The Slums of Heaven

Mariah reasoned that even if they went through with a divorce, Kendall needed to act like a husband and a father until then. She made the mistake of mentioning that she needed both their incomes to survive. Kendall said he would see what he could do.

Kendall went back to his Commanding Officer's Office. He requested permission to apologize for his actions. Major Prescott assumed Kendall would be begging for his support in regaining his rank and pay. To be safe, however, the Major brought in two MP's to witness the exchange and prevent a reoccurrence of the last time. Kendall was quite convincing with his apology. He blamed his marital problems for an instance of temporary insanity. With a "no hard feelings" Kendall offered his hand to Prescott Major. Although skeptical, the Major extended his hand and wound up with three broken fingers before the MPs could stop Kendall.

A knock on the head, a trip to jail, a court martial and Kendall was out of the service on a dishonorable discharge. The general tried to insist on a long jail term until 14 of the men who served under his son in the Stan promised to testify that the fight in Afghanistan for which the Major was being recommended for a Bronze Star was due to Prescott's incompetence. The general wanted the Bronze Star for his son, so he gave up the demand for jail time. Kendall was released from jail and the service just in time for the divorce. He figured he could live a few months with the money he had hidden.

Mariah's lawyer was unable to find any of the hidden assets. Actually there were never any large assets due to Kendall's relatively low income from the Army. Now he also had no income or pension. Mariah had counted on alimony and half of his pension to help her until she and Shelton were married.

Rather than have to pay Kendall alimony since she had income and he didn't, Mariah offered to do an even split of almost no assets and get it over with. She and the baby would stay in the rental house with Kendall providing housing support when able. Mariah didn't even try to get child support from him. She knew Kendall could get DNA proof he was not the father. She put her hopes on Shelton for her living expenses her salary didn't cover, but his divorce proceedings had squashed that for the time being, except for the child support to his and Mariah's baby. Carrie had agreed on his paying that. There was no reason to dispute or hide his fatherhood now. Mariah was faced with near bankruptcy conditions to go along with her humiliation.

Shelton and Courtney surprisingly stayed together, although it was more of a 'last chance' than a reconciliation. He tried to convince his wife that he was just playing Mariah. He said he had no intention of getting divorced and marrying her. Shelton was praying that Kendall would agree to stay married, so he could break things off with Mariah. In one way, that made Courtney feel even worse about her husband. He was, however, the father of her children and the idea of taking turns parenting was abhorrent to her. She valued a stable home for her children.

Shelton was most concerned about his business. He could not stand to split the business which Courtney might be able to do in a divorce. Shelton said he was most concerned about not breaking up his home, but he made it clear that if he was able to still be in control of the business, he would agree to anything. Courtney let him continue to manage the business but required him to take the business public and give her 51% of the stock. He could manage, but she could fire. Courtney knew he would be significantly hurt by having to give up total control. The post-nup would give her everything if he strayed again, so she was satisfied he was punished enough.

Shelton could keep or sell as many of his remaining shares as he wished. He needed cash, as Courtney wanted something from Mariah. She and Shelton talked Mariah into letting them adopt the child. Courtney planned to raise it as one of hers. They agreed to a large cash payment that they called severance pay to make it look better. Mariah had to agree to resign as Shelton's secretary.

Mariah made one last effort to reconcile with Kendall. Now that there was not a child in the equation and Kendall would no longer be deployed, they could start over. All he had to do was forgive her and give her a chance to make it up to him. She even used the argument that Jesus would say he should forgive her. Mariah promised to be a faithful wife again. She appeared to be genuinely sincere to Kendall.

Kendall only had to remember her recorded conversation with Shelton and her willingness to make a child with someone else. He was mad that Mariah had tried to turn his tendency to ask, 'What Would Jesus Do?' against him. He said, "You have ruined one marriage and almost ruined another. You need to be punished for that. God will ultimately decide what that will be.

"As for me, you have broken my heart, caused me to leave the military, and left me with little money to start a new life. Jesus says that I should 'turn the other cheek,' and 'hate the sin but love the sinner.' As much as I believe that, it doesn't mean, however, I need to be married to you to forgive or to love you. To me, hating the sin justifies the divorce in spite of forgiving and loving you. God will let me know if I'm wrong in my judgment.

"Mariah, you are still a beautiful woman and have a lot to offer any man. Go find him and remember what you hopefully learned about faithfulness. I wish you the best."

Mariah went back to the house. She took the whole bottle of pain pills she had been given at the hospital for pain after childbirth. If not for her friend Amy checking on her, she would have died. Even though she survived, her mind essentially did not. Whatever the official psychiatric diagnosis, Mariah just didn't care anymore about anything, including living. Amy called Kendall and he got in touch with Mariah's sister in Michigan. She arranged to have Mariah placed in a psychiatric facility near her family. The family was angry with Kendall for abandoning her. He did not have the heart to tell them the extent of Mariah's betrayal. He did not mention a child at all. Mariah had not planned to tell them until she was divorced and with Shelton.

Kendall spent the last month for which rent had been paid in the old house. He had no reason to stay, but he did not want to return to Mt. Clemons because Mariah was there. He decided to reconcile with his father and ask his advice.

"Hello, Dad."

"Oh, I'm your Dad again. Don't worry. I won't give you a hard time. That was a lousy way for you to find out. I love you, son. Nothing will ever change that. How are things going?"

It took Kendall about a half hour to bring his father up-to-date on the events since their last talk. Both could hear the other gently sobbing.

"So, Kendall, what are you going to do now?"

"That's what I was going to ask you. Do you have any suggestions?"

"As matter of fact, I do. Tell me, how far are you from a town called Hopkinsville?"

"Just about 15 minutes, why?"

"Then I suggest you go see your grandfather."

Questions from Kendall came rapid fire, "Grandfather? Joseph Palmer? He's still alive? How long has it been? 20 years? Why would he want to see me?"

"Let me assure you that I was surprised as you when he called me out of the blue. I was getting mad after a few seconds, but he apologized and told me a story worth listening to. I think you should hear him out. He wants to talk to you."

"I'm surprised he even remembers me. Hell, the last thing I remember is him shouting at you and then going back to his car where his teenage trophy girlfriend was waiting. What is going on with him? Why me? He never liked me. Why now?"

"I think it would be best for him to tell you. I will text you the number. Call soon."

Kendall was reluctant to call, but he didn't have much to do besides job hunting. He was afraid he would have to move as the local area was very sensitive about the less than honorable discharge Kendall had received. Many businessmen were former military themselves. He called. His grandfather's secretary had been told he might call and was authorized to set up a meeting. She gave Kendall directions.

The day and time came, and Kendall showed up at a large warehouse building where a section had offices. He was surprised how nice the offices were, given the rather stark façade of the bigger building in which the offices were located. He did not have to wait long before he was escorted into his grandfather's office.

Behind the desk was a man he barely recognized. The man was balder, fatter, and more wrinkled than when he last saw him. His grandfather spoke, "I guess it's too much to expect a hug for your grandfather." When Kendall did not disagree, Joseph went on. "I shouldn't expect much after the way I left the family. Well, I believe in getting down to it. There's a lot I need to say to you. Before that, would you like some coffee?"

"No thanks, grandfather."

"I don't know what you have heard about why I left, but I swear that what I am going to tell you is the absolute truth. First off, it was my wife, your grandmother, who cheated on me and caused the divorce. She was able to convince your father that I was the one who had cheated. It didn't help my case that I found a sweet young thing on the rebound soon after the divorce. Anyway, that's the first part of the rift.

"Secondly, the worst part of the rift was you."

Kendall looked shocked. "Me?"

"Yes, and this is where I owe you the biggest apology I can. I was upset that my son, your father, had agreed to marry the woman I called a whore. Even worse was that he had agreed to raise a bastard child. Sorry, I don't mean that as an insult to you. I swore I would never support your father, mother, or you, ever.

"I moved to here in Hopkinsville because I had been stationed at Camp Campbell in World War II and liked the area. I quickly found that my new girlfriend just wanted to get out of Mt. Clemons. She took off with the first soldier she hooked up with and I haven't heard from her since. Thank God I never married her.

"I found a job and was doing well when I met my second wife. Her first husband had died. He had owned a loose leaf warehouse. That's what they call the big open buildings where tobacco is auctioned off each year. It's a short time each year when the auction occurs, but the money involved is enough to support the farmers who sell the tobacco and the warehouse owners. During the rest of the year, the warehouses don't get used for much except building parade floats.

"Even though the big buildings had nothing inside but a small office and were not used most of the year, some were in downtown. As the quantity of tobacco that could be grown was reduced by the government, fewer warehouses were needed. Most owners wanted to get rid of them. I saw a possibility. Storage.

"Most of the industry in Hopkinsville is related to the automobile industry. At the time, the Japanese management concept of 'on demand' supplies was just being adopted. That means that factories did not use any of their building space for storage. They would not buy supplies from their suppliers until they needed them for immediate use. Suppliers had to have product nearby to survive. So, they became the ones who needed storage.

"I bought up all the warehouses I could. I rented storage space in them. I took the profits to build warehouses closer to the industrial parks. Plus, several of the buildings had to be temperature controlled. Once I had enough of the new storage facilities, I sold the downtown warehouses. Most were torn down and new office and apartment buildings replaced them. I made a killing and pretty much dominated the storage business. Although I was late expanding into private storage units, I finally caught up and have several of them too.

"Basically, I am telling you that I was wrong about your father's agreeing to raise you. Your mother and father did a good job raising you and your sister. You have been a fine son to him. I was impressed when you joined the Army. I was disappointed that your father did not serve. I believe the American Army saved the world in World War II. I was proud of you. My wife has helped me to see how foolish I had been. Anyway, I have apologized to your father and now I am apologizing to you. Please forgive me.

Kendall was too dazed to do anything but nod.

"The other reason for asking you here is that I need help. I don't have much longer to live. No, I'm not ill. Just older than dirt. As the years went on and I began to ease my bitterness, I thought about who I wanted to take over for me. My second wife and I were not able to have children. I want someone in the family to take over. I would like you to consider it. Your father turned it down as his maintenance business has really taken off. Once the DOD started contracting maintenance to private businesses, he jumped on it. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He told me that he wouldn't mind you joining his business, but he would rather your sister and her husband take over for him when that needs to happen. They have been working with him during the expansion. He wants to reward them. So, what's your reaction?"

"I'm flabbergasted. What are we talking about financially here?"

"The business is valued above $7 million. Depending on the profits for a year, I take a several hundred thousand a year out of the business for myself."

"How difficult is it to operate?"

"Surprisingly easy. The key is to have a great financial and administrative crew to keep things running. That means you have to keep tabs on those people all the time and reward the good ones. Although most are honest, it only takes a couple of crooks to ruin you. Your main job is to keep current customers happy and find out how to get new customers. Always keep an eye on the competition."

Kendall took some time to soak up what his grandfather had told him. Then he got a tour and shadowed his grandfather and several top employees. He started as assistant to the president of the company the next week. Joseph and his second wife started planning trips to exotic places. Once they and Kendall were ready, management was transferred, although his grandfather was only a phone call away. Ownership would transfer upon Joseph's death. A percentage of each year's income from the business was to be left to his second wife for her care should Joseph die before her.

It had now been two years after his return home from war. Kendall reflected of the radical changes in his life that had occurred during that time. Then he tried again to analyze his recent history according to WWJD. How well had he done? The baby was with his biological father and a woman who would love him as her own. Shelton had been reined in by his wife who now controlled his business as well as his balls. Kendall had speculated that Shelton had gotten off easy, but Courtney was satisfied. She had the third child she wanted, and her children got to keep their father. It was important to her that her children's life had not been disrupted.

Kendall knew had suffered a lot. Cheated on by his wife, dishonorably discharged from the military, and left almost penniless, although that was his choice in how he handled the divorce. But now, he was wealthy and successful by almost any measure. The last area where he wanted success may have just been solved when Courtney introduced him to her younger sister who had just gotten divorced.

Mariah had suffered the most, which Kendall thought was appropriate in one sense. What Kendall felt most guilty about was that she might have been punished too harshly even if it was her own fault. She lost her husband, her lover, her child, and the life she wanted. Worst, she seemed to have lost her sanity. Despite his efforts to follow the WWJD guidelines, Kendall felt that he carried some responsibility for the harshness of her punishment, intended or not. That responsibility would be one of the main reasons he imagined he would be living in a slum in Heaven. That responsibility was part of the reason he offered to pay for Mariah's future care and treatment. He knew he could not count on it, but maybe, just maybe he will get an upgrade in his housing in heaven.