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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 Dick Dix at wits end. Bill Monroe,

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Speaker 1: Oh's patrolman Dick Benson ten Grand has owed the police

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Speaker 1: officer ten grand for nearly two years, and Dick wants

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Speaker 1: his doe, and more than wants it, Dick needs it

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Speaker 1: for his family, his wife and daughter. On several occasions

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Speaker 1: he has begged and pleaded with Monroe to fork over

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Speaker 1: the cash, all to no avail. Well, now Dick has

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Speaker 1: a plan, a crazy ass scheme to get his dough

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Speaker 1: and tonight's the night ten grand. The small town cop

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Speaker 1: drives by the offices of Monroe Construction for at least

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Speaker 1: the tenth time on his midnight to dawn shift, and

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Speaker 1: it's only one fifteen. The cop sees over the ten

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Speaker 1: grand that Bill Monroe owes him and has owed him

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Speaker 1: for nearly two years. For nearly two years, he's been

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Speaker 1: asking Monroe for the dough, and for nearly two years,

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Speaker 1: the lying bastard has been glad handing him, smiling his face,

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Speaker 1: cap teeth, insisting the doe will be in his possession

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Speaker 1: by the end of the month, end of the week,

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Speaker 1: end of the day in cash as promised. Officer Benson

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Speaker 1: rolls by the construction office, barely above an idol in

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Speaker 1: his forward Explorer police SUV with all the bells and whistles.

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Speaker 1: The patrolman will burn most of a tankful of gas

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Speaker 1: on his early morning shift, cruising the quiet streets of

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Speaker 1: the borough, doing not much else other than fretting and

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Speaker 1: seething over that ten grand dick. Benson rolls down the

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Speaker 1: window and spits on the sidewalk in front of Monroe's

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Speaker 1: snazzy brick office building. He'd like to spit right in

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Speaker 1: Monroe's face. The smug bastard really lay a nice wet

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Speaker 1: louis right in the some bitch's kisser. But of course

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Speaker 1: he's a cop and so he has to play it

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Speaker 1: be respectful. A stand up guy can't be slamming his

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Speaker 1: elbow into Monroe's eye socket or breaking the douchebag's kneecap.

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Speaker 1: Can't do it. He breaks backs up, stares at those

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Speaker 1: bronze stallions that stand guard at the front door of

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Speaker 1: the building. For months now, Dick has had his eye

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Speaker 1: on those stallions, gorgeous pieces of sculpture, perfectly rendered and

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Speaker 1: no doubt worth a truck full of cash. Ten grand, easy,

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Speaker 1: maybe ten grand apiece. Each one stands three feet high

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Speaker 1: and must be four or five feet nose to tail.

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Speaker 1: Dick wonders what the damn things must weigh. He knows

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Speaker 1: the bronze stallions are mounted on steel plates, and the

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Speaker 1: plates are bolted into the concrete stoop on either side

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Speaker 1: of the front door, half inch bolts, four in each plate.

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Speaker 1: Dick knows he's checked before becoming a cop. Dick Benson

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Speaker 1: was a marine, a United States Marine, the few, the proud,

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Speaker 1: the Marines. He served his country, did some fighting in

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Speaker 1: the Middle East, defended democracy in the American way, or

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Speaker 1: so he thinks, or so he sometimes says. Dick thinks

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Speaker 1: he's owed something, you know, for his service to his country.

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Speaker 1: He's definitely owed that ten grand goddamn it, and he

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Speaker 1: wants it and he wants it now. His kid needs braces,

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Speaker 1: his daughter teeth all over the place, and his wife, Jesus,

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Speaker 1: she keeps talking about his inadequacies and threatening divorce or

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Speaker 1: at least a trial separation. He'd like to take her

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Speaker 1: on a nice vacation, maybe down to the beach, just

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Speaker 1: the two of them get things straightened out. And of

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Speaker 1: course his truck, truck needs a new transmission. And some

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Speaker 1: wheels and nobbies would be sweet. Some big, badass wheels, chrome,

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Speaker 1: gnarly nobbies. Yeah, that's what Dick would like. All of this,

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Speaker 1: Dick contemplates as he slowly rolls through town, out past

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Speaker 1: the DPW yard, down Maine with its shops closed and dark,

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Speaker 1: up into the hills where the fat cats like Monroe live,

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Speaker 1: back down into town along River Road and then again

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Speaker 1: onto Railroad Avenue and another Monroe drive by. How many

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Speaker 1: trips did he make for that scumbag? At least five

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Speaker 1: five round trips to West Palm over a couple of years. No,

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Speaker 1: no more like seven or eight trips. Two grand pop.

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Speaker 1: That was the deal, not even a deal. That was

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Speaker 1: what Monroe offered, and Dick said, Okay, I'll do it.

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Speaker 1: He'd pull Monroe's monster car carrier loaded up with the

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Speaker 1: vine Mustangs and Maseratis nine to elevens and sl five hundreds.

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Speaker 1: Monroe owned more antique cars than Dick has teeth in

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Speaker 1: his head, some of them worth half a million bucks.

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Speaker 1: But do you think the prick could fork over the

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Speaker 1: Measley ten Grandi oes me Jesus Christ. Yeah, Okay, Dick's

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Speaker 1: heard the rumors, the scuttle butt about Monroe maybe being

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Speaker 1: on the balls of his ass, got himself over, extended,

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Speaker 1: crappy economy, messi divorce, lived two dam high on the hog.

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Speaker 1: But hey, none of that Horseshit is Dick's problem. Dick

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Speaker 1: has his own problems. He just wants what he has

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Speaker 1: coming to him. Dick just wants his ten grand He

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Speaker 1: makes pretty good money last year, over one hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty thousand with overtime plus benefits out the wazoo, plus

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Speaker 1: a very sweet pension and healthcare for life once he

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Speaker 1: gets his twenty years in just two years and four

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Speaker 1: months to go. Oh yeah. Like all cops, he counts

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Speaker 1: the days, just has to do his duty and stay clean.

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Speaker 1: No fuck ups, absolutely no fuck ups, like the union

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Speaker 1: rep always says at the end of the meetings. Don't

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Speaker 1: screw up, boys, screw up in your risk everything employment

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Speaker 1: benefits pension, So just do your job and stay clean.

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Speaker 1: Dick has the suv parked right in front of Monroe's building,

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Speaker 1: right out front. He hasn't moved in quite a while,

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Speaker 1: five minutes, maybe ten at least, sits there, seething in

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Speaker 1: a kind of dream state. Doesn't even know he's dreaming,

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Speaker 1: just sitting there, staring. The last time he saw Monroe,

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Speaker 1: just a couple weeks ago, he asked again for his money,

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Speaker 1: practically got down on his hands and knees and begged

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Speaker 1: for the goddamn money. And Monroe, slicker than the back

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Speaker 1: stoop after a hard freeze, gave him some cock and

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Speaker 1: bowl about a restructuring, a bank loan, a new partner,

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Speaker 1: and a fresh influx of cash. Fresh influx of cash,

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Speaker 1: my ass, Dick mutters as he touches the accelerator and

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Speaker 1: begins another slow pass through the burrow. He thinks about

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Speaker 1: those trips down and back in three days, fifteen hundred

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Speaker 1: miles each way, endless stress out there on I ninety five,

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Speaker 1: pulling that big, badass car carrier, destroying the transmission in

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Speaker 1: his ford f two to fifty super duty, one hundred

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Speaker 1: cups of coffee, no sleep, worrying about those damn cars.

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Speaker 1: And then the a hole doesn't pay me, doesn't pay me,

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Speaker 1: He doesn't fucking pay me. Are you kidding me? You

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Speaker 1: gotta be kidding me. I'm going to do it. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to do it, he tells himself as he winds

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Speaker 1: through the hills. God damn it, I'm going to do it.

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Speaker 1: I'm finally gonna do it. I've been thinking about it

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Speaker 1: for months, and now I'm finally going to do it.

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Speaker 1: I got the right, I got the goddamn right to

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Speaker 1: take what's mine. Only want what's mine. That's all, what

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Speaker 1: I earned, what I have coming to me. His voice

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Speaker 1: is loud and clear inside the explorer assured, confident, he

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Speaker 1: fidgets now and bites his nails and drums his fingers

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Speaker 1: on the steering wheel. Yeah, he shouts, yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: Like when he was a Marine Dicks on a mission

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Speaker 1: down along River Road and then a left back onto

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Speaker 1: Railroad Avenue three twelve am town as quiet as a

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Speaker 1: church on a Saturday night, not a soul in sight,

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Speaker 1: just Officer Benson and his bronze stallions. He parks the

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Speaker 1: suv in front of Monroe's building, and he steps out,

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Speaker 1: opens the back door, reaches down and gra grabs the

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Speaker 1: heavy duty ratchet with the half inch socket off the floor.

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Speaker 1: Every shift for the past few weeks, Officer Benson has

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Speaker 1: removed that ratchet from his truck and slipped it into

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Speaker 1: the back of the Explorer just in case. Dick, ratchet

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Speaker 1: in hand, marches up the sidewalk and climbs the steps

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Speaker 1: to the stoop where the stallions await their freedom. An

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Speaker 1: overhead light provides plenty of illumination. Dick nestles the half

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Speaker 1: inch socket on to the first bolt, and to his delight,

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Speaker 1: he finds just the slightest bit of exertion loosens the bolt,

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Speaker 1: and soon he has all four bolts off, and the

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Speaker 1: time quickly arrives to find out if he can actually

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Speaker 1: lift the damn thing, and lo and behold, he can.

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Speaker 1: He can lift it. It's no small chore, but Dick's

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Speaker 1: a big, strong dude, and in short order he has

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Speaker 1: wrestled the first bronze stallion into the back seat of

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Speaker 1: the Explorer. A couple minutes and a bit more exertion later,

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Speaker 1: and stallion number two sits beside his buddy. Exactly what

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Speaker 1: the hell I'm going to do with these two steeds,

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Speaker 1: Dick says right out loud, damn DIVINEO. But I assure

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Speaker 1: as hell I'm glad to get them away from that

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Speaker 1: no good scumbag Monroe. Dick, heart blasting against the wall

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Speaker 1: of his chest, returns to the stoop to retrieve his ratchet.

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Speaker 1: He looks around, makes sure he has not left any

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Speaker 1: incriminating evidence, and he assures himself that all is well.

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Speaker 1: He turns to go, and Dick fails to see through

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Speaker 1: the small porthole window over the front door. The tiny

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Speaker 1: red light. Hey videocam with a motion sensor turned on

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Speaker 1: no doubt when Dick first stepped out of his police

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Speaker 1: suv and approached the front door, captured the whole beautiful

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Speaker 1: event on digital memory. Don't screw up the union rep

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Speaker 1: lectured over and over. Do not screw up employment benefits,

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Speaker 1: pension reputation down, the drain up in smoke in a flash,

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Speaker 1: the snap of a finger. Thanks for listening to this

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Speaker 1: original audio presentation of ten grand narrated by the author.

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Speaker 1: If you enjoy today's story, please take a few seconds

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Speaker 1: to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast, and then

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Speaker 1: please go to Thomas William Simpson dot com for additional

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Speaker 1: information about the author and to view his extensive canon.

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Speaker 1: The Ten Minute Storyteller is produced by Andrew Pliglisi and

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Speaker 1: Josh Klani and is part of the Elvis Durand Podcast

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Speaker 1: Network in partnership with iHeart Productions. So until next time,

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Speaker 1: this is Bill Simpson, your ten Minute Storyteller,