Living the American Dream

by Frank Cereo

  “You need to find another job or I’m leaving you.” Susan yells at me.

  “Honey, I have been looking and sending resumes out everywhere. There is nothing out there in my field.” I respond.

  “Your kids look for you at their games. You promise to get out early and you never do. I am sick and tired of making excuses for you.” Susan yells as she throws a sneaker at me.

  “What do you suggest I do? I am trying to make this work out. Do you think I like getting up at the crack of dawn and working the entire day? When I get home there are barely eight hours left in the day until I have to do it all over again.” I reply in my defense.

  I continue to put out applications and resumes with no luck. I continue to work these god forsaken hours. Then just around Thanksgiving, I return home after work and no one is home. Most of the furniture is gone with the exception of my laptop and a single bed. I see a note by the laptop. So I pick it up and this what it reads.

  Dear Freddy

  I have put up with being a single parent for over six months. So if I’m going to be a single parent I will do it on my own. The children and I have moved out on our own. I have a good enough job, to take care of them without your pay. Here is my bank card for our joint account because I have opened a new one in my name. I left you $500 and you can go on from there. Please do not try to find us because we moved out of the area. I did love you at one time but that has faded away over the years. Good luck workaholic.

  Sincerely Susan

  I tore the letter up and threw it away. I tried to call Susan on her cell phone but a message told me the line was no longer in service. I was torn up inside as I made a few phone calls without getting any information. Even her parents wouldn’t tell me anything. Frustrated and bent out of shape, I took a shower and watched a movie on my laptop. I fell asleep and was awaked by the alarm on my phone. I went to work like normal and another unexpected twist in my life occurs. The operation manager calls a mandatory meeting at the end of the day. I make my way into the town hall where we have company wide information sessions. I take a seat in the back of the room. That is when the entire company finds out we were bought out by a conglomerate based out of Texas. William Waynewright Enterprises bought out the company I was working for and they would be taking over on December 1st.

  Thanksgiving went by fast and I spent the holiday all alone. I cooked a turkey breast, baked a potato and warmed up a can of corn. On Monday December 1st I went to work like normal. I arrived at seven in the morning to see everyone standing outside the gate.

  “This isn’t good.” I say to myself as I get out of my car.

  I walk up to the gate and gather with the others. There is a sign on the gate saying the facility is closed and everyone is laid off. Questions will be answered at the unemployment office. This was the most unprofessional way that any corporation could have acted. They bought us out to get our customer list. Waynewright Enterprises was our competitor and they just absorbed us and wiped us off the face of the earth. They used the long holiday weekend to move all the machinery and equipment out of the building.

  “Where is the management staff?” One of the employee yells out loud.

  “I heard they were hired on and relocated to Texas.” Another person yells out.

  “I was told that moving trucks were in here on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They moved out all the machinery and the management staff helped them.” A female employee yells out.

  “Hey, there is a manager. Freddy what is going on here? Is this a joke or something?” Another person yells as the crowd surrounds me.

  “Hey, I had nothing to do with this. I’m just as surprised as you are. I drove 90 minutes for nothing why would I do that if I knew what was going on.” I say as I can see the group surrounding me like a mob waiting to get even.

  “Where are our fearless leaders, Operations Manager Jeb Throrughgood, Plant Manager James Rufess and Floor Manager Robbie Cobalt?” A woman yells.

  “I’m only a supervisor and had nothing to do with this. Like I said I am just as surprised as you are.” I reply as I try to walk back to my car.

  “Where do you think you are going? We have a beef with you now that are lives have been ruined.” Another man yells.

  I didn’t see the first punch let alone the rest. They beat me beyond recognition. All I could feel was fists and steel toed boots hitting and kicking me. I woke up lying in a pool of my own blood. I could barely see because my right eye was completely swollen shut and my left eye was partially closed. I was badly beaten as I looked around I noticed everyone was gone. I tried to get up as I used my car for support. It took both of my arms and legs to get up. My coworkers used me to take out their frustrations. I slowly get up and open the door to get into my car. I hurt all over as I plop myself into the driver’s seat. I can see I have been knocked out for a long time because it’s starting to get dark outside. I think about calling the police but I change my mind because I don’t even know who hit me. All I know is the management staff is responsible for the people’s actions. I start my car and start on my way home. Half way there it starts to snow and with my eyes swollen I have to slow down to see where I am going. When I hit the side roads it becomes a complete white out. I use the trees on the side of the road to judge myself. When I am twenty miles from home things take a turn for the worst. The snow is blinding and it is dark when I see a semi-tractor trailer coming down the hill that I was going up. His lights are blinding as I keep the car to the right side of the road. The closer we get to each other the more I can see he is in the middle of the road. I flash my lights at him trying to get his attention. He keeps driving down the center of the road like he owns it.

  “Move over you asshole.” I yell out in frustration.

  The man driving the tractor trailer is carrying a payload of hay and totally ignores my little vehicle. The load of hay is hanging at least a foot off on each side of the trailer making the road even smaller. I judge the side of the road to the best I can. I look up and see the truck is barreling at sixty miles per hour in a blinding snow storm. The fluffy snow is shooting out from the truck making it impossible to see anything. I know he is going to hit my car so I close my eyes and wait for death to come and take me away. Time seems to take forever as everything seems to be moving in slow motion. Then I hear it as the overhanging hay is scrapping against the driver side of my car. In flash I think my life has passed me by. I look up and hold on tight to the stirring wheel trying to keep my car on the road.

  “You stupid son of a bitch. Slow down during a snow storm.” I yell out knowing damn well he can’t hear me.

  I am thankful that I survive this close encounter with death. I look up at the sky and thank god for looking out me. I finally make it home after a three hour car ride. I slowly and painfully get out of the car and walk towards my apartment. My legs, arms and body hurt badly. It takes me ten minutes to get into the apartment. I walk into the bathroom and look into the mirror. My face looks like Rocky Balboa after his first meeting with Apollo Creed.

  “What the fuck did I do to deserve this?” I say as I turn on the shower.

  From there I begin to peel off my clothing. My khaki pants and white polo shirt are bloodied and ripped into rags. So I take my wallet and valuables out of the pants pockets and set them on the counter. The pants and shirt are thrown right into the trash because they are beyond saving. After I’m completely undressed I look at my body in the mirror. I am bruised up and cut up. I look at the left side of my chest cavity and I can see large deep bruises beginning to form. My whole body is very sensitive as I touch the bruises and cuts with my fingers.

  “Ahh shit that hurts. I think my ribs are broken.” I say

  I slowly walk towards the shower and get in. I let the warm water flow over my body. It feels so soothing and refreshing. I look down at the shower floor and watch the blood wash down the drain. I stay in the shower for fifteen to twenty minutes. When I get out I dry off and take a couple of Aleve for the pain. I
walk over to my bed and get under the covers.

  “I’m going to be one hurting unit tomorrow. Ahh god it hurts just to move. What a fucking day this has been.” I say as I close my eyes.

  It took a few minutes but I fell asleep. I did wake up a few times during the night when I moved the wrong way but I slept like a rock.

  Chapter 5 – Making the List

  The next morning I wake up sore and in pain. I take a few more Aleve and relax in a long hot shower. When I get out of the shower, I look in the mirror and the bruises are more prominent and deep purple in color. My entire chest cavity, arms and legs are completely covered in bruises.

  Over the next couple of days the pain begins to subside. The swelling goes down and the bruises start to fade away. I sign up for unemployment and I’m denied because I didn’t work there long enough. I try to fight my case and I still lose. Now I have no income and soon I will be out on my ass. I try desperately to find any type of employment but no one is hiring because it’s at the end of the year. This really frustrates me because I am such a good worker that gives one hundred and ten percent at everything I do.

  “This is really becoming a vendetta on my part. People have treated me like shit over the past couple of years. I went from being successful to floundering and broke beyond a doubt. I think it’s time to even the score.” I says as I lay on my bed with my laptop open.

  That’s when it hit me, if I was going to hit rock bottom so were the people that helped put me there. Today I was going to create a list of people that contributed to my downfall. First up is Ricky Certo, my General Manager that fucked me over for a total screw up.

  Ricky Certo is a back stabbing son of a bitch that screwed me over. I look up his address online and jot it down on a piece of paper. I realize that everything I look up on my computer will be encrypted in the backup files that are called ghost files. They are blind to the user but a professional with the right credentials can dig them out. So I have to be careful what I look at so if the police ever get their hands on my laptop there will be nothing to trace back to me.

  Ricky lives near the Town of Saugerties. I remember that he is an early riser and likes to jog early in the morning. He runs on back roads and takes a short cut through the reservoir. Ricky is a tall lean man with a bald head that he shaves. Ricky has a military background and is a specialist in weapons. That tells me he has weapons at home for protection from home invasion. Ricky is single with no family because he is married to his work. He is around the age of 55 but looks a little older due to the stressful job he works. He is the general manager of a large distribution company. He is responsible for fifteen warehouses all across the New York and New Jersey area. He is a numbers man that runs his business units by the numbers. He drives every day to a different facility which makes him vulnerable on the highway but that is too visible to everyone. I will figure where and when the time is right.

  Number two on my list is Dan Hearth. The chain smoking lazy good for nothing son of a bitch. Dan is still sitting in my chair after five years and I heard he isn’t doing anything more than he has too. I know he lives just outside the small city of Poughkeepsie. He is pushing 60 years of age and shows it. He is suffering from emphysema and COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which is a breathing disorder. Dan lives out in the country with his wife. If I remember right it’s in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors. Dan stands about five feet ten inches tall. His hair is thinning so he does the good old comb over. It’s such a joke because when the wind blows that clump of hair flops around like a fish out of water.

  Number three is Adolf Miner, he was my banker. He lives in New York City and he is responsible for the foreclosure on my house. He did absolutely nothing to help me when I was financially in trouble. I asked and pleaded with him to help me restructure my mortgage and all he could do was add more penalties and fees. He is a short fat bald man that smokes Cuban cigars. He likes to live the highlife on everyone else’s dime. Adolf has one addiction that we discussed when I signed off on my mortgage. In secrecy, he tried to get me to join his club. This club met every Saturday night in the heart of the big apple. Why he kept it hush-hush was because it was a group of men that gathered in a large penthouse suite. They had alcohol, drugs and prostitutes. They would get drunk or high and have an all-night orgies with the prostitutes. He tells his wife its men’s night out and it is none of her business what goes on there.

  Number four is my bankruptcy trustee Allison MacDougal. This woman closed out my bankruptcy because I couldn’t make my payments. Of course I couldn’t make my payments I was out of work. All I did was ask her to push it off until I found a job but she didn’t or wouldn’t. Allison is a woman in her late thirties. She has shoulder length dirty blonde hair. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her second husband. They have no children because she is a snob nose bitch that would hate to ruin her body. Her first husband left her because she cheated on him with her boss.

  Number five is Tom Prior who lives in St Augustine, Florida. He was my director of operations at that 3PL. This thin squirrelly looking guy liked to make other people’s lives miserable. He played the part but had no inclination on how warehousing and logistics work. He made a living off other people’s hard work. Tom stands about five feet ten inches tall with a small build. He has salt and pepper hair with no facial hair. Tom is not married but he is a womanizer and likes to take advantage of all his female mangers. When he let me go he promoted the female safety manager to replace me. I guess she gave him what he wanted when he visited the site.

  Number six is Jeb Throrughgood, number seven is James Rufess and number eight is Robbie Colbalt all living in Dallas, Texas. They were the good for nothing managers from Elmira, New York. They sold out over 100 employees and relocated when Mr Waynewright bought the manufacturing company just to get the customer list. These bastards were selfish no good for nothing managers that would sell their wives, mothers and daughters for a profit. Jeb was a big man that liked to workout. He had a full head of dark hair and sported a full bread cut close to his face. He is married to his fifth wife and with all five wives he has eight children. He is a business man but doesn’t understand people. He thinks people are like cattle to be used, eaten and shit out. Jeb has a personality of a rock and I have to wonder how he became so successful in life. James Rufess, on the other hand, is a small older man. He has salt and pepper hair and sports a gray goatee. He stand five feet three inches tall and weighs a mere one hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet. He is a loner and eats sleeps and lives for work. Robbie Colbalt always follows the other two. He never had a thought of his own and always did what he was told by Jeb and James. Robbie is six feet four inches tall with blond hair. Robbie is as dumb as a bag of rocks and the only reason why he was promoted was he never questioned what he was asked to do. I figure with these three I will make an unassisted triple play.

  Number nine is Mr Waynewright, the multi-millionaire that only thinks about getting richer. This man doesn’t give a damn about anyone outside himself. I think he sold his soul to the devil. All I can tell you is he is going to meet Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer or whatever that fuckers name is. This man lives in a mansion on the outskirts of Houston. It is surrounded by a stone wall with an electric fence above it. Steven Waynewright stands five feet four inches tall with a medium build. He is around the age of 70 with a bald top on his head. He only has hair on the sides and back of his head. The hair is dyed dark brown or black and it looks hilarious. He dresses in expensive suits and always wears a derby. He lives in the mansion with his third wife who is around 30 years old. He has no children and the staff does not live in the house with him. The staff goes home nightly with the last one leaving around 10 PM.

  Number ten is Pedro Wallawitz. That self-centered ass is all about greed. He thinks he lives on a pedestal as he walks all over the people that have made him a rich man. I will make sure he is the last one I take care of because I want to make sure he feels the pain he endured on me. I kno
w Pedro lives above his means and loves his lifestyle. He is married for a third time and she has already moved out and their divorce is underway. Pedro thinks he is a woman’s man but in reality they are only after his money. Pedro is a very tall man with his dyed hair slicked back. He wears designer clothing as he portrays the playboy image. When he talks every other word out of his mouth is vulgarity. I am going to make him wish he was never born.

  The plan is simple and it consists on searching out my foes and eliminating them. I am going to make the remainder of their lives painful. They are going to pay for the pain they inflicted on me and my life. They are going to pay the piper for all the evil they stand for. The map on my bed had all the roads marked out. I was going to Saugerties first. Then south to Poughkeepsie followed by New York City. Then Richmond, Virginia to St Augustine, Florida and finally Houston, Texas. My last stop would be back in Syracuse, New York and then back home to my unfurnished apartment. If anyone can link me to all these people they will have to be really keen with their investigative work. Only time will tell if the detectives are good enough to catch me. Then my cell phone rings and I pick it up.