It was the end of summer. Soon the snow would fly, but for the time being a sparkling blue sky greeted the family members that next morning. JB had had a road built between the two ranches and they drove up in a late model Ford truck full of things to eat and kids.
One of things in the back of the truck was a cider press and boxes of apples ready to be squished into cider. Joel, Junior, Brady and JB sat under a big shade tree catching up on business matters before the party started. Brady gave his report on Texas oil and the local politics and economy. JB added the two ranches in her report stating that it was still difficult to make a profit, but that the land values had risen. That made the net worth look good.
Junior gave his report on steel production, oil production, ship building and the export/import business. He said, "We all know all good things must end someday, but for now we are making a ton of money."
Joel said, I'm sixty eight now and enjoying my retirement. We are doing very well indeed, but history tells us the economy will hit a wall someday. What goes boom follows a bust. We need to diversify and I leave that up to you guys. We have grandkids approaching college age. They must reach beyond what is in front of them and seek out the future. Airplanes and air travel for example. And we must not forget people need to eat: grain, corn, potatoes and such things. California has some of the finest growing soil and seasons for productivity. Remember, you can't coast uphill. Okay, I'm finished now. Let's eat," he rubbed his every growing stomach.
Bessie came out and said, "JB, enough business. We need your help here to settle an argument." Junior looked at his mother with pride. She aged so well. Her once curly hair was now streaked with grey. It was cut short and she dressed in a plain housedress. Junior guessed she weighed the same for the last forty years. To him and he knew to his father, she was still beautiful.
Sitting alongside his father, Adam, now 20 years old and in his second year at Harvard, looked on with intelligent eyes. There was no doubt he was a Stanten, but he had dark skin like his mother had. Women were falling all over him, but he was on a learning curve to enter and control a vast Empire. Women, for him, came a distant second. It would take an intellectual beauty to crack that handsome exterior of Adam Stanten.
As the conversation drifted away from business, Junior was reminded that in five years he must pass on the secret to his son. In addition, the second part of the secret laid in an abandoned mine that only Smoky and father, plus Junior knew the location of. Also in the bible were numbers that corresponded to Swiss bank accounts.
-XXI-
1930
The crash of 1929 brought the economy to its knees. Junior foresaw it with the downturn in steel production and sales. Even though the Stanten's were already rich beyond most people's imagination, the economic disaster hit home. Cattle, oil, and steel prices all went down the toilet
Junior struck a deal with the steel unions to keep a skeleton crew working. The oil wells marginally producing were shut down. Ship building came to an abrupt halt. The import/export business became a trickle of commodities in and out of the country.
Joel had forecast it years ago. Now at seventy eight he was a feeble old man. Everyone around him realized that soon they would view an empty rocking chair. Bessie was still full of vigor. However, she too was slowing down. A generation was about to pass and at the helm were two Stanten's: Junior and Adam Stanten. In the wings was Luke Allen. He was a freckled face copy of his mother; but not lacking in intelligence.
The ensuing decade brought many hardships for most all people; including the rich. The second generation of Stanten's had their own personal and financial hardships. Joel and his wife both passed on and were buried on the original homestead in Golden alongside his and her parents both.
As the years passed, Joel had upgraded the place with such things as electricity, running water, telephone, along with expansion of the original house. The same family was the caretakers. The first caretakers had passed it down to their off - spring and the tradition continued for many years to come.
Probably the most heartbroken was JB and her stock of thousands of head. The price of beef had tumbled to practically nothing. As the stock matured, they sold what they could; gave away what they could and in the end, two hard winters in a row, decimated the remaining stock.
And then to add insult to injury, Brady fell over from a heart attack in the barn pitching hay to a few head of old bulls. Most of the ranch hands had been laid off. JB decided to shutter the main ranch house and move back to the Bar-B.
Willy Brady, after his father passed on, went to Texas. His inheritance left him 50% of his grandfather's wealth. His two aunts had the other half. Willie wanted to try his hand at the oil business.
Beth Brady lived in Denver with her banker husband. Brady Junior was in California as manager of the Stanten Farms.
However, by 1937, Junior now sixty one years old saw the European war coming. History told him America would become involved at some point in time. It was the driving force needed to bring the country out of the greatest depression of all time.
The demand for steel would become greater as countries geared up for war. Junior sent his son Adam to upgrade their steel mills and Luke to the shipyards. Cargo ships would become the method of shipping war materials.
Junior in 1939 called a family meeting in New York City. All the Stanten's attended except JB who had moved to California. The ranch was left to Ringo and Marlene's children to operate. Smoky had passed on but not before he left his oldest son the secret between him and Joel Stanten.
In Junior's house on Park Avenue, on a Sunday, a family business meeting was taking place around the dining table. Adam sat at the opposite end with the rest around the table. In addition to the family certain members of political importance were in attendance. Also the three general managers of the various divisions were invited.
Junior said, "Intelligence from Europe tells us that Germany will invade its neighbors this fall. As you know American people do not want war and want us to remain neutral. However, we are morally committed to helping Britain. The Stanten companies, particularly the steel mills and ship building are being asked to gear up for war to come. We will be shipping war material to help Britain fight the Germans.
We need to immediately go into full time production operating three shifts of steel producing and ship building. The cargo ships will have clear and simple designs. Our goal is to produce one cargo ship a week. The Germans have a lot of submarines. We also expect a lot of tonnage to be lost. Additionally we will need oil tankers to ship fuel to England. I've asked JB to go see her stepson Willie and increase oil production.
Now are there any questions as now is the time to speak up."
"Luke asked, "Father are wages to remain fairly low?"
"We've been given carte blanch by these two gentlemen sitting at our table. As this will be a starting point to pull the country back onto its feet, be reasonable with the unions and non-unions alike."
Adam was thirty nine, married to Julie with two children. A boy named Clifford and a girl named Alice. Clifford, age eighteen was in college at Harvard. Alice a year younger was at Smith College.
Luke, thirty four, married to Janice had two children: Penny fourteen and Justin six.
Sitting in the library were Martha, Julie and Janice drinking tea. They were all sitting on pins and needles wondering what the meeting was all about? Martha said, "I think we're going to see the reemergence of the Staten Empire. War in Europe my daughters-in-law. We'll play an important role in the coming World War; you mark my words."
Junior at sixty one year old still had spring in his step. Martha aged well too. She had lost a lot of freckles, but still Junior loved to stare at her lovely breasts with bright pink nipples. Regardless of his schedule, they managed to make love twice a week. For both of them love was a powerful emotion. Both had seen and learned from his parents the power of love.
-XXII-
1940 ~ 1945
America was
transformed into a giant war machine that produced goods and service unequaled in history. The Great Depression was but a memory as the United States entered the war in 1941.
Stanten Industries, Junior had the name changed to fit the times, reaped a harvest along with its employees. The majority of men were off to war, but women took up the slack working the shipyards and other factories.
One Stanten, Clifford, a recent graduate of Harvard entered the war as an officer in the Army Air Force. Needless to say, Junior and Adam were very proud of him.
Adam was so busy he didn't have a lot of time to think about Clifford in a war. On the other hand, his wife Julie, a very sensitive southern woman, cried for days after he enlisted.
The two kids of Luke and Janice, Penny and Justin wondered why their aunt was crying all the time. Neither one understood what war was. To them, it looked like every other day outside the window of either school or home or walking down the street.
The two brothers, Adam and Luke lived next door to each other. During the Depression, they had decided to live close to one another. The streets were full of homeless and destitute people. It was thought that safety in numbers and more adults to keep an eye on the young ones was the best idea.
By 1942 everyone was either working or in the military. The streets were only occupied by necessary transportation. Rationing was common place. The war effort was primary and everything else secondary.
Clifford was being trained as a B-17 pilot. In July, 1942, he was transferred to England where he would fly sorties into Germany for the 8th Air Force. By then he was a captain and had his own plane called the 'Destroyer.'
Back home the war machine was building up steam. Ships were being cranked out on a weekly basis. A lot of women were working the welders on the Liberty ships, as they were called. All the steel mills were producing at 100% capacity. It was a period of no relaxation for anyone.
By the spring of 1944, the war was clearly being won by the Allies.
The Germans were no match for the economic powerhouse of the USA. By the end of the year, invasion plans for Europe were drawn up and made final. In England the bombers continued to rain destruction upon Germany. Clifford had completed his required number of bomb runs and was teaching new pilots in England.
One day a colonel came to see Major Stanten. He asked Clifford if he would personally fly a general on a bombing run into Germany. It was for show mostly for back home viewers to see a general with hands on the job pretending to fly a bomber. It was an obscure and less than important target. A group of six would take off before dark, form up, be filmed as a unit, and then fly to Germany. After dropping the bombs, coming back was the easy part. It was supposed to be a milk run. However, it was anything but a milk run.
Clifford had a bad feeling about this mission. However, someone had to do and it had just as well be him. Of course everyone knew he was of the Stanten Steel Mills fame. That would look good for the publicity of the mission.
In April a major strike force would hit Munich airfields and manufacturing plants. For safety, Clifford's plane would not return to England but land in neutral Switzerland. The Swiss didn't like it, but tolerated the use of its country by the Allies.
More than 200 aircraft left England for Munich. The Germany Luftwaffe and heavy flak was waiting for the Air Force. The cameraman was making a nuisance of himself running around taking video movies of everything. Even Clifford had to leave his pilot's seat so the general could be filmed sitting at the controls.
As they approached Munich the battle group of bombers were first met with flak and then an onslaught of German fighters attacked. It had been reported that the Luftwaffe was finished, but hundreds of enemy aircraft were attacking the bombers. Clifford was fighting the controls as the fighters attacked. The bombers had to keep on the flight path so they could drop the bombs. Not long after the fighters attacked the general left to strap himself in behind the cabin. Clifford saw a few of the bombers go down in flames. So far he was lucky and then the navigator said two minutes to target.
It was then a fighter took out an engine on the starboard wing. It also affected the aileron making the plane difficult to fly. The engine flames were finally extinguished. Clifford order bomb bays opened and one minute later it was bombs away. Clifford turned south and a little west towards Switzerland. That's when another fighter found its mark. Clifford saw two engines on fire and the plane started losing altitude. He ordered everyone to bail out.
He did his level best to keep the plane from spinning downward to the earth. Clifford assumed his crew bailed out safely and as he continued to fly southwest, he waited until the last minute to bail out himself.
After bailing out he looked and counted the proper amount of chutes including the generals. By that time the crew were just tiny white dots as he had stayed with the plane much longer. On the way down he mentally saw the map and realized he was not far from the Swiss border. Or at least he thought so. He looked down and saw mountains and trees. He prayed for a safe landing.
As the chute slowly let him down he noticed that he'd been drifting west which was good. Then as luck would have it, he landed in a small clearing uninjured. There was not a sound heard anywhere, but a few birds. He gathered up his chute and covered it with dead evergreen needles and limbs. After that he took stock of his survivor gear.
He looked at his watch and saw it was late afternoon. He'd need to find some shelter for the night, but in the meantime he wanted to put some distance away from Germany. It was going to be a long walk to Switzerland.
Once again his luck held as he found a high mountain cabin abandoned. It was growing dark as he made a nest for himself in a smelly corner. Also it was damn cold as the sun went down that night. But there was no way he would build a fire. His last thoughts were of the general most likely being questioned by the SS.
The next morning Cliff was hungry, but eager to move southwest. He flashed back when he was a kid in Colorado at the ranch playing cowboy and Indian. Now it was no game, but he must be wary and aware of his surroundings. He ate one of his chocolate bars he'd stashed in his kit. Next he took out a map and tried to guess his location.
From up high in the mountains, as Cliff looked southwest, he clearly saw the Swiss Alps. He thought he was not so far from Liechtenstein. Even though it was spring, the Alps were snow laden mountains. This was not going to be any easy hike. His hope was to find some friendly farmer who would be willing to guide him to safety. Cliff finally decided he was in Austria. He began his hike for life. No way did he want to be captured and spend the rest of the war in some camp starving.
-XXIII-
In New York City, Manhattan, at Adam and Julie Stanten's house on May the 3rd, the door bell rang. A maid answered the door. Two military men stood there with hats in hand asking to see Adam or Julie Stanten. It was late Saturday afternoon and Adam had just arrived from the office.
The maid took the two men to the library and they were asked to wait a few minutes. Julie Stanten came in first and when she saw the two military officers with a grim look on their faces, she fell to her knees sobbing. She believed her son was dead. The maid helped her to her feet and led her to a chair when Adam came in.
It didn't take him but a few seconds to see the picture, but he was taught never to jump to a conclusion. Wait until you heard what was forthcoming. The military man with the most stars on his shoulder stepped forward with his hand out. "I’m General Wilcox and this is my aid Colonel Bliggers. I'm here to report your son Major Clifford Stanten, is at this point in time, MIA. What we do know is he was shot down over Munich April 29th. Other bombers reported they saw what amounted to all of the crew, including a general, all safely parachute out of the plane. As the squadron turned to the southwest to fly home, they also saw one lone parachute open up. We are assuming that was Major Stanten. Our best guess on location is Austria with Liechtenstein and Switzerland not far away. He's young and fit Mr. and Mrs. Stanten. We have every hope he will hike to freedom.
His survival kit has maps and a few things necessary for survival. Also, most of Europe knows that Germany will soon sue for peace and the citizens are sympathetic to the Allies."
"We thank you for personally coming to inform us of our son general. Can we offer you some refreshment?"
"No thank you Mr. Stanten. We have a few more stops to make before our day is complete."
After they left Adam called his father and informed him of Clifford. Junior said he would make some phone calls and find out more if he could.
Adam paced the floor and then he called his brother Luke. Janice answered the phone and told him Luke was still at the office. He filled her in and asked for Luke to call him when he got home.
The person it most affected was Cliff's sister Alice. Alice was up at Smith College as was the female tradition of the Stanten family. They were only one year apart and had grown up close. When Alice found out he was missing she came home immediately. Her mother was very happy to have her back home. In the days, weeks and months to come, they were inseparable.
Junior called a meeting of the sons, Adam and Luke. They met in his office boardroom in New York City. When sandwiches and coffee were served, the door was locked. They ate lunch quietly and talked a bit about the war. As there had been no news of Cliff, nothing was said about the situation. After lunch was mostly over Junior spoke,
"Son's this is only a what if meeting and it could amount to nothing. If Cliff doesn't come back home safe and sound, then our only remaining male line is Justin. Luke, you'll have to be the one to pass on the bible and its contents. Let me remind you of father's wishes. He always said nothing is forever. He told me steel would become less desirable and new materials would replace it. Also that oil would be pumped dry at some point in time. Agriculture products would always be needed. And lastly he said our labor cost with unions would spiral out of control and backwards countries would provide the labor while materials would be shipped to their factories or use their own resources.
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