Date: Sun, 20 May 2018 21:24:26 -0500
From: Eric Trager <trager2275@gmail.com>
Subject: It Is What It Is - Chapter 57

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Email feedback can be sent to trager2275@gmail.com. © 2015 by Eric
Trager.

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CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN


"...Wow!" the TV newsman continued, "There appears to be a large
discrepancy in the Fourth Ward between the number of votes for City
Council... We had 1,019 votes for School Board, and we've got 1,457 for
City Council. Now, as everyone knows, the votes never match up a hundred
percent. Some people vote in one race, and not in another, but this is a
difference of about 40% folks! I don't ever remember anything like that...

"OK, well, with that said, let's put the totals on the board. It looks like
Hernandez takes the Fourth Ward tonight with 894 votes. Wyman is in second
with 417, and we'll put the others on the board right now."

"What the fuck!" Sean exclaimed. "Brad, I thought you said we were fine in
the Fourth Ward!"

"Sean," Ginny cut in. "Don't blame Brad. I can tell ya exactly what went on
here, and I was expecting it. It's got nothing to do with Brad, or with
you."

"Well, will someone clue me in, please?" Sean said, testily.

"It's the oldest trick in the book, Sean," Ginny continued. "It works this
way: if you're gonna steal votes, you don't steal the other guy's
votes. You steal your own. I'm guessing that at least 300 for sure, and
probably closer to 400 votes in the Fourth are fraudulent. That's why all
those people showed up late. You can bet your ass most of them were
same-day registrations, too.  And down there, who knows if they're even all
citizens, or not? Or if they were brought up from Rockford or Beloit... Or
whatever... Wouldn't be the first time... Just relax..."

"OK, but what can we do about it?"

"Nothing," George said. "At least for now."

"George is right," Ginny said. "Besides, look at the numbers! Even cheating
by three- or four- hundred votes, Hernandez only got 61% of the votes in a
Ward he should have carried with 75% without cheating. Factor out the vote
fraud and he might have still beat you, but he didn't even get 50%. Like I
said, he should have done a LOT better than that. He fucking shot his wad
and he blew it. You're not even 500 votes behind as it is, and there's like
27 more Wards to count. I'm not worried about it; his vote will fall off
just about everywhere else to just about half nuthin'."

"How can you be so sure?" Sean asked, still not convinced.

"He hasn't lived in town that long. Maybe two years, three years at the
most. Came from Milwaukee. He's part of the Voces De La Frontera. They're
an offshoot of a Mexican Fascist/Communist organization. Really more of a
gangster type thing. That Commie crap might hold water in Milwaukee or
Chicago ghettos, but not around here. His performance in the Fourth is as
good as it's gonna get for him tonight. Even with cheating. He's done! Just
take a deep breath!"

"OK, but after the evenings over, I intend to get answers about this."

"Settle down, son," Joe said. "It'll be OK, and the rest of it we can talk
about in the morning."

"Fine..." Sean said, looking somewhat downcast.

"We've got two more Wards reporting in," the newsman said. "Results are in
from the Eighth and Seventeenth Wards."

"Just like I told them to do," Ginny chuckled.

"In the Eighth Ward down near Edison Middle School on the South Side, in
the School Board race with 1,262 votes cast, Churchill is the winner with
831 votes. In the City Council race with 1,307 votes cast, it's Wyman with
719.

In the East Side Seventeenth Ward, the old Hawthorne Park neighborhood, the
results are as follows: for School Board out of 1,661 votes cast, Churchill
continues to steamroll his opponents with 1,146 votes, and for Council with
1,692 votes cast Wyman wins the Seventeenth with 1,147 votes."

"So, with three Wards in, it's looking to shape up like Churchill in a rout
for the School Board, and Wyman leading the pack in the City Council
race..."

"Sean," Ginny started in again, "Look at the vote total from the 17th!
Folks on the East Side are turning out, and that's where you're gonna run
strongest being from the East Side yourself. The 17th is a better result
all the way around than I expected."

"I guess you're right," Sean said. "Still, I don't like cheaters..."

The election returns continued to roll in as the evening went by. There
were no more surprises.

At the end, with a total of 32,568 votes cast, Andy won his race with
20,501 votes, or 63% of the vote. In Sean's City Council election there
were 33,647 votes cast of which Sean garnered 19,178 for 57%.

Andy crushed his field. Sean could fairly boast that he did the same as the
second-place finisher ended up with just over 7,000 votes which equated to
21%.

"Boys, I'm proud of you!" Ginny said. "Andy, you completely embarrassed
your opponents, and Sean, 57% would be a landslide in a two-way race, never
mind a five-way race. You got your mandate. By a big margin. And you got it
fair and square."

"That reminds me..." Sean said, looking up. "Did you run those two
candidates who dropped out as straw men?"

"I did not. Not to say I haven't resorted to that a time, or two in the
past if I thought it was necessary, but I didn't run them as straw men."

"Then how come they dropped out? I mean, they weren't running a poll I'm
pretty sure...  We're the only ones who had a poll. The Gazette said they
cited poll numbers. How could they have known?"

"I said I didn't run them as straw men. I never said I didn't show them the
poll numbers. I know both of those people. It was a matter of a couple
phone calls. But straw men? No. I didn't even suggest that they drop
out. They did that on their own."

"Really?" Sean said, arching an eyebrow.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Ginny laughed. "Don't ever forget, my
dear, it's not how much power you actually have, it's how much power other
people THINK you have. I explained the numbers to them, and they made the
decision. Now, you need to consider if you think you owe them both a small
favor sometime. Maybe grease the skids for City approval on something they
want to do or get the Assessor to give them a small break on their property
assessment if they make an improvement, something like that, just a onesie
is all it'd need to be. That's how the game's played, and trust me, people
remember small favors. Oh, and I was right about Hernandez, too. Not only
didn't he get a seat on the Council tonight, he finished next to last."

With Ginny's words, Sean recalled how he'd spend a small amount of money
every year to give his lawn customers a perennial plant in their yard that
would look pretty every Spring and Summer. Ginny's right, he thought.

"Good advice. Anyway, that Hernandez guy played dirty pool. I still intend
to get to the bottom of that that..."

"You should. Organizations like that, and people like him fester. Oh, they
might look benign enough for a few years to begin with saying they're all
about helping underprivileged people and all that horseshit, but they're
liars. They couldn't give two shits less about the folks they say they
wanna help, and then before you know it you've got a real problem. They
don't play by the rules. They're only out for themselves. And even though I
didn't do it this time, just so you know setting up a straw man might just
be borderline in some people's opinion, but it's not against the law. It's
just politics. And it's absolutely not the same thing as vote fraud which
IS against the law. In the end, it's the people that have to be smart
enough to vote, but only those people who should be voting. Hernandez
cheated from where we both sit, but we can't prove it. Yet."

"Like I said, I'll get to the bottom of it," Sean said.

"I'd at least try to if I were you," Ginny replied. "But if you find out he
did cheat, then we need to talk about what's the right way to handle
it. Now, we're done here for the night. I want to meet with both of you
about who you'll be dealing with on the School Board, and the Council. I
know everything there is to know about all of `em. They're not bad people,
mostly. Some of them owe me from over the years, but you're you and not
me. And they'll know that. You need to know who you're going to have to cut
deals with and who you can push around like a shopping cart. And you will
need to know that stuff if you're gonna be effective. We'll meet Saturday
morning. You won't be sworn in until next week anyway, so that's fine."

"Sounds good to me!" Andy said, staying in the background as he knew Sean
needed to be assured of his victory.

"Let's all have a drink!" Ginny said. "Brad! Behind the bar, my boy! Make
the drinks and serve the beers just like Old Ginny showed ya!"

"OK," Brad deadpanned.

"Look, Sean and Andy," Ginny said, "one thing you need to know as well is
that in this campaign you got right out in the open with a lot of shit that
some people mighta thought they could use against you in the future. That's
gone now. They can't use that you're gay. They can't use that you're
married. They can't use that Sean got raped. They can't use that at your
age you have two kids. They can't use that you obviously have money. Those
things are all gone. You need to know that in politics, taking care of that
shit all at once, and stomping your opponents is like running the table in
pool and taking all of the other guy's money. It's priceless."



TWO DAYS LATER



Sean and Andy trooped to Ginny's house to have their preliminary meeting
with her. Both of them would be sworn in at the next meetings of the School
Board and the City Council.

"Guys, this shouldn't take too long," Ginny opened, pouring herself a
Glenfiddich and handing the boys both a 16-ounce PBR.

"Now, Andy, we'll start with you because it's simpler. You'll be sworn
in. Then they'll take a vote as to who the Officers of the new Board should
be. That'll be President, Vice-President and Secretary. Let the Presidency
stay where it is for this term. You'll want to be the Secretary.  That's
the person who records the votes and reports the votes. It's also the
person who schedules the business of the Board. Once that's done, then the
first meeting is usually for members to table any business they'd like to
see taken up by the Board. I'd strongly suggest that you enter the
financial audit you've got into the record, and recommend that the Board
order a new audit, and a full audit to be completed within 90 days. You
might get some resistance on that. Now, let's suppose there is
resistance. What do you do?"

"I remind the rest of the Board that we just had an election, and that I
won with more than 60% of the vote on the School District's finances being
the central plank of my platform. I remind them that the people demanded
it," Andy replied.

"Exactly," Ginny said. "That'll make a good start."

"I'd like to also suggest that we move up the timetable for selecting a new
Superintendent. The current one has demonstrated her incompetence as a CEO,
and the sooner we can get someone competent in there, the better."

"Couldn't hurt, you're right," Ginny said. "Now, Sean, yours is going to be
a little more involved."

"Shoot."

"OK, Sean, here's the deal. I've heard scuttlebutt that you're to be
offered the Presidency of the City Council..."

"Not taking it," Sean said matter-of-factly.

"OK, so you tell Old Ginny why not..."

"I've read the City Charter. The only job the President of the Council has
is to make sure the Council, not any other part of the City Government, is
run according to the rules of the City Charter, and of the State of
Wisconsin..."

"Go on."

"The Vice-President of the Council is the one that controls all the
business and agendas and presides at Council meetings. Now, I read back
through some Council history, and it looks to me like the Presidency's
always gone to the person who's been on the Council the longest. I'm not
gonna rock that boat, but I'd like to be the Vice-President of the
Council. I'd need three other votes if anyone stands against me. I'm not
sure after this election anyone would do that."

"I wouldn't plan on that," Ginny said.

"How come?"

"Bennett's gonna want it. He's one of my oldest pains-in-the-ass in this
town. More is gonna come out on him as time goes by, but it's not important
now. He's gonna want the Vice- Presidency as sure as I'm sitting
here. Don't worry, though, I'll take care of it. You'll have your other
three votes."

"Good, now there's something else I noticed, too..." Sean said.

"What's that?"

"Well, it appears that according to the City Charter, as amended in 1923
when the City went from Mayor-Council to Council-Manager government, the
City Manager is to serve at the pleasure of the Council, and that the
policy agenda of the City is to be set by the Council. From what I've been
able to gather, the current City Manager thinks it's the other way
around. I understand that he prepares an agenda for Council meetings, and
then at the meetings that's the agenda they talk about. I'm going to put a
stop to that. And not only that, why is the City Manager, who is unelected,
at Council Meetings anyway unless he's invited? I'm going to put a stop to
that, too. The Charter clearly intended that the Council form policy and
the manager carry it out. Personally, I think it's a ridiculous form of
government and that there ought to be an elected Mayor, but I can't bite
that off all at once..."

"No, not right away," Ginny agreed. "You hit every nail right on the head,
though, I'll tell ya that much, Sean. I've never liked this City
Manager. He got hired when I was one seat down on the Council in terms of
my people and didn't have a majority. So, he's there at least for a while
yet anyway..."

"Well, I want my Downtown Redevelopment Commission set up. I want the
ordinance authorizing it passed quickly. That's the first thing on my
agenda. So, I want it on the floor for debate, and I don't want extra
people there while I'm doing it. Least of all people who aren't responsible
to the voters."

"So, what's your plan then?"

"At the first meeting, I intend to be elected Vice-President of the
Council. Once that's done, I'm gonna table a motion immediately that the
Council agenda shall be prepared by the Vice- President with input from
other Council members only, and that the City Manager shall not attend
Council meetings unless invited. Like I said, I want that done quickly. I
just won a five- or seven-way election depending on how you count it with
more than half the vote and I feel I have a right and a duty to act on
that."

"That's the way you put it to the rest of the Council then, because you're
a hundred percent right. You've both done your homework."

"We had another idea, too," Andy said.

"What's that, sweetie?"

"Well, we've been asked for an interview by The Gazette after the first
meetings we attend.  We've agreed to that."

"I see..." Ginny answered. "Look, I think in that instance it's fine, but I
wouldn't grant them an interview every time they want one, and especially
not when there's something controversial going on. You might consider the
social media..."

"Neither one of us do Twitter, or Facebook," Andy said.

"I just can't get into it," Sean said. "Every fucking idiot in the world is
on there spouting off about everything that they know nothing about. And
then if you say something that's not quite right they're all over you like
stink on crap and it turns into a dumpster fire. I don't think we're gonna
do that..."

"Well, I can understand that, but how do you intend to reach out to people
to keep yourself out there, and fresh?"

"We'll figure that part out as we go," Andy said. "For now, I think it's
important just that we go into these first meetings with concrete stuff to
do, and it looks like we've got that."

"You do. Now, there's just one last thing before we're done. You both need
spokesman. Not to insulate yourselves, but someone to answer phones, maybe
email, and to listen to constituents' concerns and pass them on. I'd
suggest you both hire Brad to do that."

"We were gonna," Andy said. "He did a great job for Sean, and he doesn't
say anything that could come back later to haunt people. Hell, he hardly
says anything at all! He knows when to basically say nothing committal to
the press. We think he's just got a knack for it. Plus, he spends a lot of
time with the twins and they really love him. He just needs a little polish
is all..."

"Maybe just a little, but not too much," Ginny said. "That's his whole
charm, that rough-hewn honesty. It's been a lot of years since I've seen
someone who can tell you to fuck off and make you feel like the bad guy,"
Ginny laughed. "He's a diamond in the rough."

"Very rough," Sean laughed.

"You guys haven't fucked him, have you? Or the other way around?" Ginny
asked.

"GINNY!" Andy exclaimed.

"Fine, but I hadda ask..." Ginny said. "Just don't think that I don't know
what goes on is all..."

"We have no intention to think that," Sean laughed.

"There is one other person we want to talk to about helping us that way,"
Andy said.

"Who?" Ginny asked.

"Tory Trager. He's a friend of..."

"I know who the kid is," Ginny said. "I know Tory and Johnnie get it on
once in a while, too..."

Sean gasped.

"Sean, dearest heart, did you forget that I know everything that goes on in
this town if I want to know about it? I've told you that many times..."

"OK" Sean shrugged, palms up.

"Not to worry. I know what I know... I know all about his asshole of a
father and what he put his mother through. I tried, but I couldn't get
through to him, and he has a position that I couldn't touch. You'll wanna
watch out for that guy, Tom Trager. He's a snake. He wanted out of that
marriage even before he found out his oldest son was gay. His dad and
grandfather hated Al and his dad. I've kept my eye on that asshole for a
lotta years, and so should you. And his sons, too."

"Eric and Tory are OK," Sean said. "They're kinda pills at first, but I
think their dad leaving made them not wanna be like their dad. For now,
we'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Besides, Eric's away at school
from what I understand. I think J.R. can handle Tory..."

"No doubt," Ginny said with a wink.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Ginny looked at the monitor built into
her desk phone and saw that it was George Dickson. She pressed the button
to buzz George in.

"Hey, guys!" George said as he entered the room. "I need a few minutes, but
it's no big whoop..."

"What's up, George?" Andy asked.

"Well, it's more to do with Sean than you, but let's just get down to
it. Peg's due home any minute, and, well, you know..."

"Sure we do!" Sean laughed. "Anyway, whada we got?"

"Well, this goes back to last year, but it's got to do with John
Berrifield, Sr."

"Christ, I'd forgotten all about that..." Sean said. "What about him?"

"Well, he's out of treatment now, he's been arraigned, and he's got a Court
date in a couple of months."

"What about Mrs. Berrifield?" Andy asked.

"She's still in Mendota State. From what I've been told, she was diagnosed
as a Schizophrenic and she won't be released in the foreseeable future, if
ever. Anyway, John Berrifield is going to stand trial. He's been charged
with attempted murder."

"OK, well, Tim got shot, I didn't..." Sean said.

"That's right," George continued, "but the investigation revealed that you
are the one he was after, Sean. I expect that you will be called as a
witness as to why his son had it in for you."

"I really don't want to relive that..." Sean said with an eyeroll.

"I bet you don't. I would expect that your time on the stand would be
rather short. I wouldn't expect much in the way of cross-examination. Your
father will have to testify as well. Tim, too.  And Andy. And that Mark
Braden character."

"How do we keep this out of the press?" Sean asked. "I just won an
election, and now I'm going to be a witness in an attempted murder trial?
And because it happened here, the trial will be on Rock County?"

"I've taken care of that," George said.

"Whadya mean..."

"I suggested to the Defense Attorney that Berrifield might not receive a
fair trial in Rock County because of your stature in the community. He made
a motion for a change of venue."

"So if they moved it, where would it be?" Sean asked.

"Well, it's a balance between what's far enough away to produce a Jury
acceptable to the Defense versus what's not so far away that it's a
hardship for Attorneys and witnesses.  Ordinarily, I'd have suggested Dane
County, but I'm not gonna suggest that given what went on with the Madison
press and the football team. And we don't want a really Conservative area,
either. See, Madison's about as Liberal as anywhere outside of Berkeley,
California and a Madison Jury wouldn't be sympathetic to `some redneck
taking a shot at a faggot' but the Madison press just might play it up to
play `gotcha' with you, and their press is local to us. Now, a Conservative
Jury might not see it that way once they find out the guy's son is
dead. You just never know..."

"OK, so then where do we move the trial to?"

"Well, I'd like to do it in Milwaukee County. See, any other County is
either too close, or too Conservative. Kenosha County was out because
you're both from there. Racine is too hard to get to. Milwaukee is so big
and has so much crime that this trial will most likely get lost in the
shuffle there. They deal with murders. Attempted murder for them is like
`it must be Tuesday.'  And it's far enough away."

"My name's gonna come out anyway..." Sean said.

"Doubt it," George said. "There won't be any TV there. There isn't a news
station TV crew in every Court Room. That Court House is huge. Besides, if
necessary I can argue to the Judge that you were a minor when it happened,
and while you agree to testify in open Court with the Jury present, that
you agree to do so with your testimony and any other testimony referencing
you to be sealed. I have Wisconsin Supreme Court precedent for arguing
that."

"I guess if I'm called, I'll hafta go..." Sean said, obviously not pleased.

"Yes, you will. All of you. You should bear in mind, though, that the trial
might very well still be here in Rock County."

"That's fine. The story was all over the news at the time anyway..."

"Yes, but not with your name on it, and not with what went on in
Kenosha..."

"That...is true..." Sean said. Andy nodded in agreement.

"I'm telling you, Sean and Andy, that in this instance you should like to
defuse any publicity from this in case the trial is in Rock, or Dane
County."

"When do you think the trial will be?" Andy asked.

"I'd say sometime this Summer," George answered. "Berrifield doesn't have
any more legal protection to delay trial, he's always had a Defense
Attorney, and the DA is ready to go. All that's to be done is hold the
preliminary hearing and schedule the trial. It's open-and-shut. The trial
itself won't last longer than two, or maybe three days I shouldn't think."

"What if Braden needs a Lawyer?" Sean asked.

"I've already talked to Ed Steele. If you remember, he was Bill Kennedy's
Attorney. I know what you must think, but Ed and I are old professional
colleagues from way back. It's fine."

"Tell Steele I'll take care of Braden's bill," Sean said.

"I agree," Andy said. "What happened in Kenosha is old history. We just
don't want any screw- ups. We want Berrifield behind bars. Have Steele tell
Braden he's doing the legal work pro- bono. He doesn't need to know who's
paying his bill. At least not yet."

"Who's Berrifield's Attorney?" Sean asked.

"Shapiro from Milwaukee. Same guy that represented Braden," George replied.

"Good," Sean said, "we already know Shapiro's a loser. I remember when he
tried to get me when I was on the stand. I was like, not today, dude..."

The next Thursday evening, Andy and Sean both had their first Board and
Council meetings.  Both were sworn in and took their seats for the election
of officers. Andy asked for the Board Secretary position and was approved
by a unanimous voice vote. Sean had a harder time. His name was moved and
seconded for Council President.

Sean spoke up, "I withdraw my name from consideration for Council
President. By long tradition the Presidency has gone to the senior
councilman. I am among the most junior. I'd like my name to go forward for
the Vice-presidency."

"You'll have a contest on your hands, then," an man looking to be in his
early 50's spoke up. His name was Al Bennett just as Ginny had
predicted. Sean knew from Ginny's tutorials that he wasn't one of her
guys. He was one of Tom Trager's guys.

"That's fine," Sean said. "I'd like to remind the Council that in a
five-way race, I was just elected with 57% of the vote. Almost three-fifths
of the people in this city ratified my platform and they had the
opportunity to vote for four other people. Councilor Bennett, if I remember
right, you were re-elected to the Council two years ago in a four-way race
and you didn't finish in first place. You were number two, and you got less
than 30% of the vote. That's half what I got. I have an absolute mandate
from the voters to get my program through. You can make no such claim."

Sean heard gasps from some of the other Councilors.

"Very well... Is my name going forward for the Vice-presidency?" Sean asked
with a smile.

"I place Sean Wyman's name into nomination for the Vice-presidency of the
Council," the old Council President announced.

"I second it," said Sean's runner-up in the recent election.

"Do we have any other nominations?" the President asked.

None was forthcoming.

"As many who are in favor of Sean Wyman being elected Council
Vice-president say aye!"

Voices were heard. Sean noticed it was everyone except for Al Bennett.

"As many who are opposed say no."

Bennett said no.

"I think the ayes have it. The ayes have it," The President said. "Sean
Wyman is for this term the Vice-president of the Janesville City
Council. Let's finish up with the election of the Secretary, and then we
shall adjourn until next week's meeting."

Once finished, the President reminded the other Councilors of the time of
the next meeting, and that anyone having business to be considered should
have it submitted to the Vice- president by Tuesday in order that it be put
on the order papers.

Eyeing Sean the whole time was the City Manager. He knew the new Council
Vice-president, unlike most of his predecessors over the 18 years he'd been
City Manager, would not be a pushover. Little did he know.

Once home, Andy and Sean were fairly accosted by John. "How'd it go? How'd
it go?" John asked, arms waving.

"Well, Squirt," Sean said, "I think I did OK. I'm the VP of the Council
just like I wanted."

"And I'm Secretary which on the School Board is the same thing."

"OK, so you guys are important now... You think I'm ever gonna be
important?"

"Bambino," Andy said, "You're important to us. And you're important to
Kathleen."

"Yeah, but I meant am I ever gonna be an important person, you know, like
you guys..."

"You will," Sean said. "I think your role might be a little different, and
maybe suit you better, but you will be as important as you wanna be." Sean
said.

"I wanna, well... I wanna tell ya something else...," John said, looking
down and one foot pawing the floor.

Sean and Andy just looked at each other.

"What is it, Squirt?" Sean said.

"Well, I um... I uh...."

"You channeling Dix again?" Andy laughed.

"Fuck you!" John glared. "I got somethin' really important to tell you
guys..."

Sean nodded.

"But I didn't even tell dad yet, so you can't tell. You promise?"

"We promise," Andy said.

"I mean you gotta REALLY fuckin' promise..."

"We really fuckin' promise," Sean said with an eyeroll.

"Yeah, we do," Andy echoed.

"Well, I, um, I... OK! I fuckin' asked Kathleen to marry me!" John rattled
out, when done looking as if he might pass out.

"What'd she say?" Sean asked.

"Sh... She... Um... SHE SAID YES!"

"We won't tell dad," Sean said. "You do that on your own when you're
ready. I'm happy for you. You two are perfect for each other."

Andy grabbed John and hugged him. "Wow! I am like SOOOOOO HAPPY for you
guys! When?"

"Well, we're only Juniors, and we're not 18 yet, so we figure next year
after we graduate..."

"Where you gonna get married?" Sean asked.

"The Kennedys are members of Saint Mary's, where Dix got married. So, we're
gonna be married there."

"That reminds me, And... We gotta go talk to Father Taylor over at Saint
John Vianney soon..."

"Yeah, yeah we do..."

"So, um, Bambino," Sean said, "What does Tory Trager think?"

"It's fine. Kath and me made an agreement that we could have side affairs
if we want."

"Huh?" Andy asked.

"Yeah. We're gonna use the Dix rule."

"What the hell does Dix have to do with this?" Sean asked, slightly
confused.

"You don't know the Dix rule?"

"Huh-uh..." Andy said.

"The rule is that people who can't manage their affairs don't deserve to
have them. So, Kath and me agreed to manage our affairs."

"That's it?" Andy asked.

"Yeah. And we plan to have six kids."

"Six?!" Sean said incredulously.

"Yeah. I mean at least six..."

"Whelp," Sean said, "it's gonna be an Irish-Mexican family, so yeah, a lot
of kids..." Sean then smirked.

"Does Rose know yet?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, she does. After Kath said yes, we went to her house and I asked
Rose's blessing."

"And..." Sean said.

"She was really happy!" John beamed. "Guys, this is like the best day of my
life! Don't give me shit about being too young. You weren't any older than
we are, ya know..."

"You know he's right, Brown Eyes," Sean said. "We're happy for ya,
Squirt. And we won't tell dad..."

"Thanks," John said. "You guys are the best! You gave me a chance... I
never thought I'd have a good life to look forward to... Well, now I do!
You'll see!"

"We never doubted you, little bro," Andy said.



TWO DAYS LATER



Andy and Sean walked up to the door of the Rectory. Sean rang the
bell. After a moment, or two, Father Taylor answered.

"Good evening, guys. Won't you come in?"

Following Father Taylor to his spacious office, they all took a seat.

"I was expecting you to ask for a meeting for a little while now," Father
Taylor began. "Just so we're all up to speed here, Mrs. Miller gave me
instructions some time ago for what we need to cover when the time came. If
you'll excuse me, I'll go retrieve the materials."

Father Taylor returned with huge, ole leather-bound ledger books. Four of
them.

"I'll open these if need be," the Father continued.

"Go on..." Sean said not wanting to give away that while he had some idea
of what the ledgers were, he was also lacking important information.

"The bottom line is that when this Parish was established there was a need
for another Parish in town. But there wasn't the money, and it wasn't even
five years after Saint William's was established on the West Side. Being on
the East Side, Saint Patrick's and Saint Mary's were against it. They
feared losing parishioners. They guarded their turf. Anyway, as a result of
that, the Diocese of Madison ruled against establishing the new Parish, but
they were overruled by the Archbishop of Milwaukee."

"I see..." Andy said.

"OK," Father Taylor continued, "As a result of the Archdiocesan order to
establish a new Parish together with the lack of money to do so, the
Archbishop secretly looked for a party to step up and help with financing a
new Parish. The Archbishop made an agreement with Angus Dickson.  Do you
both know who that is?"

"Yeah," Sean said, "That's Dix's, I mean Tim's, Great-grandfather.

"Correct. I'll give you the short version here. In return for purchasing
the land, and financing the construction of some of the buildings, Angus
Dickson extracted certain favors from the Archbishop. Several of those
favors were liquidated over the years as agreed, but two of them remain to
this day. The first is the note payable on building construction, and the
lease of the land the Parish sits on, and the second favor was use of the
Vatican Bank.

"The first favor left Angus in the position if being able to foreclose on
and liquidate the Parish should the Church go back on its deal. The second
favor, which is the important one, is that income from certain overseas
corporations owned by Mrs. Miller now is passed through the Vatican Bank,
then through this Parish in the form of untraceable bank transactions which
reach Mrs. Miller's accounts at the Private Bank here is town which of
course she owns by inheritance."

"Sounds simple enough so far," Andy said.

"From what I've heard of Angus Dickson," Father Taylor answered, "it's a
typically elegant solution."

"What about taxes?" Sean asked.

"I was getting to that," Father Taylor answered.

"Go on..."

"At the point of origin of the income overseas, what little taxes there
are, are paid as required.  When that income is then sent through the
Vatican Bank over here, there are no taxes as the Vatican Bank is a
Sovereign Bank and not subject to that. Mrs. Miller receives her income as
she requires. And she doesn't require as you might think. As far as her
personal affairs go, I can only assume she pays her personal taxes
according to the IRS because she's never had an issue with them. As far as
I know..."

"Yes. As far as you know..." Sean noted out loud. He then noted to himself
that Father Taylor would never be in a position to know this business. At
all.

"It's income by untraceable cash, boys," Father Taylor said. "And that good
fortune has been repaid manifold by Mrs. Miller's charitable works. Look,
I'm not a babe in the woods, I know Mrs. Miller basically runs this town
with a few exceptions, and I know that's ruffled some feathers over the
years, but..."

"We know, Father," Andy said.

"Father, what is the advantage to your Parish by these arrangements?" Sean
asked. "There must be an advantage, or you wouldn't have these books..."

"An astute question. Yes, the Parish has an interest here. It amounts to
half-a-percent a year on the amount of money flowing through the Parish
accounts. In a dollar amount, last year it came to about $700,000. It's a
relatively small amount. And of course, being as it is, it is not tax
deductible. It is merely a cost of doing business. We use it to help with
the school and other things..."

"I'm sure you do, Father" Sean answered, nodding. "We'll need to know who
else in the Church has knowledge of these things."

Father Taylor blanched at Sean's question much the same way as he blanched
when Tim backed him into a corner about wedding arrangements, but this was
on an altogether different level.

"Sean," Father Taylor answered, "Yes, I'm the Parish Priest here, but it's
not that simple. Yes, I am an ordained Catholic Priest, but I am also a
member of the Vatican Bank management. Not all that high up, mind you, but
high enough to be doing what I am doing here. The Bishop of Madison and the
Archbishop of Milwaukee are aware of my connection to the Bank, but not of
the particulars. They have their own things to be concerned with, however
I'm pretty sure the Bishop of Madison could make an educated guess, but as
you know he is very old and will likely retire soon. The Archbishop in
Milwaukee, well, he's gunning for a bigger job. They all do. Don't forget
that the last Archbishop of Milwaukee is now the Cardinal Archbishop of New
York.

"As long as the money this Parish's business arrangements generate
contributes to the Diocese and the Archdiocese, no one in Madison or
Milwaukee asks any questions. And that is as it should be. Plausible
deniability and all that. Nothing illegal is being done here. It's been the
job of the Dickson family over the years to see to that. The value that I
provide is discretion."

"I know we're still in school," Andy said, "now in American History we've
been studying significant presidencies of the 20th Century and I seem to
recall that about 30 years ago President Reagan told the leader of the
Soviet Union that his standard was `Trust but Verify.'  I'm sure you'll
expect us to do the same and go over all of this with George Dickson and
probably Tim as well since in a few years his butt's gonna be parked where
his dad's is now..."

"I would not expect less," Father Taylor said in assent.

"There is one other thing," Sean said.

"And that is?" Father Taylor asked.

"We're going to join your Parish."

"I would have suggested that," Father Taylor answered. "When can I sign you
up for the Catechism?"

"The what?" Sean asked.

"Basically it's classes to introduce you into the Catholic faith."

"We won't be doing that, Father," Sean said.

"It's a requirement."

"Waive it," Andy said. "First of all, we don't have time for that, and
second, with the amount of money that flows through this Parish courtesy of
arrangements made about 80 years ago I don't see that it's necessary."

"Neither do I," Sean agreed. "So, are we in?"

"You should also know," Andy said, "we will be sending our sons to school
here in just a few years and we will be donating the tuition vouchers that
were gifted to them when they were born back to the school so that kids who
are in need can maybe catch a break. I'm sure your religious instruction in
the school is very good, and anything we think we might want to know, we'll
ask our sons."

"Yes..." Father Taylor said. "Very well, here are the applications for
membership. Just fill them out, and I'll have the Secretary stamp them as
valid in the morning. I have to sign off that the Catechism was
completed. Completion is to my discretion."

"By the way," Sean said, "Your school doesn't offer Kindergarten..."

"No, we are grades one through eight."

"Plan on offering Kindergarten in two years."

"We haven't the facilities."

"You will. At any rate, Father, I think we're finished for now." Sean said.

"As you wish. I'll see you at Sunday Mass."

"You drive a hard bargain, Father," Sean smirked.

"And...you don't..." Father Taylor laughed.

Once in the car, Andy looked at Sean. "So, whadya think about Father Taylor
having those books?"

"I don't know," Sean replied, "I kinda thought about it a little bit and
for now I say we let that sleeping dog lie. The Church has had them forever
and it's been OK. The Father's our direct contact with the Vatican Bank, so
that's good. I do think it would make sense to get Kevin Dickson up here
ASAP so we can get him started. We need to know everything important that's
in those books, and we're not trained to do it. Kevin is."

"I think Kevin just bought a condo in Chicago, though..."

"We can work that out. You remember when we looked at houses with Ginny and
she showed us that one on Columbus Circle, the one I sad was too small?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, the house next door to it just came on the market. It's a
foreclosure. I was thinking about buying it anyway to fix it up and flip
it. I can do that anyway, and if we get Kevin up here, then we throw in the
house as part of his package until he finds something that suits
him. That's a really private street so it would be perfect for him..."

"I suppose..."

"I'll give Kevin a call tomorrow. Then when the next semester starts, he
can help Brad with his Accounting coursework, too. I wanna get them both up
to speed."

"I think that's a good idea. I guess I better get out my Craftsman
architecture books so I can work on design for that Columbus Circle
place..."

"Yeah. Ginny'll know what bank has it and we can probably buy it before
it's listed with a Broker. Which reminds me..."

"Uh-oh... What now..."

"We're both gonna get Real Estate Broker's licenses."

"OK... Why..."

"Because I am gonna buy the Monterey Hotel, and when it's done, we will be
the Brokers. And we'll finance the sales, too for people who buy with a
mortgage."

"How do we get licensed?"

"It's easy. We take a few hours of class shit which can be done online,
then we take a test. You get a Salesman's license and we sign on with a
Broker, who would be Ginny, for a year, then we take another test and get
Broker's licenses. That's it. In a year from now, I expect I'd have units
at the Monterey ready to sell. Maybe not all of them, but some of them. I'm
expecting the full conversion to take about 18 months."

"Yeah, that's what I figured... Now I'll have to get out my Art Deco books,
too!" Andy laughed.

"Ginny knows who owns the building now. Once I get the eminent domain thing
through the City Council I'll ask the guy for a meeting and let him know
how this is gonna go. I don't wanna waste time going through that process,
and he won't want to spend whatever he might make off a sale on Lawyer's
fees. I'll just have to find out what his price is, and if it's not my
price, then we go forward and have the City take it and he can take his
chances. I don't think it'll come to that."

"No, I don't think so, either."

"OK, well, let's get home and see what our boys have been up to. Prolly
driving Mrs. Cheadle nuts," Sean laughed.

"Didja ever wonder what they think?" Andy asked.

"All the time..." Sean smirked. "They always run to you first. I wonder
what the reason for that is..."



END CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN