1 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to the ten minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson, 2 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: your host, narrator and author. We hear at the ten 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or 4 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:29,480 Speaker 1: pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human 6 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: condition as ten minutes will permit. Many novels on steroids. 7 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: This week we meet Stu. Stu is up in his 8 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: hilltop mansion, cradling his assault rifle. He's waiting for the barbarians. 9 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: And while Stu waits, he remembers grows nostalgic longs to 10 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: revisit the glory days of his youth, when fresh out 11 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,960 Speaker 1: of college he lived free as a bird for a 12 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 1: couple of years out there on the open road. Now 13 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: Stu hears them coming up through the woods. He sees 14 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 1: them crossing the manicured lawn, over the wall, and right 15 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: up onto the patio. At least he thinks he sees them. 16 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: Stu he sits in his hilltop mansion, AK forty seven 17 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:36,839 Speaker 1: assault rifle across his lap. The wind rattles the large 18 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: pane of glass in the picture window overlooking the valley, 19 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: He jumps up, swings the barrel of the weapon toward 20 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: the window, and prepares to fire. Nothing there, no one. Still, 21 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: he knows he's under assault by family members who want 22 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: his dough, who want to bleed him dry, by employees 23 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: who want raises and more vacations and shorter workdays and 24 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: way more benefits. By competitors who want to destroy him, 25 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: who want to see him fail go belly up. And 26 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: most of all, by the riff raff who refuse to work, 27 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: who live off the dole, The blacks and the Hispanics 28 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: and the immigrants and the dirty whites who think America 29 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: is a pot they can piss in. They hate him 30 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: because he's rich and powerful and successful, with yachts and 31 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: planes and homes in seven countries, because he has what 32 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: they so desperately want. The trophy wife, for instance. Look 33 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:47,919 Speaker 1: at her coming down the long winding stairway, twenty three 34 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: years his junior, a former fashion model, stick thin, perfect 35 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: set of fake boobs and ass so tight you could 36 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: bounce a ball off it and send it to the 37 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: milky Way. Sure, okay, he needs ed meds to get 38 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: it up to do her and she daydreams about the 39 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: pool boy at their beachfront Bungalow and Maui while he 40 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: grinds away at her. But still she's on his arm 41 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 1: when they attend the gallas and the races and the wait, 42 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: what was that below the sweep of manicured lawn? What 43 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: was that along the tree line? Yeah, he definitely saw something, 44 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: someone moving. They're coming coming to get him. Morning, Stewart 45 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: coos his bride on her way to the kitchen and 46 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: a sugar free latte Royale, prepared to perfection by Consuela, 47 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: their Honduran maid who has no papers. He grunts. He 48 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,119 Speaker 1: knows she hates him, and he knows why because he's 49 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: so damn con descending, because they both know exactly why 50 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: she's here in his mansion. She wants to live the 51 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: life of Riley, and he wants the hot young thing 52 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: on his arm that he can afford. It has nothing 53 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: to do with love. He married for love the first time. 54 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: Oh Christ. He hates when this happens. Hates it when 55 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: he starts thinking about it, which he does every damn day, 56 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: twice a day, three times a day, and always at 57 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: night when he can't sleep, which is every night unless 58 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,799 Speaker 1: he chugs a vodka with a fistful of those pills 59 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: the doc gave him. They met senior year of high school, 60 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,679 Speaker 1: right after he moved to town at the end of summer. 61 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: It was love at first sight, he the quarterback and 62 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: she the sprightly cheerleader. They went to community college together 63 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:52,040 Speaker 1: and then to State, and after graduation they loaded up 64 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: his old plymouth with camping gear and set off on 65 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: the adventure of a lifetime up the East coast and 66 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: into Canada, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Northern Lights 67 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: at that wild Cape Wolf campground on the Gulf of 68 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: Saint Lawrence, smoking grass and making love under the stars, 69 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: with absolutely nowhere to be and absolutely no one telling 70 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: them what to do. Across Canada, Free as birds, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, 71 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: the Great Plains of flat windy Saskatchewan, running out of 72 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: dough and landing in Missoula, where she waited tables and 73 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: he cut grass for the maintenance department at the University 74 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: of Montana. They camped in the woods on the outskirts 75 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 1: of town, and when the weather turned cold, they counted 76 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: their cash and made for warmer climbs, easy as can be, 77 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: Free as birds, for almost two years, they traveled around 78 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: the States and Canada and Mexico, taking this road and 79 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: that road, working this job and that job. Motel made roofer, receptionist, bartender, 80 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: dance instructor, farm hand, flower arranger, laborer happy and carefree. 81 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: The lover's made friends everywhere they landed. They broke bread 82 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,680 Speaker 1: and drank wine and smoked grass with Americans and Canadians 83 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: and Mexicans of all ILKs, in big cities and in 84 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: small villages. They had few possessions and even less attitudes, 85 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:37,119 Speaker 1: but eventually so they believed the time came to head home, 86 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: find jobs, get married, settle down, push their frivolous gypsy 87 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: ways into the past. One hundred goddamn years ago, he mutters, 88 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: scanning his hilltop acreage with his Steiner M eight thirty 89 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: binoculars that cause more than a good used car. Actually 90 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: to forty one years ago. And in that time, you 91 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:08,840 Speaker 1: turned that little Buick dealership where you started as a 92 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:14,239 Speaker 1: salesman into a mega auto mall, selling eighteen international brands 93 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: including Buick, GM, BMW, Audi, Cadillac, VW, Portia, and Alpha Romeo. 94 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: You lied, cheated, begged, borrowed, and stole to make it happen, 95 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: made mega millions and millions of enemies along the way, 96 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: including the love of your life, who you belittled for 97 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:39,000 Speaker 1: getting fat after delivering you six children, and who you 98 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: ultimately dumped for the skinny broad sasheing across the front 99 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: foyer with her steaming latte. All six kids despise you 100 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: because you never had any time for them, caught up 101 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: as you were in making money, in squeezing every last 102 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: dollar out of every last customer who walked through the door. 103 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: You tried to buy the kiddies off with gifts and 104 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: trips to exotic locales, but it didn't work because what 105 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: they wanted you couldn't give. Your employees they hate your guts, 106 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: even if they pretend otherwise. You're stingy and demanding, and 107 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: you make them work Saturdays when the kids they love 108 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: have dance recitals and field hockey games and birthdays to celebrate. 109 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 1: For reasons unknown and entirely unexplored, stew the young man 110 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: with the open mind and the free spirit, who loved 111 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: everyone and didn't give a damn about race, creed, color, 112 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 1: or what kind of car a man drove, has turned 113 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:51,079 Speaker 1: into a narrow minded, bigoted sextus Looney Tune with an 114 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:56,680 Speaker 1: ak forty seven across his lap. You vote your wallet, stew, 115 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: your fear and your anger. You believe the crazies who 116 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: insist white guys, especially old white guys, or getting a 117 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:09,479 Speaker 1: raw deal. That's a country is turning into a socialist 118 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:14,079 Speaker 1: hellhole that will soon be controlled by women and immigrants. 119 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: You spent your youth driving around this beautiful country, smiling 120 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:24,200 Speaker 1: and getting high and making love to the woman you loved, 121 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: befriending one and all, rich and poor, black and white, 122 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: male and female, fat and thin, tall and short, drunk 123 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: or sober, capitalist or commie. It didn't matter. You didn't care. 124 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: And now you hole up in your mansion, get limoed 125 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: to private airports, fly on your private plane to other 126 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: private airports, and get limoed to other mansions where you 127 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: sit and stew. You're a prisoner of your own damn crime. Stew. 128 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: You've lost your mind and more importantly, you've lost your freedom. 129 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,679 Speaker 1: Holy shit, Stew, Holy shit. Here they come the heathens, 130 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: out of the woods and across the lawn, around the 131 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: swimming pool, over the brick wall, and up onto the patio, 132 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: swarming like locusts, armed and dangerous. A patio chair explodes 133 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 1: through the picture window. Here they comeste, Here they come. Hey. 134 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this original audio presentation of STU narrated, 135 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: of course by the author. If you enjoy today's story, 136 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:43,599 Speaker 1: please take a few seconds to rate, review, and subscribe 137 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: to this podcast, and then go to Thomas William Simpson 138 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: dot com for additional information about the author and to 139 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: view his extensive cannon. The Ten Minute Storyteller is produced 140 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:03,400 Speaker 1: by Andrew Placy and Josh Colodney and as part of 141 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: the Elvis Duran Podcast Network in partnership with iHeart Productions. 142 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:14,960 Speaker 1: Until next time, this is Bill Simpson, your ten Minute Storyteller,