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                         Underground eXperts United

                                 Presents...

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         [  Godfather Dad  ]              [  By Russel Hallberg Jr  ]


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Godfather Dad
Russell Hallberg

Ralph Smitherson Jr didn't mind that he had been wrong. He minded what he
now knew to be true. His father had originated the contract! Jane had gone
to his parents, that night she stormed out of the house. Sheila had been
only a link in the organization, not the mentor.
   His father had been considered above reproach. Nearing retirement age,
his father was Logistics Coordinator for the Templeton Factories. His father
managed the shipping of parts and supplies between six plants. He controlled
a fleet of sixteen tractor-trailers. He influenced the use of dozens more
trucks from suppliers.
   The plant had faced near bankruptcy eight years earlier. Templeton
Industries had been faced with a barrage of fines, from different agencies.
There were labor safety fines for not having "certified" fork lift
operators. There was an obscure forklift operators' certification program
that had been mandated at the discretion of the inspectors.
   The environmental regulations were nearly the Coup de Gras. Forty-million
to stop offensive odors from reaching Elizabeth! A US Geological Survey
study, vintage Earth Day 1970, had shown that geographic conditions made
Elizabeth an unsuitable place to build a city! The air quality was the worst
in the nation on some days. Yet Templeton was held responsible for
offensive, but nontoxic odors.
   Then, as if by magic, Templeton's finances stabilized. After some
"downsizing", the company began to show a profit again. Ralph Smitherson Sr
had suffered a demotion, yet his salary remained untouched. He was even able
to attend night school. His job became easier, his salary secure, yet
Templeton had suffered a 40% reduction in its workforce.
   Ralph Jr understood. He understood how his father, who had liberated Nazi
death camps, could become just as gruesome a murderer as  the Nazi guards.
How much blood must be on his father's hands?  Manipulating highway traffic
to stage fatal accidents! His father had become so addicted to the power of
killing, that he sold his own son's life!
   His father had controlled the situation from the beginning. Ralph Jr had
asked his father's help to escape from Jane's attempts to coerce him to
cause his own fatal accident. That allowed his father to be certain that
Ralph Jr had no friends to turn to at that time. The fatal accident
insurance fraud contract was secure. There would be no one to cry "foul"
after Ralph Jr's death.
   But Ralph Sr had underestimated his son. His son had found a new woman,
who loved him deeply. She introduced him to whole new set of friends. They
were rural manufacturing workers, who resented the ostentatious "New Age"
suburbanites. Ralph Jr had pieced together the evidence, to finally
understand his father's role. And Ralph had written fiction.

Fiction had broken through the wall created by corrupt law enforcement. His
accusations about Jane had been met with a month in a psychiatric facility.
But, there was no doubt in the minds of the readers of his fiction. They
knew that fatal accident auto insurance fraud was a real crime. They knew
that all of Ralph's accusations were plausible. They had little doubt that
the crime syndicate could be successful. It could be especially successful
by using people who were known as moral leaders. These people could commit
crimes of mutilation and murder of their own children, and then attend
church with the surviving family members.
   This was not paranoid delusion, but the ancient tradition of merging
corrupt government and organized crime. It had happened in many societies
before. This was also a product of electronic communications, and a cowering
public.
   And Ralph Sr had forgotten the Sr at the end of his name. So had Ralph
Jr. Ralph Jr omitted the Jr when he authored his fiction.
   Ralph's brother's email had been the final clue. His brother had
chastised him for writing such libelous fiction. His estranged wife might
sue him! His brother had also requested that Ralph display the Jr in his pen
name. His brother didn't seem to care about Ralph Jr being murdered in an
automobile accident, only embarrassing the family.
   Then, all of the clues fell into place!  The secret he had not dared to
tell himself became painfully obvious. His father had somehow been
threatened because of the published fiction! The crime was real! The loose
knit fatal accident fraud syndicates had become a threat to Ralph Sr!

Some of the relatives were offended, and some smiled. Ralph Jr danced away
from the graveside, at the end of his father's funeral. It had been a closed
casket ceremony. It was such a shame that such an honorable man should be
killed in a highway accident.


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