Chapter 21
As Judge Haufensehn made his way home that evening, his stomach growled ferociously as his mind devoured the various meals he imagined might be ready for him. He could have his pick any day of the week, but he usually preferred to leave it to the maid’s, his wife’s, or his child’s whim, as that created a certain degree of unpredictability and heightened his anticipation.
He was imagining a superbly roasted turkey with fresh bread and mashed potatoes as he made his way towards the front door of his handsome abode. His good cheer was put to the test when he found the door refusing to open in spite of the fact he had heard the lock slide and the handle was compressing as it should.
A sullen wave of grumpiness crashed down on him, as he began to push, first insistently and then violently, against the door.
“Shall I be barred from my own home?!!” he shouted, red-faced, to no one in particular, and then let fly a string of epitaphs that would have been earned praise from a longshoreman. Now madder than hell fire, he paced around to the back of his house, in the process acquiring more exercise than he usually did in a day.
He opened the back door and walked through the kitchen. His fury redoubled as he saw no meal was prepared in the kitchen. The eerie silence of the house made no impression upon him, as his irascible temper was stoked by the contemplation of a cold supper after his long day’s work.
“Rachel!!” he shouted out with such vehemence that she likely would have considered her kidnapping fortuitous had she heard it. He was fit to be tied. He had visions of Rachel, Sarah, and Timmy out amusing themselves somewhere, while he faced a kitchen as empty as his stomach.
Then, he saw what looked like movement near the stairwell.
“Sarah?” he said, with genuine concern, as he saw her struggling body kicking frantically, as if animated by the sound of his voice.
He went springing towards the stairwell, where he found her gagged and well tied up. For a moment he felt genuine pity and concern, but his fury returned with a vengeance when five minutes saw him make not a shred of progress in extricating her from her bonds. Even the gag around her mouth was tied so skillfully that his pudgy fingers were no match against the artful knots.
He ran towards the kitchen and grabbed the first knife he could find, which happened to be a large butcher knife. Sarah’s eyes grew the size of saucers when she saw his furious person approaching her with an instrument that could just as easily murder her as extricate her.
But he calmed himself as he attacked the bonds of his servant and showed sufficient care so that within the span of six minutes she was free of her bonds and without having suffered a scratch in the process.
“Have they stolen much?” inquired the judge, his mind turning at once towards his hidden, yet occasionally bragged about, collection of gold coins.
“Not stolen, kidnapped,” said Sarah, who was a Dachwaldian by birth and had only come to Selegania out of desperation after warfare had left her a desperate widow.
“Kidnapped?!” the judge shouted out in horror, his selfish anger in an instant banished from his mind.
Sarah nodded her head, sobbing.
He then noticed the steel pole wedged against the door, which had caused the beginning of his ordeal. He kicked it aside angrily and was about to sprint outside and tell his footman to head at full speed to the local constable’s office, but then he noticed a mysterious package next to the pole.
URGENT CASE MATERIALS IN THE MATTER
OF SELEGANIA V. STEPHENSON
TO BE OPENED BY JUDGE HAUFENSEHN ONLY
“They leave there,” Sarah said, fully aware of the interest the package had stimulated in her master.
Judge Haufensehn immediately tore open the package to discover a letter:
Esteemed Judge Haufensehn:
It is with grave solemnity that we have taken this step. We are not terrorists or criminals. We are barbers, grocers, leatherworkers, bankers, and blacksmiths. In brief, we are your fellow countrymen. We are united by a singular desire to rid this country once and for all of the scourge of so-called “Smokeless Green,” or, as we think it more properly termed, “Poisonous Green”!
We have stood by long enough watching politicians and policemen tiptoe around the issue while this poison permeates our society, but the district judge’s decision in the case of Selegania v. Stephenson was the last straw for us. Beyond you, lies only the Supreme Court, and if you think we are going to stake the safety and wellbeing of our children and our FUTURE on the gutless arbitrariness of men in black robes, then you are hereby undeceived!
The district judge has emboldened both the criminal entrepreneurs who peddle this poison and the addicts who consume it, leaving honest society in the crossfire of these verminous criminals.
Enough is enough!!
If you convince your fellow justices to uphold SISA, your wife and son will be returned in good health. If you fail our republic by intellectual pretension and claim the Constitution forbids SISA, we will return your wife and son to you in pieces, which will represent the devastation you have thereby wrought on this republic’s future.
It would be most unwise to tell anyone of this letter or your family’s abrupt departure. If we sought publicity, we would have delivered this letter to the press. Efforts via the police will be futile and severely harmful to your family’s health. Failure to keep both this letter and your family’s disappearance absolutely secret will be treated the same as failure to uphold SISA.
Oral arguments for this case begin soon, so be of good cheer!—if you act wisely you will be reunited with your family and do a great service to this republic.
Sincerely,
Guardians of Selegania’s Future
Judge Haufensehn crumpled up the letter and threw it across the floor. Then, he began to weep bitterly and hugged Sarah for comfort, who cried with him, fearful both for the wife’s and the son’s lives and her future, but she found room in her thoughts to worry about whether this would negatively affect her employment.
The International Businessman Page 23
