An Unexpected Package

By Geoff Schultz

An unexpected package arrives in the mail or on your door step. And then it sometimes seems to disappear. Did it grow legs and walk away as one person guesses? For at least one person, the unexpected package contains a miracle. For several other people, the unexpected package has unpleasant results, at least according to them.

A peek inside:

The President looks around the room, . . . and says, “Okay, the next item on the agenda is to discuss how we’re going to get our troops out of the Middle East. We’ve been there for way too many years and it’s costing us a fortune as well as causing too many of our young people to be killed or maimed. Are there any suggestions?”

The Secretary of State asks, “What about our intention to provide freedom for those who are oppressed by tyrants and religious bigots?”

The Secretary of Commerce responds, “Freedom? For a bunch of peasants? Where’s your brains? Hell, their own leaders know they’re expendable and their only value is to be cannon fodder or suicide bombers while the leaders rake in the dough contributed by religious zealots and live like kings.”

. . . the Secretary of Defense speaks up, “While the proclaimed reason for being there is to ensure freedom, we’re not having much success and the morale of both the troops and the citizens continues to spiral downward because this type of conflict is not easily dealt with by a large military presence. Not only that, but when the enemy combatants are indistinguishable from the local citizens, there are bound to be unintended casualties and each one diminishes our credibility. While our continued presence there has provided a good opportunity to sharpen the training and skills of the troops, I have trouble justifying that value compared to the cost in lives.”

The Secretary of Education pipes up, “Not only that, but how do we teach our youth to respect diversity and to love peace when they’re also being told to honor our veterans and to volunteer for the military?”

. . .

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s be honest,” the Secretary of Commerce looks around the table to make sure he has their attention, “the real reason we have a military presence in the Middle East is to keep the oil flowing. And if a lot of oil doesn’t flow in order to keep the price down below the cost of alternate forms of energy, most of us will be out of our jobs because we rely on the contributions of the oil companies to the party.

“Not only that, but we need to stay in the Middle East, or start another war somewhere else so the defense contractors, another huge contributor to the party, have someplace to realistically test new products as well as to sell what they make. If we don’t buy their products, they’ll be inclined to sell them to every tin pot dictator so they can keep their factories operating.”

An unidentified person mutters just loud enough to be heard, “And to keep lining their pockets with huge profits.”

The Secretary of Commerce grins, “That’s the American way and has been throughout our history going all the way back to the very first settlers. Even our first President helped push the indigenous people off of their lands so he could have more crops planted and then he used cheap slave labor to do his work for him while he sat back and reaped the financial rewards.”

The Secretary of the Treasury speaks up, “I don’t like the idea of suggesting that we raise taxes, reduce salaries, or slash department budgets, but we’re running out of options to borrow money to keep the government operating. It was bad enough before but when there’s no return on our investment from our military presence in the Middle East, there’s no financial reason for being there in spite of the contributions of the oil and defense companies to the political parties which provide no benefit to the government’s budget.”

Suddenly, the door to the meeting room bursts open and somebody rushes in and shouts, “Stop! Stop the

• Language: English
• Publisher: Geoff Schultz
• Release date: Jan 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005127299

Geoff Schultz

It has been said that the best things in life are free and so are this writer's stories. Hope you enjoy them.

Book preview

An

Unexpected

Package

Geoff Schultz

ebook format edition - distributed by www.smashwords.com

Copyright 2022 by Geoff Schultz

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, and events in this book are products of this writer’s imagination or, in the case of referenced historical persons, are used fictitiously. Any other similarity to actual persons, names, or events is purely coincidental.

* * * * *

License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this writer.

Note to the reader:

The stories and people to whom the main characters in this story refer are The BUGG Suit (Lai-Ann and BUGG/Georg), The First Attitude, and Her Catalyst (George and Sha-Lin/Sharlene) which are available at www.smashwords.com.

An Unexpected Package

Prologue

He stands on the edge of the cliff and looks down at the small stream below. He turns his head to the right towards the stream’s source and shakes his head in dismay at how much the Nisqually glacier has receded in recent years. When he hears a distant clank clank, he turns his head towards the noise but doesn’t see anything and guesses that some inconsiderate slob threw a metal container over the cliff which had bounced a couple of times off of rocks on its way down.

He sits on a small sand dune and looks west across the beach towards the ocean. He doesn’t immediately recognize the location other than as a northern beach since the few who are wading in the water, as well as everybody else in sight, are wearing heavy sweaters or coats. He hears a soft clank clank and looks around but doesn’t see anything that might have made the noise and then notices that nobody else had apparently heard anything out of the ordinary.

He drives his car along a highway which thankfully has very little traffic and that enables him to appreciate the blooming saguaros along the side of the road. He hears a loud clank clank and immediately turns his attention to his vehicle. When no other unexpected noises are heard and his car shows no other evidence of problems, he slowly relaxes.

He stands on a barren plain which he doesn’t ever remember seeing before and wonders what he’s doing here. Suddenly, a CLANK CLANK startles him and before the echo dies away he’s already whipped his body around and stares at the . . . machine? contraption? which fills his vision. Before he can decide to be afraid or curious, the whatever-it-is appears to collapse and its component parts, if that’s what they are, move in every direction across the plain. As parts seem to rush in his direction, he gets ready to flee but almost as quickly realizes that he’ll never be able to outrun them. Then the parts swerve around him except for one which stops right in front of him.

He looks down at the thing and wakes up staring at the back side of his closed eyelids. As that realization captures his attention, Ben sighs in frustration at remembering another meaningless dream then wonders why he can’t remember the guessed at dreams which, on rare occasions, cause him to feel aroused in the morning.

Chapter 1

She waves at the young man who has just dropped off the mail and notices a package on top of the inevitable mail, magazines, and newspapers. She stands up from her chair and walks over to her co-workers desk where the incoming mail log is kept then nods her head at her boss who crosses the outer office. When she notices that the package is no longer on top of the mail, she hesitates then asks, Senator?

He turns and takes a long look at her appearance before he responds, Yes?

Did you pick up the package which was on top of the mail?

No, that’s your job.

She briefly hesitates then says, Sorry, sir, my mistake. While she’s inclined to immediately begin looking for the package around or under the table where the mail is placed, she knows better than to bend over when the Senator is near, especially since she’s wearing a short skirt which he encourages the female staff to wear. He looks at her a little longer then turns, steps into his office, and closes the door. She carefully looks all around, but can’t find the package she was sure arrived nor was she near enough to it in order to read the to or from addresses so she could possibly follow up. Eventually, she shrugs her shoulders in defeat and hopes she’s not starting to have hallucinations.

* * * * *

Dear? What was in the package?

What package?

The one that came with the mail.

I didn’t see any package.

I’m sure there was a package. I wonder what happened to it.

Maybe it grew legs and walked off.

She looks at him with wide eyes for a moment or two then asks, Where do you get such crazy ideas?

"If you think that’s crazy, you should hear some of the excuses my divisional vice-presidents spout off at our