SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2023 - SATURDAY STORY

 SATURDAY STORY - NOVEMBER 25, 2023 - CONTINUED FROM LAST SATURDAY

Dave Hull was a U. S. Senator.  His wife Carol was abused and neglected - but lived a life of pretending.  She was there to smile when he needed to look like a family man.  Dave supported Carol with money - but not with love.  Dave had many lovers over the years.  His housekeeper in his Washington apartment didn’t keep his house but gave him sex whenever he wanted it.  He had to be a little more discrete these days.  He didn’t want a misstep to ruin his political career.  

His son, Michael David Hull, IV, was now entrenched in the law firm of Hull, Minx., and Schwarz.  

For Thanksgiving 2020, Dave Hull was back home.  It was an election year for him, and he had just been elected to his third term as a senator.  Carol stood beside him, smiling and acting like a supportive wife.  

On Thanksgiving morning, Dave and Carol were at First United Methodist Church helping with the Thanksgiving meal.  They weren’t much help but were at the door, smiling, shaking hands, and pretending to be “real people.”   There were some homeless people in the group, and Carol was still an advocate for low-income and homeless people, even though her husband voted against any particular aid and help.  Dave had to keep his image as an exemplary public servant.  And that image was that he opposed most spending bills that favored low-income folks to keep the taxes down for the ordinary person.  But, the lobbyist and his political “bosses” knew that Dave Hull did what he was expected to do - support the Senate Majority Leader’s and his party's view.  

*****

Mike, their son, and his “perfect” family also joined Dave and Carol for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Mike was already slated to be the next generation of the Hull family in politics.  After his education, he spent two years in Washington, DC, as an aide to his dad.  

Carol got along well with her daughter-in-law, Abby Hull.  Carol told Abby, “Smile, act the part, take the money, live a meaningful life, and always be ready to smile for a camera.”  Abby picked a different philanthrope to support - Arts in the Schools.  Abby played cello in a local symphony orchestra, and it was known that the Hull family supported the arts. The Hull family pumped about fifteen thousand into the local economy, supporting the small community orchestra, art gallery, the community choir, and related groups.  

*****

That night, Dave Hull had indigestion (or so he thought).  It was a mild heart attack.  He had a nightmare similar to Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” - where the ghost of Christmas present appeared to him.  “Dave, you are so greedy, you will die.”

On Black Friday, while others were shopping, Dave Hull felt miserable.  The indigestion still lingered and became stronger.  Carol drove Dave to the Memorial Hospital emergency room, and the diagnosis was that he had a mild heart attack.  

This time, it wasn’t political bosses telling him what to do, but doctors.  Dr. Marek Brozik said, “Dave, I don’t know your lifestyle, but I suspect you rarely exercise - other than ‘running for office,’ don’t watch your diet, and don’t rest enough.  It is time for you to get in shape - or die.”

Of course, the local news outlets carried the report that Senator Hull was hospitalized for a heart attack.  Cards and flowers arrived at the hospital - from every lobbyist who contributed to Dave Hull’s campaign or greased his pocket. Carol stood in front of the camera, saying that her husband had a mild heart attack and would be taking it easy for a while.  

That night, Dave Hull had another nightmare - the Ghost of Greed appeared to him in his dream.  “Dave, you take from the poor and line your pockets.  You have sold your soul to gain wealth and power.  You no longer have a conscience - the special interest groups own you. You’ve treated your wife like a slave, and she still stands next to you and defends you. You are a two-faced hypocrite.”

“Your decisions are not made for your constituents but for those who pull your strings.”

“I will show you who you will be if you don’t change your ways.”

***

The ghost pulled Dave out of the hospital bed.  Dave looked back, and his body was still lying in the bed, but he could see his hands move, floating over the bed.  Soon, they were in a seedy part of town - and he could see a figure on a curb - vomiting. 

“Who is that?” Dave asked the ghost.

“You,” replied the ghost.  They dropped down so they could see better.  Dave grimaced when he recognized himself.  There wasn’t much that looked like him - the hair color and eyes.  The man on the curb was emancipated, pale, and scarred. 

He could hear two other drunks talking, “He was a big-time senator, and his lies and deceit caught up with him.  In two weeks, he was expelled from the senate, his law degree was revoked, and his wife divorced him—the Senate Ethics Committee uncovered many dishonest and inappropriate financial deals.  And, within a couple of weeks, he ended up here.  It was like a house of cards - it crumbled when he was exposed as a fraud.

They were interrupted by the sound of vomiting.  There kneeling on the street corner was the million-dollar lawyer turned congressman, turned senator, turned street bum - vomiting cheap rotgut wine. 

As he lay there, one of the drunks came over and grabbed a black bag that he carried. “Here,” he said to his companion, “We can use his blanket tonight to keep us warm.”

Rifleing through the black bag, they pulled out a blanket, jeans, and a half-drunk bottle of wine.  They left him the half-bottle of wine,  “He’d want this soon.” 

The drunks walked away. 

The Ghost of Greed said, “You will die on the streets in a few days.  It will be cold tonight, and you’ll try to find a safe spot to sleep, but without a blanket, food, and only a half-bottle of wine, you won’t be drunk enough to pass out.”

Dave and the Ghost of Greed went ahead for two days.   A small chapel, “Mission of Hope,” had a cheap casket.  Reverend Aldolpo Hicks said a prayer and gave a short message.  Then, two policemen took the casket to a plot of land next to the city landfill.  And they shoved the casket into an open pit and left.

Dave asked, “What’s going on?”  

The Ghost of Greed said, “That’s your burial place.”

Dave protested, “But I bought and paid for a spot in Mount Sinai Cemetary - why aren’t I buried there?”

The Ghost of Greed laughed, “Your wife is saving that burial plot for her new husband.”

Dave - floating with the Ghost of Greed - started crying.  “Can I change this?”

The Ghost of Greed laughed - “Yes, you can - it’s not too late, but death is coming soon if you don’t change.”

Dave asked, “Will you help me change?”

The Ghost of Greed said, “I can’t help you.  You have to do it yourself.  Repent, change your heart and mind - TODAY.”

*****

Dave went back to sleep, but a third ghost appeared this time. 

The Ghost said, “I am the Ghost of Second Chances.  Today, you get a second chance.  Don’t blow it - or what you saw before will happen.  It will not be easy.  It will require you to hurt - but also heal.  I will be with you - and you’ll experience a mild heart attack when you make a bad choice.”

When he woke up, the nurse checking his vital signs remarked that his blood pressure was normal.  The cardiologist checked him out and was impressed with his recovery.

“Dave,” said the cardiologist, “I require you to stay one more night in the hospital.  I want you up and walking around the floors.  Starting Monday, you will have physical therapy three times a week, and I expect you to be there.  On the other days, I expect you to walk at least three miles in the congressional gym (or other facility).  I have a strict diet for you to follow.  Do as I say - or die.  Do you understand me?”

Dave nodded his head.  He had seen the future and knew the Ghost of Second Chances could strike him down if he wavered.

*****

Dave arrived back at his Washington, D.C. apartment on Sunday.  His son, Mike, was there.  

Dave took Mike aside and said, “Mike - I was lucky - no blessed would be the better term.  I am changing my life NOW.  Don’t be a greedy person; don’t be a crook.”

After Mike left for his flight home, Dave and Carol talked.

“Carol,” Dave started, “I’ve been mean, self-centered; I’ve cheated on you a million times. I don’t know if you can forgive me.  Give me a second chance (and a positive ‘ding’ rang in his head),

“Now, what can I do to help the people you work with - the low-income, the poor, the homeless?”

Carol’s heart also changed that day.  She, too, had been visited by the Ghost of Greed, and the Ghost of Christmas Present had been in her dreams, too.

“Honey, I loved you - even though you have been very unloveable.  We can make it work.”

*****

Congress reconvened on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  Immediately, Dave Hull worked with his staff.  He fired two of his top aides and, with Carol’s help, hired two Salvation Army staff to replace them.

One of the bills on the floor before the Christmas/New Year recess concerned guns.  Instead of opposing the bill (because of all the funding he got from the NRA), he openly supported it.  NO assault rifles would be allowed, no guns for the mentally deranged, and no guns in school.  

His NRA lobbyist called on him the next day, and Dave was polite but said, “No, I’ve changed.  My heart attack was a wake-up call for me.”

*****

Over the Christmas Break, Dave and Carol downsized their mansion in the suburbs and got an apartment in the inner city.  There were blacks, Hispanics, Indians, Muslims, and other minorities in that apartment complex.  

They reworked their budget and priorities to fund low-income initiatives.  He went public about his heart attack.  People thought he had just reread Charles Dicken’s novel, “A Christmas Carol,” but Dave knew that three ghosts had visited him and that it was real.

In the Senate, Dave Hull lost his prime committee spots.  He got put on the Department of Interior and Health and Human Services committees.  He lost his position on the budget committee and military committee.

He no longer took money from special interest groups and lobbyists.  

He ran for Senate once more - as an independent - he couldn’t live with the political views of his old party.  He pushed for equality and fairness for LGBTQ+ people by downsizing the military.  He worked with Russia and China's interests to cut military budgets and use the savings to help people.  

At the age of 97, Dave Hull died of a heart attack.  This time, it wasn’t a “ding” he heard, but the words, “Well done, Good and Faithful Servant”.

*****

END OF THIS TWO-WEEK SPECIAL THANKSGIVING STORY

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, NOVEMBER 25, 2023