Utopian Day (31 page)

Dan slowly pushed himself up from his chair and
backed up against the wall, looking from side to side as he did so.
He startled himself as his back touched the wall and then exhaled
in relief when he realized what he had done. When a knock came at
the door, he snapped to attention once more.

Slowly crossing the room, he drew back the bolt on
the door. He reached down and grasped the door handle. As he
briefly closed his eyes, he inhaled and exhaled slowly to brace
himself for what he was about to encounter. Reluctantly, but with
finality, he opened his eyes and turned the door knob.

Before he could open the door of his own accord, the
wind blew it open, hurling him back onto the floor. As he turned
back towards the door, the lightning flashed in the distance,
illuminating a hulking figure as it crossed the threshold and took
a step towards where he lay. He brought an arm up defensively as he
let out a startled cry, but the figure advanced no further.
Instead, a large hand reached down and took hold of his own,
effortlessly pulling him to his feet.

Dan stood and stared at the figure before him,
unsure of what was going to happen next. It was the Keeper, just as
he had suspected. Their first encounter had been a violent one that
Dan wasn’t anxious to repeat. He stared at the Keeper’s face
unblinkingly and waited.

The Keeper held Dan’s hand and stared back at him.
At six foot seven, with shoulders wide enough to fill the largest
of doorways, the Keeper towered over Dan. He was bald on the top of
his head, with a white, closely cropped beard covering his face.
His visage was stern-looking and his eyes were crystal blue. As the
Keeper held his gaze, Dan suddenly felt as if this being could peer
into his very soul. He felt naked, terrified, and mesmerized all at
the same time, unable to look away.

After several seconds, Dan found the courage to
speak.

“
Why are you here?”

“
Another Seer has been chosen,”
came the reply. The Keeper’s voice was just as he had remembered
it. Commanding, firm, with a strange and other-worldly accent that
he had never heard before anywhere else.

The Keeper turned and shut the door, locking the
bolt in place. He turned back around and gently guided Dan back to
the chair he had been sitting in previously and motioned for him to
sit down.

“
He will come to you seeking
answers. Tell him what you know.”

“
When… when will he
come?”

“
Soon.”

“
What is his mission?” Dan
asked.

“
That is not your
concern.”

“
How will I know him?”

“
He will tell you that he has seen
me.”

As he thought back over the moment days later, Dan
wasn’t quite certain what happened next. The only thing he knew for
sure was that the Keeper was suddenly gone and the storm had
returned in all of its fury. In the days following the storm, he
wondered who the new Seer was and what he had been chosen to
do.

The pictures spread out before him on the table were
proof enough. Susan was cheating on him. A younger man, some would
say handsome, was holding his wife the same way he’d used to hold
her not so long ago. He should have seen this coming. But a drug
dealer? Really, she should have been more discreet. He glanced up
at the detective sitting across from him, wondering what was going
through his mind.

“
So, how much is she spending on
the drugs every week?” he said, trying to direct the conversation
away from the embarrassing photos.

“
About a grand from what I can
tell,” the detective replied.

“
What is it?”

“
The drug?”

“
Yeah, the drug.”

“
Cocaine.”

They had used cocaine recreationally at parties in
the past, but they had never been regular users. Now, apparently,
cocaine had become Susan’s go-to entertainment and emotional pain
killer.

“
You know,” he said rhetorically,
“she says my job is my second wife. I guess I should have seen this
coming.”

The detective remained silent.

When he’d hired a private investigator to find out
just how bad her drug habit really was, he hadn’t expected to find
that another man was sleeping with his wife. His original plan was
for a sort of intervention. He would confront her with the
evidence, and give her an ultimatum to clean up. But that was
before. Now this other man had to be dealt with first.

“
How much do I owe
you?”

“
Twenty-five hundred.”

He paid the private investigator for his services
and waited for him to leave, and then he took out his cell phone
and speed-dialed the man who would help him handle this little
situation.

Samuel J. Pendleton had not risen to his present
height of power by sheer business acumen. One of his early risks
had been to tap in to the lucrative world of money laundering. In
the process of building up his list of clientele for these services
he had become acquainted with numerous influential members of the
criminal community. None of these was more influential than Martin
“the Hammer” Scalini. He waited as the phone rang for the third
time. The man who answered the call spoke in a crisp, high-pitched
voice and reminded Samuel of the florist he frequently spoke to
when he wanted to send flowers to his mistress.

“
Mr. Scalini’s office, how can I
help you?”

“
Bobby, this is Samuel Pendleton.
I need to speak to Martin.”

“
One moment please.”

Samuel waited on hold for about thirty seconds
before hearing Martin’s deep voice come on the line.

“
Sammy! How’s the world of high
finance treating you these days? No problems with any of my
interests, I hope.”

“
No, everything is fine, Martin.
This is actually a personal call. I have a delicate situation that
needs handling and I was wondering if you might recommend someone
who could help me out….”

After Samuel hung up the phone a few minutes later,
he smiled and sat back in his chair. It was nice to have such
influential and discreet business associates. He contemplated this
fact with satisfaction for a few moments before leaning forward and
beginning to gather the pertinent information. The photographs
showing Susan and her lover must, unfortunately, be included. It
would be less embarrassing if there were some pictures with the man
by himself. It wounded his pride a little to let someone else see
them like that. He selected the documents listing the home address
where he and Susan lived, the home address of her lover, and the
details concerning the times of their meetings. Adding these to the
photographs, he slid the items into a manila envelope.

He stood up and moved his chair out of the way as he
turned to face a picture on the wall behind his desk. Pulling on
one side of the picture frame revealed a safe mounted in the wall,
as the picture swung open like a door. He typed in the combination
on the illuminated keypad and turned the lever to open the safe’s
door.

In his line of work it was prudent to keep a large
amount of cash on hand in order to take care of the frequently
fluid cash flow needs of his more unconventional clients. Having
this cash in his office meant he could be more responsive to those
needs, and therefore, charge a premium for prompt service. He
hadn’t counted on being the next one to need the cash so readily
available, but then again, luck favored the prepared. He counted
out fifty thousand dollars and added it to the contents of the
envelope, returning the remaining funds to the safe.

As he waited for Martin’s courier to come by and
pick up the envelope, he went about his day’s work. Between the
conference calls and emails, he frequently wondered what his wife’s
lover was doing at the moment. Martin had said not to worry, that
the situation would be taken care of, and the less he knew, the
better. Samuel did know better than to press the point, and
contented himself with the thought that he needn’t worry about the
interloper again.

***** END OF PREVIEW
*****

Author’s Note

Utopian Day
is filled with interesting
characters, most of whom are deeply flawed by way of being
thoroughly human. One of the main themes I attempted to weave
throughout the story was the theme of redemption and positive
change in the lives of people whose past and present is marred with
moral and personal failure, greed, and tragedy. There are a number
of questions that are touched on throughout the story that are
related to these themes. How does positive change happen? What is
the process a person goes through to decide that they want to
change? What does that process look like? How can a person who
starts out life with a series of moral failures and bad
circumstances actually turn their lives around?

One set of characters in this story decide they want
to turn their lives around and pursue that process of recovery and
positive change through a unique prison program that intertwines
psychology, religion, and a twelve step program. Another set of
characters evolve over time from criminals who appear to enjoy
their lives of crime and the fortune it brings them to a place
where they have developed a different set of values that is no
longer compatible with the old criminal lifestyle. The
transformation for both groups of people is gradual and incomplete
when our story ends, but the change is undeniable and the process
is ongoing.

We live in an imperfect world where there is good
mixed with bad. We see people commit crimes and atrocities on the
one hand, while others do good deeds – sometimes there is a
progression from one to the other for the same person over the
course of time. My hope and desire is that you found this book
entertaining on the one hand, and encouraging on the other.
Wherever you are in life, know that positive change is possible.
You can be different, and you can stop the unproductive habits of
your past or present and begin the process of positive change. I
hope this book has given you some ideas about how you might begin
to do that if you so desire, or perhaps encouraged you to continue
on the journey of change that you are already on.

I encourage you not to allow yourself to be defined
by your mistakes. Instead, I challenge you to allow yourself to be
defined by Whose you are. We are all God’s beloved children and are
intrinsically valuable by virtue of that fact. When we live life in
that reality and combined with God’s assistance, positive change is
always possible.

Thanks for reading,

C.L. Wells

Thank You

If you enjoyed this book, I would appreciate a short
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others who would enjoy reading this book, please pass the word
along. Your participation is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

To join my email list and be informed about new
books as they become available, or simply to ask a question or make
a comment, you can email me at
[email protected]
.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to my wife for her support and encouragement
during the writing of this book. Thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous for
the twelve-step program that organization initiated that is
referred to in the book, along with references to some of the
principles taught by that organization. Thanks to Reinhold Niebuhr,
the author of the Serenity Prayer, portions of which are used at
various points in the book. Thanks to Jennifer Collins, my editor,
whose work and comments helped to make this a better book. Thanks
to Monique Nelson, who designed the cover of the book. Both
Jennifer and Monique can be reached at Elance.com.

About the
Author

Christopher Wells has a degree in History from West
Georgia State University and a Master’s Degree in Computer
Information Security from Capella University. He lives in South
Carolina with his beautiful wife and their wonderful children. His
hobbies include kayaking, paddle boarding, hiking, and
bicycling.

To find out more about the author and see a complete
list of books by the author, please visit
www.ficitionwithamission.com
.