Chosen Few Dave

Chester  reflected on his future.  His past, especially the last ten years, hadn’t been too great.  “Well,”  he thought, “I had better include two more years. That is when I committed the crimes that put me in prison for ten years”.

During the first half of his prison sentence he was bitterly trying to live up to the thug persona of a ten year loser.  He pumped iron to build up a formidable physique, he learned to cheat at most gambling games, he got tattooed just about all over to advertise his thug role. Now he had so many tattoos that he could recline naked on a Persian rug and use it for camouflage.  Out of prison, he realized he would look like a freak to normal people among whom he would have to make an honest living.  Another crime would put him under lock for life. He had gained two strikes; one for his original fraud and another for trying to escape.

With tattoos covering everything but his neck, face, hands and feet, he had to be thoroughly concealed.  That was his first challenge.  He also had to have a career that would support him – preferably without a pick, shovel, or hammer –  and not put him back in prison.

During his last prison days, as he was being indoctrinated for re-entry to society, he was given a lecture by a whey-faced clergyman. Chester was told about the advantages of being saved, having his sins forgiven, and eventual salvation.  Chester listened intently to  the clergyman, not swallowing the content but studying the man’s role and career.  He saw a man making a living propounding claims with no basis of proven fact and offering no tangible reward. Chester realized the clergyman was being paid and respected for doing essentially what had put Chester in prison!  Chester’s  Cyber-Ponzi scheme hadn’t promised golden streets, only $2,000 / ounce gold.

Chester had an insight of such brilliance that he was knocked off his feet.  He latter intimated the idea had some sort of supernatural origin.  In reality, his brain was just connecting the dots.  He realized he could still milk money from the wealthy and clueless just as he had with the Ponzi scheme; now he had found a way to do it legally – as a spokesman for the Almighty.

By the time he had boarded a bus to convey him away from the penitentiary,  Chester had a plan for his future.  The first item was to dig up the proceeds he had sheltered from his previous scam.  That would cover his room, board, and expenses until cash started to roll in. Then he planned a wardrobe: skin-tight, black silk, under-garments that covered everything except his neck and head, feet, and hands.That would be covered by black monk’s robes with a deep cowl,  plus leather sandals for the feet. He would  look surreal and powerful. Chester would enroll in an on-line divinity course and  have a five-lettered degree in six weeks.

Next he would ring up Gupta, his fellow scammer in the Ponzi scheme.  Gupta wasn’t prosecuted for the acts that sent Chester to prison and it was because Chester didn’t rat on him.  Gupta was needed for several features in the new project:  data about the previous Poni customers, and second: properly attired, he would look like a classic guru with direct communications to something special. 

Gupta was glad to join in.  At his present job everything was boring. Gupta was happy for an opportunity  of excitement, challenge and an income without the 9 – 5 aspect.

Gupta was outfitted in saffron versions of Chester’s garb except Gupta was barefoot. Gupta’s public role was mainly as a visual image and with a Bluetooth® device, as a clandestine operator of  the organization’s premier icon, the sacred bell.

The sacred bell had been handmade and tuned by Chester  who had benefitted by vocational education in the pen.  The bell was actually coaxial, with a second resonator inside, not visible. The inner bell was tuned to resonate at a frequency about 7 cycles per second higher than the outer.  When they were excited by a blow of the electrically propelled clappers the resulting tones, near middle C, would create a beat tone that occurred at  7 cycles per second. The non-linearities in the acoustic transmission caused a discrete tone at 7 cycles per second.  This tone is in itself inaudible  to humans but is near the mechanical resonance of the human head – as space travelers found out.  High enough levels cause extreme motion of the eyeballs creating various abnormal sensations. A definite attention getter.

Chester recruited his clients by stating that the all-seeing Gupta had classified them as among the “Chosen Few”. This was true but the listeners misinterpreted it to mean chosen by a higher power, not a scammer. Chester arranged  for his clients to meet in an auditorium created from a former internet company’s office.

Gupta was displayed on the center of the stage where he squatted on a pillow appearing to be in a trance. There was a back-ground of psychedelic music and lights as Chester addressed them in his monkish garb. He explained that there were rewards for those “Chosen Few” who chose to assist their fellow mankind in need, not just to sustain them but to repair them, to make them more equal. Contributions were needed from those “Chosen Few” that wished to move ahead in the cosmos.  Cash,  credit cards or Paypall® were all available.  For those conversant in Urdu, Gupta would answer questions telepathically.

Then the sacred bell rang. Most people looked glazed-over.  Many thought they were talking to Gupta telepathically and he was assuring them their past inhumanities could be forgiven – by giving.  The donations were huge.

Later, as they counted the take, Chester and Gupta were congratulating themselves and each other. Luxury and plenty seemed guaranteed. Then, unbidden, the sacred bell rang at a higher than normal volume.  Gupta wasn’t even wearing the Bluetooth® trigger. The two pseudo-monks were transformed.

Chester and Gupta didn’t get rich on their scheme. They gave all the money away as they had promised. They helped to solve housing problems, education problems, health problems – physical and mental – and even political and hate problems. They worked to rehabilitate convicts and addicts.

The “Chosen Few” became many. Their humanity not their property became their obsession.

Chester’s  so-called “sacred bell” continued to ring on its own volition at the most opportune times.