The next year or so saw big changes in the Nolan household. Jim's salary had nearly tripled between his raises- that seemed to come on an almost monthly basis- and the honorarium from the council. Despite the protestations of the ever practical Ann, they had moved out of their small house into a much bigger one in a much nicer neighborhood. Jim had suggested getting a maid, but Ann drew the line... she would clean her own house. She did allow Jim to buy her a new car, an SUV that Ann claimed was much more than she needed, but Jim was insistent. He had even threatened to take up golf, a sport that he had always hated.
Jim's expertise with numbers had prepared him well for his new role in the company. His ideas were innovative and sales had increased dramatically thanks to him. At the monthly council meetings, he had been promoted from merely selecting numbers to inputting them into the computer and sending them off to the state office. Everything was going well, both personally and professionally. His relationship with his boss Leyland Masters was also going well. He and Ann were frequent guests at the Masters' palatial home and their children got along especially well.
One day after work Jim returned home to find an unexpected guest, Ann's younger brother David. Jim always liked David even though David had never met a conspiracy he didn't almost instantly adopt. Jim laughingly dubbed him the King of the Tinfoil Hat Brigade. Apparently, David had lost another job and needed a temporary place to stay. Jim, of course, didn't mind, they had plenty of extra room and the kids loved David, as did his sister. It would probably do her good to have him around to talk to. Jim walked over and stuck out his hand.
"Hi Dave, any good conspiracies I should know about?" This brought a disapproving look from Ann, so he followed up with, "glad to have you here, your sister and I have missed seeing you."
"Things seem like they're looking up for you guys," David said approvingly. "Ann's been filling me in on your new found good fortune."
"Yes, things are going well and so are we. I really am happy to have you here, Dave, please stay as long as you want. We've got tons of room and it'll be nice to have you here to talk to both for Ann and me." Jim was sincere, he really did like David in spite of his often times nutty ideas... He was a really smart guy.
"I put Dave in the guest room over the garage, that way he has his own entrance and plenty of room for his computer stuff," said Ann. David was something of a computer expert and had a good deal of equipment. The room over the garage was spacious and would suit David's needs well.
Everything was going along just fine until David happened across a pill bottle marked Batchagon in his nephew's bathroom. "What are these?" He asked his sister.
"Something that's supposed to keep you from getting cancer. It's not on the market yet, so don't say anything... it's supposed to be all hush, hush," she said mysteriously.
"Hmmm," said David
"Now don't start that," Ann said firmly. "If Jim finds out you know, he'll kill me. It's got something to do with that council thing he's on."
David was perplexed. He had never heard of the drug before so he decided to investigate.
It was true that David had never met a conspiracy he didn't like and was intrigued by the mysterious prescription... Batchagon, the mystery wonder drug. It was one David had never heard of and he felt that he had to know more and what better place to start than the internet. He went to his apartment above the garage and fired up his trusty computer. There was nothing to be found on the internet. There was apparently no such compound which, naturally, sent David into a frenzy of activity. He immediately began to contact his friends- other conspiracy theorists, who all had similar results.
He pressed Ann about Jim's activity at the council and the purpose of what they were doing. Ann was circumspect, not only to avoid a confrontation, but as much because she really had very little idea what the council did herself. This didn't satisfy David's curiosity at all.
"I wish you wouldn't do this, David," she told him. "I really don't want any trouble for Jim, or for you for that matter. These people are very secretive about what they do and surely if there was anything amiss, such respectable organizations wouldn't be involved... I mean c'mon Dave- the American Cancer Society?"
"Don't you find it the least bit odd that the drug you're taking seems not to exist?" David was persistent, partly out of curiosity, but mostly out of concern for his sister and her family.
"Jim said it's experimental and perfectly safe, it just isn't on the market yet," she explained.
"But, there should at least be a record of it existing. There's not one word about it on the internet," David said persistently.
"Please David," Ann pleaded, "not everything in the world is on that internet of yours." David could tell she was becoming upset and didn't push it any further. He had to get another look at that pill bottle; maybe the manufacturer's name would be there.
"Well, I'm going to take a shower and go out for a bit. I'm sorry I upset you Sis," he said. "It's probably nothing anyways."
"Whatever you do, Dave, please don't mention anything about it to Jim," Ann asked, concern in her voice.
"I won't, Sis, just forget about it." David went to her bathroom to shower but the pill bottle was nowhere to be found in there. When he came out, Ann had gone to the store so he began his search in earnest. It was in the kid's bathroom where he hit the jackpot. Both children's bottles were in the medicine cabinet... But, no manufacturer's name. He returned to his apartment above the garage to check his email before going out himself, but not before taking one of the pills to have analyzed. And, there it was...
He had gotten an email from a friend in California, a fellow conspiracy nut who had heard of the mysterious drug. 'It's a placebo,' the email read, 'something that's supposed to prevent cancer, but doesn't really do anything.' Now he was really perplexed. Why would his sister and her family be taking it? He had to know more. He shot off an email asking for more information and then went out. When he returned he got the surprise of his life.
His friend in California had emailed him back: 'Dude,' it began, 'this is fucking huge, you're not going to believe this. You know David Rockefeller and those CFR people that believe in overpopulation. They have this council thing that picks people's names at random and then they give them cancer... men, women, children, even babies. Cancer isn't some disease that you get like TB or something, they give it to you. Some guy from the council here in Cali started talking about it and they gave him some really bad cancer and he was dead in a month. I'll send you more stuff when I can. That Batchagon stuff is supposed to be some miracle drug that prevents cancer, but is doesn't do shit. Be careful, these guys you do not want to fuck with- seriously!' David was stunned... he didn't know what to do. He couldn't go to Jim and Ann probably wouldn't believe him. She would think it was just another one of his "conspiracies."
That night at dinner David was uncharacteristically quiet. He pushed the food around his plate halfheartedly. "Don't you like it?" Ann asked. He looked up from his plate. "It's fine," he said with a half smile and began to eat.
"Is something wrong?" Jim asked him.
"No," he said, "just trouble finding a job. I can't live off you guys forever."
"You're welcome here as for long as you want to stay," said Jim. "We're happy you're here, aren't we, Ann?"
"Of course we are," Ann put in, "we've got plenty of room and nobody's gone hungry yet," she said with a smile. Now David felt really bad... how could he tell them. He couldn't stay silent forever, they were in danger and so was he now that he knew. Jim was a really good man and he loved his sister more than himself. This was a bad situation and he didn't want to make it worse. He excused himself and went to his rooms... he had to think- and check his email.
https://steemit.com/fiction/@richq11/the-lottery-council-rewrite-i-seminars
https://steemit.com/fiction/@richq11/the-lottery-council-rewrite-ii-the-new-vp