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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 the Kid. The kid just wants

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Speaker 1: to shoot some hopes get in some practice before his

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Speaker 1: school team tryouts next week. But inside the old dairy

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Speaker 1: barn outback were his fire has hung a hoop, the

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Speaker 1: kid runs into a spooky stranger, and the unexpected encounter

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Speaker 1: will have consequences neither of them can possibly imagine, to

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Speaker 1: hell and back. The kid loves hoops, loves watching it,

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Speaker 1: loves playing it. The Knicks or his favorite team, even

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Speaker 1: though they stink year in and year out. He hopes

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Speaker 1: one day to play point guard for the Tar Heels,

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Speaker 1: his father's alma mater, but he knows he needs more

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Speaker 1: speed and way more height. Right now, he's just worried

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Speaker 1: about making his middle school basketball team. Tryouts are next week,

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Speaker 1: right after Thanksgiving break so, even though it's cold outside

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Speaker 1: and dark and he'd rather chat up Fiona or play

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Speaker 1: some Fortnite with his buddies, he laces up his nikes

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Speaker 1: and heads down to the barn to work on his

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Speaker 1: crossover dribble, left handed layup, and mid range jumper. A

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Speaker 1: couple years ago, when the kid's interest in hoops really

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Speaker 1: started to soar, his father converted the old ramshackle dairy

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Speaker 1: barn out back into an indoor basketbaul haven. He tore

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Speaker 1: out stalls and hay lofts, installed a new wooden floor,

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Speaker 1: and put in modern lighting on par with Madison Square Garden.

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Speaker 1: It's so dark outside the kid can hardly see his

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Speaker 1: hand in front of his face. He worries about monsters

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Speaker 1: and aliens and stuff he hasn't even thought of yet

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Speaker 1: grabbing him in the dark and dragging him into the

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Speaker 1: woods or down some rabbit hole. Mostly, though he has

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Speaker 1: conquered his fears brought his imagination under control. Every single day,

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Speaker 1: several times a day, the kid's mom and especially his

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Speaker 1: dad assure him he has absolutely nothing to worry about

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Speaker 1: and nothing to fear the world son, his dad says,

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Speaker 1: giving him a hug is your oyster fear and horror

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Speaker 1: play no part. You can have it all, son, You

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Speaker 1: can have it all, achieve whatever you desire. Your road

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Speaker 1: ahead is paved in gold. Yes, these are the kinds

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Speaker 1: of lie's fathers tell their sons. The kid's father never

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Speaker 1: made the tar heels team, tried every year he was

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Speaker 1: an undergrad, but never came close. The kid's father never

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Speaker 1: really had his own father, just a ghost father. The

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Speaker 1: kid reaches the barn, feels around in the dark until

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Speaker 1: he finds the big iron door handle. He pulls open

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Speaker 1: the tall sliding door, waits a nanosecond for something to

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Speaker 1: spring out and get him grab his face, but the

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Speaker 1: fear passes, and he steps inside onto the smooth wooden

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Speaker 1: floor and turns to his left and feels along the

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Speaker 1: wall for the light switch. Really really dark in here,

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Speaker 1: pitch black, crazy, scary black. He wonders if he'll always

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Speaker 1: have fear, if he'll always be afraid. He feels himself shudder,

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Speaker 1: a ripple down his spine. Finally, he finds the light

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Speaker 1: switch and flips it up, and instantly the black cavernous

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Speaker 1: space fills with light as bright as noon on a

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Speaker 1: sunny summer day. The kid smiles and feels light on

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Speaker 1: his feet again, but then a low, gnarly voice shouts,

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Speaker 1: what the fuck. The kid screams and leaps straight up

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Speaker 1: off the floor, his highest vertical leap. Ever, his instinct

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Speaker 1: is to bolt, run like the wind, back up to

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Speaker 1: the house to mom and dad. But kids are curious cats.

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Speaker 1: They can't help themselves. They're still in awe of the world,

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Speaker 1: even the scary shit, maybe even the scary shit the most.

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Speaker 1: So before he bolts, he turns, and he quick takes

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Speaker 1: a peek, and sure enough sees over in the far corner,

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Speaker 1: sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, a basketball

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Speaker 1: in his lap, A man, an old man at least

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Speaker 1: the kid thinks he's old, greasy gray hair, lines on

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Speaker 1: his cheeks as deep as ravines, ratty looking clothes. The kid,

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Speaker 1: his voice trembling, asks who are you? Who am I?

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Speaker 1: The old dude grumbles, well, what the fuck are you? Ah?

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Speaker 1: The kid? The kid, Robert's kid. Yes, well, kid, I'm

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Speaker 1: your grandfather. WHOA what that's right? You're old man's old man?

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Speaker 1: That's me, No way. The old man laughs, lifts the

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Speaker 1: pint of cheap bourbon off the floor and swigs a snootful.

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Speaker 1: I am who I am, Kid, I am who I am,

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Speaker 1: and not a fucking thing on God's green earth can

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Speaker 1: change that. Shit happens in life, and no amount of lies,

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Speaker 1: no amount of drugs, no amount of distortions can alter

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Speaker 1: those facts. If it happened, kid, it happened. Oh that's

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Speaker 1: a mouthful, Yeah, that it is. If you're my grandfather,

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Speaker 1: Where have you been to Hell and back? Kid? That's

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Speaker 1: where I've been, to hell and back. I've been where

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Speaker 1: no one wants to go, where no one wants to talk,

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Speaker 1: where the battle between good and evil rages and evil wins.

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Speaker 1: I think I better forget my father, my boy Robert Bobby.

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Speaker 1: You know, I was a regular Joe when he came

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Speaker 1: into the world, a goofy, fun loving kid like yourself

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Speaker 1: who loved riddles and practical jokes. But unfortunately, that poor

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Speaker 1: devil drew a particularly shitty selective service number. The bastards

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Speaker 1: drafted him into their army to fight their stinking war. Well,

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Speaker 1: just before I went, Bobby showed up. I got to

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Speaker 1: bounce him on my knee and roll around on the

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Speaker 1: floor with him for a few months before the bastards

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Speaker 1: flew me to Nam and put an m sixteen in

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Speaker 1: my hands. You fought in Vietnam, YEP, where I massacred

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Speaker 1: women and children, lined him up and mowed them down

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Speaker 1: in the morning, just after dawn, December second, forty six

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Speaker 1: fucking years later, Kid, I still see their tortured faces

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Speaker 1: and hear their terrible screams. Murdered them all because one

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Speaker 1: of them, Hell because one of them might have been

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Speaker 1: a VC informant. Never clear, never really clear, never confirmed,

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Speaker 1: but orders or orders, Kid, I don't think you should

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Speaker 1: be telling me this stuff. I came home, kid, and

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Speaker 1: I did my best for my wife and son, for

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Speaker 1: the women and the children. But my best wasn't anywhere

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Speaker 1: near good enough. I'd been, I'd been rearranged, brain all twisted, chattered.

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Speaker 1: My old man told me to buck up, told me

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Speaker 1: to be a man. He's an old World War two vet.

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Speaker 1: He knew, he knew, told me to buck up. And

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Speaker 1: the hell I try? Hell, yes, I did. I tried,

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Speaker 1: couldn't do it, fell to pieces, couldn't get over what

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Speaker 1: I'd done. I turned to drugs and booze. Kid, drugs

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Speaker 1: and booze. Slit wrists and more than one attempted hanging

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Speaker 1: from the rafters. I gotta tell you, this is all

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Speaker 1: new to me news, right, kid? News? The best news

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Speaker 1: is no news. No no, no, no, no, not news new.

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Speaker 1: The stuff you're telling me, it's all new. I didn't know.

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Speaker 1: The kid trails off. You didn't know your grandfather was

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Speaker 1: a homeless bum living on the streets. You didn't know

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Speaker 1: that in and out of VA hospitals and looney bins

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Speaker 1: from coast to coast. So you really are my grandfather

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Speaker 1: in the flesh? Kid, my dad's dad. What is this?

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Speaker 1: Any questions? The kid sees something in the old man's face,

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Speaker 1: something familiar. Maybe maybe it's the eyes. He hesitates for

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Speaker 1: several seconds, then slowly crosses to the middle of the

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Speaker 1: smooth wooden floor. Well, now that you've come, he asks,

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Speaker 1: Now that you've come, are you going to stay? I

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Speaker 1: just came to die, Kid, just came to die. You're

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Speaker 1: not going to die. You're not going to die now,

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Speaker 1: Like hell, I'm not. The kid steps a little closer.

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Speaker 1: He's scared, feels all that old fear and dread, but

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Speaker 1: he also feels something else. He's not sure what it is.

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Speaker 1: Sadness or maybe kindliness, maybe love, but definitely something besides fear.

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Speaker 1: Any remaining fear lifts like mourning fog as the kid

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Speaker 1: steps right up to the old man and kneels in

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Speaker 1: front of him. He reaches out and hugs the old

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Speaker 1: man the same way his dag hugs him. Instantly, a

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Speaker 1: cascade of tears wells up in the grisly old buck's eyes.

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Speaker 1: The tears run down his tortured face, through the ravines

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Speaker 1: that dominate his cheeks, and onto his chin, where he

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Speaker 1: wipes them dry with a ratty shirt sleeve. If you're

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Speaker 1: going to die, grandfather, says the boy who tonight has

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Speaker 1: journeyed for the first time to the promised Land. You're

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Speaker 1: not going You're not going to die alone. The damaged

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Speaker 1: old cuss weeps like Madonna at the Crucifixion. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: listening to this original audio presentation of To Hell and Back,

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Speaker 1: narrated by the author. If you enjoyed to 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 Pleglici and Josh Colotney and as part of the

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

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