The Prodigal Son....The Imagined Continuation of Anjewelraine's brilliant story.

Chapter - 5

The Prodigal Son
Chapter 5 / aka chap 132
'The Great Spirit'
Written by: Mike Hurley
A story by; Anjewelraine

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Ty and Jack were in the Ranch House kitchen reviewing info from a new beef buyer from Idaho. Jack had bought 100 head of cattle a year ago & Tim was helping run that operation. But Ty knew the buyer from Idaho and was helping Jack decide on signing a contact.

Ty's phone rang; it was Ed O'Meara,
Grandma Lyndy's little brother. Ed was family, and had worked at Heartland Ranch as a hand for many years.

He was also a licensed welder in Canada, but these days he preferred staying close to home and not traveling to big commercial projects that legally hire only licensed welders.

Now he worked at all 3 operations......Heartland, Lisa's FairField and Ty's Alberta Lucky ranch.
Ed knew his way around all facets of each ranches daily operation. He was like his father Thomas, and could pretty much do anything.
Ed moved to Oregon years ago, served in the United States Navy and married and had 2 boys; Wilton and Matthew.
Matthew was drafted and sent to Vietnam, he never came home. Matt gave cover to 6 retreating soldiers, then he was hit & his body never found. There were rumors Matt had been badly wounded & the Viet Cong finished him off.

Matt's brother Milton was a loner who worked on an assortment of fishing vessels out of San Antonio. Ed rarely heard from him.

For decades, Matt's name, among many others were listed in an alphabetical file in the 3rd drawer of the Resolute Desk, in the Oval Office of the White House.
The file was titled;
'United States Missing in Action Soldiers'.

Sure, all the names were in Pentagon servers. But every President since Ford wanted paper documents in his desk.
These men and women missing in action, were as revered as the Unknown Soldiers.
But there was no shrine dedicated to them. Instead their memories were guarded 24/7 by the White House Secret Service Detail.

Once a month the Secretary of Defense gave the President a status on the file.
There are 1241 names in the Vietnam file.
Many others still remain MIA from all other wars the country sent its young men to.
The United States continues to search 365 days a year, for its missing young men & women.......and bring them home.

Not a day goes by that Ed O'Meara does not think of his son.......

Ty answered his phone....Good morning Ed, how are you sir?? Ed was Amy's
Great-Uncle and Ty always respected the man.

Morning Ty!! Hey I'm over here at your ranch and the John Deere's drive shaft just broke. We're dead in the water.
No one around here has the parts we need.
Only a Deere dealership in Kansas has them. And they had a fire & can't ship it to us for at least 2 weeks. Their shipping department is shut down. But we can pick it up......

Now I can drive to Kansas for the parts or can I take the private jet??

Ty put the phone on speaker & said....
Ed, I'm here with Jack, you're on speaker phone.

The jet is down too Ed, Ty replied. It needs engine parts and we can't find them. But we need that Deere up and running ASAP.
Any other options Ed??

Buy a 2nd tractor?
Buy a new jet? Ed replied with a laugh.

Ty......Ed's got a point. Your plane is old and always breaking down for the last 2 years.
Jack said.

Ty stared at Jack then replied to Ed...

Ok, Ed I agree with you. I'm going this afternoon to buy a new corporate jet. This can't wait any longer. Can you spearhead this issue and fly to Kansas, get the parts and get 'em home.