Eddy's Current (28 page)

Remember Dante Hall, Martin Samuel and Stuart Gualt? They’re the three Peterson devotees I told you about who were probably the only known listeners to Peterson’s radio program during all those years when Peterson disgorged his philosophies out to the world through his radio microphone. No one else was listening or even paying any attention to Peterson, but these three were taking notes. You’ll be interested to know that they’re still with him. Things have gotten even stranger than before. Their love for Peterson has deepened. Their commitment to him is nearly absolute.

One day last week, the three of them were fumbling through their individual copies of
Rules of The Order of God
, a book written by Peterson last year that was intended by him to teach the world that the universe should operate according to Peterson’s interpretation of God’s prescript for stability and discipline. The three were especially enamored with the chapters on discipline. They enjoyed reading Peterson’s thoughts about the need for discipline.

Such an event ten years ago, or even five, would have seemed like a chilling comedy. It would have been sort of like watching the Three Stooges read, grasp, and fully buy into a book about God written by Idi Amin Dada before he ascended to his throne for what ultimately proved to be his chaotic reign of horror. The ability to read would have been questionable. The ability to grasp would have been impossible. Buying in would have been a sure thing, though. Allegiance masks a multitude of defects.

Except that this is no comedy. Peterson has big plans, and he needs these three blind dopes to bring his plans to fruition. Hall and Samuel wanted to be in on the plans from the first time they heard Peterson’s radio show. They wanted to see the world pay in a big way for its sins. Peterson wants to bring Gualt fully on board as well. The foursome will elicit no laughs because they will solicit none. They are deadly serious about the order of the universe and about who defined that order and who will enforce it.

Peterson’s ascension is a holy event for Hall, Samuel and Gualt. It is nearly as important as his epiphany. Peterson is on a throne now—not
the
throne, but a throne.
The
throne will come soon enough. Peterson’s ascension is an ongoing process. Patience is all that is needed now. He is ascending but he hasn’t yet fully ascended. This is not hair–splitting; it is critically important to Peterson’s three apostles that this doctrine be exact. Precise definitions are everything to these three. Ascension, ascending and ascended are three very important words with distinct meanings. The three have spent many hours in discussion and debate about such matters. Books have to be written. Doctrine has to be formulated, then proclaimed. This is important stuff.

Gualt is lagging. He has done more than Hall and Samuel to help Peterson, but still there is a nagging reservation that is not easily identified. At times he seems blindly allegiant like Hall and Samuel, but he also seems to hold back, just a little. He needs to finalize, to prove once and for all his full devotion to Peterson. Gualt’s actions at AMO Texas Corporation to deliver the office park and skyscraper to Peterson was above and beyond, and even then some. But it isn’t enough. Gualt is around third base and headed home, but he needs to close completely. He needs to come on home.

Albert is calling for me. He’s disgusted that I’m spending additional time on Peterson. He’s at the end of his rope with my obsessions about Peterson. He has many other pressing matters for me to deal with. He probably plans to load me up with so much work that I’ll forget that Peterson even exists. “River, I need to see you at once. We have a few projects that we need to get started on. Bring a couple of yellow pads, several pens, your netbook and five hours of your time. It’s time to get to work.”

I have to go meet with him, so I’ll leave you now. Hall, Samuel and Gualt are just getting seated for their meeting.

“Hello, Stew. We wanted to have you come here and meet with us to tell you how much we appreciate your role in making this all happen,” Hall said to Gualt, referring to the new headquarters office park in Houston. “We’re all settled in here now and we’re fully functional. God worked a miracle through you, Stew.”

“Yes, Dante, thanks so much for making time to meet with me today. I got here as quick as possible. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

“Not at all. Have a seat. I need to go over several things with you before we meet with Mr. Peterson.”

Samuel interjected, “You seem to have followed along quite nicely to this point, Stew. We really want you fully on board. We could use a man like you—you know, working for us. We’re looking for quality people. Anyway, you’re here to present the final details of this deal to us from your company. Let’s hear it,” Hall said.

“I’m already on board.” Gualt replied.

Samuel continued, “We want to know that you fully understand where we’re going here, Stew, and we want you to fully understand that you’re going with us. We can’t let you lag behind.”

Hall interjected, “It’s sort of like what the Bible says, Stew. We want to esteem you very highly, as the scriptures suggest. We want to come alongside you, to convince you fully through our unwavering support. That’s why we’re here today, Stew, to convince you that we’ll always be there for you—to give you unwavering support as you move to become fully committed. Anyway, go on ahead and tell us about how we can finalize the deal for the office park and about how we can assist you personally so that you can come on over and remain with us completely. How can we help you, Stew?”

“Basically the final closing for the building and office park will go down as you — I mean, Tyler — asked, as he outlined it to me, including Style & Shores’ involvement. Here’s what we need to do. Our company’s concessions have been more than we anticipated, which is okay. I’m not complaining, but we need huge positive publicity to offset our concessions. That’s all, though. We’re not asking for additional money. We just want to get some free air time,” Gualt explained.

“What about you personally, Stew? Are you okay? You’re a boy that needs to be taken care of, Stew. Mr. Peterson understands that, as do we. Do you need anything? How is it going with that vacation home you and Jill are trying to get over in Ireland?” Hall asked.

“Well, we’re having some difficulty there. We may need some help. The builder is concerned about the change orders we’ve submitted. The change orders total over three hundred thousand dollars. That’s on top of the million dollar price tag we agreed to, just for the basic renovations. We paid three million to buy the place, so we’re having difficulty.”

“Anything we can do to help? Just let us know,” Samuel said.

“Let’s see if we can tie it into the building transactions for the office park,” Gualt replied.

“Now you’re talking, Stew,” Hall said.

“Stew, we need for you to do us a favor,” Hall said, unexpectedly. “We need to ask that you call Mr. Peterson by his proper salutation and last name rather than by his first name. Nothing against you at all, you understand; it’s just that the person who will hold the position we plan for him needs to be addressed with full respect due the position. It’s about formality and standing in the world. You understand, don’t you? Please call him Mr. Peterson from now on. Are we okay with that?” Samuel said smoothly, with a hint of firmness in his tone.

“Well… sure, I, I guess. Yes, yes, that’s okay: ‘Mr. Peterson’ has a formal ring to it, a sound of authority. It’s much better than ‘Tyler’.”

“Great. Thanks so much, Stew. Now, where were we?… Oh, yes, I know, I know. Rather than allow all the poor people here in the U.S. to take the government’s money — God forbid they get a job instead — let’s see if we can find a few workers of our own at your organization and ours that can get those materials over to Ireland for you, using all that nice government money to pay for their services. The money used that way will be for a much higher calling than what the government has planned for it, don’t you think?” Hall said.

“That will help all of us. The government has plans for the money, but socialism can wait. Who needs that right now? We’re going to get to that point soon enough in this God–forsaken country. Full–blown U.S. socialism can wait the time it takes uncle Sam to spend a million dollars or so for your vacation home, Stew,” Samuel said.

“There just is no problem with this arrangement, Stew. We have a guy in middle management at the ACC that can work this out. He has to. He’d do anything to keep his job. Besides, he doesn’t have to know why he’s shipping stuff to Ireland. He only has to know that he will ship it. That’s all. Once it’s there, who cares where it goes?”

“What about you two?” Gualt asked.

“We’ve got it covered, believe me, Stew,” Samuel replied.

“Are you sure? I want to make sure that you’re taken care of as well.

“Is it a commission? Could we arrange it so that you receive a commission? You two and Mr. Peterson have orchestrated everything on your own for the ACC and the WWCA. That warrants a handsome commission,” Gualt said.

“Well, what we have planned for the two of us won’t be that direct. My contacts at Style & Shores tell me that part of the government’s allowance for acceptable costs includes payment of consulting fees, commissions and so forth. A commission of thirty–eight million dollars will be paid to a consulting firm with bank accounts in convenient places throughout the world. That firm will then make a contribution of thirty–eight million dollars to the ACC or WWCA for a bonus to be paid to each of us for outstanding leadership during the year. It would not look good for a non–profit organization to pay that to us outright. The fact that it comes in from outside to be paid to us will make it legitimate. How’s that for earning your keep?” Hall explained.

“Great. Where do we go from here?” Gualt asked dutifully.

“When Mr. Peterson delivers his speech to the U.N. next month to unveil the WWCA’s plans for the next decade, he will announce the office park deal, and, of course, your firm’s assistance will be duly noted,” Hall said.

“At his scheduled U.N. speech? We could not have hoped for more publicity than that,” Gualt exclaimed excitedly. “Mr. Peterson’s a genius, and I really mean that.”

“As you know, we’ve been working on this for two years. WWCA will govern from now on, and Mr. Peterson is the president of WWCA,” Samuel said.

“Mr. Peterson wants you to come on board with us, Stew. We’re not sure where, exactly, you’ll fit in, but we know that he wants you fully on board. He’s had his eye on you for sometime now. Hook up with us fully, Stew, and you and Jill will no longer scrape the bottom to get enough money to buy and renovate a small vacation home way over in Ireland. You’ll be able to buy a vacation home in every city in this world. We need a person who knows the corporate real estate market like the back of his hand the way you do. We have an enormous task ahead of us, Stew, and we can’t do it without you,” Hall said.

Though it was difficult for Gualt to grasp, he had just been formally asked by the presumed–to–be future leader of the world to come on board and hold a key roll in the new world government—or at least that’s what he heard Hall and Samuel say. He didn’t want to forego the opportunity, but, like most other people who knew of Peterson’s planned ascension, Gualt couldn’t be sure if Peterson could actually pull it off or if he was delusional. Most who knew him well had ruled out delusional.

For two decades Stuart Gualt had languished in obscurity, hidden somewhere on the organizational chart of a monstrous oil company—making very good money, but never really engaging in key corporate strategy or otherwise involved in the biggest of the big decisions of this worldwide conglomerate. He would not pass up this opportunity to step out of the darkness of obscurity and into the light of renown.

“The answer is yes,” Gualt said, “I’ll serve in Mr. Peterson’s administration. When do I begin?”

“Much sooner than you think,” Hall replied.

“And, I was just wondering, Stew. After thinking about it, I think that it would be appropriate for you to sweeten this deal even more for us. Just as you offered to do. Not just for WWCA, but also for us personally. The thirty–eight million dollars will be nice, but you are correct to point out that an additional commission would be appropriate,” Hall said.

“You don’t even have to name it. I’ve got a perfect plan. I won’t bother you with the details. Just know that within forty–five days there will be a very large present waiting for each of you in one of your deposit accounts.”

“My foreign bank accounts are known for their surprises, Stew,” Hall said.

“You’ll both be happy with it, very happy,” Gualt replied.

“Don’t forget the U.N. speech. We want you to witness it. Put it on your calendar.”

“It’s already on my schedule. I plan to watch it live. It’ll be broadcast on all the networks. It will be considered one of the most important speeches of the twenty–first century.”

“Did you think that we meant for you to watch it on TV?” Samuel asked. “No, not on TV. You will watch it from the main floor of the U.N. You will be there with us and with Mr. Peterson.”

“I am truly honored,” Stew said, placing his right hand awkwardly over his upper left chest area.

“If you have honor for Mr. Peterson,” Hall said coldly, “prove it to him and to us. We have a meeting scheduled today with Mr. Peterson to finalize his advisory council. We want you there, to meet with us afterwards, so that we can finalize all of this with you,” Hall explained.

“Advisory council?” Gualt asked.

“Those who will govern with Mr. Peterson,” Samuel replied.

“You mean, I’ll be in at that level?” Gualt asked.

Hall and Samuel chuckled. “No, Stew, you’ll be in a senior position, but we will govern,” Hall said, “and you will administrate.”

Gualt waited in Peterson’s outer office as Hall and Samuel went in to meet with Peterson. Hall, Samuel and Gualt would become Peterson’s only government officials. Publicly they would also be Peterson’s closest advisors. They would govern with him, although they would govern nothing. They would administrate. Peterson alone would govern. And Peterson didn’t need their advice. They would advise no one about anything. Peterson alone would advise. Still, Peterson needed the public appearance of government officials and advisors. Hall, Samuel and Gualt would serve those purposes just fine.