Paying Attention and Responding

 

            Dmitri woke up twenty minutes before his alarm with a feeling of deep nausea in the pit of his stomach. “Oh, man, this is not good,” he grumbled, “I suppose it is the right thing to call in sick, because I would really hate to infect my office mates with whatever it is that has overtaken my state of physical health.” He reached over, turned off his alarm, sat on the edge of his bed and knew that he would be kneeling in front of the toilet in a few minutes. “Phew, enough of that,” he groaned, “I think I’ll steal a couple more hours of sleep, but I should set my alarm to wake me so I can call in and let them know my current state of health.”

               Fifteen minutes before his normal arrival time at the office, his alarm pulled him from sleep, forcing him out of bed and onto his feet. He dropped his sweaty pajamas in the laundry basket, found loose fitting sweats and t-shirt, a pair of socks and his slippers, trudged into the kitchen, poured himself a cup of coffee and dialed his boss’s phone number. “Hey boss, it’s Dmitri,” he said, “I woke up sick this morning so I won’t be in the office today, I really hope whatever it is that is plaguing me right now will clear up today and I’ll be into the office tomorrow.”

               “Wow, thanks for the call, Dmitri,” his boss said, “get as much rest as you can, and don’t worry about your responsibilities at work today, I’ll divide your work up between your office mates. Please call me again tomorrow morning, so I know how you are feeling and if you’ll be in for work.”

               “Alright, will do,” Dmitri said. He then hung up the phone, shuffled back into the kitchen, found himself a mild breakfast, finished his cup of coffee and finished his small meal. Pulling himself to his feet, he collapsed on the couch in the living room, put on some classical music, and began wondering how he would feel the rest of the day. “Man, I really hope this clears up sooner than later,” he thought.

               A vigorous knock on the door pulled him from his late morning nap, as he peeked through the viewer, he saw a FedEx man holding a large envelope. He quickly opened the door, received the envelope from the man, thanked him and wished him a good day. Closing and locking the door behind him, he opened the envelope, extracted a letter and a check written out to him for one and a half million dollars. He carefully read the accompanying letter and learned that Uncle Boris had recently reposed. “Uncle Boris,” he thought, “I didn’t know I had an Uncle Boris, this is really awesome, now I can buy some land and build the castle I’ve been wanting to build for so many years now.”

               Placing the letter and the check on the dining room table, he shuffled into his office, and began a search for inexpensive land, preferably somewhere warm with lots of trees. After thirty minutes of searching via the internet, he found the perfect piece of land in northern Nevada. “Well, this is perfect,” he said, “twenty acres with several hills and plenty of trees, looks like it’s time for a phone call.”

               After a brief phone call with the local realtor, he requested that the realtor send him several photos of the land and the land surrounding the property. About an hour after lunch, an email from the realtor arrived with twenty photos attached. Dmitri spent the next fifteen minutes looking through each photo, found the property on a map app to see that the nearest town was relatively empty and decaying after nearly one hundred years of neglect.

               “It would be wise to visit the property before I make an offer of purchase,” he thought, “I need to talk to my boss and see if I can work remotely from out of state and my yet to be built home. I suppose I should find a local company that will build a castle for me in that location and receive a bid on the total cost.” The rest of the day slowly crept passed, the next morning Dmitri called his boss and explained his situation, asking for permission to work remotely now that he had received a large and unexpected check from his uncle.

               At the end of the phone call, he confirmed with his boss that he would be taking a full week of vacation to get everything in order with these recent developments. After breakfast and before lunch, he traveled to the bank to deposit his check, returned home and placed another phone call to the realtor, setting up a time to meet and view the property. After concluding his phone call with the realtor, he purchased a plane ticket to the nearest town closest to his potential new property.

               Four hours after landing at the airport, he and the real estate agent walked through the property, giving Dmitri the opportunity to take more photographs and notes. As they stood together on the side of the hill, at the point he determined would be the best place to build his castle, they looked down upon an abandoned collection of motel cabins at the edge of town. Now thoroughly pleased with the property, he and the realtor returned to the real estate office to do all the paperwork to make an offer on the land. Within an hour, the current owner responded by accepting the offer. With the acceptance of the offer, Dmitri requested that the real estate agent find a local financial company in his home town to take care of the paperwork and the transfer of money.

               Two weeks later, he received a phone call from the real estate agent in Nevada with contact information for the financial company. He quickly responded with words of thanks, called the financial company, set up an appointment to sign the necessary documents and transfer the money. Three days later, the documents were signed, the money was transferred and Dmitri received the official documents identifying him as the owner of the twenty acres in Nevada.

               “Phew, okay, here we are,” he said, “now I need to find a contractor to build my castle.” After two hours of research online, he found three different contractors, contacted each one and requested a bid on building the castle. Within two weeks, he received all three bids, chose the best one, and began dreaming about his new life, his new home, and the freedom that would come from working remotely in a warm and beautiful place.

               After contacting the best contractor, he traveled to his new property, met with the contractor on site, filled out the necessary paperwork, shook hands, thanked them for their willingness to step up and take care of this build for him. After sixteen months, he received a phone call from the contractor, traveled to his property and could feel his heart swelling with joy and excitement of his new home, to finally see a glorious and beautiful stone castle on the side of the hill overlooking the slowly decaying city far below.

               Within three weeks, he sold his condominium, hired a moving company to pack, load and relocate his things into his new home. Now holding only a single suitcase and carry-on bag, he watched as the moving truck drove away, giving him the chance to take the next flight to his new home. He arrived at the nearest airport, rented a car, drove to his property, walked into an empty house that was comfortably warm. Before darkness swallowed the surrounding land, he heard the moving truck pull into his property and the driver knocked on the door. Within fifteen minutes, all of his possession began to be carried inside and scattered throughout the house.

               Dmitri spent the next four days organizing, relocating, and getting everything in order. After living in his new castle for two weeks, he noticed that a great amount of activity was taking place at the abandoned motel cabins at the edge of town. “Hmm, that’s curious,” he thought, over the next several months, each cabin was fully remodeled, the landscape was made beautiful, and a landing strip was installed. When everything was in good shape, he watched a large bus arrive and he saw twenty teenage girls depart from the bus and with his surveillance equipment, he recorded the activity, as one girl was taken to each cabin.

               Each day a plane would arrive, or a collection of large fancy cars would arrive, continuing to record the activity below, he watched as wealthy, middle-aged men entered each cabin to then emerge after about two hours. “Wow, this does not look good,” he thought, “you hear a lot about child trafficking, and I would guess that is what is happening here. I should probably call the FBI about this activity.”

               Within forty-eight hours, he watched as multiple FBI vehicles converged on the property, arresting and removing the wealthy, middle-aged men. Still recording the activity below, he watched as twenty girls were rescued from the motel cabins, loaded onto a bus, and leave the property. Two hours later, three FBI agents appeared at his front door, identified themselves and thanked him for his phone call. “Thank you making your phone call, Dmitri,” one of them said, “you have behaved as a good citizen of the United States. Your phone call rescued those twenty girls from the abuse of wealthy, middle-aged men. From what we have learned, a company by the name of Dark Stone Productions bought that property, remodeled it as a means to earn money from a number of their wealthy clientele.”

               The three FBI agents then left his home and confirmed that they would stay in contact if there was any need for further information from him. Dmitri watched them drive off his property, cross the open empty space below his home and then he ascended into his tower to look down upon the decaying town below. “Wow, that was a good thing to do on my part,” he said, “I hope those girls weren’t too traumatized by what happened to them.”

               Wondering what would happen to the newly remodeled motel cabins, he hoped that someone else would purchase the property, which would draw more visitors into the town, and hopefully bring some life to the region. Two months later, he received a phone call from the FBI and he informed them that he had surveillance cameras that recorded all of the activity in the newly remodeled motel cabins. He was informed by them that Dark Stone Productions had done the same purchase and remodel work in ten other locations around the country. They thanked him for his initial phone call and confirmed that the FBI managed to locate and shut down the other ten locations, rescuing two hundred girls from a similar situation.

               Dmitri then began researching Dark Stone Productions, learned a great deal about them, who was in charge of these decisions, and then placed a phone call to the real estate agent, informing her about the remodeling work, and his interaction with the FBI. He asked her if she would keep him informed about the remodeled motel cabins and if anyone would be purchasing them and for what purpose.

               Three months later, he received a phone call from the agent, who told him that a real estate company purchased the remodeled motel cabins to be used as a place of vacation. When the purchase was complete, Dmitri watched as many families arrived to enjoy a beautiful location to relax. He was thoroughly pleased with himself for making that initial phone call, trusting that the arrival of people on vacation would bring growth and success to the surrounding region.

               He found himself feeling so good about being able to work remotely, that he finally shared the details of what had been happening in the small town, his interaction with the FBI, and the potential for growth and success. His co-workers congratulated him on his willingness to step up and do the right thing and requested that he keep them informed as everything continued to develop over the next several months.

               As he expected, he saw new homes being built, new businesses opening, and an increase in activity around the once decaying town. He watched as a large swimming pool was dug, built, and used on a daily basis by those who vacationed at the motel’s cabins. Dmitri would spend at least an hour every day, walking around his property, enjoying the beauty of nature and spending as much money as he could at the local businesses. He found himself being approached by many of his neighbors, thanking him for his concern for their community, and his assistance in making the small town begin to thrive.