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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 g Otterbine. When g Otterbine moves

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Speaker 1: in next door, the McCloud boys are quite certain he

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Speaker 1: is either Gestapo SS or a concentration camp. Go Their

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Speaker 1: father landed on Omaha Beach on June sixth, nineteen forty four,

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Speaker 1: and over the next year he battled the Nazis and

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Speaker 1: helped liberate the death camps. He has no love for Germans,

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Speaker 1: and he has passed his hatred on to his boys.

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Speaker 1: How's it going to work out in this tranquil New

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Speaker 1: Jersey suburb the old German. Over the winter, old Man

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Speaker 1: Carpenter died alone in the house next door. The boy's

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Speaker 1: father found him dead in his armchair after the newspaper

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Speaker 1: started to collect at the end of the driveway and

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Speaker 1: in the spring, the house was sold. On the first

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Speaker 1: day of summer vacation, the boys saw a moving van

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Speaker 1: pull into the driveway next door, and for the next

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Speaker 1: few hours they watched men haul ins and sofas and appliances,

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Speaker 1: but they didn't see any adults or any kids. That

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Speaker 1: was now about a week ago, and this morning they

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Speaker 1: spot a car pull in the driveway, a Mercedes bends sedan.

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Speaker 1: A man steps out and opens the trunk. He looks

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Speaker 1: to be kind of an old buzzard, not as old

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Speaker 1: as old man Carpenter, but definitely not a young guy

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Speaker 1: who maybe has some young kids, especially sons who might

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Speaker 1: fill out the boys football, baseball, and basketball teams. For

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Speaker 1: the next few minutes, the old cuss carries boxes from

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Speaker 1: his trunk into the house. Then he stays in the

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Speaker 1: house for half an hour or so before heading back

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Speaker 1: out the driveway in his Mercedes. The boys watch all

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Speaker 1: this from their front stoop. At the end of the

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Speaker 1: drive the sedan stops and the old guy steps out.

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Speaker 1: He messes with his mailbox, attaches something to the top

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Speaker 1: of it, and then he climbs back into his Mercedes

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Speaker 1: and drives off. The four McLoud Boys brothers ages eight

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Speaker 1: to thirteen, leave their lookout on the front porch and

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Speaker 1: walk next door to see what the new neighbor secured

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Speaker 1: to his mailbox. It's a metal name plate. G otterbine,

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Speaker 1: fucking German, announces the oldest boy, stinking krout, says, the

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Speaker 1: second oldest Nazis in New Jersey, says the third oldest.

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Speaker 1: Wait'll we tell Dad, says the youngest. All afternoon, they

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Speaker 1: speculate on what the G might stand for Gunther gustef

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Speaker 1: Geppart No, no, says the oldest. Ganatis. I'll bet it's Ganatis, Ganatis,

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Speaker 1: otterbine fucking heine. Another jerry hiding out in America. Probably

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Speaker 1: probably Gestapo or a scumbag concentration campguard. That's what I'll

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Speaker 1: bet he is. Half an hour or so before dinner,

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Speaker 1: Dad arrives home from work in his Chevrolet. Sixteen years

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Speaker 1: ago this month, Private Ernie MacLeod went ashore at Omaha

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Speaker 1: Beach with the twenty ninth Infantry, commanded by Major General

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Speaker 1: Leonard Girou. More than half the guys in his unit

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Speaker 1: got killed or wounded that day. The units suffered more

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Speaker 1: casualties as they fought their way east across Normandy Hedgerow Country.

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Speaker 1: Moore died in hand to hand combat with the crowds

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Speaker 1: during intense fighting in the streets of Saint lox Cherbourg

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Speaker 1: and the Battle of the Bulge, where Private McLeod was

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Speaker 1: bayoneted in the chest by a filthy, stinking hun He

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Speaker 1: recovered in time to help liberate Dachau and Bochenwald. The

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Speaker 1: sight of those emaciated Jews still alive in Ernie's dreams

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Speaker 1: to this day. The only good German McLeod has often

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Speaker 1: told his boys is a dead German. A few days later,

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Speaker 1: g Otterbine moves into the house. No wife, no kids,

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Speaker 1: just g Otterbine. He leaves early in the morning in

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Speaker 1: his Mercedes, arrives home late, including Saturday Sunday. He works

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Speaker 1: in his small garden, or sits on his front porch,

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Speaker 1: reading the paper and smoking a pipe. In the garden,

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Speaker 1: g Otterbine grows tomatoes and lettuce, peppers and cucumbers, and strawberries,

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Speaker 1: lovely plump red strawberries. All summer. The boys watch them

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Speaker 1: ripen mouths watering, and then one night, after it grows dark,

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Speaker 1: they sneak over and help themselves wolf down half the crop.

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Speaker 1: Before g Otterbine snaps on the outdoor light. The boys

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Speaker 1: scatter like flees on a dog. G Atterbin marches down

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Speaker 1: his driveway, along the street, and up the mcloud's concrete sidewalk.

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Speaker 1: He climbs the steps to the stoop and knocks on

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Speaker 1: the front door. The boys watch from the shadows. Their

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Speaker 1: father answers the door. He steps out onto the stoop.

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Speaker 1: The two men speak, but the boys, keeping their distance,

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Speaker 1: cannot hear what's said. After a minute or two, their

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Speaker 1: father goes back inside. G Otterbine stands on the porch.

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Speaker 1: Their father returns with two cans of Budweiser beer. The

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Speaker 1: men sit and sip their beers. The boys creep closer.

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Speaker 1: In the late thirties, they hear g Atterbin say, I

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Speaker 1: work with von Braun on the rocket program. The Nazis

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Speaker 1: are stupid, ruthless and demonic, but not so stupid that

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Speaker 1: they do not recognize the potential of a self guided missile.

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Speaker 1: We are essentially imprisoned for years nearly one hundred scientists

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Speaker 1: and engineers. Sixteen hours a day, seven days a week.

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Speaker 1: We are encouraged to work on the V two rocket.

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Speaker 1: Liquid Propellant's my specialty, the juice to make the rocket roar.

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Speaker 1: We all worked as slowly as we could, as not

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Speaker 1: a man among us wanted the Nazis to have this technology.

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Speaker 1: I was accused of not supporting the Reich for this.

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Speaker 1: For this, for this, they killed my wife and children,

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Speaker 1: shot them dead right in front of me, told me

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Speaker 1: I would be next if I did not produce well.

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Speaker 1: Thank God. Days later the Allies over ran Berlin and

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Speaker 1: I was taken into custody. After a trial and a

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Speaker 1: long stretch in prison, I was permitted to emigrate here

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Speaker 1: to America to have employment with Bell Laboratories, or where

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Speaker 1: I worked to day on the Nike Ajax, the world's

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Speaker 1: first guided surface to air missile. I love America, mister

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Speaker 1: mc cleod. I love America. I love what it stands for,

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Speaker 1: even if it is not always perfect. But please do

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Speaker 1: not be misguided. What happened in Germany could happen here.

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Speaker 1: It could happen anywhere anywhere where there are madmen, which

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Speaker 1: of course is everywhere. I want to be a good neighbor.

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Speaker 1: I do. I want to be a good neighbor. But please, please,

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Speaker 1: mister McLeod, do not steal my strawberries. I will happily

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Speaker 1: give some to the boys just for the asking. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening to this original audio presentation of the Old

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: view his extensive canon. The Ten Minute Storyteller is produced

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Speaker 1: by Andrew Pleglici and Josh Collotney and as of the

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Speaker 1: Elvis Durand Podcast Network in partnership with Iheartproductions. Until next time,

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