A Career  Dave Lewis

The choice of a career may have a variety of origins. In some cases it may be inherited along with a farm, a ranch, or a business. Some people’s choice may have been dictated by a parent’s prodding, and some people have a career epiphany during their youth that sticks with them. A great number of folks just ricochet through life like the random motion of the missile in the old fashioned pin-ball machines, responding to gravity with an occasional slap from an external force.

The later scenario was the case for Nefarious Ames, an unaccomplished citizen who was serving jury duty for his first time at the age of 25.  During jury selection he had to admit to the lawyers trying to impanel those favorable to their cause, that he had various occupations but no career.  Nefarious was selected, since  both the lawyer for the plaintiff and the defendant saw him as moldable clay. During that trial Nefarious got the slap of inspiration, just like  pinball missiles are directed by a flipper.  The flipper in this instance was a drama revealed by the trial.

The plaintiff was an insurance company attempting to recover payments and cancel continuing payments to a claimant who was purported to have injured himself while employed and then been deemed by medical experts to be irreversibly unable to work again. The plaintiff’s case was based upon motion pictures, covertly recorded by the insurance company’s investigator, showing the claimant doing all kinds of arduous tasks: roofing a house, chopping down a tree and splitting logs, changing a tire on a large truck, and loading and unloading 80 pound bags of rock salt for a water conditioner. The jury looked askance at the defendant that would enter slowly with a cane and a grimace and seat himself slowly with clenched teeth.

The trial ended quickly when the claimant’s defense interviewed an identical twin brother. When the brothers stood together it was obvious that they were easily confused since each had identical long beards and shoulder length hair besides being otherwise identical.  It was established also that they still practiced the childhood habit of identical dress started by a doting mother. The brother had been working around his own home when filmed.

Though that trial died a quick death it naturally created several more trials – like a classic boomerang. This was a eureka moment for Nefarious as he saw the huge impact of an alibi with a strong visual impact. Nefarious had done poorly in high school and one of the few things he retained was his interest in acting.  He had his five minutes of high school fame because of talent in several school plays. Now he saw a manner of cashing in on the one thing that interested him. From that moment on, he became “Alibi” Ames and he started a lucrative career.

He had some business cards printed. They presented his name,  “Alibi” Ames, his slogan:  …loyal to a fault …,  and an unlisted cell phone number.  To slower potential clients he had to explain that the slogan could be interpreted in several ways. 

“Alibi” used an actor’s disguises to create a persona that could be mistaken for his client and then create a situation where innocent bystanders would testify that the client had been seen where he wasn’t. Some of these gigs he worked himself and for some he recruited helpers.  “Alibi” wasn’t interested in “past tense” situations or in covering up major crimes, that was too risky.  There were a number of people who wanted to be considered in location “A” when they were really in location “B”, usually doing something literally undercover. A common theme was wealthy clients visiting a mistress while a private detective watched someone they thought was their target have a long lunch with “Alibi”.  Some rascal clients found they could mislead two or three females simultaneously.

Naturally there were other circumstances in business where a more complex drama was needed for business reasons.  A leaked simulation of a board of directors meeting with a hushed and secretive nature could create a lucrative opportunity on the stock market; a bubble that “Alibi” took advantage of,  providing capital to improve his scope of operations.

“Alibi” found he could also have a hand in politics.  The TV Entertainment/News programs loved to catch political favorites  at some unpleasant activity. For instance a decoy tryst by a stand-in would attract enough news-jackals to constantly watch a candidate and eventually catch the real target at something tawdry.

“Alibi” managed to stay clear of activity considered illegal.  If the public mistook fiction for fact that was the fault of others.  He wisely avoided mob activities because they would enforce vengeance outside of the law. When “Alibi” had accumulated all of the wealth he needed he retired and spent his time coaching novice high school actors. He passed on to them the potential benefits to a future career of acting, on or off the stage.

                                     ***