Obese Mis-Aligned Self-Defined

 

            Douglas leaned back in his seat as his senior year of high school began to draw to a close, still uncertain about his path forward once he graduated. Some of his associates strongly suggested that he attend university and put his always active mind to work to find a good, strong, and valuable new vocation. While others suggested that he enroll in some branch of the military. He was torn, he was indecisive, and he struggled with making a decision for there were few people in his life that he considered wise or intelligent enough to follow their advice.

               The last day of school came to an end and three days later, the graduation ceremony took place amidst the cheers of hundreds of audience members. He crossed the stage, received his diploma, returned to his seat and watched his few friends follow the same process as he had just completed. The formal ceremony was over, and dozens of people entered his parent’s home to wish him well, continually badgering him to give an answer about his future plans.

               The outdoors grew dark, Douglas could feel himself declining into fatigue, exhaustion, and a desire to escape from too much social interaction. Eleven o’clock rolled around as he and his parents said goodbye to the last guests. While not one who was known for exercising self-control, he succumbed to the urge to eat the remaining desserts that remained on the kitchen table, to then escape to his bedroom, review his two options, either university or the military.

               He sat down at his desk in his bedroom, slowly thumbed through the pile of paperwork and woke up the next morning with his forehead resting on the desk in a puddle of drool. “Oof, that was a bad idea,” he grumbled. “Okay then, now is the time to make that decision, I think I’ve had enough of submission to academic authority, being forced to provide the answers the professors want to hear, so I guess that means I’ll be going into the Navy.” Slowly and gently lifting himself from his desk, he took a shower, put on soft and comfortable clothes, did some light stretching, unable to touch his toes as his stomach had grown too large for his frame.

               He staggered from his room, shuffled into the kitchen, poured himself a very large mug of coffee, sat down at the table with his father and shared that he finally made the decision to become part of the Navy. “I think that is a great idea,” his father said, “taking on a military life will give you a life structure in which to learn obedience and self-control. You turned eighteen about three weeks ago, so I would strongly suggest going in to the Navy office today to take care of the paperwork.”

               Finishing his coffee, his peanut butter toast and a banana, he rose from his seat, patted his father on his back and agreed with his suggestion for the day. He began a slow walk down the hallway to meet his mother as she emerged from the bathroom, the two of them shared a hug and he shared with her his plan to enter the Navy, “Dad can give you the details while you eat your breakfast.”

               After finishing lunch that day, he borrowed his mother’s car and drove to the Navy enlistment office to engage in a robust and exciting conversation about his plans, to sign paperwork and learn that he had five weeks before he needed to travel to the nearest Navy port. He shook hands with the enrollment officer, drove home, and shared the details with his mother about the meeting. He could see the look of disappointment on her face when he notified her that he would be departing for the open sea in five weeks.

               In what became a monthly pattern, he wrote a letter home to his parents sharing very little about what he was doing, anything about where he was, and his plan to re-enlist once his current duty was complete. Six years passed giving Douglas a great deal of time to make more plans about what to do when he finished his time of enlistment once he returned home. As his tour came to an end, the massive ship departed its current position in the Middle East and arrived at port on the coast of the western United States.

               Thrilled at the prospect of being a regular US citizen once again, and having the option to take on a regular job with a consistent income, to spend time with friends and family members, as the ship docked, he hurried across the parking lot to hug his parents as they had driven many hours to bring their boy home. Passionate and thrilled at the forthcoming home cooked meals when he arrived at home, he retrieved his gear from the trunk, hurried inside, took a shower, and found his mind whirling at who he would visit first after eating dinner.

               Now over twenty-four years of age, he placed multiple phone calls, notifying friends and family that he was now home for good and was looking forward to spending time reconnecting with them over the next several days. Douglas, his father, and his mother finished their dinner, sat together in the living room and began watching television until he fell asleep to awaken to a dark and silent house. “Ugh, that was a bad idea,” he thought, “time to crawl into bed and sleep well.”

               A full stomach, a comfortable bed, and the silence of a regular home without the gentle rocking of the ocean beneath him, allowed him to sleep well and feel rested the next morning. Staggering out of bed, he looked at himself in the mirror and made the decision to grow a beard, as he had been clean shaven for the last six years. Carefully creating clean edges to a beard that would eventually fill in over the next several months, he dressed in civilian clothes and joined his parents for breakfast.

               When the meal was completed, he found a blanket from the closet, slipped outside and laid in the back lawn under the warm sun to enjoy a normal life without being surrounded by fellow soldiers, seagulls, and the constant rocking of the ocean. The beauty, warmth, and comfort lulled him back to sleep to be awakened less than an hour later by his three best friends who had driven over to see him.

               “Hey, Douglas, wake up,” one of them said giving him a gentle kick in his right calf. “We’ve been talking with several of the guys and we’re all going to get together today and find you a good job.”

               “Ugh, hey guys, it’s great to see you,” Douglas said. “Yeah, that sounds great, let’s see what we can put together.” He rolled to his side, stood up, and wandered into the house with his three friends. “Hang on, I need to brush my teeth, my mouth tastes like something died in it.”

               “Yes, please do,” one of them said, “the last thing we need is for you to have jungle breath as we’re trapped in the car with you.”

               The four young men, all around the age of twenty-four shuffled out to the car, drove into town and met at a local pub to enjoy a cool pint, some chicken wings, and engage in social conversation. The table was soon full of good friends all thrilled that Douglas had returned after being gone for so long.

               “Oh, hey, a few of us had a good idea,” one of them said, “the pastor at the local independent church just retired and we were thinking that you could easily step in and takeover that role as pastor. You’ve always had a great gift at teaching and leadership; we all can meet with the elders there and see how that conversation goes.

               “Oh, wow,” Douglas said, “sure that could be an interesting conversation, yes, I agree that would be a great job and an opportunity to educate and guide people who need help in that area.” The four young men finished their beer, their snacks, and left the pub to meet with the elders for a two-hour meeting. The meeting came to a beautiful and encouraging conclusion with an invitation for Douglas to take the pulpit the next weekend.

               “Thank you so much for the invitation,” Douglas said, “I’ll have a sermon ready for next weekend. I believe this will be a perfect arrangement for everyone involved, we’ll stay in touch and keep this congregation growing and succeeding.” After six months of occasionally preaching, he met a wonderful young lady to whom he eventually proposed and began growing a family of his own.

               Douglas accepted the position as head pastor, saw growth in the congregation, and eventually the congregation began forming other congregations in surrounding cities as he began writing books, delivering lectures, holding debates, and forming more organizations built on what his imagination called authentic Christianity. Two decades passed with continued growth, until many other groups in the area began opposing the different theological positions and beliefs he continued to espouse.

               Now with a congregation of twelve hundred people, his phone beeped with a message from his secretary that three college girls from the congregation wanted to meet with him at some point today to discuss an idea they had to raise money for the college group. “Yes, that sounds good, Ellen,” he said, “I think I can meet with them today at three o’clock, do you have any idea what they are thinking?”

               “I’m sorry, Pastor Douglas, I do not,” she said, “you should probably record the conversation so that no details are missed or misunderstood.”

               “That is a great idea,” he said, “please contact them and tell them to be here at three o’clock today.”

               Releasing a long and tired breath, he leaned back in his chair and realized that his stomach had grown disgustingly large after leaving the Navy. “Alright, let’s see here,” he thought, glancing at his watch, “I have two hours before they arrive, I am so curious what this is about.” Manspreading his legs, he leaned his forehead on his desk and took a short nap before his next meeting. The alarm on his phone sounded at two-forty-five, giving him a few moments to wake up, clear his head, and be prepared for the mysterious meeting.

               Rising from his desk, he slowly walked around the church office, feeling slightly winded, feeling remarkably fat and out of shape. He saw a car pull into the parking lot and quickly returned to his office to set up his phone to video record the meeting before the trio of college girls arrived with their thoughts. He sat down, arranged his phone and heard a light knock on his door. “Yes, please come in,” he said.

               The three girls entered his office wearing yoga pants and sports bras, looking slightly sweaty and excited to share their idea. “Please take a seat and tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.

               “Thank you for meeting with us,” one of them said. “The college group is always looking for ways to raise money so we can organize events to draw more people into our church. Here is our idea,” she continued, “there are about thirty people in the college group and someone came up with the idea of having a topless car wash, which I am sure would raise a great deal of money.”

               “Oh my,” he said, “here, write your names, your phone numbers and the names of your parents in this notebook. I will need to meet with the elders and discuss if this would be a wise or safe idea to pursue.” Each girl took the notebook, wrote down the requested information and returned the notebook to him.

               “Very good, thank you,” Douglas said, “I’ll be in touch once a decision is made.”

               He watched the girls leave his office, and immediately placed multiple phone calls to the elders of the Church to share the idea just communicated to him. After four brief conversations with the elders, he then placed calls to the girls’ parents about their idea. The next evening, Pastor Douglas and the elders met to discuss in detail the possibility of pursuing an event like this to raise money for the college group.

               “If we are going to pursue an event like this,” one of the elders said, “it will need to take place somewhere that is not visible to the general public, it will need to be discreet and hidden so we do not get into trouble with indecent exposure.” The decision was made to allow this event to take place if this criterion was met.

               “Okay, I’ll make the phone calls,” Douglas said, “and I’ll report back the details to all of you when those decisions are made.” The elders left his office, giving him a few minutes to make the necessary phone calls, in which he put the rules in place, to learn that a location had already been chosen, inside of an abandoned warehouse that could not be seen from the street or sidewalk.

               Two weekends later, the topless carwash took place and the college group earned over one thousand dollars for their efforts. Unsurprisingly, the majority of their customers were middle aged men, college guys, and high school boys, more than happy to pay for a car wash and soapy show. As five o’clock that afternoon arrived, they called in those advertising with signs, closed the doors and happily counted their money.

               Three months later, Douglas was invited to speak at a town wide conference, to explain and defend his various positions on slavery, on alcohol, on abortion, and the appropriate role of women in the marriage relationship. He and two other men sat the front of the auditorium to discuss and debate these topics while the auditorium was nearly filled with almost one thousand people. Two microphones were placed on the floor at the front of the stage to allow for questions to be asked and clarified.

               There was an awkward pause in the discussion, when a very loud, powerful voice boomed from the center of the room, “Why..are..you..so..fat?” it asked. Douglas looked down at his stomach which was hanging below the seat upon which he sat. A very short man approached one of the microphones and shared his thoughts on the question.

               “It seems to me that Pastor Douglas has no concept of the idea of self-control as he clearly eats way too much with no seeming ability to eat only what is necessary to keep his body in good form,” the man said. No more thoughts or words were shared at this point, so Douglas and the other two men sat on the stage and watched the auditorium slowly empty.

               “Well, that was an odd ending,” Douglas said. “I wish I had the opportunity to provide an answer. Overall, that conference seemed to be an attack upon what we are preaching and teaching at our congregation. I would say that most in the auditorium were vehemently opposed to our existence and goals.”

               “Yes, I agree,” one of the other men said. “It is unfortunate that you were not able to better communicate your position on leniency for those guilty of pedophilia and possession of child pornography. The mere fact that there are five instances of people connected with your congregation and other congregations being guilty of these crimes has a great number of people fighting against you. This is something you need to directly address and answer. The abuse of children is not something that normal people will ignore. You need to take a harder stand on this topic and deal with this among your own people and the other congregations that are associated with you.”

               “From what we are seeing in the national news,” the other man said, “this crime against children is growing at an exponential rate across the entire country. You need to be more vocal, more direct, and more aggressive against those guilty of these crimes. Those people not connected to any church will not understand the idea of not condemning others especially when it is in regards to protecting children.”

               “Yes, I completely agree,” Douglas said as he pulled himself to his feet, breathing hard and shuffling across the stage to descend to the auditorium floor and drive home. His mind was a whirlwind about how to answer these questions about pedophilia and child pornography. “Wow, this is going to take a great deal of thought, planning, and explanation,” the thought. “I cannot soft sell this problem, it needs to be directly addressed, confronted and answered.”

               Heaving himself from his car as he parked near his back door, he shuffled up the sidewalk, ascended the four steps to pass through the back door, ridiculously winded he sat down on his recliner to watch the news and wait for his wife to join him for a discussion about the conference.

               “So how did the conference go?” she asked.

               “From my perspective, it did not go very well,” he answered, “there were at least one thousand people there and it seemed that almost everyone was opposed to my explanations, my answers, and everything we teach at our congregation. Oh, also, something funny, there was a pause in the discussion when someone in the auditorium asked in a very loud voice, why I was so fat. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to give an answer, a random man from the audience spoke up first and said that I clearly had no self-control when it came to eating.”

               “Speaking of eating, dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes,” she said. “You probably have time to take a short nap if you so desire. It will be just you and I eating together tonight, the children have other plans.”

Protection 101

 

                Jonathan and Sergius lived together in an apartment on the edges of Detroit after serving together as snipers for the US military. A pizza was delivered that early evening and the two men sat together eating and watching the news, horrified and angry about the increase of sexual abuse against children across the country.

               “Sergius, we really need to do something about this problem that is destroying the innocence of the youth of this nation,” Jonathan said, “I have a few ideas which we should share with our fellow soldiers in the area.”

               “Alright, that sounds like a good thing for us to do,” Sergius said. “Let’s start making some phone calls and gather everyone together, to think, to plan, and to begin executing your ideas. I would hope that we can gather very soon and begin to take action,” he said.

               After multiple phone calls and three days later, the ten men that had worked together in Iraq met at an abandoned warehouse just inside the outskirts of Detroit. The warehouse was clearly no longer in use, but still contained a number of tables, chairs, and manufacturing equipment. “Thank you everyone for coming,” Jonathan said, “if you have been watching the news like Sergius and I have been, you will have noticed the increase in the sexual abuse of children across this nation. This is a horrible path that our culture has begun to travel and we need to take action against the perpetrators of these crimes.”

               The other eight men all spoke out in agreement, confirming that they had taken notice of these corrupt and perverse crimes. “I think the first step in beginning this work is to find someone who has computer skills to hack into the necessary systems,” Jonathan said, “and begin to track who these men are and when they will be released from prison.”

               “Yes, that is exactly right,” Sergius said, “it is not good enough to merely execute them when they are released, I believe we should tranquilize them, bring them to this warehouse, restrain them, and hire scores of other men to continuously rape them, so they understand the feeling of helplessness and pain, much like what they have done to these children.”

               In the back of the room, a younger man raised his hand and confirmed that he had the computer skills to find the identifies of these men and learn their release dates.

“I know several men in the LGB community, who feel as angry as we do about the suffering these children are undergoing, and would be more than happy to help us inflict this type of suffering upon the perpetrators,” Jonathan said. “With that in mind, I will begin reaching out to them, to find many other men who will assist us once we begin abducting and restraining these horrible people.”

               “Thank you for willingness to help, young man,” Jonathan said. “What is your name?”

               “My name is Arthur,” the young man said. “I need a couple of days to set up the equipment to begin this work, which should take place in this warehouse. You and I can exchange contact information so we can begin this work as soon as possible.”

               “Again, thank you everyone for joining us, and being willing to step up and protect the youth of this nation and our area,” Sergius said. “Everyone please provide us with your contact information, I recommend using burner phones so we cannot be tracked.”

               The ten men all departed from the abandoned factory and scattered in many different directions. After setting up his computer system in the abandoned warehouse, two days passed and Arthur communicated the information about three men who would be released from prison in the next few days. “Jonathan,” he said, “our first perpetrator will be released the day after tomorrow. We need to set up a room in the abandoned factory to restrain him, and we need to pick up equipment for your contacts in the LGB community to use upon all three of them.”

               “Very good, Arthur, thank you for the phone call,” Jonathan said. “I’ll reach out to the others and communicate what needs to be done. I know that my contacts will be happy to assist us in this work. I’ll contact Edward about preparing his tranquilizer rifle for bringing down the first perpetrator, I trust we know his home address?”

               “Yes, I have his home address,” Arthur said, “I’ll send it over via text right away so we can plan accordingly. It would be great if we could have the room in the factory set up and ready for use by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”  Arthur ended the call, entered the address into his phone and waited for a reply from Jonathan that he had received the information, which came back in less than one minute.

               After jotting down the perpetrator’s address, Jonathan searched on a physical map to find the location and then began making several phone calls to the other soldiers, communicating the details of what needed to happen in the next two days. “Phew, I am not too thrilled about going into a gay bar,” he grumbled to himself, “but I know I’ll find plenty of help there to deal with this horrible situation.”

               Jonathan found his keys, made the quick trip across town and entered the Rainbow Tavern to see his contacts on the opposite side of the room.  As he approached them, he ordered a round of beers for everyone at the table. “Gentlemen, I and my fellow soldiers have devised a plan for dealing with those who are guilty of the sexual abuse of children and we need your help,” he said.

               “It’s good to see you, Jonathan,” one of the men said, “yes, you absolutely have our support, no child should be abused in that way, the path of sexual activity should be chosen once one becomes an adult. Please tell us what you need.”

               “Excellent, I am happy to hear you say that,” Jonathan said, “one of our soldiers has exceptional computer skills and has been tracking who and when these men will be released from prison. Our plan is to tranquilize them, restrain them in an abandoned warehouse and have dozens of men continuously rape them so that they understand the pain and feeling of helplessness that the children they abused experienced.”

               “That sounds like a great idea,” the other man said, “anyone who abuses a child needs to feel that pain and the feeling of helplessness. Give me an address and a schedule for when this will begin,” he said, “I can think of about three dozen men who would be more than happy to assist you in this.”

               “Very good,” Jonathan said, “here is the address and once we have the room set up and loaded with implements for you all to use upon these deviants. We should be ready to begin on Thursday evening at nine in the evening. You all have the freedom to do whatever you want to them; the goal is to inflict pain and humiliation. Please be discreet in your travel to and arrival at the abandoned warehouse.”

               “Yes, of course,” the other man said, “I am thinking that each man should have about thirty minutes to work the perpetrator over, with a fifteen-minute break after each cycle of abuse.”

               “Yes, perfect, I was thinking the same thing,” Jonathan said. “Thankfully, one of our soldiers is well trained in the medical field, so we can monitor the perpetrators vitals during and after each cycle of abuse. If we start at nine in the evening, we can probably get three rounds of abuse in before we stop for the evening. We need to stay in contact as this progresses, as two soldiers will be on watch each day in six-hour cycles.”

               Jonathan and Edward met one block away from the perpetrators home, tranquilized the man as he exited his vehicle, watched him drop to the sidewalk to be enveloped in darkness, hurried to his location, and shoved him into their trunk for a quick drive across town to the warehouse. They arrived at eight-forty-five, pulled him from the trunk, dragged him across the pavement and into the warehouse to strip him naked, bind him to a table blindfolded with a rag stuffed in his mouth to minimize the amount of noise he could make to avoid drawing attention to their activities.

               At exactly nine o’clock, the first man arrived to begin his work upon the perpetrator. “Thank you for coming,” Jonathan said, “you can do to him whatever you want. We have a trunk full of implements that you can use upon him. The idea here is to inflict as much pain as possible. This is a very horrible person that we have abducted and from what we have read about him, he raped and killed four little boys due to internal damage from his violence against them, so do your best to make him suffer. We have medical professional here to monitor his vitals, so don’t hold back, do your worst to him.”

               Three cycles of abuse took place that evening and the man still had a solid heartbeat, giving Jonathan and Edward the opportunity to leave for the evening, as the naked man remained restrained to the table, quivering in pain and humiliation. Three more days of continuous abuse took place until the man finally expired from starvation and the physical trauma from the non-stop abuse. The two soldiers who were on watch that evening, unbound the lifeless corpse from the table, dragged it to an obscure corner in the warehouse to be wrapped in plastic and buried it where no one would find it.

               Jonathan and the other soldiers continued this sequence of events with eight more perpetrators and reached a point where no more child sex offenders were to be released any time soon. “Okay, gentlemen,” Jonathan said, “it seems that no more offenders will be released for several months. I will communicate this to our helpers at the Rainbow Tavern, so our work is done for now.”

               With his burner phone, Jonathan called his contact at the Rainbow Tavern to inform him that their work was done for now and he greatly appreciated their assistance in this work. “We will continue to monitor future perpetrators and will make contact again if we need your help.”

               “Yes, of course, Jonathan,” the man said, “all of us are very happy to help you in dealing with these horrible people. We have removed several very bad people from the world, so call again when you need our assistance, this is a very good thing we are doing.”

Permanent Obscurity

 

            Simon leaned back in his chair in his office at home, rubbing his eyes now tired after staring at a screen for the last four hours. Excessively blinking as the afternoon sun poured into the room, begging him, tempting him, and working hard to draw him outside for a jog through the woods. The clock overhead finally reached five in the afternoon, reminding him that he had very little time to enjoy a jog through the afternoon sun. Slipping into a fresh t-shirt, shorts, and his running shoes, he did a bit of stretching, and told his wife he would be gone for about an hour for a bit of exercise.

               He slipped out the front door, walked the sidewalk to the edge of the park to begin his run through the woods, nodding, smiling and waving at those he met on his way. Always one to think of himself as better than, smarter than, and more talented than everyone else, after a plastic smile, he internally mocked those he passed as he continued on his jog. Half a mile into the woods, he came across a path to the immediate left that he had never before seen. “Hmm, let’s check it out,” he thought, “a change in scenery might be nice.”

               The path in the woods came to an end as he passed into an open field that contained a small number of old, rundown buildings on the opposite side of the field. He maintained his running speed and was approached by three very odd-looking men as they rushed from one of the distant buildings. A projectile came into view that quickly connected with his forehead, bringing with it a bright flash and an immediate headache. He dropped to his hands and knees wondering at what had just happened.

               Within moments of stopping his movement, he felt three sets of hands seize him and drag him toward one of the decrepit buildings. Multiple punches and kicks landed on his body as he landed on a dirt floor inside the building, to be immediately chained to the wall. He felt his head swimming, his body aching, and he tried to understand what the three men were saying, as most of their words sounded like gibberish. The three men left, closed the door, and Simon watched the day grow dark, feeling hungry, thirsty, and incredibly sore.

               His mind was swirl of confusion, pain, and terror, wondering what had just happened to him and if he had any opportunity for escape. The final rays of daylight disappeared, leaving him swallowed in absolute darkness until the three men returned with a lantern to continue their blows upon him, speaking in a way that he could not understand. After descending into a state of complete and absolute pain, he was unchained from the wall, taken into another building, tied to a table, and repeatedly whipped with leather straps.

               The darkness removed all possibility of identifying who these men were, what they wanted or if he had any possible means of returning to his home. “Damn, those are some incredibly ugly people, they look inbred to me,” he thought. One of the men left the room, returned with a hammer and began shattering all of the bones in his feet and legs. When the destruction was complete, the second man left and returned with pruning shears to systematically cut off all of his fingers while chanting words that made no sense, to then cauterize each wound with a glowing red metal tool, the sizzle of burning flesh shot waves of pain through his damaged hands.

               The third man retrieved a long, rusty nail from a bench nearby and popped both of Simon’s eyeballs, when this excruciating pain was over, he felt a device fit over his head covering both of his ears into which came the sound of an airhorn over each ear, effectively destroying his hearing. A hook pierced through his lower jaw, forcing his mouth open, at which time one of the men began extracting all of his teeth, severed his tongue, and then branded his torso with the glowing red metal tool, spelling out the word ‘liar’. His fingers were dropped into a metal bucket as well as his now severed genitalia to be followed by cauterization of the open wound.

               The three men left the building, as Simon lay quivering in perfect, absolute pain across every inch of his body. Trapped in his mind with no way to communicate, he could feel the room growing warmer as the morning sun, he assumed rising on the new day. He lay still, suffering, aching, and wondering what would happen next. In a shocking and unexpected moment, the three men returned and began whipping him again with the leather straps. Simon could see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.

               The restraints were removed, he was lifted from the bench and placed into a large bag that was dragged out of the building, dropped into the trunk of a car, and after some amount of time, he was removed from the trunk, dropped on the ground and left in a state of absolute helplessness. Terribly hungry, terribly thirsty, and in pain throughout his entire body, he felt the warmth of sunshine come upon his body, leaving him wondering if someone had found him and were trying to help.

               Completely at a loss as to what would happen next, he was lifted from the bag by two sets of strong hands and taken to a hospital in an attempt to heal his broken and tormented body. Still trapped in his mind with no way of communicating, he felt the prick of a needle upon his skin, giving him a reprieve from the pain that nearly swallowed him. After several hours of solitude, he felt a tapping upon his arm, a message in morse code, which allowed him to understand that his family had been contacted and were now with him.

               Now that he was no longer alone, he began to receive a pleasant, kind, and soothing massage on the parts of his body that were not damaged. Still trapped in darkness, silence, and solitude, uncertain of the length of time that had passed, he was lifted from the hospital bed, placed in a wheelchair and taken home, in torment over his inability to communicate what had happened to him. The morse code tapping began again, communicating that co-workers and family were with him, desperate for him to communicate to them what had happened.

               In his crushing state of solitude, his mind was a swirl of memories of the three men who had beaten and mutilated him, he struggled to think of a way to tell the story, their horrible disfigured faces, their inarticulate words, and their sheer brutality upon his now broken body. Now that he could not speak, could not hear, could not see, and could not type, he had no means for doing his work or earning an income to provide for his needs and the needs of his family.

               Now confined to darkness, silence, and a wheelchair, he could no longer walk, jog, work, or provide for those who needed him. Over the next six months, the savings account that he had been buildings slowly reduced toward zero. Every day, his wife and his children would visit him, hold his hand, feed him, and tap morse code messages that everything would eventually be alright. Simon knew better, knowing that the money would eventually run out, leaving them destitute and eventually homeless.

               As time passed, he began to communicate with morse code, telling the story about the damage that happened to him, who did it, and where they were, who they were, and remained uncertain as to their goal for damaging him in such a way. As each day moved into the next, co-workers and family continued to support him and his family, buying them food, and paying their bills. Still trapped in his silence and solitude, he hated the fact that he was trapped and unable to contribute anything of value, now lost in confusion and pain, he knew that there was nothing he could do to escape and be of value.

               Two full years passed and those who knew him and believed that he was still mentally intact, ran out of funds to continue caring for him. When this time came to an end, he found himself sitting alone on a pile of cardboard in an alley, while his wife and children moved on to another life where they could take care of themselves. Simon was trapped in darkness, silence and pain, hungry most of the time except for the few people who would give him food at least once a day.

               Eventually this philanthropy stopped and he found himself eating only once week, still sleeping on cardboard in an alley, wondering if there was any end to his suffering and solitude. Despite hearing nothing, seeing nothing, and speaking nothing, he became a non-person that eventually everyone began to completely ignore, to eventually starve to death behind a dumpster.

               A small group of old men found his cold, stiff body, shriveled and damaged, to then call the police that a body had been found and something needed to be done with it before the wild dogs and cats would begin to eat it. The paramedics arrived in the alley, moved the emaciated and damaged body into a body bag to be transferred to the nearest morgue in hopes that someone would be able to identify this person of seeming no identity.

               Simon hovered above the activity in the alley, desperate to communicate who he was, why he was there and trusting that eventually someone would identify him, give him a proper burial and allow him to move on. Still tormented at the shallow, empty life that he led which was nothing but deception, selfishness, and unkindness, knowing that he considered himself better than everyone, and wishing he could go back and re-live a life that was based on love for neighbor.

As this thought rolled around his disconnected mind, he noticed that he began a slow descent with an ever-increasing rise in temperature. “This is not the path I foresaw for the first fifty years of my life,” he thought, “I seem to be going in the wrong direction, I guess I’ll see how this comes to an end.”

 “Well, a change like that is not going to happen,” he thought, “I had one chance and I completely missed out on doing what was good and right, unfortunately thinking only ever of myself and distracted by the foolishness and inanity of my culture. I wish I would have listened closer, acted better, and focused on love rather than selfishness.”

The Price of Sacrifice

 

                Jonathan could not have had a better childhood, family life, and upbringing. Every need was provided for, he received the very best education, exposure to the highest quality entertainment including opera, symphonies, and ballet. Being the oldest in the family, he always strove to be kind, to be understanding, and to express empathy to those who struggled to make ends meet.

               His family grew and flourished from a long line of successful businessmen over the last three centuries. Any time he overheard his younger brothers speaking poorly of others, being judgmental of others, or condemning others for bad decisions, he interjected his thoughts, corrections, and the appropriate response to those who were in need.

               Jonathan graduated from university with a Ph.D in business, putting him in a position to take over leadership of the family company. His mind was sharp, precise, and sympathetic to others. Before taking over the role of CEO of the company, he worked through every department in the family business to understand the work, to understand his employees, and to know at the cellular level how their business performed and how to make improvements when necessary.

               After six months of work through each department, he made good connections with people in every department, understanding their struggles, understanding how regular people with standard income lived and their basic needs. He then transitioned into the office, to take on various roles in several different departments, still striving to understand more about the family business.

               His father eventually reached the age where he wanted to retire and hand over all of his responsibilities to Jonathan, knowing that his oldest son with a heart of gold and sympathy would continue to see success, help others, and thrive regardless of any detail or struggle that would arise. After three months in his role as CEO, he began a careful audit of all company business, all clients, and all categories in which they dabbled.

               After spending six weeks carefully picking through all business activity, he called a board meeting to be led by him in which he would announce a new direction for the company. He arrived to the meeting two minutes after it’s ten o’clock start time, to see the seven members of the board waiting for him, clearly agitated that he was late.

               “Thank you for coming, gentlemen,” he said, “I was intentionally late so I could see if you all would arrive on time and be prepared for a meeting to address certain details I have uncovered. I have spent the last six weeks looking through all of our activities, the fields in which we are involved and began to ask myself many questions about our activity.”

               Still standing in his position as head of the board meeting, he lifted his notepad and began explaining his rationale for the changes he was planning on implementing. “After all of my time of careful review, I see that we are involved in the medical field, in real estate, and providing military support for our government. Here is my decision, I strongly believe that we should pull out from our military involvement, as war does not bring life, love, or safety for our nation. We do not need to be the police for the entire globe.”

               An older gentleman at the far end of the conference table rose his hand, cleared his throat, and asked for permission to speak.

               “Yes, go ahead,” Jonathan answered, “share your thoughts on this.”

               “I am very familiar with the military support that we provide, and it makes up forty percent of our business,” he said, “if we walk away from this avenue of income, where do you suggest that we realign our time, money, and attention?”

               “That is a very good question,” Jonathan answered. “I would like to refocus our attention away from military action and toward providing economic support in real estate and in medical for the nations that are struggling with health issues around the globe. If we can strengthen and heal those around us, we will make the world a better place, rather than imposing more death and destruction with the weapons we provide.”

               “Very good,” the man said.

               “I would like to take a vote in this meeting,” Jonathan said, “if you agree with me, please vote yes, if you disagree, please vote no. We will do this by a show of hands. If you agree with me in making this change, raise your hand right now. Okay, very good, I am seeing that five of you agree with me. I can then assume that only two of you disagree. So, it is decided, this is the path we will take moving forward. I will send out details sometime today for a meeting to make these changes.”

               Two weeks later, the meeting was scheduled and took place, which brought about a radical change in multiple departments throughout the company. Two more years passed by as these changes were methodically implemented, bringing out a vast improvement in the quality of life in several countries around the globe.

               Jonathan invited his two younger brothers to a private meeting between the three of them to celebrate the radical changes and the overall improvements from their departure from military action. His brothers both heartily agreed with is decisions, encouraged him to continue making improvements, and helping those in need. After five more years of operating as CEO, Jonathan continued to challenge a few long-held ideas with the goal of making the world a better place through assistance to those in need.

               He entered his office, created a document that would declare his decision to step down as CEO, which would be filled by the next oldest son. He carefully crafted the piece, called in a secretary to proof read his work and deliver it to everyone who needed to be involved in this change. The secretary did an excellent job of reviewing his work, and had it sent to everyone who needed to know Jonathan’s plans.

               As he drew close to his thirty-fifth birthday, he remained unmarried and had no children. He sold his home, donated the money to a special fund at the family business which was to be used for his employees that had special needs, whether medical or otherwise. He handed over his responsibilities to his next oldest brother, encouraging him to continue on the path of bringing life, peace, and health to the world as much as possible.

               Jonathan bought a first-class plane ticket to Egypt, packing only simple, plain clothing, with which he would relocate to a cave relatively close to a men’s monastery in the Egyptian desert. He landed in Egypt, took a car to the local men’s monastery, introduced himself, and made a large donation to the monastery to help them take care of whatever needs they had. He communicated his plan of remaining in a distant cave and would be in regular contact with the Abbot of the monastery as the years passed.

               He filled his cave with only the basic necessities, emulating what the monks at the monastery were doing in their own cells. He no longer enjoyed the pleasures of wine, fine dining, comfortable clothing, and high-quality cigars. He planted a small garden for himself which would provide a simple and basic diet to keep him alive and healthy. He could feel himself growing older and weaker as the many years continued to crawl by.

               As he reached his seventy-fifth birthday, he continued his practice of visiting the Abbot once a month, and once a year would make a phone call to the family business to confirm that they were continuing the path he began so many years before. Each year he received the same message, that the family company continued to follow the path he started and was seeing great success and improvement in many nations around the world.

               Jonathan now owned nothing, enjoyed no creature comforts, and was thrilled to learn that their company was continuing to make the world a better place. Each time he interacted with the monastery Abbot, he was told the same message, “You may have accomplished much with your wealth and influence, but now that you are a monastic, your prayers will accomplish a great deal more.”

               Each morning Jonathan would rise before the sun, begin his morning prayer rule, and know that this new life was far more important and powerful than anything he did before he arrived in Egypt. When he reached his ninety-fifth birthday, he suddenly felt cold, ascended above and beyond his now lifeless corpse, to look down upon a body that he knew was his and was no longer animate. He felt a peace unlike anything he had ever before felt, knowing that he had taken an important turn in life to find himself drawing near to an eternity in the presence of holiness.

R Capital

                Anthony and Paul shared a two-bedroom apartment and spent each evening staying updated on local news, national news and global news. Sharing a pizza that had just been delivered, they shared a mutual disgust about the crime in their city, and the unsettling fact that their city had the highest count of rape incidents in the entire nation.

               “Paul, this is so bad,” Anthony said, “our city and our nation as a whole have descended into absolute depravity and selfishness, seeing these numbers of the women and children who are being assaulted is absolutely horrible. The weak and innocent need to be protected and not abused or taken advantage of, we need to do something.”

               “I absolutely agree,” Paul said, “if there was a way that we could intervene, protect, and stop this kind of behavior, I’m certain we can develop a plan to involve ourselves. We should research these statistics and determine which part of our city has the highest count of this kind of violence.”

               “Yes, I totally agree with you,” Anthony said, “let’s spend the next several days, find the worst neighborhoods, and develop a plan for beginning an approach to protect these women. I’ve been developing a few thoughts and ideas, if we find a prostitute, dress her modestly, pay her well to walk through these neighborhoods, and we can position ourselves to snipe these men before they grab the girl, we can intervene, rescue her and escape, leaving the bodies where they lay.”

               “That is a great idea,” Paul said, “if we do this three times a week in different neighborhoods, with no discernable pattern to our activity, we can take out a lot of horrible people. Personally, I don’t know any prostitutes so we’ll need to spend some time interacting with some of these women, find someone willing and interested, and we can move forward with the plan.”

               Three days of research passed, giving Paul and Anthony the time to identify the worst neighborhoods, approach a few different women on street corners and choose the best location to begin their work. “Okay, Anthony,” Paul said, “we’ve identified nine neighborhoods with the worst of this activity, so let’s formulate a plan, and choose several of these women to help us make an impact on this violence.”

               “Yes, absolutely,” Anthony said, “if we choose one different woman for each week, different locations in each neighborhood, and a very late hour to do our work, we should be successful and hopefully see a drop in this crime. So now, our next step is to interact with some of these women, generate a list and be prepared to pay them well for the dangerous situation in which they will be putting themselves. Hopefully our assurances that we will protect them before anything unsavory happens, will convince them that their help will reduce this crime in our city.”

               “Yes, this is a good plan,” Paul said, “we need to pick up burner phones so we can stay in contact with these women, choose which days and which neighborhoods to begin the work. Let’s start interacting and communicating tonight, the sooner we line up women to help us, the sooner we can get started.”

               Four more days passed, in which time Anthony and Paul contacted several dozen different women, handed out their phone numbers, promising them good pay for their time and the first day to begin the work. The two men picked up the prostitute at the agreed upon time, assuring her that payment would be made when they were done for the evening. “I want to make a suggestion,” Anthony said, “if anyone approaches you, squat down, hugs your knees, and we will execute whoever it is that is looking to abduct you, it will be safer for you this way.”

One in the morning rolled around and Paul and Anthony sat inside the window of an abandoned warehouse to see their first willing woman slowly walk down the sidewalk and be approached by an old sedan, from which three men emerged to surround the woman.

               “Take your first shot, Paul,” Anthony said, “three quick shots will easily bring this to an end, within the span of thirty seconds three shots were fired dropping the three men to the sidewalk, giving the frightened woman the opportunity to begin running. “I am on my way to the street to rescue this terrified woman and bring her to her home. We have done a good thing here,” Anthony said.

               Anthony moved quickly enough to meet the woman on the sidewalk, motioning for her to approach him. As she climbed into his car, he handed her an envelope containing the promised pay for her involvement in the dangerous situation. He and she drove for ten minutes and he watched as she walked into her apartment building, when she offered a quick wave and thank you.

               Two days later, Anthony placed another phone call to the same woman, confirming her continued involvement, more pay, and the time and place to meet for another round of protecting their society from men who were willing to oppress the weak and innocent. In a different neighborhood and in the exact same sequence as the first time, Paul executed three more men who surrounded and sought to abduct the woman from the street.

               This became a regular pattern for Paul, Anthony, and a sequence of other women over the next nine months. When their nine months of work came to an end, Paul and Anthony arrived at their home, cheering and congratulating each other for work well done. “Okay, Anthony,” Paul said, “we’ve worked through all of the neighborhoods and have executed about three hundred potential rapists. It is curious that we haven’t seen anything on the news about these executions. You have to wonder if the police are hiding this activity to protect themselves for their failure to do their job.”

               “One may think so,” Anthony said, “the thought occurred to me that it may be possible that some of these potential rapists are police officers or high-level important people. I believe we can say that we have done all that we can do to positively impact the quality of life in this city. I think we can begin the next step of this work to begin executing convicted pedophiles, but we’ll need to research who these men are and where they live.”

               “Yes, that is certainly the next step in our work,” Paul said, “let’s get to bed because it is really late, we can begin that research tomorrow night.”

               After far too little sleep, both men rose the next morning, showered, ate breakfast and left for work to return home at the end of the day and enjoy an Uber meal of Mexican food delivered an hour after they arrived home. The two men sat together at their kitchen counter, enjoyed their meal, and continued to talk about next steps and if to take a short break before beginning their work of continuing to cleanse the city.

               They finished their meal; they opened a laptop and began searching the sex offender database using a VPN to avoid drawing attention to themselves. “I think we should follow the same approach as we did with the potential rapists,” Anthony said, “three times a week once we have a list of the worst offenders and their addresses.”

               “Man, look at this list,” Paul said, “there are easily over two hundred child sex offenders listed here. Since the police aren’t doing anything to remove this scourge from our communities, we need to step up and take action. If we are careful and plan well, we can easily take out five or six in one evening. We need to create a list of addresses to best use our time and start as soon as possible.”

               Five days slowly crept past, giving them time to identify persons of interest, create an efficient plan and identify locations to place themselves after surveying the offender’s schedules of arrival and departure times. Following the same pattern as before, they began their work just as darkness began to settle, celebrating the fact that they were able to execute five or six of these offenders before the end of each evening.

               After ten weeks of sniping work, they kept a running list of executed offenders and as a final celebratory statement, they began to carefully watch the news but failed to see any comments from the police on the executions that had been taking place each week.  “Wow, that is really disappointing,” Paul said, “if the police would actually report what was going on, these communities would learn and hopefully appreciate the new level of safety they can now enjoy.”

               “Well, we’ve done a good work and regardless of the visibility of our efforts, we know that we have completed another phase of cleansing for our neighborhoods,” Anthony said, “I have to say that I am thrilled that we have completed our work and can now begin to get many good night’s rest. We have removed a huge number of very bad people from this world and should be pleased with ourselves for the great work we have accomplished.”

               “I completely agree,” Paul said, “we need to continue monitoring the crime statistics now that these people have been removed, I would hope that the numbers will decline and people will begin to appreciate living with a higher level of safety.”

               The following late afternoon Paul and Anthony rode the elevator together up to their apartment, after entering their shared domicile, Paul began preparing dinner, while Anthony turned on the news. “Hey Paul, quickly come into the living room, there is a news report about the shootings that have been taking place,” Anthony called out.

               The two men sat together and listened to the female news reporter begin her explanation of what had been taking place. “The latest news is that approximately two hundred men have been shot and killed over the last ten weeks,” she said, “all of these men are on the sex offender list for our state. At this time the police do not know who is responsible for these shootings. We will report back if or when we learn anything new.”

“Woo hoo,” Paul erupted, “at least now the general public knows what has happened and that there are now about two hundred less sex offenders roaming the streets. I would argue that our hard work, our research, and our willingness to take action has greatly improved the quality of life for our city.”

Sunsetting You

 

                Paul sat down at his laptop, opened a text file and began documenting every event from his life starting at the age of eighteen. What started out as a basic outline eventually turned into a full autobiography reaching over three hundred pages, every detail, every person, every significant event, and the details of every location he lived or visited. Over the next six months he continued to add memories as they rose in his mind after reading over the long document many times.

               Thrilled and in awe with all that he had accomplished over the past many decades, the many places he visited, the content he created, the volume of information he had learned, and the many people he had positively influenced. Working full time and occasionally taking on a second job to make ends meet, he managed to continually improve his life and the life of his family as they continued to move forward and grow.

               He kept track of how many times he read through the entire document and finally stopped to count that he had read through his autobiography twenty-seven times and after doing so, he began to see a pattern in the behavior of others, a slow decline into selfishness, depravity, dishonesty, and intentional cruelty. When this pattern became clearly evident, he created a second document to catalog all of these events, comments, and felt a heaviness come upon him that left him feeling hollow and disappointed.

               Eventually it all came to a disappointing end, leaving him angry, frustrated, and helpless, knowing that many decisions were made that he could not undo, choices were made to push everything he had worked so hard to create and improve into chaos. Over time more deception, more lies, more cruelty began to emerge until everything was destroyed.

               The breakfast hour began to draw close, prompting him to step away from his computer screen, walk outside, take a seat on his deck and watch the sun slowly crawl up the sky to eventually appear from behind the distant hills. “Wow,” he thought, “if that isn’t a perfect image of what is happening right now. Reality is transitioning from darkness into light, beauty, and goodness.”

               He rose from his seated position on his deck, did a light bit of stretching, entered into his home, put together his breakfast, turned on some light classical music and enjoyed the peace he only just now discovered. Finishing his meal and his hot drink, he placed dishes near the sink, slowly walked through his house multiple times to give his body time to begin digesting his meal. He then changed into his workout clothes, found his trainers, his sweatshirt, his windbreaker, and his gloves in case the temperature was too cold for exposed skin.

               After ten more minutes of stretching, he turned on his exercise app to document his walking distance and walking time, to enjoy the warmth of the new day upon him as he began moving up the sidewalk. Thankful for the rare social interaction that would take place as he began his morning walk, he enjoyed the peace, the silence, and the lack of inane conversation that seemed to plague most situations in which he would find himself.

               Thirty minutes later, he circled through the town and carefully observed everything that was taking place, new construction, a current demolition job, train activity, and the occasional barking dog. Waving at the occasional car that drove past, he worked hard to increase his walking speed, and was tempted to walk a second loop, wanting to burn off any extra weight he had gained over the winter holidays.

               The second loop was completed and he returned to his front door, turned off his exercise app and was pleased with the time and distance he had covered. Kicking off his shoes as he entered his home, feeling sweaty and tired he stripped down to a t-shirt and shorts, taking the next several minutes to cool off, while drinking a tepid beverage.

               “Maybe I’ll take a shower right now,” he thought. “I hate the idea of getting dressed into fresh clothes and going through the day after building up this much sweat. There is nothing better than having a clean, and fresh start.” After finishing his drink, he slipped into a cool shower to then step out fresh, energized, and thrilled to take on the day as it would progress.

               “Okay, let’s read through the biography one more time and see if any other memories emerge,” he said to himself. After one hour of reading, thinking, and musing, he poured himself a large mug of coffee, sat on the back porch and enjoyed the ever-present gentle breeze that always passed through his neighborhood. The peace, the silence, and the glory of a new day wrapped itself around him until someone nearby started mowing their lawn, like having everything good and peaceful taken from him, he stood up and walked back into his house to enjoy some light classical music.

               Another ten minutes of light stretching followed his entrance into his home, which was followed by two more hours of writing, thankful that he took the time to read through his autobiography one more time, more memories emerged, allowing him to further expand his documented life. “Phew, sunset, yep, that is definitely a great metaphor for my reality,” he thought. “I need to create a short story that communicates this transition.”

               After a thirty-minute break from the computer screen, he returned to begin writing his short story, marveling at the radical change that had taken place from a life formerly consumed by frustration, disappointment, and eventual realized deception. “Okay, peace, good friends, silence, assistance from godly people about pursuing a life not polluted by social media, distraction, and plastic smiles,” he thought.

               The day came to an end, he prepared and ate dinner, enjoyed a new life free from noise, distraction, and deception, to then step outside and watch the sun slowly disappear behind the distant hills. “And there is a reverse metaphor,” he thought, “a beautiful day of light, peace, and joy to slowly transition into darkness.”

               He rose from the solitude of his back deck to move onto his front deck, watch traffic drive past and watch the occasional person stroll past on the sidewalk. A numberless amount of children moved throughout the neighborhood on their bicycles, on scooters, on golf carts, and on skateboards. “Man, that is a lot of kids out and about,” he said to himself, “this communicates the fact that this town is safe for kids to roam without concern about shady characters abducting them.”

               Eventually all sunshine disappeared, leaving him in absolute darkness and a silent neighborhood. The occasional owl sounded in the distance, reminding him that the world is a big, beautiful place, full of that which is natural but also polluted by noise, distraction, and fake kindness. Yawning aggressively, he slipped back inside, put on his pajamas, did his evening prayers, drank a warm drink and slipped into bed to be immediately joined by two cats looking for a warm place to lie down.

               Waking every ninety minutes, he finally pulled himself from bed the next morning, still feeling tired but knowing that another walk would be a good idea after morning prayers and breakfast. He finished eating his morning meal, did some light stretching, and began his walk with thoughts about his autobiography rolling through his mind, stirring up more memories to then hurry home and document his new thoughts, making his autobiography that much longer.

               “Sunsetting,” he thought, “what a perfect metaphor for this transition from a former life of deception to a new life of peace and beauty. You have been sunsetted,” he said out loud, “a new start for me, a new start for you, all based on your self-deception, your desire for something else, and a beautiful new life for me but not for you.”

A Soul Almost Gone to Waste

 

                Athanasi was their only child and John and Susan watched the young boy continue to grow, become involved in multiple sports, take on a love of music, both listening to and performing, making many friends as he continued through elementary school, middle school, and high school. After his first year of high school, his parents began to notice a change in his attitude, his interaction with people, and his overall level of kindness when dealing with people far below his level of excellence.

               His grades began to slip, his quality of language began taking on a great deal of profanity, prompting his father to begin asking questions about his wide variety of friends, their interests, and how he was spending his free time. Posters began to appear on his walls of his favorite heavy metal bands, his favorite female actresses in degrading and immodest clothing, prompting his mother to begin raising questions about his life choices.

               On a particular Thursday afternoon, John came home early to learn that Athanasi had not yet returned home from school, as he and Susan sat at the kitchen counter discussing their concerns about Athanasi, they watched as a very loud muscle car pulled into their driveway from which Athanasi emerged in a cloud of smoke.

               “Wow, that is not good,” John said. “We need to put in more effort to help him get back on track, it is like his heart, soul, and mind are slowly shriveling before our eyes.” Athanasi staggered across the lawn, entered the front door, looked at his parents through bloodshot eyes, smiled and excused himself to his room. “I have some homework I need to get done before tomorrow morning,” he said.

               Two more hours passed when Susan began to prepare dinner, John moved himself to the family room to turn on the evening news and could hear the shower start from down the hall. At six o’clock, like always, Susan made the announcement that dinner was ready and everyone needed to come to the dinner table. In less than five minutes, both John and Athanasi joined Susan for dinner, both yawning aggressively.

               “Tell me about the friends that dropped you off this afternoon,” John said. “That was a really loud car with a great deal of smoke pouring out of the open door when you climbed out, what was that all about?”

               “Oh, yeah, that is Daryl’s car,” Athanasi said, “he spends a lot of his time working on his car, making it faster and more powerful whenever he has the opportunity. And the smoke, the two guys in the back seat, Arty and Boris were passing a bong back and forth, now that cannabis is legal, they can’t seem to get enough of it. I do my best to hold my breath whenever they are actively imbibing. When we drive like that, I keep the window open to avoid it’s influence on my mind.”

               “Your mother and I are becoming very concerned about your current life choices and the people with whom you are spending your time,” John said. “I cannot emphasize strongly enough the danger of associating with boys like that; we’re concerned that they will drag you down the wrong path. With your brilliant mind, your athletic skills, your musical skills, and you love for people in general, we would hate to see you lose those possible paths toward success.”

               “If it makes you feel any better,” Athanasi said, “I spend very little time with them. I’m still part of the baseball team, the basketball team, and the football team, as well as marching band, and the debate class at school. At most I’ll spend one afternoon a week with Daryl, Arty, and Boris, I do my best to influence them toward beauty and intelligence.”

               “That would be great if you could positively influence them, but we’re concerned about your exposure to cannabis,” John said. “Taking that into your system will certainly influence the way your brain operates and the negative impact of smoke upon your lungs. We would hate to see your health decline and negatively impact your abilities in your sporting endeavors.”

               “Alright, understood,” Athanasi said. “I will cut down the time I spend with Daryl, Arty, and Boris. You are right about their influence and the cannabis.”

               “Thank you for hearing us, Athanasi,” Susan said as she squeezed her son’s hand. “Try to put more time and effort into spending time with young men of good character, you have so much you can offer the world and continue to improve yourself.”

               Athanasi offered up a smile to his mother and returned the hand squeeze, to then sit back, unbutton his pants and release a satisfied long breath. “Thank you for dinner, Mom,” he said, “I can easily say that your cooking is better than anything I have ever eaten. Like I said earlier, I have homework I need to finish before tomorrow.” He then slid his chair back, excused himself from the table, slapped his father on the back as he walked down the hallway toward his bedroom.

               “That went really well,” John said, “I am really looking forward to seeing how he adjusts his approach to life, to sports, to academics, and to his circle of friends.”

               “Yes, I completely agree,” Susan said.

               “Go sit down and relax for a few minutes,” John said. “I’ll clean up the dining room and kitchen after such a wonderful meal. You deserve a break today.”

               “Thank you, dear,” Susan responded. John watched her rise from the table, walk into the family room, lie down on the couch and rest her feet on one end of the couch with a small pillow under her head.

               Athanasi’s second year of high school reached its end and his grades slowly recovered to complete the year with all A’s, achieving new records in baseball and basketball, and his parent’s watched as his time with friends transitioned away from Daryl, Arty, and Boris. Halfway through the last day of school, Susan slipped into Athanasi’s room and was happy to see that he had taken down the posters of the heavy metal bands and the scantily clad female actresses.

               Two more years of high school came and went, leaving both John and Susan thoroughly pleased with Athanasi’s continued trajectory toward excellence, intelligence, and positive influence on his classmates. Athanasi’s senior year came to an end and he was invited to be the valedictorian speaker at his graduation, which he happily accepted, to then create his speech over a two-week period. John and Susan could hear him practicing his delivery every night for the two weeks preceding the graduation.

               Before and after the graduation ceremony, letters began to arrive in the mail from over a dozen different universities across the western United States, all offering full scholarships for his academic excellence and his athletic abilities. The pile of letters continued to grow on the kitchen counter until Athanasi took an hour to read through them all, create a map of their locations, and eventually identify the top three universities that were most appealing to him.

               He chose the best of the three, submitted his paperwork, and after six years passed, he graduated with his Master’s degree in Chemistry to then take a job in his hometown as a research chemist. On the day of his university graduation, he and his girlfriend Abigail sat at his parent’s dining room table to discuss his plans for work, for marriage, and express his gratitude for the hard work they put into guiding him on his path into adulthood.

               “We are very proud of you, son,” John said. “It has been a wonderful time watching you grow and mature, we are so happy that you transitioned away from certain people during high school. You have become a wonderful young man and from what we are seeing you have chosen a wonderful young lady with whom to spend your time and attention.”

               After six months of working as a research chemist, Athanasi paid off his parent’s mortgage, bought himself and his new bride a house relatively close to his parent’s home.

               “Athanasi,” Abigail said, “I hope I have the opportunity to speak with your parents about the changes you made in your life to become the wonderful person you are today. You really need to take a few weeks off of work, so we can enjoy a proper honeymoon. I would love to go to Paris for at least a week, can you do that for us?”

               “Yes, of course,” Athanasi said, “I know we took a couple days right after our wedding, so a two-week honeymoon in France would be glorious time to spend together. Now that we have our own home, we need to start buying furniture and all of the little things that are necessary to make a house a home.”

               “Oh, very good,” Abigail said, “I’ll start creating a list for us, start making some purchases, and watch as our empty house turns into a beautiful home. We can talk through what style we want to have for our home, and which items should be purchased first. This is so exciting and I cannot wait to make this a beautiful place, which will eventually be filled with a few children.”

               “Wow, children,” Athanasi said, “I think we should spend a couple years enjoying our company, taking vacations, and getting everything in order before children start to arrive. I’m thinking two or three children, I was an only child and that wasn’t very fun because I never had the opportunity to learn to share with someone else.”