he was equally likely devour a gourmand’s
portion or to skip three meals in a row.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since Holmes had eaten nothing since breakfast the previous day, instinct
took over, and he quickly put away a rasher of bacon, three eggs, and two of
Mrs. Hudson’s delightful scones. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had
barely finished the meal when a knock on the door announced the arrival of
Inspector Lestrade. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
Mister Holmes,” he said, removing his hat, “I don’t know as we’re any closer to
determining the killer’s identity, but I have discovered an important clue!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“By
all means, Inspector, take the stone talisman out of your pocket and let’s have
a look,” Holmes said, and smiled slightly as Lestrade’s jaw dropped. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“How
the devil . . . ?” the Scotland Yard man gasped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
in fairness, Lestrade, I spent most of last night reading through Pittsinger’s
journal, and his discovery – or, to be honest, his theft – of the talisman is
described there in some detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are
carrying something in your right pocket that is of the proper dimensions and
seems to be heavy for its size.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
imagine it is the template for the soapstone copies we found placed along the
outside windowsills.” Holmes explained. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Exactly
so,” Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He reached into his
pocket and pulled out a polished, ancient basalt sculpture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Pittsinger kept this in a safe in his
bedroom, which Miss von Kurtz was kind enough to open for us.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
took the artifact and examined it closely, then handed it to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was heavy, and polished smooth from
centuries of wear. The overall shape was identical to but slightly larger than
the copies I’d seen placed in the windows of Pittsinger’s home, and the ancient
runes marking its surface seemed identical.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
do these say, I wonder?” I mused, tracing the characters with my fingertip. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Pittsinger
did not record the translation into his journal,” Holmes said, “and I only know
a few characters of cuneiform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
I believe our next guest should be able to translate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here he is now, I believe!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
Holmes spoke, another knock sounded on the door of our flat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Come
in, Professor Peabody,” my friend said, and a scrawny, balding gentleman in a
tweed hat stepped in.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Mister
Holmes,” the man said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I see it is
true!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have recovered the Token of
Belshazaar!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
has been recovered,” Holmes said, “but not by me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard retrieved
it from the home of Daemon Pittsinger late last night.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
British Museum thanks you heartily, sir,” the professor said, wringing
Lestrade’s hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This is one of the
prizes of our Mesopotamian collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
knew that Pittsinger was up to no good, but I had no idea he’d nicked the thing
from under our very noses!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Perhaps
he meant to return it as soon as he determined the accuracy of his copies,”
Holmes told him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But I am interested in
why he stole it to begin with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What can
you tell me about the history of this piece?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What is it, exactly, and why would an occultist like Pittsinger be
interested in it?” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
is referred to as the Token of Belshazaar,” Peabody said, “because he was its
last known owner, and it was recovered near his palace in the ruins of Babylon
twenty years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is far older
than that Babylonian king of the sixth century BC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The style of the cuneiform inscription is
from the earliest civilizations of ancient Sumeria, almost two thousand years
before the time of Belshazaar.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Can
you read it?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
am one of the few that can,” Peabody said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“This inscription is written in the earliest version of the cuneiform
alphabet, and it resembles classical Sumerian to the same degree that Chaucer’s
Middle English resembles a story from today's London Times.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
had read of your expertise in ancient languages,” Holmes said, “and indeed that
is why I summoned you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like you
to render the most exact translation you can give us of the cuneiform on this
stone.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That
would be my pleasure, Mister Holmes,” said the curator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I have not forgotten the tremendous favor
you did us in recovering the Dagger of Rameses a few years back.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
handed the smooth basalt artifact to Peabody, who stared intently at the runes
on its surface for a few minutes, silently mouthing words in a tongue I had
never heard before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After running
through it a couple of times, he turned to Holmes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Going
from ancient Sumerian to modern English is a challenge,” he said, “But this is
my best possible rendering of what is written on the talisman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s an incantation to ward off some ancient
demon or other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It goes like this:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“<i>Begone,
Gizalkagath!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lest daybreak overtake you
and bring your dark life to naught!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bloodweaver, beware the light that must soon dawn, and weave your cursed
bonds elsewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For as you cross this
threshold, the sun will take you as surely as Marduk embraces the Deep. Beware,
He Who Floats in Darkness, and abandon this place for your home in the deeps of
the earth, where sunlight cannot touch you, nor melt away all your works.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
scribbled down Peabody’s words as he spoke them, and after the museum curator
finished reading the curse, he put down the pencil and walked to his desk. He
retrieved one of the soapstone copies that had been placed in the windows of
Pittsinger’s home and handed it to Peabody.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Does
this copy have the same phrase written on it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Can you see any visible differences in the inscription?” he asked. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
curator studied the two pieces, his gaze shifting from one to the other, and
then he shook his head.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“They
appear to be identical,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Where
did this come from?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Pittsinger
had made a couple dozen of them,” Lestrade said, “and he placed one in every
window of his home.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That
is strange,” said Peabody, “and not a little disturbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to the ancient texts, the only
reason to place the talisman in a window or door was to forbid entry to
malignant spirits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would any modern
Englishman feel the need to fortify his home against some ancient Mesopotamian
demon?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Why
indeed,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Thank you, Doctor
Peabody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure Lestrade will be happy
to return the talisman to the Museum once our investigation into Pittsinger’s
death is complete.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“How
did he die?” asked the curator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He was
a frightening chap, very intense, and when I saw his obituary in the paper
today, I found myself wondering how he met his end.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
was a dark and bloody fate, sir,” said Lestrade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I don’t know that you’d want to know the
details.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Peabody
swallowed nervously and gave a tense smile.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Indulge
me,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
we never found his head,” said Lestrade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“And his body was affixed to the rafters with bonds of solidified
blood!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
curator blanched at that bit of information, and quickly buttoned up his coat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That’s
horrifying,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How could anyone
do such a thing!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That’s
the question,” Lestrade said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems impossible!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m
sure I have no idea,” Peabody said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Now, if you will please excuse me!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With
that he rushed out the door – in such a hurry that it shut on his coattails,
and he had to open it again to make his exit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
think that man knows something,” Lestrade said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Or
at the least, he suspects something,” Holmes said. “Inspector, I need to finish
translating Pittsinger’s journal before I can proceed any further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please, when the coroner’s report is ready,
I’d appreciate it if you could bring it by.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
believe we are being dismissed, Doctor Watson,” said Lestrade. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
am terribly sorry, Watson,” Holmes said, “and were it not lovely outside today,
I would certainly not ask it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
cannot remember a case that has taxed my powers of concentration so greatly!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
was never good company when he was in the throes of reasoning out a case, so I
cheerfully bade him farewell and strolled down the street, walking several
blocks just to enjoy the sunshine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was still cool out, but the streets were drying and the whole city smelled
better than normal after three straight days of being rinsed clean by the
torrential rains. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I walked aimlessly for
an hour or more, and then found myself nearing the British Museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided to go look at the vast collection
of artifacts from the ancient world, and after staring at Egyptian mummies and
the Elgin marbles, I found myself in the wing housing Middle Eastern relics,
including those excavated in Mesopotamia.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
I viewed an impressive stele covered with cuneiform writing and images of
winged gryphons, I saw Dr. Peabody emerge from a door behind one of the
exhibits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He seemed calmer than he had
been when he left Baker Street, and spying me, he walked over with a sheepish
smile.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Doctor
Watson,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Is Mister Holmes with
you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No,”
I replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He wanted to be free to
concentrate on the journal of Daemon Pittsinger, and he asked me to leave him
alone for a few hours.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
see,” the curator said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Was Pittsinger
really murdered in the manner that Inspector Lestrade described, Doctor?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
shuddered at the memory of that crushed, drained body lashed to the rafters
with cords made of human blood.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes,
he was,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I am a veteran of
combat in India and Afghanistan, and I have seen my share of human
savagery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what was done to that
hapless mystic surpasses all the horrors of war that I witnessed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But why did Lestrade’s inscription unnerve
you so, if I may ask?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
have been reading some of the cuneiform tablets recovered from the ruins of
Babylon,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And what Lestrade
described echoed a very disturbing passage I translated last night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come with me, and I shall share it with you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
led me through the small door he had emerged from and down a dim, gas-lit
corridor into the bowels of the museum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Soon the hallway widened, and office doors with frosted glass panes ran
down both walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stopped before one
of them and fiddled with his key for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Bothersome
having to lock up every time we leave, but with the rash of recent thefts, the
Director has been very insistent about it,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The door opened and I found myself in a
fair-sized room dominated by a large table running down its center, with
shelves on either side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everywhere
there were ancient, fired clay tablets covered in the wedge-shaped runes that the
ancient Sumerians used to record their civilization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peabody went down the table and stopped in
front of one of them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Here
it is,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There are millions of
these blocks buried in the desert sands, and they are a fascinating cross
section of the ancient world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
from religious texts, court chronicles, schoolboy scribblings, and crop
reports!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cities have been burned and
plundered so often that everything is all jumbled up. You don’t know what you
hold in your hands until you begin translating.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
traced his fingers over the lines of script and referred to a notebook sitting
on the table beside it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a moment,
he nodded and turned to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
wanted to be sure I remembered the name correctly,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s the same entity mentioned on the
Belshazaar Talisman. When I read this, you will understand why Inspector
Lestrade’s words gave me a fright.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
adjusted his spectacles, and when he began reading, the timbre of his voice
changed, becoming deeper and hoarser. It may have been my imagination, but it
seemed as if the lights in the room dimmed as he read.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Of
the dark spirits chained in the abyss below the abyss, the most powerful is the
Bloodweaver, Gizalkagath, He Who Walks in Darkness; for he serves as both
guardian and jailer to those imprisoned there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Any mortal man who dares try to release or enslave any of the dark ones he
guards shall dare his wrath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While he
may not walk in the sunlight, by night he shall seek them out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their heads he will take, their souls devour,
and he shall bind the husk that remains with cords woven of their own blood
before taking their souls, and the imprisoned one they sought to control, back
to the realm of darkness where he reigns supreme. . .”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
shuddered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What had Pittsinger, that
poor, ambitious fool, summoned from the deep places of the earth?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the more I considered his fate, the less
possible any human agency seemed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
the technology and progress of the modern age seemed to fade, and I felt the
same fear of the unknown dark that our ancestors must have felt when they
peered out of their caves into the night, scores of centuries ago. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“May
I copy your translation?” I asked him after a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He nodded, and I began to transcribe his
words, telling him: “I believe this inscription may have some bearing on the
case.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Do
you really think some ancient horror may have claimed the man’s life?” Peabody
asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
sounds preposterous when you say it out loud, doesn’t it?” I replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yet I certainly believe that is what we are
meant to think.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
I would just as soon have nothing more to do with it,” he said. “I find the
whole idea unnerving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve seen many odd
things working in this museum for the last twenty years, but this is the first
time I’ve seen an ancient curse claim a human life!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
could tell he was anxious to return to his work, so I thanked him for the
information he’d provided and went on my way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had dinner at the club, and then returned to Baker Street later that
evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found Holmes slumped at his
desk, a stack of papers covered with his small, neat handwriting lying next to
Pittsinger’s journal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
Holmes, have you learned anything new?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Pittsinger
was deathly afraid those last few days before his death,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘His last entries are almost impossible to
read, his hands were trembling so badly. He truly believed that he was being
stalked by some unearthly horror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
no doubt that the grimoire he discovered would be a great prize for any fellow
occultist, but there is no indication in his journal that anyone else knew
about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My working theory has been
that a rival mystic stole the grimoire, murdered him, and tried to make it look
as if this Gizalkagath was responsible for the deed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I have found no evidence of human agency
– whoever it was that murdered Pittsinger, he is a criminal genius on the level
of Moriarty!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
showed Holmes the notes I had taken at the museum, and he studied the
translated inscription with some interest.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“This
is most fascinating, Watson,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“The way this ancient evil takes its victims certainly does resemble the
crime scene we examined.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It’s
the bonds made of blood that unnerve me the most,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How can human blood be made into cords too
tough for steel to cut, and then turn to liquid again in a moment?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
took the liberty of capturing some of Pittsinger’s blood in a vial before we
left his house,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve had
it under my microscope quite a bit this afternoon, and it appears to be normal
human blood.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“And
that foul green ichor that was covering Pittsinger’s body?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
is a highly acidic compound,” Holmes said, “that appears to be biological in
origin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never encountered anything
like it before.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
do you propose to do next, Holmes?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
am waiting for a copy of the coroner’s report,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It should have been here hours ago. I don’t
know that it can tell me much, but I want some confirmation of things I noticed
in my own examination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are several
possibilities and at least one impossibility in play here, Watson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to gather some things this evening,
and tomorrow I want to try and find the cave the grimoire was retrieved
from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your company, as always, would be
appreciated.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
should be disappointed if you did not invite me,” I said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
may wish I hadn’t before this is all over,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There are devilish things afoot in this
case, I fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At any rate, I shall be
back later this evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
meantime, you might peruse my transcription of Pittsinger’s journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the man was delusional, especially
near the end, but if nothing else, you will understand what it was he was so
afraid of in the days before his demise.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With
that he donned his hounds-tooth cloak and deerstalker cap and ventured out into
the cool of the evening. I gathered the sheets of foolscap, poured myself <a name="_Int_wvXHDkXK">a brandy</a>, and dove into the twisted mind of Daemon
Pittsinger for the rest of the evening. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Most
of the early passages were irrelevant to the case, but they did paint a picture
of a relentlessly ambitious occultist who truly believed that dark, malign
powers still stalked the earth, and that they could be manipulated into
obedience by men of strong will. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
seemed to have a deep-seated contempt for traditional religion and moral
values, and delighted in ridiculing those who held them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one passage I read:<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Today I passed a street
preacher railing about Jesus casting out demons nearly two thousand years
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fool!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he only knew that there are beings
imprisoned in the earth beneath our feet who were already ancient when Lucifer
was cast from the heavens!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe these
spirits can be commanded by those who know the ancient rituals and possess the
will to use them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I find the
Antioch Grimoire, I will bind one of them to my service and use him to flay the
minds of fools like that man. . .<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
search for the grimoire dominated his entries, but Pittsinger’s accidental
discovery of the Belshazaar Talisman drove him to a near frenzy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He described it thus:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
I was on my way to the Museum’s archives to look for the lost letter of John
Dee, who foolishly buried the Antioch Grimoire three centuries ago, I paused to
view the most recent exhibits from Mesopotamia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There to my astonishment I saw an artifact so ancient, so powerful, that
even medieval alchemists considered it legendary: the Talisman of
Belshazaar!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the legends say that the
words inscribed on it can banish the most powerful of the Imprisoned Ones –
they can even drive off Gizalkagath the Bloodweaver! I realized immediately
that I must somehow possess this precious artifact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, the security at the museum is
very lax; I waited till near closing and edged closer to the exhibit, then
reached across the rope barrier and slipped it from its pedestal into the
pocket of my cloak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was sweating nervously
as I neared the exit, but the imbecile guarding the door barely looked up from
his copy of The Times!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is mine
now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must immediately teach myself to
reproduce the characters on it, because according to the secret epistle of Apollodorus
of Athens, it is the inscription, not the artifact itself, that holds the power
to bind or deter spirits. . .<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It
was a few days after this that he found the John Dee letter in the archives of
the Royal Library.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once more, he managed
to purloin a priceless bit of history without being detected, and once he got
the letter home, he devoted a week or more to cracking the Elizabethan era
cypher Dee had used while writing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once he made the breakthrough, his writing assumed a more sober tone:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At
last my goal is in reach!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Antioch
Grimoire, the last surviving unaltered copy of the Index Pandaemonium, lies
scarcely twenty miles north of London!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My search has been centered in the wrong area entirely, but once I
translated Dee’s letter, all the other clues fell into place perfectly!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A mile north of the Davenport Causeway, and
nearly two miles east of the Hempstead Road bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the standing stone that Dee carved his
sigil in is still standing, it should be unmistakable!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tatiana, dear girl, wants to go along for the
adventure, but I value her highly enough that I have no desire to put her in
peril. I will know soon enough if the treasure I seek remains in this world!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
next date was blank, but the day after he recounted his discovery in an entry
that exuded breathless excitement:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It
is in my hands!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I left London early
yesterday and made my way as close as the rail lines ran to the Etley Moors. At
the town of Davenport, I rented a horse and rode the rest of the way. It took a
bit of combing through the marshes and grass-covered tussocks of the moor, but
within a few hours I found a solid earthen mound that stood nearly ten feet above
the surrounding marsh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At its peak,
weathered but still standing, was the rough granite monolith that Dee described
in his letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crudely cut into the
north face of it was the same sigil he had sketched in his letter, and when I
placed my hands upon it and repeated the incantation from the Black Book of
Souls, I felt the massive stone slowly shift on some hidden access and fall to
one side, revealing a square shaft extending downward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every foot or two, iron spikes had been
driven into the wall to provide handholds, but they were so rusted I did not
trust them with my weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I
tied the rope I had brought with me around the toppled granite pillar, and then
slowly I lowered myself down, using the spikes for occasional leverage. I
descended for nearly thirty feet before I found myself standing at the head of
an ancient limestone staircase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used
matches to light the torch I had brought and began my second descent.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
steps were slick with age and moss, but after the fiftieth step, I found myself
in a chamber about twenty feet across.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was in the shape of a half circle, but the back wall was made of a
bizarre stone unlike the limestone floor and steps. It was a glossy black,
reflecting the light of my torch back at me in a thousand shifting colors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the glistening wall, as beautiful as it
was, only held my gaze for a moment. For there, on a crude pedestal of stone,
rested the ancient book I have sought for the last decade!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was covered with a grimy black mold, but
the foul substance dusted off with a few strokes of my handkerchief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It set me coughing so hard I nearly dropped
my torch, but after a moment I could breathe again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turned the pages, my eyes feasting on the
neat Greek script, which listed the names, abilities, and weaknesses of every
resident of the Great Abyss!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
closed the grimoire and wrapped it in an old tablecloth I had brought with me,
and then dropped the whole bundle into my knapsack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I exited the chamber, I paused a moment to
stare at the iridescent back wall of the chamber, and suddenly I felt myself
rooted to the spot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For within that
gleaming blackness there were shapes moving – shapes of living entities so
unnatural in their contours that they would have seemed blasphemous to any who
yet held to the foolish conventions of modern morality!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stared at them in fascination, but then one
of them seemed to draw nearer to the other side of the – glass? Barrier? Wall
between worlds? – I know not, nor did I wish to linger and find out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bearing my prize, I spun and took the ancient
steps two at a time, then grabbed the dangling rope and hauled myself out of
the pit as fast as my arms could take me. The granite pillar would not return
to its resting place, so I pried up a flat stone nearby and pushed it over the
hole in the earth – an imperfect cover, but the best I could do.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Again,
the journal bore no entries for a couple of days, but when Pittsinger renewed
his account, I could detect a difference in his tone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The arrogance and lust for power were still
there, but there was also an undercurrent of fear that grew stronger with each
consecutive entry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Index contains the names of many more entities than I expected, and I have had
a hard time narrowing down my choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am not so foolish as to attempt to summon and command two of these demons at
once, so I must choose wisely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I
desired wealth alone, then my choice would be Azul-bignaz, the Hoarder, who can
locate any hidden treasure in the world if commanded to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But wealth is only a tool; it is the ability
to command men that opens the door to all other forms of power and wealth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I have chosen Zudakarg, the Mind-Worm, as
my servant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is among the weakest of
the Imprisoned Ones, yet his power will enable me to bend men to my will!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even now I am preparing the ritual of
summoning . . . </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Two
days later, the next entry:<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’ve
done it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will not lie in these pages;
the summoning taxed my strength greatly, and when it was complete and Zudakarg
materialized in the circle I had drawn, I was so repulsed by his form I almost
sent him back to the abyss!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The demon –
for I know of no other name that fits these entities – was so vile, so
loathsome and alien to my eyes that all I wanted to do was cast him from my
presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, he possesses the
ability to cloak his form from mortal eyes, although I can feel his groveling presence
in my mind at all times. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There
was something else as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I spoke
the incantation and opened the door in the air to draw Zudakarg to our world,
there was something else there – something lurking in the darkness behind him,
something watching, something implacably hostile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I closed the portal as soon as my victim was
pulled through, slamming it shut with every ounce of will I had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could it be that I had felt the presence of
the Bloodweaver, Gizalkagath the Jailer, the guardian of the abyss? I do not
know, but I have made dozens of casts of the Talisman of Belshazaar and placed
them in every window of my house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If He
Who Walks in Darkness seeks entry here, they should keep him at bay – if the
old legends speak true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that word
has me lying awake at night . . . IF.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What have I done?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
next entry, dated a day later, took on a different tone:<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It
is working!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ancient spells gave me
binding authority over the Mind-worm, and today as I moved among the people of
London I compelled a dozen men to do whatever I wished, from giving me the
contents of their wallets, to striking a total stranger in the face for no
reason, to stepping off the curb into the path of a rushing carriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My fears from last night seem so small
now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What fun I shall have on the stage
at my next performance, when I shall no longer have to depend on the crude
techniques of Dr. Mesmer!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can compel
any member of the audience to do anything I desire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What wealth shall I accumulate, what beauties
I shall carnally possess, what wars shall I start, with this great gift?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zudakarg Mind-worm, you are a treasure beyond
compare!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Two
days later, the downward trajectory returned:<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
is here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever since the summoning I have
felt a presence in the back of my mind, a hostile will regarding me with
malevolent intent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is Gizalkagath!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bloodweaver knows that I have released
one of his prisoners, and it wants him back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Never!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My house is surrounded
with copies of the Talisman, and I shall carry the original in my pocket
whenever I leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zudakarg, pathetic
demon troll that he is, still lurks in my consciousness, ready to obey my
commands with obsequious enthusiasm, yet behind the slavering voice of
obedience I sense a lurking dread of something that is not me. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After
this, the entries became more panicked, and in places Holmes had to give up on
his transcription because Pittsinger’s writing had become so illegible. Two
were of particular interest:<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Something
went dreadfully wrong in the performance this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The audience volunteer, whom I had commanded
to perform a series of harmless but humiliating tasks, murdered his family a
day or two afterward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scotland Yard was
here to question me, but of course there was no way for them to prove I was at
fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I remember now - after I
finished with him on stage that day, I ordered Zudakarg to release him. At that
moment I FELT another presence sweeping by, invisibly, rushing to climb into
the poor man’s mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something
unspeakably malevolent looked at me through his eyes before he left the
stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then two days later, he killed
his family and himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I begin to
wonder what else I have allowed into our world (</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">two
illegible lines follow) <i>gets past my defenses, what price will I pay?</i> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And
finally, this entry, the night before the murder:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
HAVE SEEN HIM!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gizalkagath, how properly
named He Who Walks in Darkness!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hovering
outside my window, perhaps thirty yards away, ten feet off the ground, borne
aloft by a cloud so black an inkblot would glow beside it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank the God I no longer believe in that I
have placed a copy of the talisman in every window; I could sense the
frustration emanating from him that he was unable to reach me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that sickly green glow which surrounded
him, his stubby batlike wings which should never have been able to lift such
bulk, that glowing, three-lobed, burning eye!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Will this creature haunt me for the rest of my days, until my defenses
fail?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will he take my blood, my head, my
very soul?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How long can vigilance
protect me from such a foe?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As
I waited anxiously for Holmes to return, I paced our flat and tried to make
some sense of what I had read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stood
on the threshold of the twentieth century, living in an age of reason and
science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Men had mastered steam power,
circled the globe, driven back the frontiers of savagery, and come to a greater
understanding of the natural world than any generation before us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Antediluvian demons and monsters were things
of myth and legend, not real menaces lurking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But . . . my mind kept straying back to the
mutilated form of Daemon Pittsinger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What human agency could have performed such an atrocity without leaving
a trace?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
returned to our flat around eight that evening, bearing a military knapsack and
a thick stack of papers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have seldom
seen him look so grim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He reached into
the knapsack and pulled out a strange-looking pistol with a remarkably wide
barrel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
is that?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
am surprised you didn’t see them during your Army days, Watson,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is a flare pistol.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
heard tell of them,” I replied, “but they were never issued to us in
Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We still used the old-style
rocket flares.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Major
Milligan – you remember when we rescued his young daughter from kidnappers a
few years back – works at the Royal Arsenal down by the waterfront,” Holmes
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He was happy to provide me with
two flare guns and several cartridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We will be treading in some dark places tomorrow, Watson, and we may
have need of some very bright light before it is done.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Holmes,”
I said, “I must admit Pittsinger’s journal disturbed me deeply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the devil are we going to face?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
the devil indeed, Watson!” he said with a grim chuckle. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I have been trying to figure that out since
Lestrade’s initial visit. This coroner’s report doesn’t help much.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
does it say?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
poor doctor was as puzzled as we were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His examination of the corpse cost him some chemical burns on his hands
from that green sludge that covered the body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can read his full report here -” he handed me the papers he was
carrying “but the essence of it is that Pittsinger was completely enveloped in
that green substance, his head was torn from his body by sheer brute force, and
the blood drained from him so forcefully that most of his smaller blood vessels
simply collapsed. The larger arteries and veins were filled with the same ichor
that covered his body, and his heart was compressed into a solid lump of flesh
just over an inch in diameter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last
line of the report is stuck in my mind – <i>‘I know of no force, human or
animal, capable of duplicating such ravages on the human body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, current medical science is
incapable of explaining what killed Daemon Pittsinger. Signed Richard Sloan,
Medical Examiner.’</i> I’ve read many coroners’ reports over the years, Watson,
but none that ended with such a plain declaration of helplessness!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Do
you have any theories?” I asked him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
try not to theorize in advance of the evidence,” Holmes said, “as you well
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in this case the evidence is
so bizarre and frustrating I’ve had little choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I only hope that exploring the site where the
grimoire was found will give us some better insights.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
lit his pipe and began pacing around the room, his arms folded behind his back.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
most logical, rational theory is that a rival occultist, or perhaps a group of
adherents to some ancient demonic cult, were angry at Pittsinger for taking
their sacred book and resolved to do away with him in such a way as to
discourage anyone else from ever seeking the grimoire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So they somehow arranged to kill him in a way
that mimicked the manner that this mythological monster slew its victims, and
left him there for us to find,” he explained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I would definitely like for this theory to be proven true, but if it
is, then these cultists have access to some diabolical technology that I’ve
never heard so much of a rumor of, or else -” he hesitated for a moment and
took a draw on his pipe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Or
else what?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Or
else they themselves are possessed of supernatural powers,” he finished. “I
feel like a childish simpleton for even acknowledging such a possibility!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Then
there is the other possibility,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
groaned and shook his head.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
know,” he replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But I want to hold
that one at bay for as long as I can! Such entities as he described cannot
exist in the modern world!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
agree,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So what next?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Supper,”
he replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve had no time to eat,
and tomorrow will be a long day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
board the train to Davenport at seven, and with any luck, we should find the
site that Pittsinger described before noon.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well,
it is a bit late, but the tavern down the street usually serves a good roast
beef pie about this time,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
can always count on you to know where the best meals are served, Watson!”
Holmes said, and we headed out the door together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That
night I slept fitfully, dreaming of madmen murdering their families, glowing
green entities floating above the ground on pillars of darkness, and bloody
tendrils binding me to my bed in the dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When Holmes knocked on my door at five-thirty I fairly sprang out of bed
in my haste to be rid of such nightmares. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We
each gulped down a cup of hot, strong coffee that Holmes had brewed, and then
caught a hansom cab to the train station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we made our way north, neither of us spoke much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tried to read, but not even the
storytelling skills of Rider Haggard could hold the dark thoughts at bay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holmes grimly chewed on the stem of an unlit
pipe as he stared out the window, watching the countryside go by.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At
Davenport we made our way to the local stable and rented a pair of sorrel
mares. The horse-keeper, a cheery Irishman named Dooley, asked which way we
were headed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Out
on the Etley Moors,” Holmes said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Irishman’s smile vanished. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You’re
not friends with that German bastard – Pittsinger, I think his name was?” he
asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No,”
Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We are actually
investigating his murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was killed
three days ago.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Good
riddance!” our once-genial host snapped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“I don’t know what he did out there, or what evil he stirred up, but
this little town hasn’t been the same since he came riding back from the moors
two weeks ago!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one can sleep because
of the nightmares, and two folks have killed themselves – one lad hung himself
in his father’s barn, and Tom Dooley, my cousin, took his old service revolver
and blew his brains out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This town
hadn’t had a suicide in twenty years until that cursed German showed up!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“How
dreadful!” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well, if Doctor
Watson and I can find a way to undo whatever it was that Pittsinger did, I give
you my word we will give it our best effort!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You’re
Sherlock Holmes?” Dooley said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve
read about you and the good doctor here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Seems you have a knack for helping people. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go with my blessing, sir, and sorry for
getting so snappy with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought
you might be allies of that Pittsinger fellow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Godspeed, good sir.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“We
may need all the goodwill we can get,” Holmes said, and we spurred our horses
along the Davenport Causeway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several
miles out of town, he slowed his horse to a trot and moved to the edge of the
road, studying the banks that led down into the moors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a half hour, he gave an exclamation of
triumph. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Here!”
he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I was hoping the rains hadn’t
washed away all traces of Pittsinger’s passage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are about two miles east of the Hempstead bridge, and here are the
tracks of a horse leaving the road and heading into the moors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s going to be tough going, and I don’t
know if our horses can bear us all the way, but we’ll take them as far as we
can.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
moor was a muddy mess, but the water holes were generally shallow, and the
numerous tussocks of marsh grass and willow trees gave our mounts a chance to
rest and snatch a mouthful of nourishment whenever Holmes paused to study the
ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A slimy mist hung in the air,
and the mournful cries of distant birds sounded almost like human voices
wailing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After
an hour or so, Holmes led us to a tall island that rose high above the swamps
around it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several trees stood around
its shores, and we were able to tether our mounts to two of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We climbed to the tallest point on the
island, and Holmes pointed out the rough granite pillar tumbled on its
side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The square hole in the ground was
fully exposed, and the flagstone that Pittsinger described covering it with was
flung several feet away. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Someone
has been here,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Indeed
they have,” Holmes replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But the
rain has obliterated any trace of their passage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, we must prepare for our descent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please take one of these flare guns while I
secure the rope.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
a few moments, he had fixed the rope to the granite column and fed the long end
down the shaft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We adjusted our gear and
prepared to descend.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
was glad Pittsinger’s journal had revealed that the drop was not that great,
for despite the sun being high in the sky, I could not see the bottom and the
blackness grew thicker as we descended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When we reached the staircase described in the journal, Holmes drew two
torches from his rucksack and lit them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Watson,
if you would be so kind as to let me go first, I want to examine the steps on
our way down,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our
descent was slow, for he was keenly studying each step.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole place was damp, for the removal of
the flagstone had allowed the rain to fall straight down the shaft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, judging by Holmes’ occasional grunts and
nods, they had not effaced all traces of human passage. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Soon
we found ourselves in the chamber that Pittsinger had entered, and as I held up
my torch, I saw the crude pedestal that he described once more was topped by an
ancient book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Antioch Grimoire had
been returned to its resting place!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Beyond
the grimoire, the bizarre wall that the occultist described gleamed in the
light of our torches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was jet black,
smooth as polished marble, and highly reflective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw no sign of the lights or moving forms
that Pittsinger had described. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
had placed his torch in an ancient sconce on the wall next to the staircase and
was crawling on the ground, studying the scuff marks and bits of mud on the
stone floor between the steps and the pedestal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I remained standing on the last step until he rose with a sigh of
frustration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“One
set of tracks, Watson,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That
is all I see any evidence of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One set of
muddy footprints leading in and back out, by all appearances about two or three
weeks old.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“So
there is no sign that anyone other than Pittsinger was here?” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“None
whatsoever,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And yet the
grimoire has been placed back on its pedestal.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
do you make of that bizarre wall?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’ve
never seen anything like it,” Holmes said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“It resembles obsidian, but I don’t think – hullo, what’s this? Bring
your torch, Watson!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
strode across the chamber and lifted my brand above my head to provide the best
possible light, and right away I saw what Holmes had observed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At
the base of the glistening black wall, directly in front of the pedestal that
held the Antioch Grimoire, was a small puddle of the same greenish ichor that
had covered Pittsinger’s body and dripped on the floor of the room where he
died. Holmes knelt and sniffed, although I noticed he did not touch the acidic
slime.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Whatever
killed Pittsinger, it was here,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“But
what could it have been?” I mused, and then reached out my hand to touch the
black wall before us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
recoiled immediately in disgust, because whatever that barrier was made out of,
it was not stone!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was slick and taut,
but not completely hard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few years
later a recently deceased whale washed ashore at Brighton while I was there on
holiday, and when I stroked its flank, the sensation immediately brought me
back to that moment in the Etley Moors. For the back wall of that chamber felt
as if it were made of cold but still-living flesh!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
barely had time to register the bizarre touch when suddenly an unearthly glow
began shining from the entire wall, as if I had somehow triggered it. Holmes
and I both stepped back as colors began to flicker through the translucent
layer – blues, reds, and violet, mostly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When they reached their brightest, it seemed I
could see moving shapes in the distance, shapes that seemed alive but had
contours that were not like any living creature I had ever seen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
have you done, Watson?” Holmes gasped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“All
I did was touch it!” I replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Two
of the shapes seemed to draw closer in the flickering lights of whatever abyss
lay on the other side of the wall – one was round, with tentacles or arms flailing
from around its circumference; the other was more serpentine, but possessed of
an impossible number of jointed legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their outlines were repulsive, but mercifully we could make out no
details through the opaque membrane we had thought to be a stone wall. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But
then another color began pulsating in the distance – a flickering green of the
same sickly shade as the ichor that had covered Pittsinger’s body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other shapes fled away, and as the green
light grew closer, I could see a shape at the center of it, larger and more
bizarre than any of the others I glimpsed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Holmes gasped and drew the flare pistol from his cloak.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Watson,”
he said grimly, “get out of here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll be right behind you.
But I need to know you are on your way to safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just go, man, quickly!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">His
tone brooked no questions, so I fled back up the stairs, dropped my torch onto
the damp limestone, grabbed the rope, and began to climb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I reached the first of the old iron
spikes, I looked down and saw that the flickering green lights had grown so
bright I could see them reflecting on the stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I heard the sharp retort of a flare gun,
and the shaft was illuminated by the light of burning phosphorous and
magnesium.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
then heard a sound which haunts my nightmares to this day – a gibbering shriek
of pain and surprise that came from the throat of no being that should exist in
a sane world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Old wound or no, I fairly
flew up the rope at that sound, and moments later found myself gasping on the
grass outside the shaft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could see the
rope twitching as Holmes quickly ascended after me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He emerged from the pit pale and – the only
time I have ever seen this expression on his face – frightened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Hand
me your flare pistol, Watson,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I gave him the gun and he aimed it down the shaft and fired straight
down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“One
thing Pittsinger got right,” he muttered quietly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It hates the bright light.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
rummaged through his rucksack and pulled out a small bundle wrapped in burlap.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Go
wait with the horses, Watson, and be ready to ride,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
is that, Holmes?” I said, staring at the bundle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Dynamite,”
he replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I need to be sure no one
else ever finds this accursed pit again!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
nodded, and grabbing the gear I had brought, I quickly walked down to where the
horses were tied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holmes came rushing
behind me a moment later, and just as he caught up an enormous blast shook the
whole island, and a gout of flame and smoke shot out of the shaft we’d just
emerged from. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, with a rumble of
stone, the top of the island slowly collapsed inward as the chamber we had
found was buried under several tons of rock and topsoil. My friend heaved a
deep sigh and leaned against his horse’s flank. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
was it, Holmes?” I asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What did you
see?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
great detective took my hand in both of his and looked at me with eyes that
reflected a sense of shock, fear, and loathing such as I have never seen in
them before or since.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Watson,
you are the best and bravest man I have ever known. But, for the good of your
soul, my dear friend, and the protection of your sanity, you must never ask me
that,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I will carry the burden
of what I witnessed to my grave alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We will tell Lestrade that Pittsinger’s killer is no more, and I will
inform him that any further inquiries into the matter are unwelcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He won’t like it, but he owes me enough from
past favors that he will reluctantly comply. Now let us leave this godforsaken
place and return to London!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With
that he climbed onto his horse and laid on the spurs with such enthusiasm it
was all I could do to keep up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
returned our mounts to the stables, and Holmes informed Mr. Dooley that the
people of Davenport were safe again. Late that afternoon, we boarded the train
for London, and by nightfall we were back at Baker Street.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Holmes
was never a heavy drinker, but since I had weaned him off the hellish habit of
cocaine several years before, that night he sought oblivion in the bottle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even as his physician, I could hardly blame
him – the memory of what I’d seen before fleeing would deprive me of sound
sleep for the next few weeks. But when I finally helped him to bed, long after
midnight, Holmes grasped my sleeve and looked at me with a pleading expression.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Don’t
write about this case, Watson!” he begged me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“The world cannot know that such things exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can scarcely credit it myself, but it drew
very near to the barrier before I fired my pistol and set that accursed book
ablaze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw it, Watson, in that moment
– ‘He That Walks in Darkness’ indeed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
looked at me, Watson, and I will see it in my dreams until I die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That three-lobed, burning eye!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We
never spoke of that day again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-87140282685100517112023-10-28T18:25:00.001-07:002023-10-28T18:25:06.612-07:00GUESS WHO'S BACK??????<p> Wow. TEN MONTHS? How is it that I have been gone from this place for ten whole months? Well . . . it's complicated. So let me fill all you folks in on what's been going on since then, and tell you what lies ahead (hopefully) as we prepare to bid adieu to 2023 and face whatever 2024 brings to us with our usual mix of hope and trepidation. </p><p> So, the last time I updated this blog I was about halfway through the story arc of my Abraham Lincoln alternative history novel, WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE. Most of my spare time last winter, spring, and summer was dedicated to finishing this incredibly difficult project. Doing justice to Lincoln - especially writing speeches that could come anywhere close to matching his marvelous compassion, eloquence, and command of the English language was the most ambitious work I have ever undertaken, and I was very glad to finish the book this summer. Since my publisher has gone under, I am actively seeking a literary agent willing to rep this book to a major publishing house. If that description fits you, PLEASE get ahold of me! So far I have had several historians and Lincoln scholars evaluate this story, and I've gotten some nice reviews. It's a powerful tale with tremendous commercial potential as well as being the best thing I have ever written. I can't wait to see it in print!</p><p> December was a rough month for me. My dear friend and longtime arrowhead hunting buddy, Raymond Gathright, died of a long illness a few days after Christmas. So many good memories, so many "Ray and Indy" stories - it was a tough goodbye for me to say. His family asked me to sell his arrowhead collection, and most of his best pieces went to new homes at the Temple artifact show in June. I still have a few cherrypicked frames of his I'm trying to sell, but I was able to make a nice amount of money for his wife Shaonda, and share a lot of great stories of our hunts together with those who bought his points. </p><p> School and writing, doing occasional book signings for my novels, and conducting lots of guided river hunts filled up much of my weekend time this year. I've hunted fossils and artifacts for so long on the Sulphur River that people are willing to pay for my guide services, and I always try to send them home with a pocket full of fossils and an arrowhead or two. Of course, every now and then one of my guests has to show off and find a killer piece that leaves me feeling jealous, like the one sweet lady whose first arrowhead find ever was a nearly 3" fishtailed Clovis point! But rescuing bits of history is the name of the game, even when the nice ones go home with someone else. I've had a great time. </p><p> I've also been really active on YouTube - I finally learned how to edit and upload my own stuff, instead of relying on the help of others, and with all the river trips I was cranking out an episode a week for most of this year! If you want to watch any of my adventures, the channel is called "Indiana Smith." We made some truly amazing discoveries, both fossils and artifacts. Check it out, feel free to subscribe and leave some comments. </p><p> The biggest literary news of the year was that the Electio Publishing, the indie house that had released all six of my novels, has been bought out by a larger company called Untreed Reads. I had some very satisfactory communications with them at first, but it's been several months since I got anything other than a quarterly royalty statement, and I've seen no sign that they are aggressively marketing my books, as they promised they would. Frankly, I'm beginning to think that I have achieved all I can get from small, independent publishers. I need an agent to pitch my novels to a major publisher with a real marketing department or I'm never going to achieve the national audience I have been striving for since I published my first book nine years ago. All my efforts from here on out will be directed to that end. Wish me luck!</p><p> Other than that, life has kept rolling along. I haven't started a new book yet, but I've completed three short stories since finishing WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE this summer, and I'll be publishing them here starting tomorrow! For Halloween, I've written a delightfully creepy adventure in which Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson investigate a gruesome killing whose circumstances have no natural explanation. I'm sure you will enjoy it. </p><p> So, once again, I apologize for the long hiatus in posting here, and I promise I'll be bringing you a lot more new content in the future! Stand by tomorrow for my newest short story! Oh, and here's a link to my YouTube channel:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb4pFJx_PIDzM6SgMC6suQ</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-665414449279665102022-12-04T12:14:00.000-08:002022-12-04T12:14:08.654-08:00A Sneak Peek at My New Novel, WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE! Lincoln, Hamilton, and Roosevelt - Oh my!<p> I always enjoy trying to link my various novels together with little cross-references or homages. My current work in progress, WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE, is the second foray into alternative history I've done, the first being PRESIDENT HAMILTON. But among my unpublished works, there is the full libretto to a two-act musical about Theodore Roosevelt, another one of my favorite American leaders. So, in Chapter Sixteen of my Lincoln story, set in the late fall of 1865, I decided to tip my hat to both of these past writing projects. Let me know what you think:</p><p><br /></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Before leaving New York, Lincoln was invited to be the
guest of honor at a dinner hosted by some of the city’s leading attorneys. He
delivered a few brief remarks, thanking them for the invitation, and then took
his seat at the head table. Across from
him was a man who looked vaguely familiar, a white-haired septuagenarian with a
prominent Roman nose and high forehead. Lincoln was trying to figure out where he knew
him from when the gentleman saw the President looking at him and smiled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Thank you for your remarks, Mister President,” he
said, offering his hand. “I am John C.
Hamilton. My son Alexander speaks very
highly of you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Of course!” Lincoln said. “I think we met briefly at the Willard two
years ago. Your son Alex is an excellent
staff officer and did a fine job delivering my daily military briefings.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“He’s named after my father, of course, and I can’t
help thinking that Papa would be proud of his service in this regrettable
conflict,” Hamilton said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Your father was a great man,” Lincoln said. “His grasp of economics, and of the
relationship between labor and capital, was ahead of his time. Education, especially education of the
working class, is central to the general welfare of the nation, and he
recognized that truth and championed it. Jefferson wrote some memorable phrases about
human liberty, but Alexander Hamilton understood the importance of economic
liberty. National prosperity does not
lie in the concentration of wealth at the very top of society, but on
prosperity that is shared by every level.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Exactly right!” John Hamilton said. “Jefferson condemned my father as a
monarchist for wanting the federal government to be stronger than that of the
states, but Papa knew that people can only be free when the government is
strong enough to protect their freedoms, and fairly administered enough so that
every man has a chance to rise as high as his abilities will take him!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“That is the dream of America,” Lincoln said, “and I
am living proof of it. No one will ever
be able to say that I came from a life of privilege, and yet by the grace of
God and no little sweat and effort on my own part, I’ve risen to lead this
great land.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“And you have led it very well!” Hamilton said. “My father would appreciate your strong stand
for our glorious union, and your implacable hostility to slavery, for he shared
your views on both those issues. You
know, he wanted to arm Negroes to fight in the Revolution, but his proposal was
voted down.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I thank you for your kind words, Mister Hamilton,”
Lincoln said. “Your father was a man I
wish I could have known, and I will say that I read your biographical series
about him with great interest. I like to think that in some ways I have
fulfilled his vision for our nation.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Hamilton leaned across the table and lowered his
voice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Mister President,” he said, “I don’t speak of this
very often. I was nearly twelve when Papa
took part in that dreadful duel with Aaron Burr. Even as my father was dying, in the agonies
of his mortal wound, his thoughts were of the future of our country. After bidding farewell to my mother and
younger brothers, he looked at me and the others at his bedside and said: ‘If
they break this Union, they will break my heart.’ I must say, sir, that when the rebels fired
on Fort Sumter, I thought that my father’s worst nightmare had finally come
true. And it might have, had it not been
for you. You stood up to them, Mister President. You led our nation through a long, dark night
of disunion and rebellion, and into the glorious dawn of liberty and
unity! Thank you, Mister Lincoln, for
saving the Union my father struggled and died for. If he is looking down on this vale of tears
from the hereafter, I know that he would approve of your decency, your courage,
and your passion for freedom.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“That is high praise indeed, Mister Hamilton,” said
Lincoln, deeply moved. “Those words mean more to me than I can say.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“They are heartfelt,” Hamilton replied. “In some ways, Mister President, I feel you
have completed the work my father and Washington began, by saving the Union
from dissolution.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln rose and bowed deeply, and then found himself
accosted by Governor Fenton, who had ousted Horatio Seymour the previous
fall. By the time he was done speaking
with the governor, the President saw that Hamilton had gone home for the
evening. They did not meet again for several years thereafter, but the
conversation he had with Alexander Hamilton’s son remained with Lincoln for the
rest of his life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">As he was leaving the dinner, Lincoln was accosted by
a familiar figure. Theodore Roosevelt
had been an active member of the Union League, and during the war he had
championed the allotment system that allowed Union soldiers to send a monthly
portion of their pay to their families at home.
The President had been very impressed with the idea and had appointed
Roosevelt to be the allotment commissioner for all of New York. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“My dear Mr. Roosevelt,” Lincoln said, “it is good to
see you again!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am delighted to see you as well, Mister President,”
said the sturdy, bearded figure.
Roosevelt had done much to support the Union armies but had chosen not
to serve in the military himself – partly because, Lincoln suspected,
Roosevelt’s wife had been an active supporter of the Confederacy and her two
brothers had donned the grey to fight for the South. Since some of his own wife’s family had also
fought on the opposite side, Lincoln felt a certain empathy for a man caught in
the middle. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“What can I do for a man who did so much to help our
boys in blue?” Lincoln said after exchanging a few pleasantries.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I have a son who would very much like to meet you, Mister
President,” the New Yorker said. “He’s
waiting in my carriage – he’s been very sick, but he absolutely begged me to let
him see you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I’d be delighted,” Lincoln said. “I know how much my Taddie enjoys meeting the
people he’s looked up to.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Trailed by his ubiquitous military guards, Lincoln
followed Roosevelt to a richly appointed carriage that was waiting at the curb.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Teedie?” the elder Roosevelt said. “I’ve brought him to meet you!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There was a rustle of blankets, and a pale young face
sporting an enormous pair of spectacles looked out the window at the President.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“President Lincoln!” the lad exclaimed. Even in the pale light from the nearby
streetlamp, Lincoln could tell that the boy was not well. He was very thin for his size, his face was
pale, and there were dark hollows under his eyes. Moved with compassion, the
President reached his long arms through the window of the carriage and lifted
the child out, cradling him so the boy could look him in the eye.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“And who might you be, my lad?” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I’m Theodore Roosevelt Junior!” the child replied
with evident pride in his family name. “My papa is the best man I know, and he
says that you are the best man in the whole world!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln laughed and the elder Roosevelt flushed
slightly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Well, the good opinion of men like your daddy means
the world to me,” he said. “Your father
did noble service to our great Union during the war, and I am very grateful to
him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I wanted the war to last longer so I could go fight!”
the lad said, but then his small body spasmed as he was racked with coughs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“What ails the lad?” Lincoln said softly as he patted
the child on the back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“The doctors call it asthma,” Roosevelt replied. “He will be all right for several weeks, but
then it will kick in again, and he wheezes and turns blue and frightens us
dreadfully.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“It’s not that bad, Papa,” the boy said as he got his
breath back. “I always get better!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“And I have hopes that one day you will outgrow it, as
many men do,” his father said, ruffling the boy’s brown hair. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am very glad that the war did not last another
dozen years,” Lincoln said to the younger Roosevelt, “but as brave as you are,
I will bet the rebels are equally glad they didn’t have to fight you!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The boy’s eyes sparkled, and he threw his arms around
the President’s neck.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I think you are as good a man as papa says,” he told
Lincoln.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“You’re quite the young politician,” the President
told him. “You mind your schooling and develop
that young mind of yours, and one day you might get to live in the White House,
too!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I’d rather be a great general,” Theodore Junior said,
“but being President wouldn’t be bad either.
Could I do both?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln laughed out loud at the boy’s ambitions and said:
“It wouldn’t surprise me if you did, my lad!
Now I need to go back to my hotel – I have to leave early in the
morning. It was a delight to meet you,
Theodore.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“You can call me Teedie,” the boy said. “Everybody
does!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p>
</p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Do they now?” Lincoln mused. “Well, then, good night, Teedie, and thank
you, Mr. Roosevelt, for introducing me to your remarkable son!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And don't forget, if you'd like to get your own copy of PRESIDENT HAMILTON: A NOVEL OF ALTERNATIVE HISTORY, all you have to do is click the link below:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;">https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1657739091&sr=1-1</span></span></p><p><br /></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-36483857759795286762022-10-25T20:24:00.003-07:002022-10-25T20:26:04.228-07:00Another New Horror Story for Halloween - WHAT WAS IT??<p> This story, which I finished up this morning and edited tonight, combines two of my favorite things in the world - hunting Indian relics, and a good old-fashioned creature feature involving some Lovecraftian nightmare lurking in West Texas. So if you like finding pointy rocks and encountering horrid monstrosities while on the search, read on!!!</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 22pt; line-height: 107%;"> WHAT WAS IT?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> An Original Horror Story<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> By<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> Lewis B. Smith<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What was it, Dan??” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those were the last words my best
friend Roger ever spoke to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His vital
signs crashing, blood streaming from multiple wounds, one hand gone, eyes bulging,
his face twisted by fear and shock, he grabbed my arm as the paramedics lifted
the stretcher into the ambulance and rasped those words out with a desperate
intensity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the time they got him to
the hospital, he was dead.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That agonized question played over and
over in my head as I answered the sheriff’s questions that night, and later on,
as I made the heartbreaking phone call to Amanda, his beautiful wife – widow, I
mean!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What an ocean of suffering that
simple transition of nouns conceals! – I could still hear them echoing in my
head. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even as I helped carry his coffin
to the grave that had been dug in the small cemetery near the church he and his
family attended, that question played in my mind over and over again, those frantic
eyes seared into my memory, his voice mustering up the last of his dying body’s
energy to demand an answer from me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The truth is, I didn’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I was only ten feet from him when
he sustained the injuries that ended his life, I cannot say with any certainty
what the creature was – if indeed, it was a living thing. The fleeting glimpses
I caught in the moments leading up to the final horror were of a being that had
no place in a rational world, and the memory of them still haunts my dreams,
waking me in the middle of the night screaming out the same question that my
friend asked me before he perished. Because I have no idea what it was, and
even now, I’m not sure I want to know. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This all sounds confusing to me, staring
at what I’ve just written, and I’m sure it must be even more so to you, whoever
you are, as you try to figure out what on earth I am talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess I should start at the beginning and
do my best to explain what happened. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe writing it down will help me make sense
of it all – if such a word can even be applied to what we experienced!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It started as a routine trip to South
Texas. Roger had gotten permission for us to go digging for arrowheads on a
large ranch near Bandera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such
permission had been easy to get years before, when he and I started collecting
Indian relics as a hobby in the 1990’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the decades since, however, ranchers had discovered that collectors would
pay fifty bucks a pop to hand dig on a good camp for a day, and upwards of two
hundred dollars a day each for a “screen dig” – where a large table with an
iron mesh top was set up, and a small bulldozer would scoop out a load of undug
soil and dump it on each screen table for the hunters to sift by hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two hunters per table, six to eight tables
per camp, until the whole site was destroyed, and all the artifacts went home
with the customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A large campsite,
rich with points, could mean tens of thousands of dollars to the property
owner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With that kind of money to be
made, few ranchers were willing to let people come dig for free anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So when Roger told me his Dad’s cousin
Jimmy had a big ranch near Bandera – prime artifact country! – that had never
been dug, and that he was willing to let us come down and spend a weekend
exploring and digging all we wanted, I was excited at the prospect. I talked to
my wife Priscilla and asked her if she’d made any plans for us that weekend,
and when she said we were free, I bribed her with a day spa pass at her
favorite beauty spa (not that she needed it; I know that’s what a husband is
supposed to say, but in my case it’s the plain truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I married about six floors above my level and
I know it!). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger’s wife was ten years younger
than him and had always been happy to let him sneak off for a weekend with me;
she and Pris were close friends and often hung out together when he and I were out
digging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She occasionally joined us,
though – she liked artifacts and wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty or break
a nail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thank God she stayed home that
weekend – it was hard enough seeing my best friend ripped up before my eyes; I
can’t imagine seeing the love of my life die like that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Friday afternoon at two, Roger and I
met up after leaving work early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
he’d secured the spot, I provided the vehicle and gas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about six hours from our neighborhood
in Lancaster, on the south side of Dallas, to the small town of Bandera, west
of San Antonio, and that was if Austin traffic wasn’t hopelessly congested (as
it usually was).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We debated swinging west
and going through a series of small towns instead of taking the interstate, but
the latter part of our drive would be in the dark, and even with cell phone
navigation (assuming we had a clear signal), the odds of a wrong turn seemed
rather high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So onward we hammered down
I-35, getting through Waco ahead of the afternoon rush, and then sat and
sweltered for the better part of an hour as the stop-and-start traffic of the
state capital rendered my truck’s AC useless. We finally got free of Austin by
about half past six in the evening, and the last hour and a half or so were
cross-country, free of the interstate, watching the sun set about an hour
before we finally arrived at the small town of Bandera around 9 PM.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We didn’t want to bother our host so
late in the evening, so after a quick text to let Jimmy know we were nearby, we
checked into the smallest of Bandera’s three hotels, and managed to grab some
fast food at Sonic – the steak house where we’d hoped to dine was already
closed – and then turned in for the night. Neither of us slept well, of course –
we were too excited at the prospect of the next day’s dig!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(For those outside our hobby, northeast
Texas, where we lived and normally hunted artifacts, is a flint-poor region,
and most points we find are small and made of rough quartzite or petrified wood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Southwest Texas is loaded with slick, glossy
Edwards plateau chert, which comes out of the limestone in huge tabs and could
be made into large, beautiful points, much nicer than what we normally found at
home.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>By 7 AM we were both wide awake, and
we had a hearty breakfast at the town’s diner before heading out along the farm-to-market
road that led to Jimmy’s ranch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our host
was waiting for us – a crusty, seventy-five-year-old West Texas rancher who
could have stepped straight out of a 1960’s Western.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Greeting us both with a handshake that could
have crushed concrete, he told us a little bit about the place we’d be
searching. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I never was that fascinated by Indian
rocks,” he said, “but as a kid I found a bunch of them on that slope below the
cliffs yonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’d wash down from the
overhangs into the crick, and after the spring rains they’d be scattered down
the slope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you go north, round the
shoulder of that bluff, there’s a spring comes out of the rocks and trickles
down into the creek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was always a
bunch of them there, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You fellers
can dig all you want, all I ask is fill in your holes and don’t destroy any of
my trees – except the cedars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
take out all of those nuisances you want.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thanks, Jimmy,” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This really means a lot to us – not many
folks are willing to let us come dig any more in these parts.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Too many folks got dollar signs in
their eyes,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I don’t want them
dang dirt rapers coming on my place!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
saw what was left of the Holloway’s ranch when they were done, and it was
pitiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, they filled in their
holes, but they also destroyed everything that made that place so beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t mind friends and family coming here
and digging up a few arryheads, and as long as I’m careful about who I let in,
and how many, there’ll be Indian rocks to be found by my grandkids’ grandkids!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s a huge place,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I imagine we’ll find enough to go home happy
and leave plenty for those who come after us.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The old man laughed and clapped me on
the shoulder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s exactly what I thought, when Roger
asked me if y’all could come,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“He
also vouched for you, or I wouldn’t let you near the place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No offense, I just don’t know you yet.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Understandable,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Well, my students have rated me ‘mostly
harmless,’ my Dad has conceded that I’m not a disappointment, and my Mom is
happy that I married what she called ‘a nice girl.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anything else you want to know?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You a Cowboys fan?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I bleed silver and blue,” I replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Reckon you’ll do, then,” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Now, there’s an old foreman’s
cabin out back; I put fresh linens on the bed so you fellers don’t have to
worry about a hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shower in the cabin
is busted, but you’re welcome to come up to the house and use the guest shower
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Supper’s at six; I got some rib eyes
on sale at the meat market yesterday – if you’re late, I may finish all three
of them myself!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I imagine by six we’ll be ready for
them,” Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Digging’s hungry
work; we packed sandwiches and drinks for lunch, but by supper I imagine they
will have worn off.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“One other thing,” the old rancher
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve had some cows come up
missing lately, so if you find a carcass or some sign of predators, let me
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to find out what’s killing
them, or if I have a thief to contend with.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sure thing,’ Roger said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I think we’re both ready to get out and
start searching!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anything else we should
know?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nothing I can think of. Watch out for
rattlesnakes; they’re not as active now as they will be in a few months, but
they still come out to sun on warm days. They’ll avoid you if you give them a
chance.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t kill snakes unless it’s
unavoidable,” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Plenty of room
out here for us and them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yup,” Jimmy said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“As long as they stay out of my house and
yard, I leave them alone.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With that, we bid each other good day,
and Roger and I headed to the base of the big hill he’d pointed out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure enough, the slope between the bluff and
the creek was littered with flint, and we found several broken points and two
nice whole ones within the first hour as we slowly worked our way towards the
spring Jimmy had mentioned to us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
talked about many things that fine morning, but one of the first things I said
after we got out of earshot regarded Jimmy’s missing cows.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do you really think there are cattle
rustlers out here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, this is the
2020’s, not the 1890’s!” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not a chance,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“More likely a pack of coyotes, or maybe a
mountain lion.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of course, it turned out to be neither
of those things, nor cattle rustlers either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In retrospect, I think I would rather have faced all of them at once
instead of the thing we found – or, I suppose it would be more accurate to say,
the thing that found us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’m getting
ahead of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m trying to explain
this whole thing in order, and the horror didn’t really begin till the next day
– although there was a sign that first day that I wish we hadn’t ignored.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It had taken us all morning to search
the slope between the bluff and the creek from the place behind the ranch house
where we started until we came to the curve of the hill where the clear, fresh
spring flowed from a cleft in the rock. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as Jimmy said, the signs of ancient
occupation grew thicker and thicker close to the spring, and we were each
avidly searching the ground, flipping over every exposed bit of worked flint we
saw, and crying out when we found a complete point or tool.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then the breeze shifted, and I caught
the unmistakable smell of rotting flesh nearby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I swiveled my head, trying to locate the source, and saw a large spatter
of dried, blackened blood on the ground next to a post oak tree. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a trail of drops on the tree’s trunk
as well, and as my eyes followed it upward, I found the source.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ten feet off the ground, leaning
against the bole of the tree where a sturdy branch emerged from the trunk, was
the head of a cow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been dead for
several days, and flies were buzzing around it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Something reeks!” Roger said at that
moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Look up there,” I told him, pointing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How in the Sam Hill did a cow’s head
get way up there?” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think we can rule out coyotes,” I
replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Only predator I can think of
that climbs trees would be a mountain lion.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I want a closer look,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Can you reach it with your walking stick?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I had to stand on a rock, but I
managed to poke the thing hard enough to knock it loose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It hit the ground with a sickening, wet thud
and the smell of rot wafted up so strong I nearly gagged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger held his nose and bent over the severed
head, grabbing one of its horns to turn it over.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This is odd,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oddly disgusting!” I replied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, duh,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s pretty ripe, but look here, at where it
was severed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This wasn’t a wild
animal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a clean cut, not a bite
or claw mark!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I had stepped upwind to get a breath of
clean air, but I circled back and saw that he was correct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The head had been cleanly cut off about six
inches down from the ears, and even the vertebrae were cleanly sliced, with no
jagged edges protruding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interested
despite the stench, I looked closer and noticed something else.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Roger, both his eyes are gone,” I
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t birds always go for the eyes
first?” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Have you seen a bird out here all
morning?” I replied, for I had noticed how silent the woods had been around us
for some time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Come to think of it, I haven’t,” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And normally a chunk of carrion
this big would have a dozen buzzards fighting over it!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m all in for a mystery,” I said, “but
this thing really stinks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s snap a
couple of pictures for Jimmy and move on!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We photographed the head from several
angles, turning it over with our walking sticks, and then resumed our
search.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, I found the grisly image
floating in my thoughts – who would neatly decapitate a fully grown cow and
leave its head up in a tree?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And where
was the rest of the beast?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>By the end of the day, we had each
found a half dozen or more whole points, including a beautifully worked corner
tang knife that I flipped out of the dirt after only seeing one corner of the
base exposed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d also picked a spot to
dig the next day, an ancient midden just on the other side of the spring that looked
very promising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made it back to the
ranch house a few minutes before dinner, and the smell of grilled steaks drove
the day’s odd discovery out of our heads for the half hour it took us to devour
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Looks like you boys had a fine day
hunting rocks,” Jimmy said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Did you see
any sign of my missing cows?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Dang, that reminds me,” said
Roger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We found the weirdest
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a severed cow’s head in
the fork of a tree near the spring, about ten feet up!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We knocked it down and took some pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crazy thing, the head wasn’t bitten or torn
off, it was cut clean as a whistle!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The old rancher paled, and then
silently took Roger’s proffered phone, scrolling through the pictures of our
grisly find.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He handed the phone back, his
face set in a grim line, and the room grew deathly quiet – until Jimmy slammed
his hand down on the table so loudly we both jumped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Damn it all, it’s come back!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he snarled, and then let loose with a string
of profanity that my old Navy buddies would have been proud of. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He finally wound down after a couple of
minutes, and then let out a long sigh.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I was hoping it was gone for good, or
at least, that it wouldn’t come back in my lifetime,” he said softly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What is ‘it’?” Dan asked,
unconsciously foreshadowing the final question he would rasp out to me in about
twenty-four hours. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No one rightly knows,” Jimmy
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Only a few people ever caught a
glimpse of it, and none of them in broad daylight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last time it came around was in the nineties,
around the time they impeached Slick Willie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Before that, it was when Reagan was President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once during Vietnam, and before that, not
long after Pearl Harbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s stories
going back further still, to the days of the Indian Wars, but I can’t vouch for
them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Stories about what?” I asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was incredulous but still fascinated – I’ve
always loved a good real-life mystery, from the Bermuda Triangle to Oak Island.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It always starts with cattle,” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They go missing, and then parts
are found – always neatly severed, never torn up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scavengers won’t touch them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some say that, if found soon enough, they’re covered
with some sticky green, snot-like fluid, but it melts away when the sun hits
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It goes on for a few weeks, and
there’s stories – I don’t know if they’re true or not, but my Pop swore at
least one of them was – of people being taken too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the war they found a boy’s head in a
tree over in Johnson County right after a string of cattle were found cut up,
and both his eyes gone neat as you please.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then, for whatever reason, it stops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cattle quit disappearing, people quit seeing strange things, and we
persuade ourselves that it’s gone for good this time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it always comes back.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He shifted uncomfortably in his chair,
and then stared at Roger.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Look,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I gave you two permission to come out here,
and I don’t mean to be ungracious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
if you wanted to go home and come back in a month or two, when this is all
over, it’d ease my mind a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If something
happened to you out here, it’d weigh on my mighty heavy.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How I wish we’d packed our gear and
headed home that night!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Roger shook
his head slowly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We won’t have another chance to come
down for a couple months,” he said, “and by then it’ll be a hundred ten in the
shade, and the ground will be like concrete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We found a sweet-looking midden across from the spring, and I’d really
like to get in just one day of digging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tell you what – if it’s OK, we’ll cut out at sunset tomorrow; we’d be
back in Bandera by dark and drive home Sunday morning early.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’d really like to get in one more day of
hunting, since we drove all this way.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jimmy nodded slowly, and then stood
up, gathering our plates.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I reckon as long as you’re out by
dark, it’ll be all right,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But
stay in your cabin tonight!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And take
this with you tomorrow, just in case.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He reached into a nearby cabinet and
pulled out a huge, gleaming silver pistol, a .44 hogleg that looked like
something out of a war movie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t expect you’ll need it, but I’d
feel better if you had it,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thanks, Jim,” said Roger. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We’ll be careful.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After we retired to our cabin, I
looked at my friend closely.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do you believe any of that tall tale?”
I said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I remember seeing something about cattle
mutilations in the news back in the 90’s,” he said, “and I remember my Dad
talking about finding a huge bull sliced clean in half on their ranch, one
county over, when he was a boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always
thought he was spinning one, kind of like you thought Jimmy was tonight. But –
I tell you, west Texas ranchers don’t scare easy, and that old man looked
scared to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know if this whole
thing is real or not, but I’ll guarantee you HE thinks it's real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for me, I’m going to take a long shower,
climb into that bed, and not think about it till tomorrow.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I nodded, and as he trudged back to
the ranch house for a shower, I looked out the window at the dark bulk of the
limestone hill rising behind us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
majestic as it had looked under the warm springtime sun, by the faint light of
the waning crescent moon it took on a more sinister aspect, like some enormous
beast buried deep in slumber, dreaming of its prey. Then I noticed a small but
very bright red star gleaming just above the tree line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It shone brighter than Mars or Venus, and as
I watched, it seemed to split into two for just a moment – and then it winked
out. Must have been an airplane or a drone, I thought. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I
got my own shower when Roger came back, and as I padded back to the cabin in my
shorts and t-shirt, I thought I heard the screaming bellow of a wounded cow far
off in the distance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shivered
involuntarily, but then reminded myself it was calving season, and decided all
I’d heard was a new calf being born. With that rather positive image in my
mind, I quickly faded off to sleep. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The next day, as soon as we’d wolfed
down breakfast, Roger and I headed straight to the midden we’d found the day
before and started digging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rich
black soil was full of snail shells and charcoal, and within a half hour Roger
pulled out a nice Pedernales spearpoint nearly four inches long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few minutes after that I found a Marshall
point with flared, delicate barbs, and from that point on we forgot about mutilated
cattle, missing children, and mysterious disappearances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will say this about that day – it was the
best dig Roger and I ever had together. Between the two of us, we found fifteen
points that day, several of them large and perfect examples, nearly all of
types that rarely, if ever, were to be found in North Texas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We hung the .44 in its holster from
the limb of a tree that overhung our dig, but neither of us ever really thought
about it after that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sun was shining,
the soil was soft and damp, and the artifacts abundant and beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We talked about our friends in the hobby,
some still around and others long gone, and about how much fun we’d have
showing off our finds at the big show in Temple, TX in a couple months’ time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sun seemed to fairly leap across the spring
sky that day, and long before we tired of digging the shadows started to
lengthen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We filled our holes back in and
gathered our things, rescued the .44 from its perch, and headed back down to
the ranch house as we’d promised. Jimmy seemed relieved to see us and told us
to go ahead and take a quick shower while he grilled us some cheeseburgers as a
parting meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d barely stopped
digging to eat our sandwiches at lunchtime, and those burgers were delicious. Our
bellies full and our flint craving satisfied, we thanked Jimmy many times over
for his hospitality and climbed into my truck to head to town just as the sun
dipped over the horizon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was a bumpy mile down a rock and
gravel road to the nearest pavement, and as we neared the farm to market road,
I noticed that the wheel was thumping a lot harder than it should have, rough road
notwithstanding.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well crap,” I commented to
Roger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I think we have a flat!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here’s a level spot,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Pull over and let’s get her changed before
it’s full dark.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We were within sight of the paved road
that led back to Bandera, and there was perhaps a half hours’ worth of twilight
left. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I jacked the truck up quickly, and
Roger got the spare out from under the bed of the truck, where it was held in
place by a cable and winch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was just loosening
the lug nuts when I first heard the sound that still haunts my dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First there was a whistling, whooshing sound
from somewhere overhead, not too close, but not far either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the sound that followed – God, I have taught
English for nearly thirty years, and I have two master’s degrees, but I’m not
sure our language has any words that convey the horror of that awful noise!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed to combine the worst elements of
mechanical sound – the screeching of an engine on the brink of shredding itself
– with the most haunting ululations a predatory animal can make. Screeching,
warbling, roaring, and whistling all at the same time, and still I can’t convey
the horrible <i>other-ness </i>of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was a sound that had no place on this world, or on any other world created by a
sane God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What the hell was that?” Roger
gasped, straightening up, and then a dark shadow came between us and the fading
light in the western sky. I looked up too late to catch more than a glimpse of something
huge swooping above us. Its wings were somewhere between those of a bat, a
giant insect, and a biplane. Three long, forked tails twisted and curled in its
wake, and as it banked and swooped back towards us, I saw the same red lights I’d
glimpsed in the distance the night before blazing through the dark in our
direction. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Get back in the truck!” I shrieked at
Roger, even as I dove for the door myself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was right behind me when two whiplike
appendages came lashing out from an unseen orifice beneath those blazing red – eyes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>headlights? portholes? – and wrapped around his
waist and neck.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I didn’t have a gun of my own with me,
but I had packed along a razor-sharp machete to help clear the stubborn
mesquite roots and branches while digging. I reached into the bed of the truck
and grabbed it as Roger was dragged helplessly along the ground behind that
winged monstrosity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hold on, buddy!” I cried, and then managed
to catch up with him after a short sprint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I swung with all my strength, and the cord or tentacle or whip around
his neck was cleanly severed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
monster retracted the damaged appendage quickly, and as it shot past my face
some greenish fluid struck my cheek and burned on contact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A second time that horrific sound assaulted
my ears, much closer and more discordant than ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aware of nothing except my desperate need to
make it stop, I hurled the machete at the giant shadow that filled the sky over
our heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the glowing red orbs
suddenly winked out, and the horrible screeching doubled in volume, so loud
that I fell backward with my hands over my ears trying to blot it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’d injured whatever it was, and the cord
around Roger’s waist released him as the shadow retreated upwards, the awful
shriek falling silent for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
crawled to my friend and helped him to his feet, staggering back to the truck
while trying to keep him upright. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But whatever it was, it had not given
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a few feet short of the open
door, we were struck in the back and knocked flat as the thing swooped even
lower than before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt a sharp pain
across my shoulder blades, and later that evening the doctor at the local
hospital would stitch up six parallel gashes, about an inch apart, that had cut
clean through my tough denim jacket and flannel shirt. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For some reason, the flying entity was
focused on Roger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The huge bulk settled
to the ground on top of him, and I saw multiple legs and tentacles and some
sort of tubular proboscis that was neither descending upon his body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He jerked and shrieked as they penetrated his
flesh. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The closest thing to a weapon I had at
hand was the long, curved “wiggle pick” I’d used to dig for points earlier in
the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I staggered to my feet and
grabbed it, lurching forward towards the nightmare shape that was trying to
devour my friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I swung as hard as I
could and buried the pick in one of its limbs, which was covered with prickly
black fur but jointed, like a spider’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A second limb swatted at me and knocked me flat, and then the nightmare
creature dropped Roger and advanced towards me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I scrambled away, unable to get to my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the gathering darkness, I saw the winged
shape lift its four front legs off the ground as it prepared to spring.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A flash of blinding light and a report
like a thunderclap sounded from behind the creature, and I felt droplets of
that burning liquid strike my face and hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The monster shrieked again, and I detected a note of pain and anger in
its roar this time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Get off them boys, you bastid!!”
Jimmy’s voice came roaring out of the darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Get back to whatever hell you came from!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Three more deafening shots were fired,
and by the muzzle flash I could see Jimmy standing there, legs apart, the .44
leveled at the creature that had been trying to kill us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard that awful cry for the last time, and
then the thing launched itself into the air, hurling itself at the sturdy West
Texas rancher as he squeezed the trigger for the last time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing angled upwards, passing a few feet
over his head, but as it did, a narrow, whiplike appendage lashed out, wrapping
around Jimmy’s neck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old man barely
had time to let out a choking scream before the creature tightened its grip and
his head was severed from his body, dropping to the ground between his
feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jimmy’s headless corpse remained
on its feet for what seemed like an impossibly long time before slowly toppling
backwards, the gun still gripped in his hands. Then, with no more sound save
the rush of air over its four wings, the creature flew back towards the dark
mountain in the distance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I struggled to sit up and pull my
phone out of my pocket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My skin was
burning in a dozen places where the creature’s blood – or was it oil? – there
was something in the way the thing moved that was more mechanical than
biological – had spattered on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
dialed 911 and then crawled over to Roger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was bleeding profusely, and one of his hands was neatly severed just
above the wrist where the thing had wrapped one of its appendages around
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the missing hand there was no
sign, and I shuddered as I thought of whatever foul gullet was now digesting it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The paramedics were there in less than
a half hour; an impressive response time considering how remote the old man’s
ranch was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat there, holding Roger,
trying to stem the flow of blood, as we waited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He barely spoke, whimpering in pain as the life drained from him, but after
they arrived and placed him on the stretcher, he reached out to me with his
remaining hand, grabbed my sleeve and pulled me close.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What was it, Dan?” he rasped out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God help me, I still don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-1157544395620255992022-10-08T19:02:00.001-07:002022-10-08T19:02:14.699-07:00A New Short Story for October - THE HORROR OF HEMPSTEAD HOUSE<p> The first genre of literature/film I ever fell in love with was horror. From the time I was a child, watching Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney from behind steepled fingers on my Aunt Willie's couch, to discovering H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King in high school, I've been drawn to scary stories. While my novel-length works have all gone in other directions (so far), I've been writing short horror stories since I was a teen. Every year, for Halloween, I try to write something new in this genre. This year's entree is one I am particularly proud of - composed over the last week, I think it's one of the most macabre stories I have ever written. So be warned - if you don't like monsters and ghouls and things that go bump in the night, READ NO FURTHER!!!!!!</p><p>Still with me? Good. Turn down the lights, put on some creepy music, and enjoy:</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> THE HORROR AT HEMPSTEAD HOUSE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> A Short Story<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> By<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Lewis B. Smith<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Folks near Bonham, Texas don’t talk
about what happened at Hempstead House, even though its ruined foundations
still stand, largely free of undergrowth, on the tall hill overlooking Bois D’arc
Creek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nearly nine decades have passed
since the awful events of May 1935, and those who witnessed the bizarre occurrence
have long since passed on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
children heard their parents talk about that dreadful night in whispers, but very
few of that generation chose to pass the story to their own offspring, and to
teenagers growing up in the small Texas town today, the ruins of Hempstead
House are nothing but a rumor, a vague legend whose details are unknown, but whose
aura hovers over the wreckage of that once-stately antebellum home, creating
enough dread that even the boldest among them rarely venture near it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I first heard the rumors when visiting
a friend in Bonham fifteen years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
we drove down towards the creek to go fossil hunting, the windswept hilltop
caught my eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tall Johnson grass
that surrounds most unkempt old houses in North Texas was nowhere in evidence, and
the few plants that dared grow near the crumbling foundation were twisted and misshapen,
seeming to lean away from the crumbling stones in revulsion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A vague sense of wrongness hung over the
place, even though the ruins themselves looked as mundane any other derelict
foundation on which a house once stood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stone
steps that had presumably led up to the front entryway were flanked by two
faded, cracked stone lions, both with traces of colorful paint flaking off of them,
and one missing its head.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I asked what had once stood
there, my friend Travis shrugged. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Some crazy old Civil War vet lived
there once,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Bad stuff
happened there during the Depression – I think maybe someone died? - and the house
burned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think maybe the locals set it
on fire, but I don’t really know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one
talks about it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I nodded and we drove on down the hill
towards the creek to look for shark’s teeth washed out from the ancient inland
seabed that once covered North Texas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But those brief words, and the story they hinted at, hung up in my head
and wouldn’t let go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few days later I
drove past that bare hill again, and on a whim, I pulled over and slipped
through the decrepit barbed wire fence that separated the property from the
road, hiking up the hill to the site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As I got closer, I saw there was more bare ground exposed near the old
foundation, littered with bits of glass and stone and fragments of ancient,
burned wood, so brittle it fell apart at a touch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mounted the steps between the two leonine sentries
and stood there quietly for a moment a few paces beyond them, perhaps where the
front hallway of the house had been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve always loved old places, and I’m
not particularly superstitious about them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoy walking through old cemeteries around
sunset, reading the headstones and thinking about the lives they represent, and
I’ve puttered around in old houses – old for North Texas, anyway, which was
largely unsettled until the 1840’s. I’ve never once seen a ghost, an
apparition, or even felt the slightest <i>frisson </i>of fear that some malevolent
spirit might be flitting unseen around me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But what I felt on this sunny fall
afternoon was something different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was a cold hostility radiating from this ancient pile of stone, as if the foundation
itself resented my footsteps upon it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sunshine lost its potency, a cold chill seemed
to well up around me, and I could imagine a voice just low enough to be
inaudible to the human ear whispering at me to get out, go away, leave this
place and never return.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then the noise of a passing vehicle
reminded me that I had cut through a fence onto private property, ignoring a
battered old “No Trespassing” sign in the process. I quickly returned to my car,
and the odd feeling faded the minute I stepped away from that crumbling
pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as I slid back into the driver’s
seat and headed back to Greenville, I made up my mind that I would not rest
until I knew what had happened at that barren and forsaken place. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Much of the basic history of the
property was easily uncovered by a quick visit to the Fannin County Historical
Society Museum in Bonham. Property records, old newspaper clippings, and letters
were all available there, having recently been digitized courtesy of a grant
from the American Historical Association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A few afternoons of searching these sources left me more curious than
ever, because so many of the articles and entries concealed more than they revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The house had been built in 1850 by
one Noah Hempstead, who had received a large grant of land – over twelve
hundred acres – for his combined service in the Texas Revolution and in the
Mexican War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had taken part in the
Battle of San Jacinto, where Thomas J. Rusk had written about his “conspicuous
heroism and gallantry” in a letter to the Texas Congress, and in the Mexican
War, where he had taken part in the bloody assault on Chapultepec. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the fighting in Mexico was over, Major
Hempstead had spent a year or two in the newly discovered goldfields of
California.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the rough and raw life
in California was no place for a man to raise a family, and with his son Andrew
nearing six years of age and another baby on the way, Hempstead and his wife
Melissa had returned to Fannin County, where he filed the claim for his grant,
and construction began on his ranch house the following year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stone foundations were rare in Northeast
Texas during the antebellum era, but California gold paid for the limestone
blocks to be hauled north from the Hill Country west of Austin, and by the fall
of 1850, the family moved in just in time for the birth of Hempstead’s second
son, Aaron.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Aaron Hempstead did not live to see adulthood
– he died of a “pleural fever,” according to the local paper, at ten years of
age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the firstborn, Andrew, grew up in
Bonham and was attending college in Arkansas when the Civil War broke out in
1861.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He abandoned his education to
serve the Confederacy and, despite his youth, rose to the rank of Major by the
fall of 1864.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was reported as missing
in action during the Battle of the Crater outside Petersburg, but nearly a week
later he was dug out of a collapsed Confederate trench, exhausted and frail but
still alive, and sent home on recuperative leave. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was at this point that the ordinary
narrative of the Hempstead clan and their rambling, two-story plantation house
began to take a turn for the macabre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although the newspaper accounts were brief and hesitant, it was obvious
that the young man who returned from the war was not the joyful young soul that
had departed for Arkansas in 1860.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
letter from one of Andrew’s fellow officers dropped the only hint as to the
cause, when it described his rescue by Confederate soldiers from the wreckage
of the collapsed trench:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Them Georgia boys couldn’t get him
back to our unit fast enough once they saw that he was alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andy shore was a sight when they brough him
to us on a stretcher – his face was covered with dried blood and his uniform
was fair soaked in it, although the surgeon found only a few minor injuries
when he stripped the filthy clothes from him in the medical tent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a wonderment to me that any man could
survive being buried alive for a week, and I asked the corporal who’d led the
burial detail that discovered him how Andy could have lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man turned right pale and shook his
head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I hate to speak ill of an
officer,” he told me, “So I’d rather you asked him yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some timbers had just enough space beneath
left them to make a large air pocket, but he was pinned beneath another half
buried one and couldn’t dig his way to safety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were two other fellers on either side of him, both look to have
been killed in the blast or in the collapse of the trench.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As to how he stayed alive – hell, I guess a
man will eat anything if he’s hungry enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That blood he’s covered in ain’t his!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Needless to say, I did not want to
hear such a slander against my friend, and I gave the corporal a sharp dressing
down before sending him back to his unit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once Andrew was cleaned up, I visited him in the medical tent, but his
ordeal had left him weak and barely responsive, so I spoke to Col. Chaffin, who
agreed that he should be transported home as quickly as our disrupted rail
networks will allow; hopefully a few weeks of domestic bliss will return him to
himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Respectfully
yours,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Major
Elijah Wheeler<br />
Second Texas Infantry<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For the first year or so after the war,
I found few mentions of Major Hempstead except for a few references to his “convalescence”
at the family home, which caused his father to withdraw from local
society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1867 local news reported the
murder of two young girls, who had been found dead and partially devoured by
wild animals in the bottoms along Bois D’Arc Creek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A former slave was accused by the girls’
father and lynched by a vengeful mob before the sheriff could even interrogate
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in the days after the grisly
crime, the Bonham paper mentioned that the Hempsteads, father and son, had attended
a dinner party together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The anonymous
article added: <i>“this is the first time Major Hempstead has been able to
appear in public since his sad ordeal during the recent war with the Yankees,
and he appears to be fully recovered from his wounds and privations.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Over the next
decade, amidst the articles railing against carpetbaggers, scallywags, and “Negro
agitators,” there were scattered references to Col. Hempstead’s election as
county judge, and his son’s courtship of a local belle named Caroline Sullivan.
The wedding was scheduled for May of 1868 and was set to be the social event of
the season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A week before the blessed
event, another murder popped up in the newspaper – this time a Union soldier’s
body was found, gnawed to the bone, in the creek bottoms less than two miles
from Hempstead House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coroner’s
report said the body was so damaged that the cause of death would have been
impossible to determine if not for the bullet hole through the man’s skull.
Given that the wars of Reconstruction were raging through North Texas at the
time, the death of a single bluecoat meant little to the locals except for the
attention it drew from General Sheridan, who sent a special squad of soldiers and
an army surgeon to investigate the corporal’s death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They met with a chilly reception and were
unable to solve the crime, but the presence of the hated Yankees cast a pall
over Andrew Hempstead’s wedding. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1870, another local girl named
Dolly Smithwick went missing in the woods near Hempstead House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her body was not found for three weeks, by
which time little more than bones remained, and her cause of death was never
determined. However, the same day her body was found, another event rocked the
north Texas district – Colonel Noah Hempstead, the county judge, hero of San
Jacinto, and pillar of the community, was found dead in his study, his Colt .44
still clasped in his hand, and his blood and brains spattered on the walls of
his home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His wife had died of
consumption during the war, and the long ordeal of restoring his son back to
health had taken its toll on the old man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A coroner’s inquest mentioned that he had “gone very melancholy” after
the latest disappearance; one friend commented that the judge had gone on a bender
at a local tavern and had to be taken home in a carriage because he was too
drunk to mount his horse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the witness
helped him up the steps, Judge Hempstead said something that struck his friend
as odd – <i>“This is all my fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
should have put him down when I found out.” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When asked to clarify, Hempstead laughed out
loud and muttered something about a vicious dog he owned, and then he assured the
witness the matter would be dealt with soon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Judge’s body was found by his son
Andrew, and the coroner noted that there was no suicide note.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he asked the young veteran if he had
seen one, he noted that Hempstead seemed “evasive,” but he attributed it to the
young man’s shock and grief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The official
ruling was death by suicide, and for the next few years there was no mention of
the Hempsteads in the local papers, except for a birth notice in 1873, and
another in 1874, noting that Major Hempstead was now the proud father of two
sons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was during this time that the <b><i>Bonham
Courier </i></b>mentioned an odd superstition among the area’s Negro
population.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the midst of a summary
description of Klan activities around the state, the article noted <i>“the
white-robed knights have found little to occupy their attention in Fannin
County of late, for the darkie community has been quite docile and submissive,
many of them afraid to even venture out of their cabins after dark for fear of something
they call the ‘white ghoulman,’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>whom
they claim will take unattended children or unwary travelers on dark nights.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Major Hempstead followed in his father’s
footsteps in 1878, being elected as county judge, but the newspaper articles
never showed him the fawning admiration that had filled the stories about his
father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were rarely disrespectful
or critical of the younger Hempstead, but instead seemed dispassionate and even
(on occasion) a bit fearful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An 1882
article noted <i>“a well-known knife fighter and desperado stood before the
docket in Judge Hempstead’s court today, snarling his defiance as the sheriff
began to testify against him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The judge
fixed him with a deadly glare and ordered him to be silent, and the fiend
suddenly turned pale and sank back into his chair, meekly answering questions
for the rest of the day.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Caroline Hempstead, although she had
been a colorful and vivacious belle before her marriage, became more and more
reclusive afterwards, rarely leaving the Hempstead Plantation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she did appear at social events with her
husband, witnesses noted her pale beauty and tendency to wear long-sleeved
gowns even in the warmest weather, but I never found a single record of her speaking
or dancing at any of these gatherings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
she was being domestically abused, I mused as I read the articles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The judge’s boys, on the other hand,
were mentioned often. Both seemed to be athletic, intelligent, and popular,
riding in local equestrian events and being sent off to boarding school when
they got older. Eventually both went south to Austin to study at the University
of Texas after their matriculation; Jonathan, the oldest, settled near Waco,
while the younger boy, Allan, returned to Bonham and bought a small house in
town, marrying a local girl named Eleanor Collins the next year. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Getting older seemed to have eluded
Major Hempstead, however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An 1885 photograph
in the newspaper showed a grim but youthful-looking man, in appearance about 25
years of age despite having turned 41 two months previously. By the 1890’s newspaper
articles began commenting on the Judge’s unusual vigor for his years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Scattered throughout the decades of
the 80’s and 90’s, occasional disappearances continued, as did occasional
references to the “white ghoulman” so feared and dreaded by the local black
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then in 1905, a young brother
and sister, who had played hooky from school to go fishing in the creek, were
found by a horrified trapper, their faces gnawed off and their bodies
disemboweled. The bereft parents issued a public plea for justice, and for the
first time the stories of the “white ghoulman” were printed without mockery of
the superstitious freedmen who had coined the term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bloodhounds were sent out, and they lost the
scent in the river bottoms just below Hempstead House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Judge himself offered a $5000 reward for
any information leading to the apprehension of the killer, and several
promising leads were mentioned in the paper, but in the end, the killer evaded
justice – although a bloodthirsty lynch mob killed two black youths found
wandering near the creek, apparently more in pure frustration than in any
serious belief in their guilt. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In 1910, Judge Hempstead retired from
the bench after thirty-two years of service to justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At a ball held in his honor, the <i>Courier </i>mentioned
that <i>“the judge was joined on this special occasion by his reclusive wife
Caroline, whose delicate health has rendered her an invalid for the last few
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who could remember her
vivacious youth commented sadly on her pale, wasted condition and wan, detached
gaze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the family has been
reticent about the nature of her illness, there are whispers of some skin
condition which seem confirmed by the bandages on her arms that could be
glimpsed beneath the long sleeves of her formal gown.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The retirement
ball was her last public appearance, because the following year her obituary
appeared in the paper, although the cause of death was simply listed as a <i>“long,
wasting illness.”</i> Her funeral was attended by most of the town, and the <i>Courier
</i>noted that <i>“the Judge, although bowed with grief at her departure, seems
as untouched by the ravages of time as ever, only a frosting of grey at his
temples and a few lines of care beneath his eyes giving hint that he is nearing
seventy years of age.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">About two years
later, a rash of disappearances and murders struck Fannin County.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three young boys, returning from fishing in
the creek, were found floating near the Sanders Crossing bridge, their bodies
bearing the mark of savage claws and teeth. A salesman from Kansas checked into
the hotel on the town square and went out drinking on a Friday night and never
returned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young domestic, walking home
after a busy day’s work was abducted, and skeletal remains found the next
summer were assumed to be hers by virtue of a necklace that matched hers, still
affixed around the cervical vertebrae. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the manhunt for the “white ghoulman”
intensified, the <i>Courier </i>mentioned in its “Local Doings” column that <i>“Allan
Hempstead, the son of retired Judge Hempstead, is selling his house in town and
moving to his father’s farmhouse, to help the Judge manage the farm in his old
age.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The disappearances stopped that week,
and although speculation as to who or what the killer was continued to appear
in the paper off and on for several years, he was never apprehended or
identified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young Hempstead was
mentioned only rarely over the next few years, usually in stories dealing with
local land speculation and farm foreclosures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Hempsteads did well selling corn and wheat to the Army during the
World War, and Allan’s daughters were sent to boarding school in Virginia shortly
after they turned ten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both girls
married men from out of state and never returned to Bonham, except for their
father’s funeral in 1934. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Allan Hempstead was gunned down in July
of that year in a botched bank robbery by the notorious George “Baby-face” Nelson;
Hempstead was an innocent victim of the crossfire between the desperado and a
local sheriff’s deputy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having just gotten
his hair cut at the local barber shop, he was walking out the door with a
newspaper tucked under his arm when a bullet struck him through the head,
killing him instantly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The community
grieved this man who had become one of its more respected citizens, although the
obituary commented that his work on the farm had precluded him from having an active
social life ever since he moved to <i>“the Judge’s old place.” </i>One odd
thing I noted, however, was that neither <i>The Courier </i>nor any other local
paper had ever printed a death notice for Judge Hempstead, although his son’s
obituary spoke of him in the past tense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I spent a whole day scanning newspapers from 1915 through 1934, just in
case I had missed it, but it was as if the old judge had simply disappeared. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The funeral of his son was front page news in
Bonham, but no mention of his father’s passing ever appeared in any newspaper
that I have been able to find. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But the final crisis, that ended in
the fiery destruction of Hempstead House, came not long after the death of
Allan. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His lovely widow Eleanor had been
devastated by her husband’s passing, lamenting at his graveside that she feared
she could not keep the family legacy secure without him. But after the funeral
in July, her name did not appear in the local press again until her own grisly demise
that December.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was a cold, wet week, and
torrential rains had caused the Bois D’Arc creek to overflow its banks, flooding
the bottom lands around it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one knew
why Eleanor Hempstead chose that miserable December 6 to come to town, but her
body was found the next morning in the middle of the dirt road leading from Hempstead
House and the Bois D’Arc bottoms towards Bonham. Her throat was torn out and
her back flayed open to expose her ribs, and her face was frozen in a scream of
horror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The autopsy photographs were
preserved in a copy of <b><i>True Crimes of Texas </i></b>published in 1955,
and although they were grainy and partially censored, it was obvious that some
of the wounds on her back were bite marks – human bites, from the look of them.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The tragic death of the young widow marked
the beginning of an absolute reign of terror that persisted for the next fifty
days. During the course of those nightmare weeks, eleven people were murdered
in and around Bonham, Texas, their grotesque injuries described in increasingly
stark detail as the spree continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
young farm girl cutting across a hay field, a sheriff’s deputy searching the
woods for her killer, two elderly locals gutted and chewed to shreds in their small
farmhouse, a pair of little boys on their way to school – the sad faces stared
at me from the grainy pages of 75-year-old newspaper clippings, pulled up on
the glowing screen of the Historical Society’s computer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then came the glaring headline on
January 26, 1935, up half the first page of <i>The Bonham Courier:<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Algerian; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">HEMPSTEAD
PLANTATION HOUSE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Algerian; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BURNED TO THE
GROUND<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Algerian; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">FORMER JUDGE’S
RESIDENCE COMPLETELY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Algerian; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DESTROYED<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Algerian; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“WHITE GHOULMAN”
KILLER BELIEVED TO HAVE PERISHED IN FIRE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Algerian; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
sheriff’s posse, attempting to track the person or persons responsible for the
terrible rash of killings that has plagued our community over the last few
weeks, pursued a suspect to the abandoned home of former Judge Andrew Hempstead
outside of town last night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the
fugitive fled to the house’s attic, a deputy inadvertently knocked over a
coal-oil lamp and set the curtains of the front parlor afire. The flames spread
before the sheriff and his men could extinguish them, and the lawmen abandoned
the house to the flames, surrounding it so they could apprehend the suspected
killer if he tried to flee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Justice
seems to have overtaken the man who terrorized our community off and on for
these last years, for no one escaped from the conflagration, and the coroner
reported finding skeletal remains in the ashes of the house this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can only pray that the “white ghoulman,”
or the debauched killer who inspired that local legend, is truly gone from our
midst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheriff Henderson seemed
confident that the man his posse was pursuing was indeed the killer who has claimed
a dozen victims, starting with the widow Hempstead, since last December.
However, none of the members of the posse have related where they found the
suspect, or why they are so sure he was the one responsible for the killings.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amazingly, that was the last mention
of the Hempstead House fire, or the “ghoulman” killings, in the <i>Bonham
Courier</i> – or in any other Texas newspaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A curtain of silence descended over the rural community, as if the
locals feared mentioning the killer might bring him back from the dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I scanned newspaper after newspaper, court
record after court record, for some bit of evidence or testimony, to no avail.
After several days of staring at the screen and thumbing through old books of
local history, I threw up my hands and gave a snort of disgust.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What a shame that every witness of
those events is dead!” I snapped to Ben Walker, the archivist who maintained the
county’s records.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s like a curtain
of silence descended over the case after the old house burned down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have so many questions, if only there was
someone to answer them.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t be mad,” Ben said, “because I
didn’t think of this sooner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there’s
a fellow out at the nursing home who was alive at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He born in 1925, so he was just a kid then,
but his Dad was a deputy sheriff and may have even been part of that
posse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His name’s Jeb Martin, and he’s
at the Legend Healthcare facility in Greenville.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Does he still have his wits about
him?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He’s sharp as a tack,” Ben said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Broke his hip a few weeks back and has been
in rehab there, but I’ve had many a long talk with him down at the Gilded
Horseshoe. The man is a walking library of local history.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thanks, bud!” I said. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ever since I saw the foundations of that old
house, this case has haunted me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
must be more to the story than what the newspapers hinted at.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Want my advice?” Ben said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I nodded, and he continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Jeb’s
right fond of a sip of Wild Turkey now and then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’ll be more likely to talk to you if you
can slip him a flask,” the archivist told me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For
the sake of time, I’ll spare this narrative the details of the six visits to
the nursing facility (and six flasks of whiskey!) it took me to win Jeb’s
trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first, he denied all knowledge
of the horrors of Hempstead House, and after I proved to him that was a
practical impossibility, he told me that his father had sworn him to a lifelong
vow of secrecy regarding the events of that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, on the final visit, the old man
looked at me and smiled.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
won’t thank me when I’m done, you know,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s what my Pap told me when I finally badgered
the full story out of him, after I got back from the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he was right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was already messed up enough by the things
I saw and did on Okinawa, but when he told me about what he and the others witnessed
that night before they set that accursed farmhouse ablaze, I didn’t sleep for
three days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Daddy never published
anything, but he used to write stories for us kids when we were little, and he
could describe things in such a way to make you feel you were really
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can tell you every detail of
what he and the members of that posse saw, despite the fact that I’ve been
trying to forget the story for sixty-five years now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it’ll do me some good to finally share
it with someone, but just remember what I said – you won’t thank me when I’m
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s go outside, at least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a story for bright sunlight, not
these damned fluorescent soul-suckers!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By
this point he was far enough along in his recovery that he could hobble on a
cane, and he led me out to a shaded porch where the westering sun’s rays
illuminated our surroundings without beating down on us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“People
were afraid of old Judge Hempstead, you know,” he began. “From the day he came
back from Petersburg, pale as a sheet and barely able to talk, there was
something not quite right about him. How any man could be buried in a collapsed
trench for nearly a week and then be pulled out of the ground still alive was a
mystery to everyone in the town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
were whispers that he’d had to do horrible things in order to survive, but no
one seemed to know what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But people whispered
that his health didn’t come back to normal until after those two girls were
killed down in the creek bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then,
in a week, he went from being a gaunt invalid to a normal young man again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Daddy was born not long after that, and he
told me that folks noticed that every few years, Judge Hempstead would start
looking poorly and gaunt, and then some poor Negro or traveler would go
missing, and suddenly the judge would look ten years younger again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, no one spoke these things out loud
– being a county judge back in them days meant that you were just a couple of
rungs below God in the order of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
folks said that old Colonel Hempstead blew his brains out when that poor little
girl Dolly was found, because he’d discovered what his son really was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My granddad was convinced that the Colonel
hadn’t killed himself at all, but that Andrew Hempstead had done the deed himself,
when the old man threatened to turn him in to the sheriff.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You
think the judge was behind all those murders?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
don’t think so, I know so,” Jeb replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“He needed to kill, in order to survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was why he aged so slowly, and then would suddenly look ten years
younger whenever someone disappeared. My granddad was also friends with Doctor
Kuykendall, the town medic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One night,
he told my pa, the doctor came into the saloon and knocked down three whiskeys
in a row.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See, the judge’s wife,
Caroline, had come to a banquet that evening because the election was
nigh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone noted how pale and peaked
she looked, and while the Judge was off politicking with a couple of State
Senators, she fainted and Doc took her into a cloakroom to see what was wrong. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had passed out, so he slipped her out of
her sleeves to try and measure her pulse and blood pressure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What he saw frightened him so badly he pulled
her sleeves back down over her arms and used smelling salts to bring her around
– then he returned her to her husband and just about ran down to the bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>‘She’s been bitten!” </i>he said to my
grandpap. <i>‘All up and down her arms and back, nasty bites, deep bites, some
old, some freshly bandaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a few
places there were divots, where actual chunks of flesh had been bitten off of
her and healed back over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I swear, that
man is trying to eat her alive!”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
was many years after that when she finally died, of course,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A long, wasting illness, the <i>Courier </i>said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Pa talked to the coroner who went out to
Hempstead House to recover her body, and the man told him privately that, while
she had indeed been sick for a long time, and that her body was covered with
scars and bite marks, some fresh and some long healed, the real cause of death
was that she’d hanged herself, and the judge – or someone - cut her down and
laid her in their bed before calling the law. The noose was gone, but there was
still a red ring around her neck – and the coroner said he saw a cut rope still
looped around one of the beams in the bedroom ceiling, although it was gone
when the sheriff came by the next day.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Why
didn’t they do something?” I said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It
seems to me there was plenty of proof that she’d been abused for years, never
mind all the other rumors about her husband!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
told you, folks were afraid of him!” Jeb replied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The man could stare down a cold-blooded
killer in the courtroom and about make’em piss themselves. And there really was
not much in the way of proof – just a bunch of whispered rumors and
speculation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that, whatever it
was that was driving him, he was able to control it when he was around
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever his poor wife suffered
at his hands – his teeth, more like! – while she was alive he managed to rein
in his sick appetites, and only preyed on the helpless, the unwanted, and the poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then, a couple years after she died,
there was a horrible spree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Six people
that we know of, maybe more – the sheriff in those days didn’t keep too careful
a track of disappearances and killings in the colored community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allan Hempstead had moved back to town, and
I remember Pa telling me that with every killing, that young man looked more
and more desolate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he sold his
house in town, and he and his wife moved out to the farm – all of a sudden, not
telling anyone of their intent until the wagon was loaded up with their things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pa rode out there to deliver a jury summons
the next week, and he heard the Judge and Allan shouting at each other
something fierce – so much so that he decided to deliver the summons another day.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he saw Allan come in to get his
mail the next week, he handed over the summons and mentioned what he’d
heard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said the look Hempstead gave
him was so full of despair it made his blood run cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>‘Daddy’s not quite right anymore,’</i>
Allan said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>‘He’s been getting worse
and worse since Ma died, and he won’t recognize it. So Ellie and I have pulled
up our roots in town and moved in to the farm, because it’s not safe for him to
be out there alone anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For him or
anyone else.’<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No
one in town ever saw the judge again after that, although folks driving by Hempstead
House said that sometimes they’d see his face, looking old and gaunt, watching
them from the gable window in the attic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my schoolmates, coming back from fishing
down at the crick, said the old man howled at him as he walked by on the road –
just threw back his head like he was a coyote and let loose this blood-curdling
cry that set my friend running to town as fast as his legs would carry him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At
this point Jeb took a long pull from the flask I’d snuck in for him, and then looked
at me with a haunted expression.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
don’t know how many people would still be alive if poor Allan hadn’t stopped a
bullet outside the barber shop that day,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Baby-face Nelson killed more people than he
knew that afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that point, it
had been nearly twenty years since the last round of killings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all though the Judge was either dead or a
bed-ridden derelict by then, and Allan always played coy when people asked
about his daddy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and Eleanor didn’t
have guests out at the farm if they could help it, and those who did drop by
were usually greeted out on the porch or invited in to sit at the kitchen table
for a very brief visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new pastor
in town swung by back in 1930 or so to invite them to attend the Methodist Church’s
upcoming revival, and he told my pa that the whole time he was talking to Allan
he kept hearing a weak, quavering voice from upstairs crying out for food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said Hempstead tried to pass it off on
his father’s senility – <i>“He just had a big breakfast an hour ago, but his
memory is so far gone he doesn’t even remember!” </i>was what he told the preacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when the pastor asked if he could go and
pay his respects to the old Judge, Allan and his wife hustled him out the door
right quick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like I said, if Allan hadn’t
been gunned down by that two-bit bank robber, the final horror might never have
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever it was that had kept Andrew
Hempstead youthful and vigorous all those years was starving to death by then.
Maybe – or maybe it was just pretending to grow weaker, biding its time until
it could make one last desperate effort to regain its freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pop told me that Eleanor turned to him at the
funeral and whispered: <i>“I have to try, I have to try for Allan’s sake – but I’m
not sure how long I can hold it back!” </i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Of
course, he didn’t know what she meant – the poor woman was half mad with grief
at her husband’s sudden passing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
returned to that accursed farmhouse and shunned all attempts by her
well-meaning neighbors to get her to leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everyone just chalked it up to grief and anxiety, and after a while
folks quit dropping by. But when they found her a few months later, face down
in the middle of that nasty, rutted dirt road with her back chewed to pieces
and her throat torn out, with that horrible look of stark terror frozen onto
her face, everyone knew that the “ghoul-man” was back.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
sun was westering, and its slanted rays etched the deep lines of Jeb’s face into
a map of remembered fear.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
was ten years old, but I will never forget those next few weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pop drove me to the schoolhouse in his police
car, and then he’d pick me and my friends up at the end of the day and take us
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As more and more victims were
found, the rumors swirled around the town like a Kansas tornado. People came to
town in groups, and huddled in little clumps, casting suspicious glances at everyone
who passed by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Folks whispered that they’d
seen him late at night, skulking along the country roads and haunting the local
cemetery, this pale figure that neither walked upright nor went on all fours,
but loped along in some gait that was both and neither at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My Pop and the sheriff drove around every
night as best they could – there were few paved roads in Fannin County then,
and that winter was a frightfully wet one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whatever was murdering and mangling our citizens seemed to have an
uncanny knack for striking when the police were elsewhere – until that final
night; that night that nearly drove my poor father insane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He never touched a drop before January of
1934; but in the years after, he rarely went to bed without taking a double
shot of whiskey first – and sometimes a triple!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What
happened?” I asked when his pause had stretched out for over a full
minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What did they find when they
went to Hempstead House?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m
trying to work up the guts to tell you!” Jeb snapped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve bottled this horror up inside me for
sixty years now, and now that I’m finally ready to let it out it doesn’t want
to come.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment, his ancient face fraught with
anxiety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, he opened his watery
blue eyes and stared straight at me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’ll
tell it to you exactly the way my Pap told it to me in 1946,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Word for word, as best I can recall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please don’t question me or interrupt me
again, or I’ll lose it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If that recorder
thing of yours is working, turn it on, because I never want to speak of this
again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s what Pop told me after a
half a bottle of Jim Beam, when I asked him about it for the hundredth time.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He
straightened up in his chair, and suddenly the lines in his face smoothed a
bit, and his voice took on a different accent and timbre, as if someone else
were speaking through him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The effect
was so eerie that a cold chill ran down my spine, despite the heat of the
afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still have the recording of
old Jeb’s monologue, but so deeply is it graven in my memory that I don’t even
have to play it to recall every word, even now, with Jeb nearly ten years in his
grave.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Fine,
boy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You aren’t going to give up, and
some secrets are too dark to take into the darkness of the grave with you, so
listen close! I was at the Sheriff’s office, talking to Andy about how on earth
we could catch this ghoulman, when the phone began ringing, loud and
insistently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nell, our dispatcher, had
gone home before dark, so I picked it up, and the voice I heard on the other end
was screaming with more sorrow and hurt than I thought a human tongue could
ever express.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“It
took my baby!” the woman screamed. “It reached through my window and snatched
my poor baby!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please, you have to help
me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has my child!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It
took me nearly five minutes to calm her down enough to get her name – it was
Sally MacMahon, who lived with her husband about a mile outside of town on a
forty-acre corn farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as we
figured out where they were, Sheriff Anderson began ringing the town siren,
summoning all able-bodied men to the courthouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As soon as a dozen or so men were gathered,
we loaded into trucks and headed towards the farm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had snowed the day before, and there was a
blanket of white covering the road and the hills – fortunately, we’d all put
chains on our trucks that afternoon, or our manhunt might have ended in a
pile-up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We drove out of town to the
MacMahon place, and Jimmy met us at the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We could hear his poor wife desperately wailing inside, holding on to
their other child, a four-year-old boy, and keening for the missing baby. Jimmy
was furious, but he was a level-headed soul, and he led us to the side of the house,
where we saw a clear set of footprints approaching the window, and then loping
off towards the road that led to Bois D’Arc Creek. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Pile
in, boys,” Sheriff Henderson said, and we loaded up in those trucks and started
following those footprints.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jimmy
insisted on coming along, and the sheriff saw there was no sense in saying no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess two months of glutting itself had
rendered the thing careless, because those tracks led straight towards the
dark, looming hulk of Hempstead House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we got further from the poor child’s home, we saw splashes of blood
in the snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheriff Hempstead told poor
Sally we never found her baby, but that was a half-truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We never found all of her baby, but bits of
it were scattered along that trail of half-human footprints that wound through
the snow towards the hill were Hempstead House stood. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheriff Henderson was white with rage as they
neared the deserted farmhouse, and the posse grew silent as they realized that
they were hot on the trail of the monster that had held our county in fear for
the last fifty years or more.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Andy
and I led the way through the front door, and we saw that the wet footprints
were outlined on the carpet heading towards the stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old house was two stories tall, with a
gabled attic room above the second floor, reached by a narrow staircase just
beyond what had once been the judge’s bedroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Although the tracks were growing faint as the monster’s feet dried off,
we could still tell that whatever it was had made straight for the attic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henderson turned and looked at the townsmen,
who were pale with fear but determined to end this horror once and for all. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Deputy
Martin, myself, and Jimmy will go up and end this,” he said, “or die
trying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want you men to surround this
house, and if anything comes out that isn’t one of us, I want you to fill it
full of lead and then set it on fire! One way or another, these killings will
end tonight. We’ll give you a moment – now get out that front door and be sure
to cover all four sides of the house!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There
were a few protests, but not many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No
one wanted to take a chance on whatever it was that had killed so many of our
citizens escaping justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three of
us looked at one another, our weapons drawn, and our kerosene lamps held high,
and after what seemed like an eternity had passed, the Sheriff nodded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Up
we go, boys!” he said, and we went up those stairs single file.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a short hallway through the attic,
where old boxes and furniture littered the floor on either side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we could hear the sound of chewing and
slavering coming from the gable room at the end, and we knew where our quarry was.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Lamps
high!” Henderson whispered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Maybe we
can blind it for a moment!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">With
that he strode the last few paces and threw the door of that accursed room
open, and all of us moved forward to block the doorway lest our quarry try to
escape. What we saw on the other side – dear God, son, how I wish I could
forget! But I still see it every time I close my eyes and try to sleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some things are too horrible for this world,
Jeb, so horrible they simply ought not be.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bones
were scattered all across the floor – most of them were from various animals,
but scattered atop the goat and pig bones, fresh and bloody, were the gnawed
remains of human arms and legs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A shattered
skull with tatters of flesh clinging to it lay upside down in one corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a bunk bed, and sturdy chains
coming out of the wall next to it, but the manacles at the end of the chain
were twisted and broken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our eyes took
all of this in after the fact, for at the first moment, they were locked on the
hideous being that knelt on the floor, tearing the flesh off of a tiny leg. Its
skin was leprous and mottled, its belly grossly swollen and distended, but its
arms and legs were wiry and strong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its
face was streaked with the unwashed gore of its victims, its beard matted and
tangled, its hair hanging in long, scraggly locks around its face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But despite the squalor and gore and filth, we
still recognized the owner of those savage features.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Judge Hempstead!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet he was not a frail old relic of ninety
years’ age, but rather a plump, young man whose features, filthy as they were,
were those of someone still in his prime. When he saw us there, he stood upright
and dropped his bloody meal. His eyes reflected the light of our kerosene lamps
so intensely that it seemed as if the flames of hell were dancing inside his
head. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I
figured you’d eventually track me back here,” he said in a clear strong
voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Brave Texans! Bold Texans!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You think to slay me, and end my harvest of
flesh from among you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fools!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cannot be killed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The voice promised me, the voice that first
came to me when I was trapped underground in that awful trench, my comrades
rotting on either side of me. ‘Worship me,’ it said, ‘and take of my forbidden
fruit, and I will grant you a life span many times that of mortals, and make
you impervious to all metal weapons, and you will never die, as long as you feast
on the forbidden flesh in my name!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
so I did, I ate and ate in the dark until my belly was full, and the next day
those foolish Georgians dug me out of that earthen tomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, I was ashamed of what I had done at
first, and I swore I would never devour human flesh again – but then I grew
steadily weaker and more frail. Finally, in desperation, I attacked the nurse
my father had hired to care for me, and bit deep into her arm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That tiny taste gave me back enough strength
to go out and feed for the first time, and soon I was young and strong and
virile again!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How I’ve laughed at you
all, you witless frontier buffoons, for I have feasted on your loved ones, dead
and living, for nearly seventy years now, and you none the wiser!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you think the ‘ghoulman’ was gone, or starving
himself, when no one was taken for years at a time? Dig up your mothers’ graves
if you want to see how I fed myself - the freshly buried are almost as tasty as
the living! Only my faithless son figured out how to stop me, by chaining me up
here and feeding me the flesh of beasts instead of men, letting me wither away year
after year without the sustenance I required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But when that bank robber took his life, poor dear Eleanor wasn’t as
careful as he was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pretended to grow
weaker and weaker, biding my time, until she was foolish enough to try and
spoon feed me, thinking me too weak to lift my food to my mouth. How she
shrieked when I bit a chunk out of her arm!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oh, she pulled away and fled, but that sweet taste of human flesh gave
me the strength I needed to burst my bonds and chase her down!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How delectable she was!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
roaring blast of a shotgun cut the monstrous Judge’s monologue short, and the
impact of the buckshot knocked the ghoul across the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Henderson and I turned and looked, and Jimmy
MacMahon stared back at us across the smoking barrel of his twelve-gauge.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That
was for my baby, you bastard!” he muttered.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Your
child was delicious!” the evil voice rasped, and as we watched in horror, Judge
Hempstead slowly pulled himself erect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The gaping hole in his chest was already knitting itself shut. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Fools!”
he snorted. “Your metal cannot hurt me!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All
three of us opened up on him, but as our bullets tore through his body, he
continued to lurch forward, claw-like hands grasping for us. Then, in desperation,
I hurled my kerosene lamp at his feet, and a gout of flame leaped upward,
igniting his ragged clothes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An
unearthly shriek filled the air as the thing that had once been a young
Confederate soldier felt its flesh begin to char.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He turned towards the window, but the sheriff
threw his lamp over the monster’s head and it shattered on the wall just above the
lintel, dropping a curtain of flame across his only exit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shrieks grew even louder, and the flaming
ghoul turned upon us, shrieking words that I hear in my sleep even today: <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Father!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father! Azagog, help me!”<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That
was when Jimmy MacMahon hurled his own lamp, striking the thing square in the
chest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shrieks became incoherent,
and we backed away from the door as the figure lurched forward, reaching its
blackening hands out for us, then staggered, and finally fell face first on the
floor. A gurgling whisper more horrible than any scream barely pierced the
crackle of the flames: “You promised me . . . immortality!” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the blazing form gave one last heaving
lurch and lay still, and was swallowed by the crackling flames that spread
quickly through the attic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three of
us fled out the front door as the fire consumed the old farmhouse, and we
joined the posse and waited outside until dawn, making sure that nothing
emerged from that pile of blazing wood and ashes. As the day finally dawned,
Sheriff Henderson removed his hat and spoke.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“And
fire descended from heaven, and consumed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and
the smoke of their burning ascended to the heavens, and the sins of the wicked
were purged from the land in the cleansing fire of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After
that, he made each of us swear that we would never speak a word to any man
about what transpired that night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve
been trying to forget it ever since, but some memories are too powerful to be
forgotten, son, and some terrors are too dark to stay buried. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jeb
was silent for a long time, and the lines of his face gradually returned to
normal. When he spoke again, it was the plaintive voice of an old man.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Before
you take me in, could I please have one more shot of that whiskey?” he asked. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I
complied, and by the time I helped him into his bed, the old man was already
half asleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I did not sleep a wink
that night, and precious little in the days that followed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To this day, when my business takes me up to
Bonham, I take the western highway and avoid the barren hill that overlooks
Bois D’Arc Creek, where the ruined foundations of Hempstead House guard their
unholy secret. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-78944604236487112832022-09-02T18:00:00.000-07:002022-09-02T18:00:21.024-07:00A Writer's Greatest Challenge - Being Abraham Lincoln's Speechwriter!<p> When I wrote PRESIDENT HAMILTON, one thing that made the task relatively easy was that the real Hamilton's style of writing and speaking is unknown to most Americans - except for a select few who have devoted their lives to Hamilton scholarship. So when I had Hamilton speak and write, I did take the time to read some of his extant letters and speeches in order to get a "feel" for his style, but I had a great deal of artistic license in the process. Most Americans were more familiar with Lin-Manuel Miranda's version of Hamilton than they were with the real thing, and that meant I could put my words in my alternative history Alexander Hamilton's mouth with relative impunity. </p><p> But in my current alternative history project, WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE, I have a much tougher road to travel if I want to present Abraham Lincoln to my readers with anything resembling authenticity. Lincoln's speaking and writing style are known to a far greater share of the American public than Hamilton's. Some of his speeches are still memorized by secondary students, and his words have been immortalized on the big screen, on public monuments, and in countless books that are still avidly consumed by historians and casual readers alike. Not only that . . . he's Abraham Lincoln!! I mean, Hamilton was an eloquent man, but Lincoln, despite his lack of formal education, could have been America's premiere poet and essayist had he not found his calling in politics. So when I have Lincoln survive the cowardly attack at Ford's Theater, as he does in my book, and then speak on public occasions as he celebrates the victory of the Union and presents his plans for Reconstruction, I am having to craft words that are worthy of America's greatest President and public speaker. It is either the most audacious, or the most presumptuous, thing I have ever tried to do as a writer. I will leave it to you, my faithful readers, to decide which. Here is a snippet from Chapter Ten of WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE, in which Lincoln addresses a special session of Congress to mark the end of the Civil War and to introduce his version of the Fourteenth Amendment, which differs considerably from ours. Read on, and please drop a comment to tell me how you think I did!</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The smacking of Speaker Colfax’s gavel brought the
buzz of the audience to a standstill. All eyes turned to the Speaker of the
House as he stood and solemnly spoke.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Senators and Honorable Representatives,” he
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Members of the Court, officers of
the military, and honored guests – I present to you the President of the United
States!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The door at the rear of the House chamber opened, and
the lanky, gaunt form of Abraham Lincoln came striding in at a slow, deliberate
pace. The Republican senators and congressmen rose, applauding their great
chief, and the Democrats, although many still wore sour expressions, also rose
after a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the most radical
Southern sympathizers among them were glad Lincoln was still alive, if only so
that their faction would not be blamed for his death. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For most of these men, it was the first time
they had seen Lincoln since the deadly affair at Ford’s Theater, and many
craned to catch a glimpse of his mangled right ear - mostly healed now, but
nearly half gone. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln walked down the aisle, shaking hands with
those he could reach and trying to make eye contact with those he could
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though his speech to Congress
was unprecedented, all were glad he had been spared from Booth’s bullet, and
the relief at seeing their President, tall and unbowed, smiling in his moment
of victory, warmed every heart to some degree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The President wore the new black suitcoat that had been made for his
second inauguration, but his tie was a bright blue, as was his pocket
handkerchief, and his felt collar was a rich black satin – a stark contrast to
his usual rumpled black suits and often-stained white shirt. He made his way to
the well of the House and took the podium, and the assembly fell silent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The President looked at the assembled legislators
of the United States, and then up at the packed galleries and all the eyes that
were upon him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary Todd sat near the center,
with Tad on one side and Mrs. Keckley on the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near the back sat Frederick Douglass, flanked
by Reverend Keely, Deacon Sutherland, and William Slade – who had left his
duties at the White House just to hear the President speak. Lincoln reached
into his coat pocket, pulled out the speech he had been crafting for some time,
unfolded it on the podium, and began to speak. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“My friends and fellow countrymen,” he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“First of all, I would like to thank the
members of this honorable House for allowing me to address you today. I realize
that in coming to the Congress, to speak to you in person, I am breaking a
sixty-year tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In ordinary
times, I would never have sought such an opportunity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But these are not ordinary times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our nation has survived a fiery trial which
no other Republic has ever endured and remained a Republic, and this is an
occasion which merits an exceptional response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our great Civil War is over, and by the graciousness of God, the valor
of our soldiers, and the indomitable will of our people, the Union has
prevailed!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Senators, representatives, and guests surged to their
feet, and a storm of applause swelled around the President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lincoln smiled, and for a moment, he was
tempted to let this adulation go to his head - but his common sense and
humility, graven deep as they were in his character, anchored him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were cheering the great victory of the
Union, not just him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a servant of
the people, a leader perhaps, but he was not and had no desire to be their
master.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such sentiments were for the
Bonapartes of the world, not for sons of impoverished Kentucky farmers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Fourscore and nine years have passed since our
Founders brought forth this new nation of ours, laying its foundations upon the
principles of liberty and equality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
have now passed through the greatest test of our Republic – and we have
answered the question whether any government founded upon such principles can
long endure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Posterity will long debate every
detail of this great contest that has engrossed the attentions and resources of
our nation for the last four years, and every decision made, and every battle
fought, will be examined in detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
one thing upon which both sides in this unfortunate conflict will agree upon,
if they remain true to the opinions they uttered during the years leading up to
the secession crisis of 1860, is that the heart of the disagreement between
north and south centered upon the issue of slavery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I wrote to a Southern friend after the
election that year: ‘You think slavery is right and ought to be extended, I
think it is wrong and ought to be restricted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That, so far as I can tell, is the sum total of our differences.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That statement was true in 1860, and it
remains true today.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Republicans applauded this statement, while most
of the Democrat members remained silent, some glowering at the President,
others looking thoughtful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“It was never my intention to interfere with slavery
in the states where it already existed, even though I believed it to be a great
moral evil,” Lincoln said. “The Constitution which I was bound by solemn oath
to support did not give me the power to do so, and as long as I was sure that
any further expansion of slavery into the national territories was checked, I
was willing to abide in the belief that domestic bondage was in the course of
ultimate extinction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the insurgents
in the South were unwilling to accept the leadership of any President who was
morally opposed to their peculiar institution, and rather than place their
faith in the Constitution they had lived under for over seventy years, and the laws
which their own representatives had crafted, they attempted to tear our country
asunder.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln paused for a moment, and once more the
Republican members of the audience applauded him, and this time a few Democrats
– those who had supported the Union during the war – joined them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“For two hundred and fifty years now, the sons of
Africa, brought to this continent against their will, have suffered under the
horrors of lash and chain,” Lincoln continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Neither north nor south was blameless in the horrors of the slave
trade, for many Yankee shippers built their fortunes bearing mothers away from
their children, fathers away from their sons, husbands from wives, children
from parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have always believed in
the divine providence of God, and also that if slavery was not evil, then
nothing was evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this great war
which tore our nation apart and robbed countless mothers of their sons,
countless wives of their husbands, countless children of their fathers, I could
not but see the grim justice of the Almighty demanding atonement for America’s
original sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This terrible conflict was
the woe due to those by whom the offense came!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“So when the war afforded me the opportunity, as a
military measure against the insurgents of the South, to exterminate slavery in
those states that sought to shatter our Union, I seized it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, to make sure that the work of the
Emancipation Proclamation could not be undone after the war by some skeptical
judge or wily lawyers, I urged Congress to pass the Thirteenth Amendment,
abolishing slavery forever, and even now that great measure speeds towards
ratification. Whatever else our civil conflict may have achieved, the days of
forced bondage in America are over forever, and slavery has been cast into a
grave from which there will be no resurrection!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Never again will Americans slaughter Americans to preserve such
wickedness!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This time the entire Congress rose to its feet to
applaud, and many in the galleries did as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However they might have felt about emancipation, all could agree that
the horrors of civil war must never be repeated. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Now the war is over, and the Union has prevailed,”
Lincoln said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Thanks to the skill and
courage of Generals Grant and Sherman, Thomas and Sheridan, and so many others
time does not allow me to name them all, our cause has been victorious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The war is over, and slavery is ended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Union is saved, and the twin principles
of democracy – the right of the majority to rule, and the necessity of the
minority accepting the will of the people – have been upheld.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are many issues that have not been
settled by the outcome of the war, and it is to address those issues that I
have summoned you here today.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There was little applause at this point, but the
audience collectively leaned in a bit closer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the meat of the speech, the reason they had been summoned to
Washington, and every member of Congress wanted to hear what the President said
next. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“The issues that I see before us are complex ones, and
my goal is to deal with them in the most reasonable and humane manner possible
– it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this,” Lincoln
continued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The first issue that we must
resolve is the status of the freedmen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Having ended slavery, we now must decide what to do with these four
million people that we have delivered from bondage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is my firm belief that if their status is
not protected by Federal law, there will be those who will try to return them
to some form of bondage, some perpetuation of slavery under another name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Freedom is meaningless if it can be arbitrarily
taken away by another, so some way to preserve the freedmen’s inalienable
rights must be found.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lincoln stepped away from the podium and began to
slowly pace across the front of the House chamber, fixing different members of
the assembly with his gaze for a second at a time before focusing on another.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“The second issue is what to do with the insurgents
themselves,” he said. “Not to the common soldier who went to war because some
wily politician convinced him that his rights were threatened by my
election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the fire-eating radicals
who exacerbated the crisis at every turn, who pushed their states towards
secession, and who then occupied the highest positions in the government and
military of their so-called Confederacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What are we to do with them?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Hang the traitors!” shouted Charles Sumner, Senator
from Massachusetts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever since he had
been bludgeoned with a cane by North Carolina Representative Preston Brooks,
his hatred of the “slaveocracy,” as he called the planters of the South, had
become irrepressible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“No,” Lincoln said, shaking his head sorrowfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I understand the sentiment, gentlemen, but I
think we have proved all that can be proven by bloodshed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the exception of those who committed
atrocities in violation of the laws of arms – especially those who killed our
soldiers after they had laid down their arms and were trying to surrender – I
do not wish to allow any more executions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What would we accomplish, really, except to turn those malcontents into the
martyrs of a lost cause?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, there will
be no mass hangings. But that does not mean there should be no consequences for
these men who provoked the most terrible war our nation has ever seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will explain what those consequences shall
be momentarily, if I may beg the chamber’s patience.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“The last issue we must decide is how soon, and under
what conditions, we allow the Southern states to resume their place in this
chamber, and to elect their own governors and state legislators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our whole point in fighting this dreadful war
was to show that we are one nation; that a single state cannot simply leave the
Union because of disagreement with the passage of a law, or the result of an
election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if we are one nation, then
the Constitution still applies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if
the Constitution still applies, then the South is entitled to representation in
Congress, and to elect its local leaders. Not only that, but since the
so-called three-fifths compromise of the Constitution will be rendered null and
void by the Thirteenth Amendment, they will return with greater representation
in the lower House of Congress than they had when they left.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There were audible gasps in the chamber – it was
obvious that many lawmakers and most of the guests had not yet figured this out,
and the realization was disturbing them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Therefore, we need to decide now, before next year’s
Congressional election, what conditions will be placed upon the Southern
states’ re-entry into the national government,” Lincoln said calmly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ever since it became apparent, near the end of
last summer, that our arms must ultimately triumph, I have given great thought
to this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that many wish for a
draconian peace, and a long-term occupation of the South by our soldiers,
combined with an attempt to completely reshape Southern society in the
process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is human nature to reach for
what we perceive as perfection, but I fear such a policy would only create
festering resentment in the South, and the resistance it would stir up would be
implacable, eventually wearing down those who advocated the harsher version of
Reconstruction to begin with.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">There were nods from the Democrat side, and some of
the Radical Republicans were frowning – but most realized the simple truth of
the President’s words.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I have said from the beginning that my fondest desire
would be to see the former relationship between North and South restored as
soon as possible,” Lincoln said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
still wish to see this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, for it
to happen, Southerners are going to have to agree to some reforms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are two fixed points upon which I will
not budge: First, the Southern states must each ratify the Thirteenth Amendment
before they can resume their former place in the government of our nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slavery in America is done, and the Southern
states must acknowledge this, once and for all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Secondly, they must also agree to acknowledge, protect, and respect the
civil rights, not only of those men who have been freed from slavery, but of
all men who live within their jurisdiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Once there is agreement to those two conditions, the Southern states can
apply for full restoration to the Union, and the life of our great nation may
move on into the sunlit uplands of freedom.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">At this, the entire house rose to its feet –
Republicans glad to finally see the President outline his plan, and Democrats
in relief that the conditions of Reconstruction were not more draconian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The applause washed over Lincoln like ocean
waves over a great boulder; he remained unmoved in its wake. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“How do we accomplish these noble ends?” he asked when
the chamber fell silent again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The
truth is that any legislation passed by Congress can be undone by a later
Congress - or challenged in federal court and perhaps declared
unconstitutional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is only one way
to permanently change the fundamental laws of our nation, and that is to amend
the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For several weeks,
Attorney General Speed and I have been working with my cabinet, members of the
two Houses of our Congress, and a select group of legal advisors to draft a
proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is longer than most previous amendments,
but we tried to compose it in such a way as to address all the issues that I just
mentioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tomorrow it will be
introduced by its sponsors in each House of Congress, and I would ask the
leaders of each House to bring it up for a vote before this thirty-day special
session adjourns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will now read the
amendment to you, and explain some of its provisions, before I conclude my
remarks.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-43105182170093415372022-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:002022-07-13T06:00:18.906-07:00The Journey's End - Who Tells Your Story?<p> New York was magical in so many ways. Seeing in person many of the friends I have made on my Hamilton odyssey - Sergio, Nicole, Marianne, Nancy, and others - making new friends like Hamilton re-enactor Scott MacScott and Wanda Lundy - walking in so many of the places where Hamilton once lived, fought, and served, from the Grange to the Morris-Jumel Mansion to St. Paul's Church in Westchester to Trinity Church, Fraunces Tavern, and Weehawken - experiencing the sights and sounds of "the greatest city in the world" - seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - getting to share this trip with my darling wife Patty (I think her feet are still hurting!) and my enthusiastic, young, semi-adopted-daughter Eliza McMillan-Matic - my heart was so full by the time I collapsed into bed Monday night I just didn't think I could take or do anymore.</p><p> So on our last day in NYC we spent a truly lazy morning. We watched TV and snuggled until after 9 AM, then reluctantly got up and packed out our room. BTW, a quick shout-out to the Indigo Hotel Downtown on Wall Street - it was a wonderful place to stay, great location, and the staff were so friendly and helpful! Also, I might add, they had some of the most comfortable hotel beds I've ever slept in, and the pillows were just perfect! After weighing our options, we decided to catch a hotel-chartered cab from downtown to La Guardia, and invited Eliza to come downtown and ride with us. Of course, she had to make one last very quick pilgrimage to Hamilton's grave (two blocks from the subway station and about four from our hotel!) before running down to meet us. She got there about five minutes ahead of the cabbie, and then we headed to the airport, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge (for sure this time! I asked the driver.) and then parting ways once we got inside.</p><p> The trip home was smooth; we took off around 3 PM from La Guardia, had a 3 hour layover in Norfolk where we ate lunch (good old Burger King!), and then a final, 3 hour flight to DFW airport. We got there around 9:30, and my son-in-law Joseph and daughter Rebecca picked us up just after 10. Of course, we hit construction on 635 in Dallas that delayed us about a half hour, but finally, around 12:20 last night, we got HOME, where all journeys come to an end.</p><p> It was a marvelous experience, no doubt we'll be paying off the bills for months, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Thanks to all who made it possible, and of course, to the remarkable man whose life and deeds inspired my book and enabled me to connect with this wonderful band of scholars, historians, and enthusiasts - Alexander Hamilton himself.</p><p> If you'd like to read the story that was inspired by his life, here is the link:<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&qid=1624931942&refinements=p_27%3ALewis+Ben+Smith&s=books&sr=1-23&text=Lewis+Ben+Smith</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-65885311745371608042022-07-11T20:31:00.000-07:002022-07-11T20:31:04.333-07:00THE OUT OF TOWNERS - The Final Day of My NYC Hamilton Odyssey<p> After yesterday's Hamilton events, all my New York friends had to get back to their other pursuits - Nancy returned home Sunday night and Marianne headed back this morning, and Sergio and Nicole left for the island of Nevis to prepare for the dedication of the new Hamilton statue there. That left us three out of towners - me, Patty, and Eliza - to find our way around New York on our own. After eating another pair of yummy foodcart breakfast sandwiches, we decided to keep the day (relatively) simple and easy - we would go uptown, check out the Hamilton statue in Central Park, do some wandering around Times Square and see the Rockefeller Plaza, and then head back to the hotel to rest a bit before going over to Weehawken, NJ to see the famous dueling ground in the afternoon. Simple schedule, not too busy, right? Famous last words!</p><p> We hit Times Square first, and paid visits to the Richard Rogers theater, since Eliza hadn't seen it, and the Lyric Theater, where "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" plays (tip of the hat to my wife's love of the Potter series). Then we hiked over a few blocks and visited the Drama Book Shop, a famous local store purchased by Lin-Manuel Miranda in 2019 (no, he wasn't there, but I did get the number of their book buyer, so maybe I can talk him into stocking PRESIDENT HAMILTON!). </p><p> After that we hopped back on the train and headed to Central Park to find the Hamilton statue there, which was gifted to the park in 1880 by Hamilton's son, John Church Hamilton. It's a very imposing sculpture of Hamilton, and Eliza says it's her favorite. She and I both snapped quite a few pictures of it. After that, we grabbed some genuine New York pizza for lunch at a nearby pizzeria (I am going to miss those delicious slices when I get home!) Then we hopped on the train and headed back down to Rockefeller Plaza. We had a marvelous time there - Patty and I took Eliza to the FAO Schwarz store, which she had never even heard of, and we all spent a solid 45 minutes wandering around that enchanted toyland. Then we walked a "couple of blocks" (which is New York slang for a distance that can vary from 200 yards to 25 miles) to a gift shop to purchase souvenirs for our family. By now Patty's plantar fasciitis was really bugging her, and she limped back to the train station and said that we would have to go to Weehawken without her. So we rode the subway back to our hotel and got there just before six PM - only three hours past my original estimate!</p><p> Eliza and I paused only long enough to charge our phones for a few minutes and get Patty settled in, then we headed out again, determined to see the site of the fateful duel for ourselves before returning to Texas. We rode the train up to the proper part of NYC without a hitch and managed to find the Transit Authority bus terminal after only one unnecessary lap around the block. We figured out which bus to get on and went through the Lincoln Tunnel, but both our Google Map aps kept losing where we are, and we overshot our bus stop by a couple of miles (at least, that's what it felt like!). Then, when we finally reached the proper spot, we discovered the "steps of doom" - a zig zag ascent of some 25,000 steps (that is only a slight exaggeration) to get to the top of the cliffs overlooking the Hudson. I was huffing and puffing when we got to the top! But from there it was only a relatively short half mile walk to the famous Weehawken dueling grounds, where both Alexander Hamilton and his eldest son Philip met their deaths. Despite the trouble we had getting there, it was an inspiring place to be, and I commented to Eliza my wish that, in his final moments, Hamilton could have just gotten a single glimpse of what New York - and America - would become. I think his vision of our country as a mighty economic powerhouse has been borne out. </p><p> However, as inspiring as that vista of a sunset-illuminated New York was, we both decided that we did NOT want to walk back down the steps of doom! Instead, we split the cost of a Lyft driver and got back to the train station, and from there it was only another couple thousand paces before we got on our train and headed back down to the Wall Street Station, next to our hotel. Eliza had a bit further to go, since she's spending the night with a friend uptown, but I got back to our room, took a quick shower, and then we confirmed our boarding passes for tomorrow and I came down to update this blog.</p><p>Tomorrow, we return to Texas, but today we took in a WHOLE lot of New York on our final day in town - 27,000 paces' worth, to be precise. I'd like to thank my wife Patty for her wonderful patience during all this history nerd rambling, and Eliza for her wonderful, child-like enthusiasm for all things Hamilton. It's been as much fun watching her see all of this as it has been seeing it for myself - more, at times! And thank you, constant readers, for tagging along with me.</p><p>Tomorrow night's entry will be written from my home PC. Good night!</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-54019015691562465602022-07-10T20:31:00.001-07:002022-07-10T20:31:23.289-07:00HISTORY IS HAPPENING IN MANHATTAN . . . . and This Just Happened to be An Absolutely Perfect Day!<p> Even in a good life filled with good things, a man is allotted very few perfect days. But for this man, today was one of them! Patty and I got up around 7 and got dressed, meeting Marianne, Eliza, and Nancy at a subway station after a quick breakfast (alas, my beloved streetcar vendor takes Sundays off, so instead of a nice, filling bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, I had to settle for a rather small, overpriced blueberry muffin from a nearby coffee shop). Unlike yesterday, the trains were all running on time, and we took about 30 minutes to get from Fulton Station to 145th Street, the "quiet uptown" where Hamilton retired to during the last two years of his life. It was a short walk from the station to the Hamilton Grange, the beautiful, stately home that was built for Alexander by the grateful brother of Eli Weeks, whom Hamilton successfully defended against a murder charge. </p><p> I should note that when I first began planning this trip, the whole "Celebrate Hamilton" weekend was very much up in the air. I had a speaking gig at the Snyder Academy, and that was it. New York was still emerging from COVID-19, and the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society had not planned any other events because so many historic sites were still closed or running limited hours from the 2020 lockdowns. But as the date grew closer, more and more sites re-opened and more new events were scheduled. So by the time we flew out Thursday, a full weekend of events were on tap, and this guided tour of the Grange was one of them.</p><p> Not only did we all get to walk through Hamilton's home and see some of the original artifacts from the time he lived there (there's been a lot of restoration done over the years, and the house has been moved twice, but some original belongings of the Hamilton family have been re-located and placed there), but we also were greeted by re-enactors portraying the Hamilton family (Alexander, Eliza, and "Little Phil," their youngest son) as well as two members of the "Hearts of Oak" militia, who played the drum and fife for the crowd. Scott McScott (I love that name!) portrayed Hamilton very convincingly, and treated us to a lively, informative talk about his (er, Hamilton's) role in creating a stable financial system for America. Mr. McScott loved the topic of my book and even agreed to film a short promo of it for my YouTube channel! It was an absolutely wonderful visit, strolling around inside the Grange and soaking up the ambience of this beautiful home where Alexander lived for two years, and his beloved wife Eliza for another thirty years after his death. Visiting with "the Hamiltons" made the time even more special.</p><p> But there were more events to come, so around noon we boarded the train for another quick, smooth ride back downtown. We stopped by Marianne's hotel so the ladies could freshen up for a moment, and then grabbed lunch at a nearby pizzeria (oh, how I LOVE New York pizza! Nothing in Texas comes close!), then strolled on down to Trinity Church at two o'clock for a wonderful, moving tribute to Alexander Hamilton at his grave site. The events included an introductory speech by AHA Society President Nicole Scholet Villavicencio (daughter of my late, lamented friend Rand Scholet, the founder of the Society), a prayer by the pastor of Trinity Church, two brief speeches by the President of the St. Andrew's Society of New York (of which Hamilton was a member) and the Command Master Chief of the New York Coast Guard Headquarters, a blessing of Hamilton's grave by the ministers of Trinity Church, a stirring rendition of the national anthem, the ceremonial laying of two wreaths, and an impromptu but lovely rendering of "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" from the Hamilton musical by a young fan named Eliza who read about the event, showed up, and asked permission to sing. It was a wonderful tribute to this remarkable man who did so much for our young country.</p><p> Trinity Church is four blocks from our hotel, so we had a chance to put our feet up for about 45 minutes after the service there before moving on to the last official event of the day - a guided tour of the Fraunces Tavern Museum and historical site at four. Fraunces Tavern is the oldest building in Manhattan, and was the site of the famous farewell dinner that Washington had with his officers in 1783 before resigning his commission and returning to Mount Vernon. While the building has undergone extensive restoration, it still sits in the same spot were it was 250 years ago, and many original artifacts from the Revolutionary and Federalist era are still exhibited there - including the journal of Benjamin Tallmadge (maybe familiar to you from the TV series TURN: WASHINGTON'S SPIES), open to the pages describing that dinner, and the tearful parting of ways by the men who waged and won our war for independence. Being in "the room where it happened" - where Washington bade farewell to Lafayette, Greene, Knox, and all the rest of his military family - was truly a "goosebump moment"! </p><p> But in addition to being a wonderful museum of American history, Fraunces Tavern is also a working bar and restaurant, so after the tour, Patty and I shared a delicious supper there with Sergio, Nicole, Marianne, and Eliza. Sadly, this was our farewell to Sergio and Nicole, since they are flying out tomorrow morning for Nevis, Hamilton's Caribbean birthplace, to dedicate a statue of the first Treasury Secretary. (For details, visit www.hamiltonstatue.com ) After a marvelous meal, the four of us who were left (Nancy had headed for home after the service at Trinity) decided to split up. Eliza wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, but didn't really want to invest the money and time for the full Liberty Island/Ellis Island tour package, and Sergio recommended taking the State Island Ferry across the harbor and back, since it passes close enough to Lady Liberty to get a good look and take some pictures, but has the benefit of being free and only taking an hour. Patty didn't want to ride another ferry boat after the ride out to Liberty Island hurt her feet so much Friday, so she and Marianne went on a walking tour of lower Manhattan while Eliza and I went for a ride on the ferry and got a lovely view of the Statue silhouetted by the setting sun.</p><p> When we got back, it was near dark, so I walked Eliza back to her hotel (it's only a few blocks from ours) and then I came back to our room and showered, put on some comfy clothes, and came down to write this entry before going to bed for the night. Over 16,000 paces today!</p><p> Thank you to New York, Sergio, the AHA Society, and all my Hamiltonian friends for such a perfect day! Tomorrow Patty, Eliza and I will be on our own, visiting some New York sites we haven't seen yet and enjoying our last day in the Big Apple before returning home.</p><p>Thanks for joining us on this wonderful journey!</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-7089004105095426682022-07-09T19:27:00.003-07:002022-07-09T19:27:26.463-07:00"It's Quiet Uptown" - IF You Can Ever Get There!<p> Our second full day in New York was a blast. We got up around 7:30 and grabbed some breakfast from the ubiquitous street vendor, and then Patty and I walked the few blocks to Trinity Church where we met Eliza, Marianne, and Nancy. Although the formal ceremony at Hamilton's grave is not till tomorrow, we walked into Trinity Church graveyard to pay our respects to our favorite founder. Three years ago, when I first saw Hamilton's grave, I had just begun writing PRESIDENT HAMILTON. Today I was able to stand there with a copy of the finished, published book and tell Alexander that my fondest wish was that I had done justice to his memory. (No, he didn't answer, but I will say that I felt a certain closeness to him just standing there!) My friend Eliza Matic is a strong admirer of Hamilton's, and standing by his grave was a powerful, emotional moment for her; it was an honor to be there and share it with her.</p><p> Then we boarded the train and the REAL adventure began. Our destination was St. Paul's Episcopal Church and Museum in Westchester, but the problem is that the NYC Transit Authority does all their maintenance work on the subways over the weekend, and the line that should have taken us within a few blocks of our destination was closed for repairs. So we caught a train headed uptown and got as far up as 165th Street, where a shuttle bus was supposed to connect us to another train that would help us complete the journey - but it was also down for repairs. So we caught a THIRD train that got us about 20 minutes from our destination, and then had to catch a 20 minute Uber ride the rest of the way. We got there moments before the lecture was supposed to begin, and squeezed into the museum there at the church. St. Paul's uptown has a remarkable history - the building was used as a field hospital by the British during the war, and after the war when its construction was complete it doubled as a church and a court house - it is confirmed that Aaron Burr argued several cases there, and Hamilton may have as well, although there's no written evidence to confirm that at the moment - but certainly he practiced law in the area and would have ridden through the community many times. The lecture was a bit dry ion delivery but interesting incontent - it dealt with the stereotypes that Americans felt about themselves, their French allies, and their Hessian adversaries during the war. </p><p> After leaving St. Paul's, we took another Uber to the Morris-Jumel Mansion, the oldest residence still standing in uptown New York. During the Revolution, it was used as a military headquarters by George Washington of the Continentals, and then after the Americans lost control of the city it was commandeered by General Clinton of the British Army and also was used briefly by Major General Knyphausen, commander of the Hessian forces fighting for the British. After the war, in 1790, George Washington dined at this house with his entire cabinet and Vice President Adams. Later on, the mansion was owned by a wealthy widow named Eliza Jumel, who in 1832 married the aging but still seemingly irresistible Aaron Burr (the marriage only lasted a few months, and then she was in the midst of divorcing him when he died). Standing there in the rooms where Washington met with Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox, and Joh Randolph was a genuine goosebump moment! The tour guide was wonderful, and everyone loved the experience. </p><p> After the tour, we walked to a nearby restaurant and had a wonderful supper together with lots of stories, philosophy, and fellowship. After that Sergio left us to head home, and we intrepid five caught the A-train back down to lower Manhattan. There Patty and I parted company with Marianne, Eliza, and Nancy, and then we made the error of deciding to see the 9/11 Memorial before heading back to the hotel. The reflecting pools were closed, so we couldn't get very close, and walking back to our hotel we got a bit turned around (although we did see the famous Wall Street Bull on the way!). We were both tired when we started and pretty well shagged out by the time we navigated our way back to the familiar area around Battery Park and thence back to our hotel room. All in all, it was an enjoyable day - although, like every day in NYC, it left us with sore feet and aching calves!</p><p>Tomorrow we get to visit the Hamilton Grange, the only home Alexander ever owned. I can't wait! </p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-20958243882333591822022-07-08T20:03:00.002-07:002022-07-08T20:03:41.545-07:00"Everything is Legal in New Jersey" . . . Day 2 of My Hamilton Odyssey<p> After yesterday's marathon, we both slept in this morning! I finally woke up grumpy (although she was happier after a bit of caffeine) and we both got dressed and out the door a little after 9. Our hotel is only a couple of blocks from the harbor (hence "Water Street," the original shoreline was right in front of the door!), so we bought breakfast from a street vendor and ate while watching the ships go back and forth. A word about New York food: This is my second trip here, and I have never once gotten BAD food in NYC! I'll admit, the burger we ate at Planet Hollywood back in 2019 wasn't great, but it certainly wasn't bad. But these breakfast sandwiches - I got turkey bacon, egg, and cheese and my wife got ham and egg - were DELICIOUS! I polished off every bite of mine; Patty could only eat half of hers but took the rest up to our room to have later because it was too good to throw away!</p><p>Next stop was Times Square. We hopped on the subway and, by luck or my natural navigation skills, got off at exactly the right spot to wander out into the glory and wonder that is the heart of New York. No matter how many movie scenes you see that are set there, nothing can prepare you for the sheer eclectic weirdness of Times Square. Superheroes, cartoon characters, and scantily dressed performers clamor to pose for pictures with you (for a small fee, of course) while Buddhists try to sell you bracelets to support their local temples and shills for Broadway plays try to hand you fliers. In a single block you will hear six different languages, and people from all over the world are wandering about in every kind of dress (and undress, my wife got to meet the Naked Cowboy for the first time!) imaginable. We dropped by the Richard Rogers Theater where HAMILTON plays every night (I hate that we can't try to squeeze in a performance this trip, but Saturday and Sunday are full of historical, "real" Hamilton related events, and there are no shows on Monday.), and also the Lyric Theater where "The Cursed Child" (a Harry Potter sequel play) was showing. All in all, we had a marvelous time, but then we had to come back to our hotel to get ready for my speaking gig this evening.</p><p>We got back to our room, changed, and then headed up to Penn Station to meet several of our Hamiltonian Friends - Sergio Villavicencio, the VP of the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society; Hamilton scholar and defender Marianne Als, financial scholar Nancy Spannaus (author of HAMILTON VS. WALL STREET), and our own friend and Hamilton aficionado from Texas, Eliza Matic (founder of the "Alexander Hamilton: Life and Legacy" FB page). We had an early supper together, and then hopped on the New Jersey transit for an hour's ride to Elizabeth, NJ. When we got there it was pouring down rain - I mean, an absolute deluge. So we huddled under the railway overpass and called an Uber instead of walking the four blocks to the Snyder Academy. By the time we got there, the rain had quit, and the 200-year-old, un-air conditioned building was rapidly turning into a sauna. </p><p>About 20 people showed up for the lecture, including my niece Katharine Smith, who brought several relatives with her. I spoke for about 40 minutes on "President Hamilton vs. the Hamilton of History," then took questions and sold several copies of my book. It was a pleasant time; I got some very interesting questions and everyone seemed to enjoy the lecture a great deal. Afterward, we took a walk through the beautiful cemetery next to the church - many of the graves there over 300 years old! Then we caught the train back and went our separate ways - Sergio to his home uptown, while Patty and I went with Marianne and the others down to Manhattan, since their hotel is only one subway stop away from ours. </p><p>By the time we got back, I was so tired and sweaty felt like a banana that had been covered in cling wrap and left on the hood of the car! But a long shower made me feel human again, and reminded me that the 4 PM cheeseburger had completely worn off. So I put on some comfortable clothes and went down on the street, and found a pushcart vendor directly across from the hotel! I got some wings and fries, and now with a comfortably full belly and sore feet, I'm ready to crash until tomorrow, when several more major Hamilton sites wait for us to visit!</p><p>Thanks for coming along.</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-73596662218607553542022-07-07T17:15:00.001-07:002022-07-07T17:15:56.970-07:00We Just Happen to be In The Greatest City in the World!<p> Wheeew - it has been a LOOOOONG day today!</p><p><br /></p><p>Our flight out of DFW airport was at 7:30 AM, so we got up at 3, left the house at 4, and got to the airport just before 6 AM. The flight was smooth and pleasant and we arrived in NYC a little bit after noon. Spirit Airways managed to get our luggage to the same terminal we arrived at, and by 1:30 we were at our hotel, the Indigo on Wall Street. It's an interesting location - sandwiched between two buildings, the entire hotel is maybe fifty feet wide, but it's 25 stories tall! Our room is on the 10th floor and it is very small but VERY nice and clean, with all the amenities the limited floor space will allow.</p><p>We unpacked pretty quickly, and then walked down Pearl Street towards Battery Park in search of lunch. We ate at a sandwich shop (the "Lenwich") which was really good, and then strolled on down to Battery Park and caught the boat out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. My only other visit to NYC was three years ago, and our trip to Lady Liberty got rained out that day - we snapped a couple of pictures of our drenched seniors and then got back on the boat pretty quickly. Then the rain stopped, the sun came out, and Ellis Island became a sauna. Today the weather was absolutely perfect - sunny, a nice breeze, and a high in the mid-80's. FACT: It was cooler at 4 PM in Manhattan than it was at 4 AM in Greenville, TX! I am going to try and cram some of this weather into my suitcase to take home when we leave, because 105 degrees Fahrenheit is stinking HOT, even for a Native Texan!</p><p>We had a blast walking all around Liberty Island and took a ton of pictures of the Statue, the Manhattan skyline, each other, and the beautiful harbor. Then we boarded the same boat and went over to Ellis Island, and toured this place where so many immigrants came to America a hundred years ago. We got there late in the day and didn't get to see everything we wanted to, but it was still a memorable and worthwhile experience. At 6 we boarded the boat and headed back to Battery Park. My wife discovered that even the gentle rolling of a ferry boat is hard on your feet if you suffer from plantar fasciitis - although as soon as we were on land she was a lot more comfortable; a few minute's rest made a world of difference.</p><p>We bought a drink from a street vendor and then headed back towards our hotel. After some discussion, we decided to eat at a little ramen shop right around the corner from the hotel. The soup was absolutely delicious and so spicy it made me break into more of a sweat than the entire 13,000 steps I walked today! After that we returned to the hotel, and I went across the street to a Duane Read store (a branch of Walgreen's, lots of snacks, meds, and other essentials) and got us some sodas and snack food for the next couple of days. </p><p>All day long, I had worn one of my PRESIDENT HAMILTON T-shirts, with the book cover on the front and the tag line on the back. I'd gotten a few curious glances but not a single comment until this moment. A local, walking by with his family, took one look and said: "I love that &^%$!!ing shirt!!" I smiled and said, "Well, I wrote the book!" We stood on the street corner and chatted for a minute, and the upshot of it was that he is planning on coming to my lecture at the Snyder Academy tomorrow! With that I returned to our room, and having been up for about fifteen hours, I think both of us are going to drop into a travel coma for the next 12 hours or so!</p><p>More tomorrow, so stay tuned!</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-40404562682454533722022-07-06T19:16:00.000-07:002022-07-06T19:16:13.441-07:00Heading to New York to Celebrate Hamilton!<p> Sorry I haven't been posting much this summer - it's been a crazy, busy time in the Smith Household - but that's about to change! (Not the crazy, busy part but the me not posting part)</p><p> Tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM, my wife and I will be taking off for New York City to take part in the annual "Celebrate Hamilton" festivities! I'll be speaking about my book, PRESIDENT HAMILTON, at the Snyder Academy in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Friday night, and have a bunch of Hamilton-themed events we'll be attending on Saturday and Sunday. I'll try to update this blog every night, as I did on my last trip to New York, with notes of where we went and what we saw each day. So check back in over this weekend for all the exciting details - and, as always, thanks so much for following this chronicle of mine! It's been a year this week since PRESIDENT HAMILTON was released, but just in case you haven't ordered your copy yet - here's the link. Happy Reading!!<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&qid=1624931942&refinements=p_27%3ALewis+Ben+Smith&s=books&sr=1-23&text=Lewis+Ben+Smith</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-19274087270005113582022-05-25T14:24:00.000-07:002022-05-25T14:24:02.179-07:00Responding to an Amazon Review of PRESIDENT HAMILTON<p> Every time I sell a book, I tell my buyer: "Please leave me a review on Amazon! I love hearing back from my readers!" And I mean every word of it when I say it. Amazon is the world's largest marketplace for books right now, and Amazon reviews are visible to every potential buyer out there. I read every review I get, some of them over and over. Nearly every day I look at my books' Amazon pages and see if anyone has left me a new review, and when I get one, it's like Christmas morning - scrolling through the reviews that are already there, looking for the most recent one, and seeing what my reader has to say. (Let me add - if you're going to leave a rating, please leave a short review to go with it! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for any and all feedback, but I'd rather see WHY you gave my book five stars, or one star, or something in between rather than simply see another star rating. OK, end of digression!)</p><p> Five star reviews are wonderful for an author's ego, of course - especially when they are carefully written, thoughtful, and sincere. Every writer wants his book to be someone's favorite book - I mean, that is why we spend so much time and effort telling these stories, so that others may enjoy them. But almost as much as the reviews that say "OMG!! This is the best book EVER!", I have also learned to enjoy those long, thoughtful, mixed reviews that I get from some readers. I love hearing about what I did right in a particular story, but I also like to hear what people think I got wrong. Constructive criticism makes us better at what we do, whether we are authors, teachers, engineers, or researchers. So when I see a three or four star review left for one of my books, I read it with great interest to see how my reader thought I could have done better. If I think the criticism is unfair or nit-picky, then I will disregard it and move on. If I think it's legitimate and insightful, I'll adjust my future works accordingly to try and avoid making the same mistake again. </p><p> One thing, though - Amazon doesn't allow authors to interact with their reviewers, other than to check the "Helpful" or "Not Helpful" box after the review. I totally get that, of course - given the divisive nature of public discourse these days, they don't want to have the review section taken up with flame wars between authors and their readers. That makes a lot of sense, and I really have no desire to argue with any of my reviewers. Every now and then, though, you get a review that makes you wish you could sit down and have a conversation with the person who posted it. Such was the case with a lovely four star review I recently got for PRESIDENT HAMILTON from a woman named Georgia. She raised some interesting and valid points that I'd love to respond to, so I'm doing it here just in case she ever reads this blog.</p><p>ATTENTION: FROM HERE DOWN, THIS POST CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS FOR <b><i>PRESIDENT HAMILTON</i></b>! IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ THE BOOK, THEN ORDER A COPY AND DO SO IMMEDIATELY. AFTERWARD, YOU MAY COME BACK TO FINISH THIS BLOG POST.<br /></p><p> Ok, so while everyone else scrambles for the Amazon link, I'll continue for those of you who have already finished my book. Ms. Georgia said some very nice things about the story to start with; I will skip over them here (feel free to go to Amazon and read her full review if you want to know what her positive comments were) and get to what I thought was her most substantive criticism, which was this:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"So, now my biggest issue with the book.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I’m no expert but I thought the topic of slavery was handled pretty respectfully in some ways, and was certainly presented in an intriguing way at times; but there were problems.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The book is really idealistic as I said; Hamilton is going around mending fences with his enemies in the span of a single conversation. As such, in this universe, where Hamilton survives the duel and becomes president, it wasn’t too hard for me to believe Madison would free his slaves, as he and Hamilton are best friends again. I want to make it clear: in THIS alternate universe I found it believable enough. I don’t know how or whether this happened in the real world.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But Jefferson? That was pushing it. I know THAT didn’t happen.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The scenes with Sally Hemings are really uncomfortable to read - as they should be - but Jefferson freeing his slaves because Sally tells him Madison did that was pushing it for believability.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Also I think the fact that he marries her could be considered borderline disrespectful.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The larger problem with this is that it felt like it was downplaying the role these white men really had in this horrendous event. Even if it wasn’t intentional, it read a bit like: “Hey, remember those guys we love to hate in Act II? Well, they weren’t THAT bad when it came to slavery, see? Hamilton could’ve convinced them.”</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It excuses their actions and ignores the reality, so that the author doesn’t feel bad about being connected to these white men who were horrible in this regard; using “it’s alternate history” as an excuse.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">All that didn’t sit too well with me, as a white non-American, so I’m sure people of colour will find it even more problematic."</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /></p><p> Now, she is right that I am idealistic, and I make no apology for that. Frankly, we live in such an overwhelmingly negative time, with school shootings, foreign conflicts, a society so bitterly divided that we seem on the brink of a new civil war at times, and a level of coarseness and rage in our public discourse that is painful to those who value civility. I wanted to tell an optimistic story of what might have been, in part, to escape the ugliness of the age we live in. </p><p> Jefferson and Hamilton were seemingly born to irritate each other. Each saw in the other everything they perceived to be wrong with America, and yet each was intrinsically necessary, in different ways, to the founding of our country. Reconciling the two of them was a great challenge, and I will note that, unlike the reconciliation with John Adams (which occupies a later chapter), the reconciliation with Jefferson was gradual and took a span of several years. While I know that it is popular in today's climate to label Jefferson and every other Southern slaveowner as monsters, pure and simple, the truth is always more complex than bumper stickers. Jefferson was a product of his time and the place where he was born; while in some way he was a man ahead of his time, in many other ways he was hopelessly mired in the historical context he was born into. Yet he was not devoid of moral values; he struggled with the morality of slavery even as he found himself unable to see a way through to rid the nation of it.</p><p> That brings us to the meat of Georgia's criticism, the comment about the Sally Hemings scenes. Let me be clear: I GET IT. Those were hard scenes to write, and I struggled with how to word them. The truth is this: we know nothing about the details of Thomas Jefferson's relationship with his enslaved concubine, and we know even less about Sally Hemings herself. There are a handful of contemporary allusions in the opposition press to Jefferson's "mulatto wench" (as the Federalists called her), and some oral history from the Hemings family that is some two hundred and fifty years old at this point. What we can say with certainty is that Jefferson owned an enslaved woman of mixed racial heritage named Sally Hemings, who was quite likely the half sister of his deceased wife Martha. For many years, her descendants claimed that all her children were sired by Thomas Jefferson, and in recent years, DNA testing has confirmed that claim to some extent. That's it. That's all we know. The Jefferson/Hemings affair is a <i>tabula rosa</i> on which the historian (or novelist) can write whatever narrative he chooses, as fits his personal philosophy and agenda.</p><p> Any sexual relationship between master and slave was by definition rape, since a slave cannot legally withhold consent. That's the universal consensus of modern society, and it is correct so far as it goes. Such activity may generate horror and disdain in a modern audience, but master-slave couplings were very widespread in the antebellum South. "The past is a foreign country," as one modern philosopher says, and there is much truth to that. Things that were commonplace 250 years ago are utterly unacceptable now, and things that are commonplace now were utterly unacceptable 250 years ago. We may (and should) detest many aspects of our history, but to judge people from that era by the social mores of today is not entirely fair. (If you want to see more of the historical record about Jefferson and Hemings, Monticello's official website contains everything we know: https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/ ).</p><p> The only person in the Jefferson/Hemings affair that we know anything at all about is Thomas Jefferson himself, and he was an incredibly complex man - brilliant, kind, and generous on the one hand; devious, hypocritical, and morally inconsistent on the other. But in reading both his own words and the words of those who know him, one thing that does come across is that Jefferson was quiet, friendly, and affable, detesting confrontation and violence in person, even if he enthusiastically supported both in the realm of theory. His political dirty work was always done through proxies, never directly. One on one, you read again and again of his ability to charm and befriend even those who opposed him politically. He and Hamilton shared dinner together often during the first year of Washington's presidency. Therefore I find it more likely that his relationship with Sally was in keeping with his other personal relationships - that he would have treated her with some decency and kindness within the horrific framework of the "peculiar institution." I even think he probably did love her, in his own selfish and entitled way. She may have even loved him back. Who knows? At this point in history, no one does.</p><p> So I wrote what I did in an effort to be true to Jefferson the person, as I understand him - but also with this consideration: I wanted to give him a shot at redemption; to leave him and the other Founding Fathers in a better place than I found them. So I let Hamilton's words eat at his conscience, and I gave Sally Hemings a key role in awakening him to the hypocrisy of his lifestyle. In the end, I chose to have Thomas Jefferson do the right thing in the context of his time: to free his slaves, and to give Sally the choice to leave him behind, or remain with him as his wife. I did this, not out of any disrespect to the sufferings of all those who labored under the lash in antebellum America, nor out of any desire to belittle their ordeal, but rather to create a timeline where even Thomas Jefferson could get a second chance, an opportunity to overcome and make right the greatest moral failing of his long and complex life. That's why I wrote the story that I did, because despite the broken and bitter world we live in, I still believe in happy endings.</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-5069807840127181602022-03-27T12:25:00.002-07:002022-03-27T12:25:47.363-07:00Here is the Prologue for My New Novel, WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE: LINCOLN'S RECONSTRUCTION<p> What is "alternative history?" Simply put, it's imagining a time and place where history diverged from our timeline to create a different chain of events than the one that makes up our past. Back in 2017, I wrote a short story called "An Interview at Weehawken," in which Alexander Hamilton survived his famous duel with Aaron Burr. I couldn't put that story out of my mind, as my brain kept asking "What happened next?" That question prompted me to start writing my first alternative history novel in 2019, entitled PRESIDENT HAMILTON. Published in 2021, it has enjoyed the strongest start of any of my novels, and is still selling well nine months after its publication.</p><p> Writing it gave me a taste for other "What if?" moments in history, and of all those, perhaps the one that has been pondered over the most is, "What if Abraham Lincoln had not been murdered right at the end of the Civil War?" So not long after writing "An Interview at Weehawken," I penned a re-telling of that fateful night in Washington DC, entitled "A Close Call at the Theater." Once more, it was never intended to be anything more than a short story. But that pesky muse of mine kept bugging me with the same question she'd asked about Alexander Hamilton: "What happened next?"<br /> </p><p> So in January, I pulled up "A Close Call at the Theater" and edited it a bit, and added one word to the title: "Prologue." As of right now, I am seven chapters in to this speculative account of what might have been if America's greatest President had not been cut down at the moment of his victory in the Civil War. And I don't know, yet, how the story ends. But I will say, it has been a marvelous ride thus far! So, by way of an introduction and a teaser, here is "A Close Call at the Theater" - the prologue to WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> PROLOGUE:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> A Close Call at the Theater<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">John Parker looked at his
pocket watch and yawned. It was nearly nine o’clock, and the
President was late – again. Mrs. Lincoln glanced at the door of the White
House and sighed. After so many years, Parker figured she ought to be
used to never seeing the first act of a play, but he could tell she was upset.
Not angry – her legendary fits of temper were unmistakable – but disappointed
no less. Finally, at nine on the dot, the front door of the Executive
Mansion opened, and the lanky form of Abraham Lincoln, wearing his trademark
stovepipe hat, stepped out and strode across the White House lawn towards the
carriage.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“The play started thirty
minutes ago,” Mary Todd Lincoln said.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Good thing we’ve seen this
one before then, eh?” the President replied with a slight chuckle. He was
accustomed to his wife’s moods and knew when to take a light tone and when to
be sympathetic.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“As I recall, we missed the first
act then, too,” she replied. “But that’s all right, Father, I just want
to relax tonight. It’s been such a long time since we had a good laugh!”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Indeed, little Mother,” he said,
patting her hand. “Makes you wish we were going to a better comedy,
doesn’t it?” Lincoln had been disappointed with ‘Our American Cousin’ the
first time he saw it – it was a vulgar bit of slapstick, not the dry, witty
brand of comedy he preferred to watch.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“They say that the script
has been re-written since the last production, and that Laura Keene and Harry
Hawke are both hilarious,” she replied.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Well, we shall soon see
then, won’t we?” Lincoln said as the driver whipped the carriage towards
Ford’s Theater. </span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Parker stood on the running
board of the carriage, his Colt in his pocket, scanning the crowds. As a
Washington policeman detailed to protect the President, big crowds always
made him nervous. Lincoln was unpopular in many circles, and not a few
people wanted him dead. No American President had ever been assassinated,
but a madman had tried to kill Andrew Jackson thirty years before, and anything
could happen. He would be glad when the President was tucked away safe in
his box at the theater. The mood of the capitol was generally
jubilant since Lee’s surrender a few days before, but many Confederate
sympathizers lurked in the city still. Besides, he thought, he’d been
late for duty and had no time for supper; perhaps he could grab a bite – or
better yet, a drink – once the President was tucked in.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It was a short ride from the
White House to the theater, and once they arrived, Parker escorted
the Lincolns and their guests, Major Rathbone and his fiancée, Clara Harris, to
the Presidential box. As they filed into their seats, Harry Hawke,
playing the role of Asa Trenchard, a penniless American adventurer, looked
up and saw them. He quickly ad-libbed the line he was uttering – a
protestation of his worth to his potential mother-in-law – to fit the
occasion.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Well, I’ll have you know,”
he declaimed, “I am just as fine a gentleman as the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES!” He gestured at Lincoln with a flourish as he spoke, and
the tall man from Illinois tipped his hat to the crowd, who gave him a vigorous
round of applause. Lincoln bowed gracefully, and then gestured to the
actors to continue. As they did, he turned to his bodyguard.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“We are fine for
the time being, Mr. Parker,” he said. “Feel free to sit among the audience
and enjoy the play.”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Thank you, Mister
President,” said Parker. There was a chair in the narrow corridor right
outside the Presidential box, but it had no view of the stage at all. He
went down the stairs and took a seat near the back of the crowd, and soon was
chuckling along with the rest of the audience at the onstage antics of Harry
Hawke and Laura Keene.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">It was late in the
first act, and Parker had not been seated for very long when the
intermission was called. As the gas lights were turned up, he recognized
Lincoln’s coachman, Robert Stark, sitting a couple of seats over.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Come on to the Lone Star
with me and get a drink,” the garrulous Scotsman said.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I really shouldn’t,” said
Parker. “I’m supposed to be watching out for the President.”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Aw, come on, man!” Stark
said. “Lincoln never leaves once he’s in his box. It’s safe as can be.”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Parker shrugged. He
was not a particularly conscientious man - hence his spotty record with the
Washington police - and he was powerfully thirsty. Lincoln would be fine
for a half hour, he reckoned.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Lone Star Tavern was
crowded, and as they entered, Parker saw the popular actor, Wilkes Booth, get
up and leave a corner table. He nodded at the young thespian as he
brushed by, but Booth ignored him. Theater people - stuck up brats, the
lot of them, Parker thought.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">He grabbed a tankard of beer
and was about to join Stark when he saw a beautiful woman seated at the
bar. Parker was married, but he was no more particular about his
marital vows than he was about his police duties. He plopped down on the
stool next to her and greeted the young lady with a grin and a wink.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“John Parker, Washington
Police,” he said. “How are you this fine evening, my lady?”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“I am quite well,” she said
with a friendly smile. “Louise Fletcher, at your service, officer.”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">His spirits lifted at that
smile – it was obvious she liked policemen!</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Are you from Washington,
Miss Fletcher?” he asked.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Mrs. Fletcher,” she
said. “My husband was a Captain in the Union Army, but he died at
Gettysburg. I volunteered for the Sanitary Commission after that, hoping
to help other men like him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tend to the
wounded in the Soldier’s Home.”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Very noble,” said
Parker. A lonely widow! His prospects were looking up. “I am a
personal security guard for President Lincoln,” he continued.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“How exciting!” she
said. “Are you off duty?”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Not exactly,” he
said. “The President is next door watching a play.”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Then why are you not with
him?” she asked sharply, disapproval written on her futures. </span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Well, I just came over to
have a nip -” he started, but she would have none of it.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“You are tasked with
protecting the most important man in America, and you leave your post to take a
drink?” she snapped. “That is terribly unprofessional. If something
were to happen to Mister Lincoln, the whole nation would curse you!”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Well,” he lied, “I have
been on duty since noon, and I just needed to wet my whistle before I return to
the job. In fact, I ought to get back, I suppose. It was
a pleasure to meet you.”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">She snorted and turned her
back, and Parker muttered a few choice words under his breath as he carried the
tankard full of beer back across the street. It wasn’t as if a
potential assassin would try anything in the middle of a crowded theater,
he thought.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The second act was already
underway, and Parker’s seat had been taken by someone else when he
got to it. Grumbling, he headed up the stairs towards the Presidential
box. At least there would be no one to bump his arm and make him spill
his drink up there! He glanced up to where his chair sat in the hallway,
and then gasped at what he saw.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The unmistakable form of
John Wilkes Booth was opening the door of the Presidential box very slowly with
his left hand, and in his right, he grasped a small Derringer pistol. He
was so intent on slipping in unnoticed that he did not see the policeman on the
stairs below. Parker set his drink down quietly, drew his own weapon, and
took the stairs two at a time.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The play was nearing
a climax – the American, Trenchard, had been unmasked as a penniless
fortune seeker, and Laura Keene’s mother was laying into him with a vengeance.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Mister Trenchard!” she
sniffed in an upper-class British accent, “You are a foul-mouthed, ill-tempered
barbarian, utterly unfit for the manners of polite society!”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Well, I may not be fit
for polite society,” Hawke drawled, “But I know enough to turn you inside out,
old gal – you sock-dologizing old man-trap!”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The audience roared with
laughter, and Booth raised his pistol even as Parker came up behind him.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Hey there!” he shouted,
desperate to distract the assassin. “Stop this villainy!”</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Booth pulled the trigger,
and the pistol roared loudly in the confined space. There were shrieks in the
audience below, but Parker’s shout had accomplished one thing: Lincoln had
turned his head at the sound of his shout, and the bullet aimed at the back of the
President’s head tore through his right ear instead. The President
stood quickly, and his long, wiry arm shot out, grabbing Booth
by the wrist. The actor snarled in rage, and with his right hand drew a
lethal-looking Bowie knife from his belt. Lincoln grabbed that wrist with
his other hand, and the two men were caught in a deadly grapple. Parker
had his pistol out, but he could not get a clear shot as the two men swayed and
struggled back and forth. Mrs. Lincoln was screaming, and Clara Harris had
fainted dead away in Major Rathbone’s arms, temporarily preventing him from
aiding the President.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Abraham Lincoln was
enormously strong, and always had been. Years of splitting rails had left
his arms as tough as steel cables, and even in his fifties he could hold an axe
by the very end of the handle, parallel with the ground, for
a full minute at a time. Once, in a brawl as a young man, he
had picked up his opponent and flung him headfirst into the ground so hard that
the man was unconscious for two hours. Booth was two decades younger, a
superb acrobat and swordsman, but his strength was no match for that of the
enraged prairie giant he was now wrestling.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Parker decided to help the
President subdue Booth instead of shooting into the midst of them, so he grabbed
one of the actor’s legs. As he did, a powerful kick from
Booth’s opposite foot caught him in the forehead, knocking him out
cold. He crumpled to the floor unconscious.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But Booth had thrown himself
off balance by kicking so hard, and a veteran “rassler” like Lincoln knew how
to take advantage of that. The actor’s pistol
had already fallen out of his hand as they fought,
and now Lincoln shifted his grip with his right hand to the actor’s
collar. Lifting and twisting, he raised the much shorter Booth clear of
the ground and flung him out and away from the Presidential box – into the air
above the screaming crowd! Lincoln just had time to see the hate in
Booth’s eyes turning to shock, and then to fear, as his body tumbled into the
empty air. The actor threw out one hand, trying to catch the edge of the Presidential
box. Instead, his fingers wrapped around the tricolor bunting
adorning the rail, and he pulled it after him like a streamer as he
plunged downward to the stage. He struck the boards headfirst, and his
neck snapped with a sickening crunch. His arms and legs were still
twitching as the red, white, and blue bunting slowly settled over his dying
form.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="normaltextrun"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The audience’s screams were
slowly displaced by a buzz of wonder and excitement. Someone had tried to
shoot the President, and Lincoln had killed the man with his bare hands!
One by one, eyes glanced back and forth from the crumpled form on the stage to
the tall man standing in the Presidential box. Lincoln raised his hand to
his ear, and it came away bloody, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out
a handkerchief, holding it to the side of his head. Intense pain shot
through his head as he put pressure on his mangled ear. He waved one hand at
the audience to show that he was all right, and all of Ford’s theater erupted
in applause. Mary Todd Lincoln, who had been standing virtually paralyzed
with fear and shock, suddenly came to herself and embraced her husband, heedless
of the hundreds who were watching. The applause redoubled until the
rafters of the theater vibrated.</span></span><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> On the stage, Harry Hawke and Laura Keene stared
upward, their lines momentarily forgotten.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The crowd slowly fell silent, and
Lincoln stepped to the railing of the box, looking down at Booth’s body.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “I
think that tonight’s performance is done.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">As I said, I have no idea when this story will be finished, only that it's flowing smoothly right now and I am enjoying the writing process. But, if you'd like to check out my other alternative history project, PRESIDENT HAMILTON is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, and anywhere else books are sold online! Check it out!</p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&qid=1624931942&refinements=p_27%3ALewis+Ben+Smith&s=books&sr=1-23&text=Lewis+Ben+Smith</p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="eop"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-62603035494244324342022-02-07T18:03:00.013-08:002022-02-10T16:27:12.733-08:00Come and Meet Them All - THE CAST OF CHARACTERS FOR "PRESIDENT HAMILTON"<p> Writing a 650+ page novel is no joke. Especially when it is a work of historical fiction that involves both real people and created characters interacting with each other! After my second book, I discovered it was a lot easier to keep a cast of characters at the end of the manuscript, so that instead of scrolling all the way back to Chapter Two so find out "what was the name of that guy Hamilton went to see after the duel?" I could scroll down two pages instead of two hundred and see his name and a brief bio there. It's a system that has worked for me through four books now. </p><p> I have a beta reader named "Ellie" who has been my friend and literary supporter since I started this journey in 2012, and when I'm writing a book I send her each chapter, as I finish it, and she sends it back to me with comments, corrections, criticisms, and questions that help me write a better story and often send me into peals of laughter. About three or four chapters into HAMILTON I sent her the cast of characters, and when she replied she added snarky notes, comments, and jokes to each character. Not to be outdone, I began making up my own silly comments about each new character as I introduced them. The result was what you will read below. When I submitted the book for publication, I decided that the Cast of Characters was simply to silly and off-color to be included in a serious and (I hope) thoughtful work of alternative history.</p><p> But now that the book has been out for a while, and has been purchased and read by hundreds (hopefully soon to be thousands) of people, I found myself reading over it and thinking that it's simply too much fun not to share with a wider audience. So scroll on down to read this bit of whimsy that my beta reader and I concocted as we went back and forth with my book during its creative process. However,. before reading this, read the following warnings!</p><p>1. CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!! If you have not read PRESIDENT HAMILTON yet, the character descriptions below, by necessity, give away some aspects of the story, especially as you go further down the list. So read at your own risk!</p><p>2. IT'S A JOKE! Some of these descriptions make light of serious stuff. Humor is a time honored way of dealing with tragedy and distasteful things; my flippant comments are not meant to minimize real suffering or some of the less savory aspects of American history. These sarcastic, snarky comments made it easier for me to tackle some real historical unpleasantness in my book. So if you're easily offended, read no further.</p><p>3. This list is comic relief, but my book is actually quite serious. So don't come away thinking PRESIDENT HAMILTON is a piece of slapstick. My 'Cast of Characters' was a way to blow off steam after doing hundreds of pages of serious writing.</p><p>So, after all that, if you still want to read on . . . HERE IT IS!!</p><p style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0px;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" color="windowtext" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; line-height: 32.375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" color="windowtext" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 32.375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;" xml:lang="EN-US"> PRESIDENT HAMILTON</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" color="windowtext" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":2,"335551620":2,"335559731":720,"335559740":259}" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 32.375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" color="windowtext" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 32.375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> <span style="font-variant-ligatures: none;">CAST OF CHARACTERS:</span></span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" color="windowtext" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":2,"335551620":2,"335559731":720,"335559740":259}" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 32.375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: 48px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{133}" paraid="1904705527" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: center; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">(Simplified for non-history majors)</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":2,"335551620":2,"335559740":259}" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{141}" paraid="1984243150" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: center; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 32.375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"></span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":2,"335551620":2,"335559740":259}" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 32.375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{145}" paraid="1439191663" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Aaron Burr: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Vice President of the USA, general bad guy, killed by Hamilton in a duel in 1804, does not re-appear after the prologue except in the past tense.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{153}" paraid="17784127" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Alexander Hamilton: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">the</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> Founding Father dude this story is about; crazy smart, helped create our country but never got to be President (until now)</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{163}" paraid="1165550361" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Philip Hamilton: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Hamilton’s firstborn, killed in a duel in 1801. </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Shoulda</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> shot first!</span></span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Maria Reynolds: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s onetime squeeze, whose husband blackmailed him to keep quiet about the affair and then spilled the beans to the opposition anyway!</span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Eliza Hamilton: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s wife; a hottie with common sense and a whole pack of kids. Made one VERY classy First Lady.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{183}" paraid="1236077613" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Rachel Benson: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">The Hamilton family’s cook and nursemaid; could cook up a superb stew using only three ingredients</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{191}" paraid="247002199" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thomas Jefferson: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">President of the U.S.; Hamilton’s nemesis, super genius IQ but no secret lair or dimwitted sidekick, an idealist who has to be kicked in the crotch to do the right thing. Later becomes a friend and supporter.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{199}" paraid="1753376473" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Charles Cooper: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">One of Hamilton’s blabbermouth friends, whose loose lips caused Burr to issue the infamous challenge</span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Nathaniel Pendleton: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s second at the infamous duel, and general partner in political mischief</span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Dr. David Hosack: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s physician and personal trainer, invented the tongue depressor but used it for stirring coffee</span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">William P. Van Ness: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Sidekick of Aaron Burr; now unemployed</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{219}" paraid="1840286295" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Matthew Davis: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Some other guy that hung out with Burr till the duel left him looking for new friends</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{227}" paraid="683155698" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">James Madison: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Jefferson’s BFF, sidekick, and Secretary of State, but not at all dimwitted. Hamilton’s favorite </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">frienemy</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">. Shorter than the average dwarf. Convert to Hamilton’s First Church of Liberty, AKA “Slavery Sucks!”</span></span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Alexander Hamilton, Jr.: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Hamilton’s oldest surviving son and namesake </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">(but seriously, Gomer, if you need to be told that, you shouldn’t be reading this book)</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{634fc235-9ea5-4375-b2dd-0c049931b047}{245}" paraid="987015366" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Bishop Benjamin Moore: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Pastor of Trinity Church and one of Hamilton’s spiritual advisors. Stuffed shirt, but nice enough. You can rearrange his name to spell: “Bambi Join Pheromones.”</span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">James Hamilton: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s younger son and Junior’s little brother. Again, duh!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{2}" paraid="190548736" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Laurens: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Hamilton’s BFF and man-crush, but in a totally non-gay way. </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">He’s</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> dead but not gone, if you know what I mean.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{14}" paraid="1374696710" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">George Washington: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Commanding general of the American forces during the Revolution, first President, and Hamilton’s sugar daddy. </span><span class="NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Also</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> dead but not gone.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{26}" paraid="120520601" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Angelica, John Church, William, Eliza, and “Little Phil” Hamilton: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s other children. He was a busy guy.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{34}" paraid="823152882" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Armstrong: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Senator from New York, sent by Jefferson to France to eat crepes and pay for Louisiana.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{42}" paraid="1509830368" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Samuel </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Mitchill</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">: </span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s opponent for the 1804 special Senate election. Smart guy, but OH! So boring!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{54}" paraid="123286745" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Woodworth: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Republican member of the New York Senate, also state Attorney General; friend of Hamilton’s even if he played for the other team</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{62}" paraid="72166086" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Rufus King: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">One of Hamilton’s Federalist posse members; had the largest collection of used wine corks in New York</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{70}" paraid="527342442" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Hercules </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Mullligan</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">: </span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Former spy for the continental army, expert tailor, member of Hamilton’s personal posse. When you knock him </span><span class="NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz4KPHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iNXB4IiBoZWlnaHQ9IjNweCIgdmlld0JveD0iMCAwIDUgMyIgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4xIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHhtbG5zOnhsaW5rPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8xOTk5L3hsaW5rIj4KICAgIDwhLS0gR2VuZXJhdG9yOiBTa2V0Y2ggNTUuMiAoNzgxODEpIC0gaHR0cHM6Ly9za2V0Y2hhcHAuY29tIC0tPgogICAgPHRpdGxlPmdyYW1tYXJfZG91YmxlX2xpbmU8L3RpdGxlPgogICAgPGRlc2M+Q3JlYXRlZCB3aXRoIFNrZXRjaC48L2Rlc2M+CiAgICA8ZyBpZD0iZ3JhbW1hcl9kb3VibGVfbGluZSIgc3Ryb2tlPSJub25lIiBzdHJva2Utd2lkdGg9IjEiIGZpbGw9Im5vbmUiIGZpbGwtcnVsZT0iZXZlbm9kZCIgc3Ryb2tlLWxpbmVjYXA9InJvdW5kIj4KICAgICAgICA8ZyBpZD0iR3JhbW1hci1UaWxlLUNvcHkiIHN0cm9rZT0iIzMzNTVGRiI+CiAgICAgICAgICAgIDxwYXRoIGQ9Ik0wLDAuNSBMNSwwLjUiIGlkPSJMaW5lLTItQ29weS0xMCI+PC9wYXRoPgogICAgICAgICAgICA8cGF0aCBkPSJNMCwyLjUgTDUsMi41IiBpZD0iTGluZS0yLUNvcHktMTEiPjwvcGF0aD4KICAgICAgICA8L2c+CiAgICA8L2c+Cjwvc3ZnPg==")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">down</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> he . . . well, you know the rest.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{86}" paraid="1900867276" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Isaac Foote: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Federalist State Senator; friend of Hamilton’s, known to use way too much bubble bath</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{94}" paraid="795998279" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Justinian Wallace: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">landlord, innkeeper,</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">speaks with a cockney accent even though he lives in Washington DC. Hates </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Congresscritters</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{110}" paraid="1112445564" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">George Clinton: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">former governor of New York, Jefferson’s Vice President, certifiable </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">curmudgeon</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> and occasional underwear sniffer, hates Hamilton for being younger, better looking, and smarter than he is.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{122}" paraid="1532395252" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Charles Maurice </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">yadayada</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> Talleyrand – </span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">French foreign minister; slippery as an eel and so crooked they had to screw him into the ground when he died. Friend of Hamilton, though.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{134}" paraid="542196650" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Samuel </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Maclay</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">: </span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Senator from Pennsylvania, came to be a reluctant supporter of Hamilton, lived in fear of four-knuckled </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">noogies</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> from his older brother</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{150}" paraid="1755156287" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thomas Worthington: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">punk Senator from Ohio, thoroughly owned by Hamilton on more than one occasion but keeps coming back for more like a yappy little Chihuahua picking a fight with a bulldog</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{158}" paraid="2139967604" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">William B. Giles: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">cranky old </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">fart</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> Senator from Virginia who hates Hamilton, John Adams, and puppies</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{170}" paraid="1800698345" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Ezra Darby: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">the “Captain Conspiracy” of the 9</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun Superscript SCXW154080 BCX0" data-fontsize="14" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"> Congress, convinced Hamilton was in league with the devil and possibly Cthulhu as well</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{182}" paraid="584433301" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Benjamin Tallmadge: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">an old friend of Hamilton’s and Hercules Mulligan’s, Continental Army spymaster, Congressman, and master (de)bater; later Secretary of War for President Hamilton</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{190}" paraid="2096960255" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Elijah Cartwright: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Hamilton’s fast-riding, fast-living Senate page; a real hit with the ladies, not so much with their husbands, later the President’s personal secretary</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{198}" paraid="332315564" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Ajax Smith: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Former slave, blacksmith (literally), and friend of the Adams family</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{206}" paraid="2097312473" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Abigail Adams: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Adams’ wife; a tough job but somebody had to do it</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{214}" paraid="1643963895" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Elijah Hopkins: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Captain of the Plymouth, he cut a wide swath through British pride and New England’s maiden population. His name can be rearranged to spell: “She like </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">panji</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">-ho”</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{226}" paraid="1041182141" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Baron David Erskine</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">British minister plenipotentiary to the USA (but you can just call him “ambassador”). Likes American dishes, in fact, he married one!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{236}" paraid="1733989097" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Josiah Quincy: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Federalist congressman, ally of Hamilton’s, and a collector of seashells that resembled Ben Franklin’s posterior</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{244}" paraid="415422982" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Oliver Wolcott: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">succeeded Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury under Washington, now gets to come back and work for Hamilton – proof that if you do a job right, you get to keep doing it, like it or no!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{9d82ba30-ff10-4d0d-9d2b-17e4e1d633ca}{252}" paraid="103999694" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Rufus Jenkins: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Overseer of Madison’s plantation, way too fond of slave women, later opened the original “Boom </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Boom</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> Room” in New Orleans</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{9}" paraid="1780083557" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Nero Madison: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">former slave who became overseer of Madison’s plantation, Montpelier. His son Caligula Madison was a bit loopy . . .</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{17}" paraid="2137547583" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Obadiah Brown: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Chaplain of the United States Senate, Baptist pastor, and Washington social butterfly</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{25}" paraid="1655985345" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Robert O’Malley: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Hamilton’s White House butler, and occasional confidante, known for his skill in playing the trumpet (and occasional </span><span class="NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">strumpets)_</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{35}" paraid="992243064" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Sally Hemings:</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thomas Jefferson’s slave, lover, occasional conscience, and eventual second wife. She eventually helped him "see the light," so to speak.</span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{45}" paraid="2139646466" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Tyler</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"> – Governor of Virginia, a reluctant convert to Hamilton’s abolition plan. His oldest son and namesake never amounted to much . . .</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{53}" paraid="794284449" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Richard Brent: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Virginia’s junior U.S. Senator, politically ally of Hamilton, and founder of the Virginia chapter of the “Napoleon Bonaparte Lookalike Club”</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{61}" paraid="1460784525" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">James Breckenridge: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Virginia Congressman and friend of Hamilton’s; his name can be rearranged to spell “Break Me Green J-</span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Dic</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">!”, which was his rapper name.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{73}" paraid="1627881389" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">George Fitzhugh: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Virginia state legislator who thought that slavery was the best thing since sliced bread – or unsliced bread, for that matter!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{81}" paraid="2008672112" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Jay: </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and an old ally of Hamilton’s, now returned to serve as Attorney General; “J.J. the Supreme” to his friends</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{89}" paraid="837851774" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">David Lenox – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Director of the Bank of the United States, which was Hamilton’s favorite brain-baby</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{97}" paraid="1986236247" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Henry Clay – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Congressman from Kentucky who grooved on the whole compromise thing, later Speaker of the House</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{105}" paraid="1686038004" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Gaillard – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">South Carolina Congressman, staunch defender of slavery and Southern institutions, famous for his shrimp gumbo</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{113}" paraid="1934142070" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Nicholas Gilman – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">New Hampshire Congressman and ally of Hamilton’s, a distant relative of the Creature from the Black Lagoon</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{121}" paraid="1170240894" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John C. Calhoun – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">crackerjack attorney and Congressman from South Carolina; loves slavery like a Democrat loves taxing the rich, but more eloquently, he </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">didn’t</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> handle losing well.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{133}" paraid="57158076" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">James Anderson – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Senator from Tennessee, an old war buddy of Hamilton’s whose sister got </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">jiggy</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> with Lafayette back in the day</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{145}" paraid="1310049612" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Marshall – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; also known as “J-Daddy of the Supremes”</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{153}" paraid="876531891" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; font-weight: bold; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Lily-Beth Carroll – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">also known as the “ER of the 19</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun Superscript SCXW154080 BCX0" data-fontsize="14" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"> century,” she captured the heart of the “Casanova of Capitol Hill” and got him to settle down – or did she?</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{165}" paraid="1759059857" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Nicholas Carroll – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Lily-Beth’s papa, who is righteously skeptical of her new amour – and handy with a horsewhip to boot!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{173}" paraid="1822225634" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Raoul Vega – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Spanish officer who led a raid into U.S. territory and was killed by Jackson’s men</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{181}" paraid="1550549486" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Andrew Jackson – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Militia General from Tennessee; treacherously killed by the dastardly Spanish. Not a single Cherokee wept at his funeral.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{189}" paraid="593779918" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Jose de la Garda – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Unofficial envoy from King Joseph Bonaparte to the USA, an anagram of his name is Drag A Jade & Lose!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{197}" paraid="1548296295" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Luis de </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Oniz</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> – </span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Official envoy from the Junta, a bunch of guys who want to replace one French King of Spain with another French King of </span><span class="NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Spain, and</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> will kill you if you try to stop them!</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{213}" paraid="2087516643" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Winnfield Scott – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Every morning at muster you could see him arrive, he stood six foot six and weighed two </span><span class="NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">forty five</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">! </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Badass</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> American soldier with a killer right hook.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{229}" paraid="2075885039" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Jacob Brown – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Commanding General of the Southern Department of the U.S. Army during the Spanish War of 1811</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{237}" paraid="1658535787" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Andrew </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Shasteen</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> – </span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Brown’s</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> second in command; held New Orleans during the war.</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{30eca3dc-d11e-4e02-b3ea-929254432a51}{251}" paraid="270329595" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Enrique White – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Irish-born Spanish governor of East Florida. Took the whole “death before dishonor” thing way too literally</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{4}" paraid="1070985054" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Augustus Magee – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">U.S. Army officer in New Orleans; hobnobs with Mexican revolutionaries and Scandinavian moonshiners</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{12}" paraid="223137339" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Bernardo Gutierrez – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Mexican Revolutionary who decided America was his best bet to get rid of Spain.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{20}" paraid="1452302895" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Juan Jose de Estrada – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Spanish Governor of East Florida for two days. His administration was remembered for its efficiency, lack of corruption, and stench of gunpowder.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{28}" paraid="2081651229" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Sassy young Spanish officer, captured by the Americans, remembers the Alamo but </span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">doesn’t</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> know why</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{40}" paraid="306229494" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thomas Madison – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Cousin of James, loves to tell funny stories</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{48}" paraid="1456569279" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Roger Effingham – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">eager beaver young North Carolina planter, hosts Hamilton and Madison on their trip south</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{56}" paraid="1032141039" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Cletus – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Elderly slave on Effingham’s plantation, anxious to be free</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{64}" paraid="988155367" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">David Stone – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">former governor of North Carolina, solid rock of a dude</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{72}" paraid="649081352" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Benjamin Smith – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Governor of North Carolina; apparently named after my Dad.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{80}" paraid="1350316531" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Thomas Chadsworth – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Mayor of Wilmington, NC, hosted Hamilton on his grand Southern tour, elected by a punch card ballot, so he really got his chad’s worth!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{88}" paraid="1200953174" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Robert Fulton – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">famous American inventor, the guy could really build up a full head of steam sometimes!</span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject DragDrop SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: WordVisiCarriageReturn_MSFontService, "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><span class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;"> </span><br class="SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre;" /></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Roger Whitaker – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">young soldier from New York, courier for Colonel Scott, befriends Hamilton</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{100}" paraid="1034752726" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Henry Middleton – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">governor of South Carolina; Hamilton’s foe in the 1812 Presidential election.</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{108}" paraid="867727451" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Dante Gomez – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Spanish agent provocateur who came to the U.S.A. with Vega to stir up a war</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{116}" paraid="1190003204" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Angelica Schuyler Church – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Eliza’s sister, Hamilton’s closest friend, and a socialite on both sides of the Atlantic</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{124}" paraid="869281233" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">John Church – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Angelica’s husband, a genial soul with a fair singing voice, always outshone by his wife but bore it with tolerable good grace because he got to take her home every night!</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{132}" paraid="1417316099" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Francisco </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Vinegas</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> – </span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Viceroy of Spain’s New World Empire, spent most of his career playing whack-a-mole with Latin American rebels and </span><span class="NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2 SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-image: var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url("data:image/svg+xml;base64,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")); background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">swivvying</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> the chambermaids</span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{148}" paraid="2073714942" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 29.1375px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">Ferdinand VII – </span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US">King of Spain, a greedy, grasping man-child who was only interested in things that would enrich and empower himself. Called the “Donald Trump of the 19</span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun Superscript SCXW154080 BCX0" data-fontsize="14" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"> century”</span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{148}" paraid="2073714942" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"><br /></span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{148}" paraid="2073714942" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-kerning: none; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;">Now if you have read all that and still haven't read the book - here is a link!
</span></p><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{148}" paraid="2073714942" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: Times New Roman, Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont, Times New Roman_MSFontService, serif; font-size: 18.6667px; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&qid=1624931942&refinements=p_27%3ALewis+Ben+Smith&s=books&sr=1-23&text=Lewis+Ben+Smith</span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{160}" paraid="1820845947" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"></span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":1,"335551620":1,"335559740":259}" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman_EmbeddedFont", "Times New Roman_MSFontService", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 23.7417px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{164}" paraid="885545366" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: center; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"></span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":2,"335551620":2,"335559740":259}" face=""Arial Black", "Arial Black_EmbeddedFont", "Arial Black_MSFontService", sans-serif" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 20.5042px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW154080 BCX0" paraeid="{40722574-dad4-4973-959d-7ce6b36db86e}{168}" paraid="86092732" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: center; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="TextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 19.425px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW154080 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"></span></span><span class="EOP SCXW154080 BCX0" data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":2,"335551620":2,"335559740":259}" face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19.425px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"> </span></p></div>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-10518103885467847352022-01-04T19:36:00.006-08:002022-01-04T19:37:31.506-08:00OUT WITH THE OLD YEAR, IN WITH THE NEW<p> So 2021 is now in the books. All things told, it was a pretty good year for me in a whole lot of ways. I saw my sixth novel published, I connected with a remarkable network of Alexander Hamilton scholars and enthusiasts in my efforts to promote the book, and I saw it open with the strongest online sales of any of my previous works, and am ending the year poised for even wider success with PRESIDENT HAMILTON: A NOVEL OF ALTERNATIVE HISTORY. </p><p> This year also saw my son-in-law discharged from the military, returning to our home town with my daughter, and finally the two of them moving in with us as they prepare to construct a home of their own. Now as the year has ended, my other daughter and her husband are talking about temporarily moving in as they prepare to move to the Dakotas at the beginning of summer. I'm not too sanguine about the possibility of seven people under one roof, but it looks inevitable at this point, so we'll all have to make the best of it. My wife and I just celebrated 37 years of marriage, and are looking forward to another (mostly) happy year together.</p><p> One other neat development here at home was that we finally did a couple of things we've threatened to for several years - we closed in our side porch and turned it into a walk-in closet, and we had a working shower installed upstairs, so that the entire household is no longer dependent on a single tub. These improvements will be here long after our kids have moved out, and have gone a long way towards making the house more livable and comfortable.</p><p> I finished another year of teaching in the middle of a pandemic without contracting the dread COVID-19 virus in any of its variants or permutations. My wife and I both got the Pfizer vaccine in April and the booster in December, so we are as well-protected as two people in our profession can be. Of course, a breakthrough case is always a possibility, but if that does happen, I am hoping that the vaccines will keep the symptoms mild and the infection brief. </p><p> For the first time in several years, I'm not writing another book. I started a new novel in January, but it fizzled out after a prologue and a first chapter and I haven't been drawn to return to it. Will I at some point in the future? Hard to say. My literary output has been limited to the occasional short story - all of which I publish here on my blog for you all to read. The most recent one is in the previous entry to this, scroll back through previous years and months for more. I have about 15-20 short stories on here, totaled. I'm sure there's another book or two lurking in my head, and at some point my muse will sprinkle enough fornus on them that they'll take root and begin growing chapters. </p><p> In my hobby, I have had a fun year of collecting arrowheads and fossils. The first half of the year I was doing no book signings due to the pandemic, and we had abundant rainfall, so I found a lot of nice points washed onto gravel bars in the local river. The latter part of the year I got busy with book signings and the rain gave out, leaving the river a weedy, muddy mess of thoroughly picked-over gravel bars. I didn't go hunting nearly as often, but I still managed to find a few more points on some of my other sites, ending the year with a total of 77 intact artifact finds. I also downloaded and began playing a new (to me) video game, FALLOUT 4, which promises to be a wonderful time-waster during these bleak winter months. </p><p> I read 46 books last year - mostly biographies but with a generous mixture of fiction thrown in. My favorite non-fiction read was Robert Caro's majestic four volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, while my favorite fiction read has been my belated discovery of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN series. I watched about 87 movies, re-watching some classics and discovering some new favorites, plus my usual dose of B-grade freebies on Amazon Prime. </p><p> So despite the general suckiness of 2021 in the realm of politics and current events, I feel like we had a pretty good run of it. So what does the New Year hold? That's always the big question. I hope to take PRESIDENT HAMILTON out of state and maybe even get the opportunity to do a signing in New York City before the year is out, but as Yoda said, "Always in motion the future is." Or, as my friend Tom Westfall is fond of saying: "Man plans, and God laughs."</p><p> So the future will do what it does, and I will do what I do, and I'd like to invite all of you Faithful Readers to join me on the ride! And, like all long journeys, you might need a good book to read along the way. So if you've stuck with me all this way and read this rambling entry, I'd invite you to stay the course by clicking the link below and ordering your own copy of PRESIDENT HAMILTON today!</p><p>https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&qid=1624931942&refinements=p_27%3ALewis+Ben+Smith&s=books&sr=1-23&text=Lewis+Ben+Smith</p><p><br /></p><div class="row vg-header" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: -15px; margin-right: -15px; margin-top: 6px !important; margin: 6px -15px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="col" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-basis: 0px; flex-grow: 1; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px 15px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 718px;"><br /></div></div>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-28814839430889272112021-11-11T19:15:00.003-08:002021-11-11T19:15:49.944-08:00A New Short Story for Veteran's Day - ONE LAST ROLE TO PLAY<p> <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This Veteran's Day, I wanted to write a tribute to another kind of veteran. These veterans sacrifice just as much, and suffer just as much, and die just as bravely, as any who have ever worn the uniform. But they receive no medals, no parades, and no public recognition. Their heroism goes unreported, their sacrifices ignored, their very existence unnoticed by most. Their own families do not know what they do, or where they go. They see things and do things that leave scars both physical and emotional, but they cannot talk about them. I'm talking about the men and women of America's intelligence agencies, the shadow warriors who operate all around the world, gathering information and foiling evildoers so that the rest of us can sleep safely in our homes.</i></p><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">This story is for all of you. You know who you are. </i></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><br /></i></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black", sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> ONE LAST ROLE TO PLAY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif;"> By Lewis
Smith<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Black",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The twenty young agents ceased fidgeting
and whispering among themselves as the Instructor entered the room. Every pair
of eyes followed her as she took her place at the steel lectern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She carried no notes, no briefcase, nor any
other paraphernalia to designate her status.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She wore the uniform of a staff level officer in the U.S. military, but
like the trainees, she was not active-duty military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their employer was a different branch of
government altogether, affectionately called the “Beast with Three Initials” by
those it employed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the students in
this class were intelligence officers in training; most were Americans,
although a few worked for countries closely allied with the USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sixteen were men, four were women; all were
young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had left homes,
universities, and employers all across the world, where their cover ID’s were
scrupulously maintained, in order to attend this four week course in field
operations, although it was referred to under the humorous euphemism of a
“Leadership Conference.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She swept the room with her eyes,
mentally taking attendance and reading the posture and body language of each
student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For three weeks she had led them
through the advanced training all field operatives must master; alternating
between classroom lectures, physical fitness training, and one-on-one exercises
in everything from reading body language to covert surveillance to reading
micro-facial tics and expressions to determine if the speaker was telling the
truth or not. So young, she thought sadly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How many of them would live to be even as old as she was, much less to a
ripe old age?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a dangerous world,
and she knew the odds were that at one or more of these enthusiastic young
agents-in-training would not make it to thirty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As she studied the class, they studied
her in turn. The Instructor was a mystery that they had discussed in whispers
ever since the course began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
about her – her real name, her age, her history – was the subject of rumor and
conjecture, but in the end, none of them knew any of those things about her,
and it bugged them each in different ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How old was she?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was a remarkable specimen of physical
fitness, trim and athletic and able to match them, stride for stride, jump for
jump, and climb for climb in the most difficult obstacle courses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she wasn’t “butch” at all. The Instructor
was a beautiful woman - tallish, curved in all the right places, with ash blond
hair and piercing green eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she
smiled, every man in the room sat up a little straighter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There wasn’t a single male in the room that
hadn’t thought about what it would be like to bed her - except for Agent
Hoskins, who bragged that he was “so gay he made a Spirograph look
straight.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet . . . despite her
lack of facial wrinkles and her well-toned body, despite the ash-blond hair
that cascaded down her shoulders when she let it down during a training session
on disguises, despite the laugh that made everyone in the room smile –the fact
remained that none of them could tell how old she really was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she acted flirtatious as part of a
lecture on the role of seduction in espionage, she looked somewhere just north
of twenty-five, perhaps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when she
talked about doing field ops in the late 1990’s, it was obvious she was quite a
bit older than that. And her eyes . . . when she spoke on serious matters, the
spark in those green orbs faded, and the weariness and sadness in her gaze
spoke of long decades of service, sacrifice, frustration, and loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once she made a passing reference to her
memories of the mid-1980’s, and the men in the room exchanged puzzled glances,
doing the math in their heads and coming up with an estimate in the low forties
– a clear impossibility!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could she be
lying to them about those recollections?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After all, honesty was not a trait the Agency cultivated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no one knew for sure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Her professional and personal history
was another topic of whispered speculation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rumors abounded as to her previous assignments, and no one could say
where those rumors came from or how much credence to give them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone said she had spent four years
undercover in Moscow, becoming a mistress to one of Putin’s cronies, passing on
critical intelligence about Russia’s latest strategic plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others claimed she’d been the analyst who had
pinpointed the location of bin Laden’s compound in 2012. Agent Henderson
claimed to have heard that she spoke fluent Mandarin and operated as a fashion
model and high-end escort in China, eavesdropping on government officials at
cocktail parties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latest story making
the rounds was that she’d done repeated deep cover missions in the UK to track
down and arrest the financial backers of numerous terrorist organizations, from
the Islamic State to the IRA.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All of this led them to wonder, who
was she when she wasn’t doing field ops or instructing younger agents in the
art of espionage? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They tried to imagine
this fearful competitor and demanding instructor as a wife or mother, and most
of them couldn’t see her in that role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The same woman who’d made them stand in place, stone still and silent,
for six hours, and stood as cold and hard as a statue beside them the whole
time, cuddling a child in her arms and reading bedtime stories? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The woman rumor claimed had completed the
Crucible four times, asking some civilian man to open a pickle jar for her?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t compute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of the men in class were pretty sure
she was a lesbian, with a soft young wife or girlfriend waiting for her at some
upscale apartment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no proof of
this, but all agreed it made for a pleasant mental picture. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truth was that none of them knew.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And the Instructor liked it just fine
that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let them wonder, she thought
as she looked at their serious young faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As long as they wonder, they will fear. And as long as they fear me,
they will remember what I teach them here – and maybe that will help some of
them stay alive!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She leaned forward on the lectern and
cleared her throat, and then fixed each agent with her gaze for just a
moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The silence hung in the air for
a few seconds, just long enough for anticipation to build but not long enough
for boredom to set in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she spoke.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There is a week left in this course
by the calendar, but I do not know if I will be here till the scheduled end or
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope to, and plan to, but as the
old proverb goes – ‘Man plans, and God laughs.’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So today, we’re going to ignore the field
manuals, skip the role-playing exercises, and I’m going to level with you as
best I can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to warn you of what
all this career can involve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re
about to embark on a path that will take you to some of the darkest places in
this world – and inside yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Statistically speaking, one or two of you agents in this room will
probably die ‘on the job’ in the next decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No one will know, not even your family, the true circumstances of your demise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will be told you died in a helicopter
crash, or in a training exercise, or drowned while scuba diving – but the truth
will be something far more painful and less pleasant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another one out of this group will most
likely put a gun in his mouth because he can’t live with what this job made him
do, or who it forced him to become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ex-CIA agents have one of the highest suicide rates of any job
demographic in America, except for military combat veterans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about the rest of you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Odds are, most of you will quit the Agency
before you complete a decade of service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One agent in ten completes the full twenty years of service, and about
one out of thirty will make it to twenty-five years.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She paused a moment, savoring the stunned
silence of her audience, and then spoke again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“As I have done.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eyebrows shot up, and some of the men
exchanged glances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She allowed herself a
bitter laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes, that’s right, I was recruited at
seventeen, while I was still in high school,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And yes, that means I’m in my forties
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you for your
astonishment!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But . . . that’s not
something romantic or cool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They needed
someone young, someone attractive, intelligent, malleable, and willing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was a legacy, if you know what that means,
and because of the family connection I’d been on their radar since I was
twelve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was stalked, shadowed,
traumatized, and thoroughly screened before they ever approached me with a job
offer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was flattered that they wanted
me, that they told me I could be of use, that I could help punish the evil and
save the innocent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the shiny
object they hold up in front of you, the lure they use to suck you in until the
hook is set, and once it’s set, you are dancing on the end of their line - fish
and bait all in one.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“So it came to pass that while other
kids my age were worrying about prom dates and scholarship applications and
boyfriends and making the honor roll, I was undergoing psychological
screenings, medical evaluations, and classes like this one – on top of all that
other regular high school and college stuff I had to keep up with, to preserve
the illusion of normality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t
begin to imagine the toll it took, how much my relationships with family,
friends, and loved ones suffered.” She paused a moment, lost in memories of those
stressful days, recalling how often the bliss of youth was interrupted and
sometimes ruined by “them,” as she came to refer to her employer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“At nineteen, I was dropped in a
foreign city, given a role to play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was surrounded by people who hated our country, hated our allies, and who would
have killed me in a second had they known who I really was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some were active agents of terror, others
aided and abetted terrorists out of a misguided sense of loyalty, or religious
fervor, or family ties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lived among
them, drank with them, joked with them, became one of them – and when the time
came, betrayed them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are still
in jail because of the information I gathered and the situations I maneuvered
them into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few are dead.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Another time I was placed in the path
of a wealthy Arab emigree, a man whose hands were soft and clean, but who
funneled millions of dollars to Al Qaeda and other such groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had a weakness for soft, emotionally frail
girls who were easily victimized, because his own daughter was one such, and
had taken her life at fifteen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I became
a frightened little mouse, a shrinking, terrified wallflower who recoiled from
his advances at first in terror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, he
didn’t want to sleep with me – he had a whole harem of women for that purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to help me – and in so
doing, redeem his failure to help his daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But he was so psychotic that even his sympathy and desire to rescue me
were marred by fits of anger and violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He hit me more than once, and another time he fired a gun so close to my
ear I suffered permanent hearing loss on that side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I took it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to take it, because if I struck back,
or broke character even for a second, I would lose my appeal, and the
opportunity to take him down would be lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today he is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison, and a
financial conduit that armed his terrorist cronies with state-of-the-art
weapons that they would have used to kill thousands of people was shut down for
good. What was my reward?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m a target
for assassination to this day and have spent a decade and a half watching my
back.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I could go on all day telling you
about ops I’ve done or assisted with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been the ‘eyes in the sky’ for troops in combat zones, and later on
was dispatched to such places myself, even though it was illegal for me to be
where I was. I’ve abducted people off the streets in first world countries,
sometimes in broad daylight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bad people,
mostly, or people who we could use as leverage with the bad people they were
close to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve seen men killed right in front of me, and
I’ve come within inches of being captured by terrorists who would have taken
their time with me before they let me die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Understand, agents, I am not telling you this to brag on myself in any
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Truth be told, if I had it to do
all over again, knowing what I know now, I would have told the Agency’s
recruiters to go to hell, and pursued a career in academia instead.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Agent Moore gave a nervous laugh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Are you trying to talk us out of our
commitment?” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I doubt I could if I wanted to. All of you
have swallowed the bait, and the hook is set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the time you reach this level of training, you’re committed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I want you to do is LISTEN!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That last word crackled with an aura of
command that caused every pair of eyes to fixate on her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This may be the last lesson I teach
you,” the instructor said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Or it may
not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it IS the most important thing
I will impart to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no wasted
time in this course – everything I have done, everything I have made you do,
has served a purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even if you
forget or disregard every other lesson I’ve taught, please remember this
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can save your life – it WILL
save your life, at some point, if you are committed to this career.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it just might save your soul, if you
believe in such things, or your family, if you have one.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The students stared at her,
fascinated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mask of the Instructor
had dropped, and instead they found themselves looking into the eyes of a
mentor, a friend, a sage who was desperate to pass on something of great value.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You probably think the essence of
covert operations is to pretend to be someone else,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That’s a lie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you go out there pretending to be someone
else, you’ll most likely bungle the operation and you may get yourself killed
in the process, or perhaps get one of our other agents or foreign assets
killed. You have to BECOME someone else. You have to take that identity that
the Agency will craft for you and embrace it to the core of your soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take the person you are, the parts of you
that you value, the things that make you, YOU – and lock them away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Store them in a secure place, deep in your psyche,
and don’t touch them, don’t recall them, don’t even think about them, until the
op is over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until you are home, where
you can be you again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I became ‘the
Mouse,’ I had to set aside everything I prided myself in being – my strength,
my independence, my physical prowess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had to shrink – in every sense of the word – to become this nervous, frightened
creature who would draw the pity of a man who funded terrorists around the
globe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could not break character for a
second.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, how my true self pounded at
the bars of the cage I’d shoved her into, longing to punch that smug, pitying
face!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I did it, I let him yell at me
and then hold me, punch me and then weep with repentance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I let him do it, knowing he would do it
again. But I was the Mouse, and I did what mice do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cowered, and tried to run, and then froze
in fear and let him catch me all over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Until the day came that I caught HIM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now he’s locked away for the rest of his life, and I’m here teaching
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Become the role. Your life depends
on it. Never break character, even when you are alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never let your true self out of its cage till
the op is done. Remember the smallest details of your cover story!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of our agents was sent to London in the
80’s to infiltrate the IRA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had the
cover ID down pat, the accent, the phony credentials, everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d spent a solid year training for the
mission, but once he got in the field, he was dead within a week. Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because he never got entirely used to the way
traffic flowed in the UK.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He always
glanced in the wrong direction first when he was about to cross the road, and
someone noticed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We never found his
body, but a captured enemy asset told us he was tortured for a week, then cut
to pieces and dumped in the Thames.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pretending is not enough, playing a role is not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Become your cover, period.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She paused, making sure she still had
their focus, and then took a sip of water before continuing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There’s another thing,” she
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A relative of mine said something
about our employer years ago: ‘We’re bastards, but we’re useful bastards.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This job will require you to do horrible
things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things the real you would recoil
at, unless you’re a true sociopath – which I suspect some of our more
successful agents are! Unless you are a person who can cheerfully live with
innocent blood on your hands, who can betray people who trust you, who is
willing to not just lie but to live a lie, and live it so deeply that it
becomes your truth; someone who can spend months winning the trust and
affection of another person and then see that person marched away in handcuffs
to be interrogated and imprisoned - you have to become your cover story. That
way, when you return to your “real” life, to your family, your parents, your
spouse if you have one, you don’t wake up screaming over the things you had to
do ‘over there.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because YOU didn’t do
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was that other person, that
person you became, that person who ceased to exist the moment you returned safe
to your native soil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real self, the
self you kept under lock and key while you carried out the mission, would never
do such a thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to not just
tell yourself that but convince yourself of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because the alternative is to admit you’re just as big a monster as the
monster you were trying to slay.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here’s another thing – don’t expect
rewards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your actions may save thousands
of lives, but not a one of them will ever know it, ever thank you, or even be
aware that they were saved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only your
closest friends and family will even know who you really work for, and those
who do know, will not ever know what you have been required to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will just know that you’re gone,
sometimes for weeks and months at a time, and never have the comfort of even
knowing where you are or what you’re doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They don’t know when, or if, you will return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Public recognition is not our thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Praise is not our thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s little glory to be had in this
job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the time, even our fellow
agents don’t know what all we’ve done, unless you do an op together – and when
that happens, don’t count on being assigned that partner again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The less we know about each other, the less
that can be tortured out of us if things go south.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only reason I am telling you as much
about my career as I have is that my career is in its final weeks.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Last of all, and most importantly –
there is one last role you will have to take on, one last cover you will have
to invent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one isn’t crafted for
you by specialists at Langley, and it’s not designed to deceive terrorists, or
foreign agents, or government investigators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s designed to fool the people you love most.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She sighed, looked down at her hands
for a moment, and continued.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You see, no matter how careful you
are to become whoever the mission requires you to be, no matter how deeply you
bury your true self, no matter how hard you try to return to normality, to deny
that you are the one who did the things the job required – it’s all
bullshit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In your deepest self, you know
and will always know that you did those things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You betrayed people who trusted you, you lied, you deceived, you may
have slept with murderers and thugs, or got drunk with them, or watched as they
wreaked horrors on the innocent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may
have caused ‘collateral damage’ – what a nice, sanitary phrase that is to
describe blowing up the wrong people!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Why do you think the Agency employs so many shrinks?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter how good you are, you can’t always bury
the things you’ve done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if you
don’t think about them in your waking hours, they will haunt your dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why you have to create this last role,
and why you have to completely and totally immerse yourself in it.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Most of you will fall in love at some
point, and many of you will marry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Agents have a very high divorce rate, primarily because most of them have
never learned what I am trying to teach you now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, that last role you have to create
and immerse yourself in, the last person you have to become – is YOU.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The version of you that never did these
things, that doesn’t remember them, that isn’t tormented by them, that doesn’t
have nightmares about them. You have to become a normal wife, husband, father,
mother, son, and lover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to wrap
yourself in a blanket of emotional normality for the sake of those you love,
because if you don’t, they will pay just as high an emotional price for the
things this job requires as you do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
no one wants that for the people they love most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, when you are home, when you are with them
– become that person you might have been if you had told the Agency’s
recruiters to go to hell, and embraced a normal life instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please, Agents, don’t forget this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This last role, the role of the you that you
would have been if you’d never set foot in this room – that is the most
important character you will ever assume!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is all.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With that, she stepped away from the
podium and perched on a stool, the force of her words having drained her
strength for the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What happened
next surprised her, and more than anything she’d experienced with this roomful
of rookies, it touched her heart, reaching deep into her true self.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For at that moment, they all began to
applaud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Instructor rose to her feet
and gave a small bow; acknowledging their gesture with genuine gratitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The agents fell silent, many of them
regarding her with something approaching awe. Finally, Agent Moore raised her
hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Just one thing I wonder,” she
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“That last role – the role you
play for your family and those you love – how long do you have to keep doing
that?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Instructor froze, and in that
moment all semblance of youth fled from her, and the eyes that looked out at
the class were a thousand years old.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t know,” she said softly, and
left the room.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></span></div>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-63506278288154572892021-09-15T17:44:00.003-07:002021-09-15T20:59:23.403-07:00After You've Read PRESIDENT HAMILTON - You Need to Read THIS!<p> Well, I suppose you could read this whether you've read PRESIDENT HAMILTON or not, but be warned, there are some spoilers below! What follows was originally going to be a note from the author tacked onto the end of PRESIDENT HAMILTON, but my beta reader and my publisher both thought it intruded into the narrative a bit too much - better, they said, to let the novel's ending stand on its own, and frankly, they were right. The story has more punch ending, as it does, with the inscription on the Hamilton Monument in Washington DC. At the same time, I addressed a number of the reasons why I wrote this book in the proposed author's note, and answered (in advance) some questions I thought I might encounter. So now that my novel of alternative history has been out for a couple of months (and enjoyed such a warm reception, for which I thank you all!), I decided to publish my Author's Note here on my blog for you all to read. I hope you enjoy it, and, as always, I thank you for your time, attention, and support!<br /><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> FROM THE
AUTHOR:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This story is, of course, a work of
fiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real Alexander Hamilton
died on July 12, 1804, of the wound sustained in his duel with Aaron Burr the
day before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>America did fight a bloody
Civil War over slavery from 1861 to 1865, killing a generation of young men from North and South, and a hundred and fifty-five years
later, we are still dealing with the fallout from that war as we strive
to achieve the principles set forth in our Declaration of Independence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The evil legacies of slavery and Jim Crow
continue to color our political discourse and poison our national good will
here in the twenty-first century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
didn’t have to be like this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have always been fascinated by
Alexander Hamilton, long before Lin-Manuel Miranda immortalized him in the
Broadway musical that took the world by storm in 2015.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a man who came from such an impoverished
background to rise as far and fast as Hamilton did was a uniquely American
story; he was indeed an immigrant who got the job done!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many historians have speculated as to what
might have happened if Hamilton’s life had not been cut short by Burr’s deadly
pistol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1804, Hamilton was something
of a has-been, but would he have remained such? Could he have resurrected his
political career if he tried?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Might he
have become President, and if so, what kind of President might he have been? I had considered that question before, but after seeing the musical for the first time, I decided it was a scenario I wanted to explore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The real Alexander Hamilton was not an
ardent abolitionist, but he was a man who detested slavery and believed its influence
was pernicious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I have read some recent
research which suggests Hamilton may have bought and sold slaves after his
marriage to Eliza, as well as articles arguing against that conclusion, and I
will say the evidence appears flimsy and I am not convinced the accusation is
true. I'm in good company here; America's leading Hamilton scholar Michael Newton pretty well eviscerated the charge that Hamilton was a slave owner in his "Discovering Hamilton" blog, which I highly recommend.)</span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what might Hamilton have done
if he had indeed been given a glimpse of the future, and seen the horrors
slavery would wreak on America in the next generation? What might he have done
if only he had more time?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I can't help but think that he would have done all within his power to spare the nation the horrors that would come. His deathbed declaration - "If they break this Union, they will break my heart!" - gives ample testimony to his love for the nation he helped create. How far would he have gone to save it from civil war? </span>That question
provided the genesis of this novel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I know some will say that this is just
another “white savior” story, and in a way, I suppose it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I would argue that blacks in America in
the early 19<sup>th</sup> century were so thoroughly and brutally oppressed
that they needed a white savior; their would-be black rescuers, like Nat Turner
and Denmark Vesey, were brutally and quickly snuffed out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> They needed a champion who could wield the full powers of the Executive Branch to lift them from bondage, and few Americans were more adept in the use of political power than Alexander Hamilton.</span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some might also say argue that this story
slanders certain Southern leaders, most notably John C. Calhoun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll remind you of what I said in beginning
this essay: it is a work of fiction, and every story needs a villain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Calhoun always seemed to thread the narrow precipice between passion for a cause and outright fanaticism; in the end, he was willing to sacrifice the Union itself on the altar of slavery and nullification in our own timeline. Under the circumstances I created in my story, he might well have acted as I portrayed him acting as a much younger and less restrained man.</span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> Some might also say that I have made Hamilton
too religious, but from what I have read, Hamilton was always a practicing
Christian, and he turned to his faith for comfort after the death of his son
Philip. The comment I had him make to Madison about the evidence for God standing up in a court of law is a paraphrase of a real Hamilton quote. It is worth noting that his greatest concern, as he lay dying, was that he might
receive communion and pass from this world in a state of grace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Could the unlikely turn of events I
envisioned in this novel have ever come to pass?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know, but I wish they had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An America where the Civil War was never
fought, where slavery was snuffed out before it had a chance to extend its
malign influence over such a vast area, would be an America where the Black
Lives Matter movement was never necessary, and where Dr. King never had to
shame the white majority into belatedly keeping its promises of legal equality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> What I have written here is above all, MY
story – my own wishful thinking about a history that was never written, a
vision of an America that might have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It is a tragic vision, in places, but it is fundamentally a HOPEFUL vision - a glimpse of what could have happened if the principles of liberty had been more universally applied sooner than they were in our timeline. If you don't like the way I portrayed Hamilton and the other Founders, by all means, write your own tale! There's always a market for good historical fiction. </span>I hope that you have enjoyed reading this book as much as I have enjoyed
writing it, and if I could leave all my readers with one last thought, it would
simply be this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"> Be kind to one
another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life is too short for meanness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thank you for purchasing and reading
my book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you liked it, feel free to
check out my other titles, and please drop by Amazon and leave me a
review!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, this journey into alternative
history is done. Thank you for joining me, and I hope that the story of the
greatest President that never was has brought you some happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feel free to follow my Facebook author page,
or my Twitter account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also have a
blog that I update once a month or so, which I’d be delighted for you to
read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until next time, faithful readers!</span><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> FOLLOW AUTHOR
LEWIS BEN SMITH:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">OFFICIAL WEBSITE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">www.lewisbensmith.com<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">FACEBOOK PAGE:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">https://www.facebook.com/authorindianasmith</span><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TWITTER:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">https://twitter.com/AuthorIndySmith<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">INSTAGRAM:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">https://www.instagram.com/authorindysmith/<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial Black",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BLOG:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">https://lewisliterarylair.blogspot.com/<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-67383219868416788022021-08-02T08:18:00.003-07:002021-08-12T14:35:29.324-07:00A Tribute to my Friend - In Memory of Rand Scholet (1957-2021)<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">It is a rare thing in life to know someone for only seven weeks, and then be able to honestly say that they changed your life for the better. But Rand Scholet was just such a person, and my only regret now is that I didn't know him sooner. Many tributes have been written to him over the last few days, most by people who knew him far longer and better than I did. Truthfully, I feel a little presumptuous writing about him at all, but I want my readers to know who this remarkable man was, and how much he meant to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Last spring, when I finally got word that my novel PRESIDENT HAMILTON was going to be published, I began joining various Hamilton pages on social media in order to do some advance publicity for my book. One of the sites I joined was Eliza Matic's "Alexander Hamilton: Life and Legacy" Facebook page, and Eliza quickly became a good friend and strong supporter. She was the one who pointed me to Mary-Anne Hamilton, the widow of Alexander's great-great-grandson, whom I also befriended. I asked Mary-Anne if she would like to read an early draft of the novel, and she agreed. When she wrote me back, she said:</span> "<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Rand Scholet, the founder of the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society calls me every day and I told him how much I am enjoying your book. I printed out my copy and will pass it to him when I finish, he lives close by me." Of course I told her that would be fine, at that point I wanted my story to be seen by as many Hamilton experts as possible, so I could get their feedback.</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> It was only a few days later, on June 7, that I got my first email from Rand, with the subject line "Hamilton! 'Gonna be President!' " (a reference to one of the songs in the musical, where Jefferson gloatingly says "He's never gonna be President now!"). That was the beginning of a lively correspondence, and just a few days later I called Rand for the first time - and that was when our friendship began. One thing about Rand - the minute he picked up the phone, he made you feel like talking to you was the most important and exciting event of his day. He had this huge booming voice that was just brimming over with energy and enthusiasm, and his optimism was so infectious that I told my wife talking to him was like getting a shot of pure adrenalin!</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> As a writer, I can say that one of the rarest things in the world is to meet someone who is more enthusiastic about your book than you are. But Rand was just such a person. He <b>loved </b>PRESIDENT HAMILTON. He wanted it to be sold at every National Park Service gift shop at every site connected with Hamilton; he wanted his fellow Hamiltonians to read it and endorse it, he wanted to get a copy in the hands of Lin-Manuel Miranda so he could endorse it (we did succeed at getting the book to Lin before Rand died), and he wanted it to be made into an epic mini-series. Every time I called him (and in the last couple of weeks before he passed, that was nearly every day), he had new ideas about how we could promote the book.</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> Early on, he was concerned about a couple of historical inaccuracies in the draft I sent him, and was deeply relieved when I told him that they had been corrected in the galley proofs of the book. Later, after he got his personal copies of PRESIDENT HAMILTON in hand, he told me he was going through the book with a fine-toothed comb to catch any other small errors so they could be corrected in later printings - he thought that those corrections would help get some of the more serious-minded Hamiltonians on board with promoting it. (In our last conversation, he told me he had that list ready, and if I can get it I am going to do my best to make sure those corrections are made, to honor his wishes). He was constantly coming up with new contacts he thought I should make, and I reached out to every single person he recommended. Thanks to him, I was able to connect with prominent Hamiltonians like Nancy Spannaus, Marianne Als, and Gary Wilser, as well as Sergio Villavecencio, the Vice President of the AHA society (and Rand's son-in-law).</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> Rand went on a lovely vacation with his family to the Outer Banks a couple of weeks ago, and we called each other several times during that trip - he was excited about my first speaking event after the release of PRESIDENT HAMILTON, and overjoyed at my successful book launch party on the 24th of July. Last Tuesday night, he called me from Disney World, where he and his family stopped on their way home from North Carolina. I was unable to take that call because I was at a dinner with one of our friends, but I called him back the next morning. He said he was catching up on all the chores that had built up while he was gone, but told me he was looking forward to dedicating the month of August to helping me promote my book. We talked for about 20 minutes, and later that day he texted me, giving me the name of a Hamilton re-enactor from Colorado he thought I should connect with. I wrote him back that evening, saying I had sent the man a friend request, and he texted me back one word: "Nice!" That was the last I ever heard from him.</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> Thursday afternoon I was out on the lake with my son-in-law when my phone rang, and when I picked it up Eliza Matic tearfully told me that Rand had suffered an apparent heart attack and passed away that morning. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. Rand was gone? That booming voice on the other end of the line, who always greeted me with such enthusiasm? That unquenchable volcano of energy and optimism, silenced? But it was true. My friend had left this world for a higher plane, and I can only hope that his beloved Alexander Hamilton was waiting to greet him on the other side.</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> I'm not sure how to go on now, honestly, since my friend and tireless promoter has left us. I don't have Rand's endless list of contacts, I'm not plugged into the world of Hamilton scholars and enthusiasts as he was. But I do know one thing: I <b>am </b>going to press on! I always wanted my novel to succeed, mostly for the same reasons that all authors do - I mean, obviously, there is a financial motive, and more than that, I want people to read my story and be entertained and educated and inspired by it. But now I have a new reason that I want PRESIDENT HAMILTON to reach the widest possible audience: because Rand wanted it to. This man, with so many other commitments and so much more knowledge than I had about all things Hamilton-related, found my work worthy of his time and his commitment. And now I feel as if I owe it to Rand to make sure his dreams for my book come true. I will miss him, to be sure, but I also want to honor his legacy by making PRESIDENT HAMILTON a part of it.</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> Thank you, Rand Scholet, for inspiring me. You made me believe in myself as a writer like no one else ever has. I'm sorry our friendship was so short-lived, but I am still very glad it happened. As was said of Hamilton, so I can say of you:<br /><br />"You could have done so much more if you'd only had time."</span></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-53102317507115903402021-07-27T09:06:00.000-07:002021-07-27T09:06:26.428-07:00WHAT A LAUNCH! WHAT A FIRST MONTH!<p> Well, PRESIDENT HAMILTON is now out there for the world to read! It's been a crazy, up and down first month (more up than down), but I'm happy to report that my alternative history epic has had the strongest launch of any of my books, and the momentum really doesn't seem to be slowing down much. I thought I'd spend a little time this morning just sharing some of the feedback I have already gotten, and some of the cool things that have happened since the last time I sat down and wrote to you all.</p><p> First of all, Amazon pulled a fast one on me and released the book two days ahead of its scheduled date - which meant that PRESIDENT HAMILTON was literally "born on the Fourth of July!" It turned out that Christopher and Jesse, the owner/operators of Electio Publishing, had been butting heads with Amazon - they wanted me to get my copies of the book on or before the official release date, but Amazon would not ship them till the book was released. So they agreed to release the book on Sunday instead of Tuesday, and I got my copies in the mail that Thursday.</p><p> The first physical copy of PRESIDENT HAMILTON that I saw, however, was not even mine! Several people ordered it on Sunday and had their copies in hand by Tuesday, including one of my favorite former students Riley Williams. She messaged me Tuesday morning, saying she had gotten hers and wanted me to sign it, so we met that afternoon at Starbucks and I finally got to hold my "brain baby" in my hands - even if I couldn't keep that copy! But I gladly signed it for her, and two days later my copies arrived - all 150 copies, some 13 boxes full of books. (Interestingly enough, Amazon shipped me one single copy that arrived a day before the pile of boxes, which made me wonder why on earth one out of 150 would have been packed and shipped separately.) I did have my wife get some video of me opening the boxes and reading the blurb from the back of the book and some of the advance reviews, I was REALLY happy that day! If you are so inclined, you can watch that video HERE on YouTube:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDGNPatj7iw</p><p> Several people had already requested signed copies by mail, so once those boxes arrived I packed up nine copies that were already paid for and shipped them out first thing the next morning. Over the next two weeks I would sell forty copies of PRESIDENT HAMILTON, either to fans on Facebook who wanted a signed first edition, or to friends and family in the community. Reviews started dropping right away, too - from sources as varied as one of my 14-year-old history students named Avery, to Hamilton scholars Marianne Als and Nancy Spannaus to Mary-Anne Hamilton, the widow of Alexander's great-great-grandson! As of this morning, I am now up to nine Amazon reviews and two additional Amazon ratings, with an overall rating of 4.9 stars. The reception this book has received has warmed my heart and given me a sense of vindication that I really have accomplished my original goals in writing this book, which were to tell a good story first, and do full justice to the memory of a great man, second.</p><p> The slate of public events lagged behind the book release by a couple of weeks by design. With every single one of my books (and, I imagine, with every book they publish), Jesse and Christopher have warned me not to schedule any events until 2-3 weeks after the release date, since there might be a delay in shipping my copies. It would, after all, be embarrassing to schedule a book signing and wind up having no books to sell! But I did hold my first event on Wednesday, the 21st of July - a speaking engagement at a Lions Club meeting in McKinney, TX. I got up and did a 35 minute lecture entitled: "Alexander Hamilton - Who He Was, Why He Was Important, and Why He Still Matters Today." There were 17 people in attendance at the meeting, and when it was over I wound up selling nine copies of my book. After packing up, I drove over to Recycled Books in Denton, TX. This is one of my favorite bookstores, but they aren't doing live signing events yet after the COVID pandemic last year. However, the manager of the store said he would be willing to purchase a few signed copies to sell, so I made the trip and left three copies and a poster for them to put in the store window.</p><p> Saturday, June 24 was the big day, though - my first formal book signing, at Half Price Books in Rockwall, TX. The store manager, Jordan, has always been very helpful and supportive, and my friend Eliza Matic showed up with her husband, Tommy, in costume as Alexander and Eliza Hamilton! We had a lovely time visiting and swapping Hamilton stories in between customers, and at the end of the day, I had sold 30 more copies of PRESIDENT HAMILTON! So as of this morning, 23 days after the book was released on Amazon, as near as I can estimate, my alternative history novel has sold between 80 and 90 copies on Amazon (maybe more, those algorithms are hard to track), and I have personally sold some 82 copies. For a new book by a relatively unknown author, those are excellent numbers! I am confident that, as more people read and review the book and word continues to spread, that they will go nowhere but up. My videographer, Austin Thomas, also came to Rockwall and shot lots of video. He's still in the process of editing it, but when the episode is done, it'll be posted on my YouTube channel, Indiana Smith. I'd invite all of you to like, share, and subscribe - it's a fun channel where I talk about my books and also take you along on many adventures in my ongoing quest for artifacts and fossils.</p><p> I still haven't heard back from Lin-Manuel Miranda, but I did ship him two signed copies of PRESIDENT HAMILTON last Friday, and hopefully they have found their way into his hands by now. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for some sort of public endorsement from him. I also have a very full schedule of signing events coming up - I'll be showing up at bookstores all over north Texas in the next few months. You can see my upcoming schedule of events at my personal website, here:</p><p>https://lewisbensmith.com/meet-lewis/</p><p> (Looks like I need to update that calendar, BTW!)</p><p> This weekend I'll be at the Half Price Books store at Firewheel Mall in Garland, TX - they've already got my posters in the window and I am hoping for a great turnout! For all of you who don't live in North Texas but are intrigued by the idea of Alexander Hamilton becoming President, please feel free to order the book on Amazon today. And please, when you're done, leave me a review and let me know what you thought! Thanks for taking the time to read this update. Till next time!<br /><br />(Oh, and here's the Amazon link below)<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&qid=1624931942&refinements=p_27%3ALewis+Ben+Smith&s=books&sr=1-23&text=Lewis+Ben+Smith</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-34792766083942837382021-06-28T14:43:00.005-07:002021-06-28T14:43:56.674-07:00PRESIDENT HAMILTON – Last Post Before Launch! Lots of Cool News!<p> </p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Only ONE WEEK to
go before the official release of PRESIDENT HAMILTON: A NOVEL OF ALTERNATIVE
HISTORY, and I wanted to share all the latest info with my faithful blog
readers as I prepare to promote what I firmly believe will be the most
successful book I have written yet!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several
interesting things have transpired since my last update, so let me talk about
those first. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Last time I mentioned how I had
connected with Doug Hamilton, the five times great-grandson of my protagonist,
and how he had enjoyed and agreed to endorse my novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then, I have gotten in contact with
another Hamilton family member, the delightful Mary Anne Hamilton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is the widow of Alexander Hamilton’s great-great-grandson,
Laurens Morgan Hamilton, and has become a caretaker of the family’s legacy
since her husband’s death thirty-five years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mary Anne is a wonderful, fiery 87-year-old
with a great sense of humor, and when she accepted my friend request on
Facebook, I sent her a PM explaining who I was and what my book was about and
asked her to read it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She agreed, and I
emailed her a copy that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
finished the book within a week and told me that she found it to be
absolutely enthralling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sent me a
lovely, signed letter of endorsement, along with a photograph of her posing
with Lin-Manuel Miranda, taken after she attended a Broadway performance of HAMILTON a
few years back.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But besides endorsing my story, Mary
Anne also put me in touch with Rand Scholet, the founder of the Alexander
Hamilton Awareness Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rand also read
the book and fell in love with it, and we’ve conversed on the phone several
times now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is wonderfully
well-connected, with a wide range of friendships and contacts in the historical
and entertainment communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
informed me that he wants to do all he can to help me promote PRESIDENT
HAMILTON, because he thinks it is both a wonderful story as well as a positive
portrayal of Hamilton that may help counter some of the negative publicity the
“ten-dollar Founding Father” has endured recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without giving away a lot of details (because
some of the necessary networking is still going on), I think Rand is going to
make sure this book is available in many venues that I could only have dreamed
of a few weeks ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s also reached
out to my publishers at Electio in order to make sure their promotion efforts
are coordinated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m thrilled and
honored to have him in my corner, and I can’t wait to see what results our
collaboration might yield.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> W</span>hen the book is officially
available on July 6, here are some things that you can do to help me increase
its visibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve read this far,
I would assume that you are willing to help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So, here goes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><br />1. BUY THE BOOK!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will be available at
all online bookselling platforms (which means Amazon for 95% of you, but also
at places like iTunes, Barnes and Noble, and, as always, from my own publisher,
Electio Publishing).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are in the
Dallas/Fort Worth area, please consider coming to my launch party at Half Price
Books in Rockwall, TX on July 24, or at one of my later signing events in the
Metroplex – you can see the schedule of appearances at my website, </span><a href="http://www.lewisbensmith.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">www.lewisbensmith.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
by clicking the “Meet Lewis” tab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
other thing – if you live in the USA but not in North Texas, and would like a
signed copy of PRESIDENT HAMILTON, you may purchase one directly by messaging me on FB.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will, of course, have to charge you for the
shipping, but sending books by Media Mail rate is only about $4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As far as price goes, the paperback version
on Amazon goes for $24.99.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll be
charging $26 for signed copies at my events (still cheaper than paying
postage).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SHARE THE LINKS!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Help me get the word out about PRESIDENT
HAMILTON by posting the Amazon link to it on your personal media, and any social media
groups you belong to where you think people might be interested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing helps more than word of mouth
advertising from happy readers!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LEAVE A REVIEW!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love hearing back from my readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you loved the book, tell me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you didn’t like it, tell me why!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d rather have an honest one-star review
than an insincere five-star rating from a bot account.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more reviews I get, the happier I
am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So please, after you’ve read the
book swing by Amazon and leave your thoughts!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Follow me online!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have an author page on FB, and I’m also on
Twitter and Instagram.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love
interacting with my readers.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s been a long and bumpy ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew this story was special as I was
writing it, but at this time last year I was wondering if it would ever be
published.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now we’re just a few days
away, and I want to say “Thank You!” to everyone who has encouraged me along
the way. May PRESIDENT HAMILTON live up to your fondest expectations!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Special thanks to Annee Helmreich for the
marvelous cover art, and to Christopher and Jesse at Electio Publishing, for
taking another chance on me as an author, and bringing PRESIDENT HAMILTON to you all, and finally to
all the good people mentioned above who have endorsed my humble story.<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Till next time!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8032037562978814581.post-70552782684537718602021-05-29T17:02:00.000-07:002021-05-29T17:02:01.328-07:00PRESIDENT HAMILTON Updates! Lots of News!<p> Let me begin this post with the blogger's usual lament: I am SO SORRY that it's been so long since my last update!! Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! The end of the school year is a very busy time for teachers, and I have a lot of other irons in the fire, so to speak, besides just teaching school. But, to be perfectly honest, I've also spent a lot of time on the local river looking for fossils and arrowheads, because I know once this book comes out I am going to be doing signing events most Saturdays and opportunities for "treasure hunting" will be few and far between! Still, that is no excuse to go over two months without updating what was originally supposed to be a weekly blog. I have not been idle on the literary front, however; in fact, there have been a number of exciting developments there that I'm itching to tell you about!</p><p> First of all, let's talk endorsements for a moment. I've been reaching out to various people in the historical community and especially to those who have a special interest Alexander Hamilton, and I've sent out a number of copies for review. First on that list, as with all my books, is my dear friend and long-time beta reader Ellie. I typically write a chapter at a time, and then send the chapter to her for review and commentary. For nearly ten years now, she's helped me catch typos, close plotholes, avoid redundancies and anachronisms, and more than that, she's asked probing questions and challenged me on the purpose and direction of the stories I've told. Never have those questions and challenges been more searching and potent than they were for PRESIDENT HAMILTON, and I feel the finished work is a better book for her input. Tip o'the hat, Ellie, and I hope you enjoy your upcoming retirement!</p><p> Next came my longtime friend and fellow history and artifact enthusiast Dr. Jerry W. Jones, a professor of history in the Texas A&M system. Jerry was the first one besides Ellie to read the finished book, and I appreciated his professional opinion. He gave me a solid thumbs-up and told me that the story was "historically plausible," which was something I was truly hoping to hear. He was also kind enough to write a nice testimonial for the book which I am hoping will be included in the published work. Getting some buy-in from a fellow historian meant a great deal to me, as you can imagine.</p><p> Back in March, I sent four digital copies of the manuscript to four different Hamilton fans: one to Hamilton biographer Michael Newton, one to Douglas Hamilton (the 5X great-grandson of Alexander), one to Lin-Manuel Miranda creator and star of HAMILTON: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL, and one to Elizabeth Matic, who is a moderator/admin on the "Alexander Hamilton: Life and Legacy" FB page. I wound up hearing back from all four of them! Michael Newton, who has written two books on Hamilton and also runs the "Discovering Hamilton" website, found several historical errors in the early chapters and told me that, while the story was lively and well-written, he felt he could not write an endorsement for it at this time. (I did correct a couple of the errors he pointed out in the galley proofs, however, and I value his input and honesty.) Douglas Hamilton, who is one of the keepers of the family legacy, told me he thoroughly enjoyed the work and wrote me a very nice testimonial which will be featured on the back cover of the book. Eliza Matic told me the work was "heartfelt and poignant" and wrote me a beautiful testimonial; if it's not shared in the published version of the book (it came in later than the others), then I will be sure to publish it here. And Lin-Manuel Miranda, despite the many demands on his time, took a moment to write me a wonderful letter of encouragement that included this line: "I can't wait to dive into PRESIDENT HAMILTON!" I sincerely hope he's reading it right now, but even if he doesn't, his letter is sitting, framed, on my mantel. (And showing it to my classes gave me temporary rock star status with my high school students!)</p><p> One thing I really wanted for this book was an original, commissioned painting to serve as cover art. Electio Publishing has always done great jobs on my book covers (all of them are good, but REDEMPTION OF PONTIUS PILATE is hands down my favorite so far), but they have all been a combination of stock images combined with classical artworks. There are many paintings of Hamilton out there, of course, but I wanted to have something created just for this book; a study of an older, more thoughtful Hamilton, as he might have appeared if he had lived another decade. I have taught some incredibly talented artists at the private school where I am employed, and I approached a couple of them about doing it, but ultimately it was our art teacher, Annee Helmreich, who accepted the challenge and finished her work this week. It's a beautiful portrait, with a smiling Hamilton posing in a blue frock coat, looking very Presidential. A million thanks, Annee, YOU ROCK! I can't wait to see how the graphic design team at Electio incorporates your work into the finished book cover.</p><p> Last of all, this week I received the galley proof of PRESIDENT HAMILTON. For those not familiar with the term, this is a PDF file that shows exactly how the interior of the printed book will look. It's also the last chance an author has to go through and make any changes or emendations. The editing team also sent along a number of questions about various words, phrases, and names that struck them as odd for one reason or another. It took me five days to read all the way through the story (this is, I believe, the longest book I have ever written - the galley proof is about 660 pages!), and I spotted maybe a dozen places where I needed to make corrections or alterations to the manuscript (besides the ones the editors had already asked about). I finished my revisions yesterday, and sent my changes back to the publisher. It's a heady feeling, being DONE with a book - knowing that the next time that I see the text I read, it will be in a physical copy of the book I can hold in my hands!</p><p> One more step between now and publication is the book cover! The central image will be Anne's portrait of Hamilton, of course, but there are so many other things that will goo into the finished work - background color (I am thinking crimson, fading to black, or perhaps maroon), typeset and size of the title, a back cover image (crossed dueling pistols, perhaps, since my story begins with the duel at Weekawken?), and maybe even a small image to go on the spine. In the past, my publishers have sent me an image and I have told them whether or not I liked it, and suggested alternatives, and we've gone back and forth multiple times before settling on the final version. I expect this part of the process to be concluded in the next couple of weeks, and then it's time for my least favorite part of the writing game: WAITING. Waiting for the release date, waiting for my copies of the book to arrive in the mail, and above all, waiting for my most favorite part of the writing game: the BOOK LAUNCH!</p><p> This will be my sixth published book, and I've been excited for all of them, but I don't remember being this giddy since my first novel, THE TESTIMONIUM, was published in 2014. I think that PRESIDENT HAMILTON is going to outsell everything else I have ever written, and my fondest hope is that it will be the one thing every writer hopes and dreams of: a book that captures a national audience and maybe even achieves that most elusive goal of all: the "Best-Seller" lists! I smile and sigh just typing those words; I've been writing since 2012, but nothing I've done has ever gained any kind of national recognition. With the widespread interest in Alexander Hamilton and the wonderful endorsements I've gotten so far, this is my time to dream big! So thanks to all of you, my faithful readers and friends who follow my musings here. The time is getting short! July 6 will be here before you know it, and I hope as many of you as can make it will come and meet me in person and get your signed copy of PRESIDENT HAMILTON at Half Price Books in Rockwall, TX on Saturday, July 24, 2021. I'll be at the Half Price Books store in Firewheel Mall in Garland the following Saturday, July 31, and will list other events as they draw near!</p><p> Thanks for coming with me on this literary journey, and hang in there with me for a while longer! That release date is coming soon. In the meantime, if you just can't wait to read something I've written, may I recommend one of my previous works of historical fiction, THEOPHILUS: A TALE OF ANCIENT ROME. Mad Emperors, courageous Senators, apostles, miracles, monsters, and all the splendor that was Rome comes to life in this story of courage, faith, and redemption. Check it out here, on Amazon:<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/Theophilus-Ancient-Lewis-Ben-Smith/dp/1632132729/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1622332303&refinements=p_27%3ALewis+Ben+Smith&s=books&sr=1-4&text=Lewis+Ben+Smith</p><p> That's it for now, faithful readers. Thanks, as always, for your support!</p>Lewis Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15749954216858111272noreply@blogger.com0