by RichardGerald
Brazil doesn't have an extradition treaty with the U.S., so it is a safe place to pick! HAHAHA!
I know he committed a crime but I can't help but feel good for Morgan. He gave his life to that company and the new owners discarded him like a used piece of equipment.
Enjoy your coffee Morgan
Woodmanone
I didn't really understand what happened with his kids. Did they side with their Mother and leave him? Did he pay for college for his kids and her kids? Did he help her out after she lost her second husband? Oh well.
You prepare yourself for when it happens again. Morgan prepared himself well.
Great tale about beating the system. Maybe she did go with him.
Hmmm...
True, new brooms are too inflexible to sweep clean, and too innocent to see how much mischief has escaped them.
As someone who is in the investment business, I doubt the clients would have been happy to have bought long-term bonds BEFORE an interest rate rise. When interest rates rise, bond values fall.
I assume it was just a mental glitch on your part. It takes nothing away from a very sweet story.
Sounds like he worked long hours, to the detriment of his marriage. He doesn't even know what time his wife is getting home from work, because he's not home either? So I can see the kids accepting him as an economic unit of production rather than a father. The story relates no warm family vignettes and interaction. And since the wife has no emotional content to her marriage, why put up with the economic sacrifice? For a man who is supposedly savvy to the complexities of long term investments, it sounds like he invested very little into his marriage; much more into his job. We don't know if or for how long the wife tried to redirect his attention to her and their children, but it sounds like it was very cold and distant by the time she left. That story we will never know.
So his swan song is to exit as a thief? I believe he worked, and they paid him. If he wanted more he should have invested his time and efforts into more education, acquired more marketable skills. With the support of his wife and children, they could have improved their lives. Sounds like he had this plan in the back of his mind for a long time. And being shed of the wife and kids just makes his escape that much less complicated. No, not sure Morgan is the sad underdog portrayed after all. But this was a very well written and thought provoking story. Thank you!
Couple of thoughts -
His kids - As someone else said, maybe they DID only look on him as an "economic unit", but still, HE was there for them when their mother ran off, that should count for SOMETHING!
Ellen - I don't know how much older than her he is, but sending her a first-class ticket to Rio sounds like it might be fun!
it left me with a smile.
Thanks for sharing on Lit.
x
I liked his scheme for a self paid "golden parachute" and way of embarrassing the new management.
This is the first RG story that I gave 5* to.
No, Morgan wasn't perfect, but I'd bet that if they hadn't fired him and had treated him reasonably he would have stayed and worked honestly for them.
...with a great ending. Love it when a plan comes together. Five stars from this reader.
5 star rate for this author. he finally got one correct.
other tales are 2-3 star efforts. some have, some have not, why I don't attempt writing.
"I have fallen in love with someone else," – You don’t JUST “fall in love” with someone; you have to out with them, get into romantic situations, etc.
“He hadn't heard from any of his kids in over five years.” – That’s amazing! Their mother walks out, he sacrifices everything for them, and then they abandon him?
@Anonymous “Saw that coming” – I don’t believe the kids sided with her, she left them with him, he DID pay for HIS kids college.
@Anonymous “Nitpicking” – I claim NO expertise, but I believe the customers were happy because they were the bond issuers, so by selling when they did they paid out a lot less in interest.
@Anonymous “Good story” – MAYBE he could have devoted more time to his family, but as you say, we see no effort on her part to encourage more “family” time, in fact SHE abandons her family (not just him), to “trade up”.
Got to watch out for the little guys! He certainly looked out for himself. I wonder if the ex or the kids even missed him? One thing. When the kids wanted to go to school they should have had to pay their own way or at the very least go to the local University. Spoiled little brats!
One of your better stories. Short...but good. I liked the ending. Haha The wife should have stayed with Morgan. Dumb bitch.
Mainly because it deserved more than a three, gave it the bump for sticking it to the man!
It's been said before, maybe even by me, that he should have sent Ellen a ticket to Rio! That would have made it a SOLID four!
Could of gone into more depth I thought about Morgan's divorce and Ellen's life.
First of all, this is a short story. There is no time/space for tracing the history of Western Civilization. I was concerned that too much space had been devoted to Morgan's divorce but RG knows best! A little man, doing his best for 35 years and damn-all to show for it. Except a plan... for a rainy day only he saw coming. Great story. My only quibble is that you left out my fix of Albany area local color. JPR
They could find out that Morgan had fled to Brazil, of course, but with the head start he has, he could be anywhere in the country by now, and will certainly have spent a few thousand to acquire a new ID....
they didn't get old being foolish, TK U MLJ LV NV
Was it his ace in the hole? Or an ace up his sleeve? Either way it’s nice to see someone come out ahead of the game. Those corporate buyouts and the bloodletting that always seems to follow, are very ugly. Nice to read a story about the little guy who came out of it with a smile on his face.
Good story
Great Short Story to make you smile in a cloudy day. Great writer too. Thanks for the story.
I knoew he was going to game the system, now he is over there enjoying his millions on his own, the wife that traded up now burdened with debts, the corporation that didn't consider him robbed of a few pennys, and he well he is probally enjoying himself some sweet Brazilian ass!!!!!!!
Oh you were standing in front of it!
If what he did was to spite the new owners ,I agree with him.How ever if it was meant to be taken from his present employers,then I don't agree with his action.
I used to work with a Computer Programmer that told me that a previous employer had given him an 18 month contract, 6 months to write some software & 12 months maintenance but he was "sacked" after 6 months and they refused to honour the rest of the deal. Unfortunately one month later the software stopped working and they had to go back to him - his price to fix it was the 1 year payment in one cheque and once it had cleared, he removed one line of code & the new system worked again.
What he had done was hard code in that if his name was taken out of the payroll before the end of contract date, his system would stop working!
“Just needed a complete change of staff to make it work. All the people who would have seen something wrong were let go.”
That is, if everyone was fired... therefore most likely new owners.
When let go when their company change owners. Good read. Thanks for sharing.
Loved it and quite possible a true story, somewhere! Don't you just love the corporation take overs where they force older faithful employees to train the new hires that will take their old jobs with less pay? No heart no feeling no sense of honor. Something to be said for unions as much as people complain about them. 78 and retired I now make for retired than I did working thanks to unions.................executives just don't get it but Mr. Morgan did!
Hopefully he sent a Cayman account number to his protege and nothing for his ingrates and ex.
Was this a revenge story, or a crime pays story.
Cleverly written. Short and sweet. But before we praise the genius of it, remember, in the end it all of us little people that pay.
Good story. Just curious but it sounds like his wife Dana left him with the kids. Is that right?
Wow his kids were jerks. No contact for 5 years? Dana got two kids from thr lawyer she didn't love and when he died, she lost the "good" life. Quite a shark. I guess his kids inherited that from her.
Dunno if you still read comments after all this time, but thanks I truly enjoyed this.
Now that IS playing the long game, why is every one worried about his callous wife and children? They are after all just losers
5 stars - I like this story.
He got away with more than enough to last the rest of his life.
It is always nice to see big business getting hosed every now and again.
Morgan deserthe good life away from his cheating bitch ex wife and ungrateful bastard children!! Too bad there is no comeuppance for them
Goes to show, it pays to prepare! Good for Morgan! 5 stars
somewhere east of Omaha