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Speaker 1: Welcome to the ten Minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson,

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Speaker 1: your host, narrator and author. We hear at the ten

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Speaker 1: Minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or

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Speaker 1: rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to

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Speaker 1: pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human

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Speaker 1: condition as ten minutes will permit. Mini novels on steroids.

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Speaker 1: This week we meet PFC Andy Walker when the IED

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Speaker 1: exploded and are ripped through the HUMVIY. PFC Walker, on

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Speaker 1: his very first patrol, survived, but with his brain scrambled,

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Speaker 1: so now he walks, walks and walks seven days a week.

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Speaker 1: Pfc Walker, another victim of the war, any war, every war.

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Speaker 1: The man who walks the ambulance two EMT's aboard arrives

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Speaker 1: to find the victim of the hit and run lying

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Speaker 1: in the grass along the side of the road. The

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Speaker 1: victim bleeds from the nose and mouth. But they find

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Speaker 1: a pulse, a very faint pulse now just before the

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Speaker 1: IED that's improvised explosive device blue the humviy sky High

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Speaker 1: on the road from Covel to Shirako, Private First Class

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Speaker 1: Andrew Walker was telling his patrolmates about his great great grandfather.

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Speaker 1: PFC Walker had only been in country for a few days.

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Speaker 1: He was still gun ho and starry eyed. He still

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Speaker 1: believed in the mission. My great great grandfather, Angus Walker,

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Speaker 1: PFC Walker explained, he joined the one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers after honest Abe Lincoln said he'd free

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Speaker 1: the slaves. Angus was all for freeing the slaves. He

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Speaker 1: paraded with his regiment right out in front of the

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Speaker 1: White House. Even saw Lincoln a couple times, once standing

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Speaker 1: on a balcony surveying the army and another time getting

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Speaker 1: into a carriage with his son. Walker shouted the second

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Speaker 1: Lieutenant over the roar of the humviies powerful engine, What

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Speaker 1: the fuck are you talking about? This is your first

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Speaker 1: fucking mission, Walker, on your first fucking mission. You just

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Speaker 1: shut the fuck up. On your first mission. You have

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Speaker 1: got less than nothing to say, Bucky, PFC Walker laughed.

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Speaker 1: He hadn't seen anything bad happen yet, he was still innocent.

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Speaker 1: Plus he didn't curse much, so hearing the second lieutenant

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Speaker 1: curse of blue Streak really got him defawing. He got

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Speaker 1: a big kick out of all those f bombs well, well,

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Speaker 1: so he continued. One day, back in early September eighteen

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Speaker 1: sixty two, some scuttle butt ran through the camp that Lee,

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Speaker 1: that's Robert E. Lee was moving on Pennsylvania, and General

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Speaker 1: McClellan was heading into Maryland to intercept the Army of

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Speaker 1: Northern Virginia. And sure enough, the very next morning, Angus Walker,

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Speaker 1: that's my great great grandfather, and the one hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty fifth double timed north and west out of DC

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Speaker 1: along the Potomac. Word was they'd likely clash with Lee's

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Speaker 1: ReBs somewhere up around Harper's Ferry. It was going to

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Speaker 1: be a long walk, a very long walk. They walked

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Speaker 1: and walked, and the explosion of that ied cut PFC

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Speaker 1: Walker's Civil War story short. The explosion cut the second

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Speaker 1: lieutenant's life short. The explosion blew the corporal's left foot off.

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Speaker 1: The explosion shattered the sergeant's legs and right pelvis. The

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Speaker 1: explosion scattered shrapnel across the other private's chest, neck, and face.

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Speaker 1: He'd survive, but never again see a goddamn thing. And

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Speaker 1: as for PFC. Walker, the explosion scrambled his brain and

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Speaker 1: so now no longer Private first class Andrew Walker walks.

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Speaker 1: He walks and walks. He is known in town as

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Speaker 1: the Man who walks. No one knows exactly why he walks,

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Speaker 1: but there is of course much speculation on the subject.

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Speaker 1: Some say he lost his license for drunk driving, Others

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Speaker 1: say he's in training for a walk around the world,

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Speaker 1: and still others claim, well, he's just a mere looney tune.

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Speaker 1: Andy lives in a small ranch house at the end

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Speaker 1: of high View Drive, a cul de sac. Every morning,

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Speaker 1: at seven o'clock on the dot, he leaves his ranch

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Speaker 1: house and walks seven point one miles to the Walker

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Speaker 1: Family toy store. He arrives promptly Monday through Saturday at

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Speaker 1: precisely eight fifty five. He makes this walk rain or shine,

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Speaker 1: summer and winter, in high heat and bitter cold, in

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Speaker 1: darkness and in light, and in the evening. At precisely

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Speaker 1: six o'clock, the Man who Walks emerges from the Walker

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Speaker 1: Family Toy store and makes the seven point one mile

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Speaker 1: track back to his ranch house at the end of

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Speaker 1: high View Drive. On Sundays, he leaves his house at

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Speaker 1: seven forty five in the morning and walks seven point

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Speaker 1: two miles to the Presbyterian Church just down and across

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Speaker 1: the street from the Walker Family Toy Store. He arrives

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Speaker 1: at church at nine forty five and makes sure all

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Speaker 1: the pews have Bibles and hymnals, new member cards, and

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Speaker 1: little pencils with sharp points. At ten o'clock he attends service.

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Speaker 1: At eleven o'clock, he attends Bible study. After Bible study,

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Speaker 1: he crosses the street and enters the Walker Family Toy Store,

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Speaker 1: which opens at noon on Sunday. He leaves at five

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Speaker 1: o'clock when the store closes, and is back on his

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Speaker 1: cul de sac by seven. It is worth noting the

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Speaker 1: local geography. This is not an urban area where lots

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Speaker 1: of people walk. It is probably best classified as suburban rural.

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Speaker 1: The ranch house on Highview stands just outside the small

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Speaker 1: village of Liberty. To reach the Family's toy store, Walker

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Speaker 1: has to pass through Liberty, take the County Road no sidewalk,

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Speaker 1: a very slender shoulder down into far Hills, and then

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Speaker 1: the State Highway sidewalks on both sides down to Sharpsburg

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Speaker 1: to the center of Southend, Maine, where the Family Toy

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Speaker 1: Store has stood for the better part of thirty years.

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Speaker 1: The store sells board games like monopoly and life, legos

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Speaker 1: and crossword puzzles, dolls and toy soldiers. Toy soldiers is

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Speaker 1: the specialty of the Man who Walks. His province where

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Speaker 1: he spends his work day is the small room off

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Speaker 1: the back room. A large makeshift table made of plywood

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Speaker 1: and sawhorses, covered with several satin tablecloths, fills the room

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Speaker 1: practically edge to edge. There is just enough room to

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Speaker 1: maneuver around the outside of the table. From nine to

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Speaker 1: six Monday through Saturday, and from noon until five on Sunday,

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Speaker 1: the Man who walks walks around and around and around

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Speaker 1: this table, setting up small plastic soldiers. He has soldiers

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Speaker 1: in blue and soldiers in gray, Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers,

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Speaker 1: Yanks and ReBs. In addition to the soldiers, he has horses, cannons,

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Speaker 1: supply wagons, tents, stretchers, boxes and boxes of ammo. Every day,

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Speaker 1: several times a day. No longer PFC Walker fights the

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Speaker 1: Battle of Antietam, fought on September seven teen, eighteen sixty two,

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Speaker 1: the battle where his great great grandfather fought and caught

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Speaker 1: a mini ball in his belly but survived. The Man

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Speaker 1: who Walks fights this battle every single day of the week,

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Speaker 1: an exact reenactment of the battle, only with small plastic

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Speaker 1: soldiers who do not bleed, suffer, or die. His mom, dad,

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Speaker 1: and older brother also work in the store. It is

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Speaker 1: a family affair. The battle in the back room is

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Speaker 1: popular with kids in the area. They frequently stop by

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Speaker 1: and watch the Man who Walks reenact the action in

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Speaker 1: Miller's Cornfield, the West Woods out at Burnside's Bridge, and

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Speaker 1: of course the savage fighting along the Sunken Road. The

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Speaker 1: Man who Walks never he never says much, but always

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Speaker 1: at the end of the battle, at the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, he reminds all present that Lincoln issued the

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Speaker 1: Emancipation Proclamation just a few days after the battle. The

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Speaker 1: explosion of that ied on the road from Cobble to

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Speaker 1: Schiraco froze PFC. Walker in time. He was marching with

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Speaker 1: his great great grandfather along the banks of the Potomac

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Speaker 1: when his world and the worlds of his patrolmates went

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Speaker 1: haywire and nothing could ever be the same again. Frozen

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Speaker 1: in time, stuck in time. Hey no harm in that

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Speaker 1: the man who Walks had been an army man, armed

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Speaker 1: and dangerous, ready to kill to fulfill the mission, but

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Speaker 1: no more harmless, now just a man who walks and

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Speaker 1: plays with plastic soldiers. Leave him, be him alone. His

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Speaker 1: mama still loves him, and his dad and his brother too.

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Speaker 1: But now well, now, I mean, just look at the

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Speaker 1: boar bastard. It's growing dark, but you can see him

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Speaker 1: in the headlights and flashing lights of the ambulance, lying there,

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Speaker 1: unmoving on the side of the road, run over by

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Speaker 1: some asshole teenager speeding along in his daddy's Audie taking

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Speaker 1: pictures of himself with his smartphone and texting them to

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Speaker 1: his girlfriend. Swerved off the road he did, ran over

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Speaker 1: the Man who walks, and after screaming and cursing, he

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Speaker 1: got the hell out of there lickety split, leaving the

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Speaker 1: Man who Walks to walk no more. Thanks for listening

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Speaker 1: to this original audio presentation of The Man Who Walks,

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Speaker 1: narrated by the author. If you enjoy today's story, please

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Speaker 1: take a few seconds to rate, review, and subscribe to

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Speaker 1: this podcast, and then go to Thomas William Simpson dot

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Speaker 1: com for additional information about the author and to view

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Speaker 1: his extensive canon. The ten Minute Storyteller is produced by

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Speaker 1: Andrew Pleiglici and Josh Colodney and as part of the

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Speaker 1: Elvis Durand Podcast Network in partnership with iHeart Productions. Until

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Speaker 1: next time, this is Bill Simpson, your ten minute storyteller,