Help Wanted: Dumb Sheep Needs Shepherd: (Based on a True Story)

By Gabriel A. Soan

Its not for lack of tools thats deterring him to write. Hes got enough of it. More than enough, for sure. His laptop may be three years old but its still better than a typewriter, though he sometimes wish he still had one of those family heirloom, that clunky yet sturdy, made-in-Americathe land of the free but indebtedwriting machine. He loves the steady clicks of it as he types as if validating his every word, every dictum, every idea he churns out. Then it speaks in silence when hes done, yet is eagerly awaiting for the next set of ideas, which he would create in partnership with those keys.

A typewriter does not spot a typo, does not suggest synonyms, would not do cut and paste, could not even tolerate more than a couple of errors, yes, but it does not need to be plugged in to that power outlet on the wall either! A laptop, on the other hand, does not mind how many errors you make. It may even be that it actually prefers that you make those errors just to show off that it has become more intelligent than you presently are or ever will be.

In the not-so-distant future, hes afraid that this typewriter-killer would do all the thinking for him. Hes got it all mixed up whether its a good thing? But how could that be a darn good thing, thinking nothing when it is his all, his everything, all that hes ever been good at?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490819686

Gabriel A. Soan

Gabriel Soan was working his way to oblivion and insignificance when he was struck and stopped in his tracks with stage four colon cancer. He had only been dreaming of coming out with a best seller until God gave him, along with his cancer, the time, the topic, and more to make his dream come true! Come and join the most moving and enjoyable yet enriching journey to tell a story!

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Copyright © 2014 Gabriel A. Soan.

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The mention of a product or service herein is not to be construed as an endorsement from the author but is merely to state some events as they happened or to dramatize a portion of the story in order to provide a delightful reading experience.

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and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-1967-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1968-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013922625

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/21/2014

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1:   A STORY TO TELL

CHAPTER 2:   TO TELL A STORY

CHAPTER 3:   THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE

CHAPTER 4:   HELP WANTED

CHAPTER 5:   AN EMPTY HOLSTER

CHAPTER 6:   GONE TO THE DOGS

CHAPTER 7:   A SERIES OF FRUITLESS EVENTS

CHAPTER 8:   A GRAND CONSPIRACY

CHAPTER 9:   A DIFFERENT KIND OF STORY

CHAPTER 10:   A STORY UNTOLD

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures marked as (CEV) are taken from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION®.Copyright © 1996, 1998 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica.

Scripture taken from the Common English Bible.

Scripture taken from the Easy-to-Read Version. Copyright ©2006 World Bible Translation Center

Scripture taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

I am your servant,

but I have wandered away

like a lost sheep.

Psalm 119:176a

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

This book is lovingly dedicated to:

1.   My mother, Dolores Gomez Ariata Soan, who painstakingly loved and continues to love without ceasing nor complaining

2.   My elder sister Jesusa Susie Matalog who taught me how to comprehend what I am reading

3.   My granddaughter Hannah-Beatrice Soan Fernandez, who, like his grand dad, is growing up practically without a father, and

4.   My dear, dear friend Mayeth Ducusin (the U in Four-Ever friends), who died recently of breast cancer. She once loved me and had been a source of inspiration for many of my poems and love notes.

CHAPTER 1:   A STORY TO TELL

Write this down for the next generation so people not yet born will praise God

Psalm 102:18

The Message (MSG)

But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

[They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

II Timothy 3:1-2, 4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

He had been staring at it all day…

Yes, all day, yet it remained a perfectly clear and blank sheet. But it was what he neither wanted nor hoped for it to be. What he wanted, however be imperfect, creased or crossed that perfectly clear and blank sheet turns out to be, was for it to have a story.

Yes, an account, a saga to tell the whole and ever-shrinking world up around and about him.

But no… Not just any other story, but THE story…

His story. A story his own… His unique, often-times confused, convoluted and nearly never-ending tale, chapters and chapters of it, to fill not just this perfectly clear and blank sheet staring back at him but loads and loads of it! A story to tell, to move, to inspire. A narrative, not just good enough to win accolades and praises even from among those members of the Society of Literary Giants of the time, though it would not hurt to get some shot in the arm especially now that his self-worth has gone off its peaks and had moved instead toward the valleys, but much more so such that ordinary people – you know, the mere mortals, yes, the likes of you and me, the likes of those who gets axed from our jobs at times (that is true only if you had one), those of us who are in constant struggle and keep stretching whatever remains of that string so that that bread and butter may last until the next paycheck – at the very least, be moved.

Not that he had hoped that it would spark yet another revolution as maybe Chairman Mxx’s book did on a once-majestic, gentle and mild-mannered yet distant country a long, long time ago (but now has become a nation with a government straining relations with just about every neighbor and bullying everybody, cyber wise or otherwise, including its very own citizens) nor for it to cause an uprising to counter that one which had recently panned out as in President Mxxxx’s more recent case in some place somewhere at the middle of the East. He would not even dare to think of it to start another camp out in a strange hope to finally put to ruin that Wall of a Street. But it is not because they suddenly and simply stopped being greedy after that last one, daring and unexpected treat they had received from the more common people of that which is fast turning and working out as a one-way street. That one single fast lane to those top one-per center’s, mostly bankers’ pockets.

He is then reminded of one of the biggest bank’s service motto, which he particularly loves and admires the most: We find ways, it proudly proclaims. Yes, you do, he thought, but for the interest of clarity, is just better and more appropriately stated as: We find ways of stealing your money. Lots of ways, in fact, they never seem to stop scheming and conniving things up so you could part ways with that hard-earned currency without you being given the slightest idea where it actually went to and for whatever purpose it actually went off from your account. So how come it has become legal to steal, kill and destroy for someone else’s money? Watch out, you ancient beings from that abyss down there, for the most ungodly reasons, bankers are giving you a run for the money! If you don’t watch out, even you, yourselves will lose your jobs!

It has become legal alright, but still immoral, yes? But who cares about morals these days? It has become fashionable and admirable, yes cool, simply too cool, to be the best and the brightest crook?

In your best interest, declares another. Could somebody from that bank, again in the pursuit of lucidity, please explain to whom the word your from that phrase actually refers to? And if he or she could not come up across with a clarification that is satisfying enough maybe enlighten us instead just what is the real intended meaning for the part that spells best interest?

But guess what, they, of course, would not ever, ever trade the muddled for the clear. And the most abhorable thing about it is they have the gall to proclaim and reward the best schemist. And to top it all, just wait for what that Big Brother would do for them the moment they ran into trouble! Relax, lil’ fella, comrade is here! that someone who is always ready to fire even without aiming and then would gladly bail you out, no matter what the cost!

We’re just simply too big to fail, they would shout, laughing their way to the bank of bankers. And the earlier you accept that, the better for you! they would probably proudly scream and declare in unison. Too big to fail? Can you believe that there ever was such a thing? You better do for that is what Uncle Sam says. And remember that whatever he says and agrees on, goes.

How he wished that somebody had thought of coming out with a competition in recognition of and an award for the most-hated of all banks. For sure, not every banker has become as covetous. Some still could keep their lot from being just too smart, too greedy for their own good. But for this, his favorite one, he is certain that it would be a no-contest… That too-big-to-fail behemoth would surely be at the top of the rank and be awarded as the US of A’s number one most daring and amoral bank.

It used to be that banks are the to-go to institutions for covering all the risks you’re exposed to, right? But now, how come it has become just simply all too risky trying to bank on them? Makes you wonder whether these bankers are actually the thieves and famous bank robbers of the wild, Wild West now resurrected? Must be the time then to bring in the posse?

It used to be that the central