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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 have a couple boys men actually dealing

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Speaker 1: with some personal issues when out of the blue, they

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Speaker 1: dang near slam their large vehicles into one another. Going

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Speaker 1: to be hell to pay if they don't calm down

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Speaker 1: and pull themselves together. These boy men are on edge, kids, wives,

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Speaker 1: ex wives, work, life for crying out loud, a volatile

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Speaker 1: mix road rage, sometimes worlds collide. I mean, these two

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Speaker 1: dudes don't even know each other, have never laid eyes

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Speaker 1: on each other. They don't know the other guy even exists.

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Speaker 1: For instance, Ray doesn't know Mike's wife's having an affair

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Speaker 1: with Mike's best friend, nor does Ray know Mike has

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Speaker 1: recently been made privy to this distressing news. Mike, on

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Speaker 1: the other hand, doesn't know Ray recently stopped taking his lithium.

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Speaker 1: Ray doesn't know Mike has a teenage daughter who's dating

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Speaker 1: an older woman with two kids. Mike doesn't know Ray

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Speaker 1: bought a hand gun last week because recently there have

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Speaker 1: been a bunch of burglaries in his neighborhood. Ray doesn't

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Speaker 1: know Mike is under a lot of stress at work.

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Speaker 1: Mike doesn't know Ray has a hair trigger temper. Ray

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Speaker 1: doesn't know Mike was up most of the night fretting

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Speaker 1: about his wife's affair, his daughter's girlfriend, and the presentation

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Speaker 1: he needs to make in front of his boss later

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Speaker 1: this morning. Mike doesn't know Ray was up all night

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Speaker 1: bouncing off the walls from a triple threat of espresso,

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Speaker 1: steroids and lithium withdrawal. And sometimes what we don't know

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Speaker 1: can kill us, or at least cause us bodily harm.

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Speaker 1: Both these gentlemen are now on their way to work.

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Speaker 1: They're out and about in their large gasoline powered vehicles.

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Speaker 1: Mike drives a dark blue Chevy Tahoe weighing close to

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Speaker 1: three tons in excess of five thousand, seven hundred pounds.

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Speaker 1: Ray drives of Ford F one fifty four x four

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Speaker 1: King Ranch pickup of similar girth. So all told, right

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Speaker 1: around six tons of steel. Rolling along those rural county

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Speaker 1: roads south of Allenwood despite the lack of sleep, Rays flying.

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Speaker 1: He's on day four of a six day pregnant zone

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Speaker 1: pack the doc gave him for a bum back. The

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Speaker 1: stuff makes him jumpier than a jarred grasshopper when he's

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Speaker 1: on his lithium and hasn't had half a dozen cups

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Speaker 1: of high octane java. Now off the lithium, he's like

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Speaker 1: a man on a megadose of meth amphetamine, speeding down

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Speaker 1: that nearly empty back County road heading for his body

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Speaker 1: shop in Bristol. He's got Lucinda Williams wailing on the

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Speaker 1: bang in Olsom stereo car wheels on a gravel road,

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Speaker 1: Lucinda's husky heartvelt voice as Ray All worked up, tears

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Speaker 1: streaming down his cheeks, thinking, if only he'd treated Ali better, nicer, kinder,

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Speaker 1: she'd still be here with him and the girls too.

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Speaker 1: But he blew it, fucked it up royally, and now

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Speaker 1: they're most of the way across the country, and his

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Speaker 1: not so mild agoraphobia makes it damn near impossible to

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Speaker 1: even imagine venturing out to see them. Mike. He rolls

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Speaker 1: along in his tahoe, doing maybe thirty miles an hour

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Speaker 1: in a fifty mile an hour zone. A few cars

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Speaker 1: beep and pass, but he barely notices, too busy thinking

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Speaker 1: about his wife in bed with his best bud Sam,

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Speaker 1: too busy trying to practice his presentation. The company has

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Speaker 1: just signed the contracts on a multi million dollar project,

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Speaker 1: and today Mike has to convince his boss that he's

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Speaker 1: the guy to run the show. He can't screw this up.

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Speaker 1: The future, his entire future depends on it. Mike looks

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Speaker 1: at himself in the rear view mirror and says, Buddy, yeah,

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Speaker 1: absolutely positively cannot screw this up. You're the guy. You

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Speaker 1: know you're the guy. Now, you just need to convince

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Speaker 1: the boss that you are the guy. Ray cranks up

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Speaker 1: Lucinda's can't let go and pushes the pedal to the metal.

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Speaker 1: That wide county road running through Horse Country runs flat

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Speaker 1: and smooth, with a broken white line for the easy pass.

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Speaker 1: Ray tears still spilling, sings along. I'm like a fish

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Speaker 1: out of water, a cat in a tree. You don't

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Speaker 1: even want to talk to me. I got a big

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Speaker 1: chain around my neck and I'm broken down like a

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Speaker 1: train wreck. The Ford's four hundred horsepower five liters v

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Speaker 1: eight hurdles rayed down the road sixty seventy eighty miles

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Speaker 1: an hour. Mike's phone rings. It's Marie, his wife. He

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Speaker 1: hates to even answer, but does anyway. Hey, I just

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Speaker 1: had a big fight with Tracy. She says she's moving out.

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Speaker 1: Oh Jesus, says she's moving in with Vera. Mike doesn't

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Speaker 1: need this, not right now. Can we talk about this later, Marie.

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Speaker 1: She's only seventeen, Mike, and you're fucking sam Marie, he

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Speaker 1: wants to say, but doesn't. Insteads he says, I know,

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Speaker 1: but well, I just need to get through this presentation.

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Speaker 1: And then, oh, screw you and your presentation, Michael, this

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Speaker 1: is our daughter I'm talking about and the line goes

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Speaker 1: dead size. He can feel his heart blasting away inside

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Speaker 1: his chest, can feel his skin crawling, sweat forming in

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Speaker 1: his pits. What's that, Jesus? A stop sign? Mike jams

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Speaker 1: on the brakes, gets the tahoe stopped, but not before

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Speaker 1: the giant SUV sits squarely in the middle of the intersection.

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Speaker 1: Luckily no traffic insight. Heart exploding, mind racing, Mike takes

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Speaker 1: a couple deep breaths, looks both ways, and turns south

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Speaker 1: toward the city. Not even half a second later, a

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Speaker 1: horn lets out a long, loud blast. Mike jumps, hits

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Speaker 1: his head on the roof of the Tahoe, glances in

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Speaker 1: his rear view mirror. The front end of a pickup

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Speaker 1: truck sits practically in his back seat, right up his butt.

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Speaker 1: So close Mike can't see the truck's front grill or

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Speaker 1: its headlights, but he sure can see the irate driver,

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Speaker 1: red faced and yelling and flashing him the middle finger

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Speaker 1: with both hands. Jesus, Mike mutters, I didn't even see that, dude.

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Speaker 1: To distract it, he gives a little wave, turns as

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Speaker 1: best he can, and mouths an apology. The guy in

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Speaker 1: the pickup is still blasting away on his horn and

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Speaker 1: obviously cursing a blue streak, even though Mike can't hear

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Speaker 1: a word. Mike speeds up quickly reaches the fifty mile

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Speaker 1: an hour speed limit. Ray stays right on the tahoes bumper,

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Speaker 1: be tough to slip a sheet of toilet paper between

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Speaker 1: Mike's rear bumper and Ray's massive front grill. Mike speeds

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Speaker 1: up sixty seventy miles an hour on that open, empty road. Ray,

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Speaker 1: a Formula one wannabe, sticks close. Mike doesn't know what

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Speaker 1: to do. Speed up, slow down, pull over, call the cops,

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Speaker 1: get out, and confront the crazy. Sob Ray leans on

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Speaker 1: the horn five seconds, ten seconds, Mike puts on his

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Speaker 1: blinker starts edging over onto the shoulder of the road.

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Speaker 1: Ray edges over also, Soon, both the tahoe and the

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Speaker 1: F one fifty idol along the shoulder of the road.

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Speaker 1: Mike watches in his side view mirror, wonders if he

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Speaker 1: should get out, go back, apologize, explain how he'd lost

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Speaker 1: focus because of all the stresses wearing him down, his job,

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Speaker 1: his cheating wife, his rebellious kid. In a perfect world

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Speaker 1: populated with sane people, this would be an excellent solution.

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Speaker 1: But because humans are by and large insane creatures entirely

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Speaker 1: out of their collective minds, Mike is frankly scared shitless

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Speaker 1: to get out of his vehicle. He's afraid this looney

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Speaker 1: tune might run him over or knock him unconscious with

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Speaker 1: a tire iron, so he sits tight. Ray, spinning like

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Speaker 1: a wearing blender, snatches his brandy new handgun out of

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Speaker 1: his glove box. He's pissed off enough to shoot this

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Speaker 1: moron right between the eyes hell. The idiot swung right

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Speaker 1: out in front of him. If it wasn't for Ray's

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Speaker 1: lightning fast reflexes, there would have been a hell of

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Speaker 1: a wreck. Most of a minute passes a Mexican standoff

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Speaker 1: until Ray, thinking about his wife and kids halfway across

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Speaker 1: the country, nuzzles the front bumper of his F one

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Speaker 1: point fifty right up against the back of the tahoe

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Speaker 1: and gently presses the accelerator. What the hell, shouts Mike.

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Speaker 1: Ray presses a little harder on his accelerator. Both vehicles

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Speaker 1: begin to slowly roll forward. The big Ford shoves the

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Speaker 1: big Chevy several hundred feet along the shoulder of the road. Mike,

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Speaker 1: incensed this crazy bastard is damaging his three month old

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Speaker 1: sixty thousand dollars suv, pushes the brake pedal to the floor,

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Speaker 1: shoves the gear lever into park, and swings open the door.

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Speaker 1: Ray swings open his door, and a second later, both

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Speaker 1: these grown men in their forties with kids and jobs

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Speaker 1: and mortgages are out of their vehicles and marching toward

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Speaker 1: one another with hate in their eyes, blood in their faces,

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Speaker 1: and streams of profanity laced insults pouring out of their mouths.

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Speaker 1: Mike shoves Ray, Ray shoves Mike. Mike takes a swing

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Speaker 1: at Ray and catches Ray flush on the jaw. Ray

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Speaker 1: draws his weapon and without pausing long enough to take

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Speaker 1: a deep breath, pulls the trigger. The bullet pierces Mike's

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Speaker 1: chest just under the left clavicle. Mike grabs his chest,

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Speaker 1: stumbles back against the tahoe, and collapses on to his knees. Ray,

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Speaker 1: in awe at what has just transpired, steps back in

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Speaker 1: the hope that maybe, just maybe there can be a

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Speaker 1: different outcome. But he steps right out into the middle

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Speaker 1: of the road. Just as a young lady in a

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Speaker 1: small toyota receives a text from her girlfriend, Vera. She

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Speaker 1: glances at her phone to read the text, and wham,

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Speaker 1: she runs Ray over and both Ray and his gun

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Speaker 1: go flying. Hey, thanks for listening to this original audio

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Speaker 1: presentation of road Rage, narrated by the author. If you

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Speaker 1: enjoy today's story, please take a few seconds to rate, review,

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Speaker 1: and subscribe to this podcast, and then go to Thomas

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Speaker 1: Williams simpson dot com for additional information about the author

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Speaker 1: and to view his extensive canon. The Ten Minute Storyteller

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Speaker 1: is produced by Andrew Pleiglici and Josh Colodney and as

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Speaker 1: part of the Elvis Duran Podcast Network in partnership with

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Speaker 1: iHeart Productions. Until next time, this is Bill Simpson, Your

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Speaker 1: ten Minute Storyteller,