A Gift From the Heavens
Copyright© 2026 by A Well Traveled Man
Chapter 2
Hudson rode to work with his Mom and parked behind the law office. Hudson noticed a man working on the building’s phone lines. He told his Mom it was odd that there was no phone company truck in the parking lot. When they got inside, his Mom went to her boss, David Berch, and told him what Hudson had seen and said. David said they didn’t have problems with the phone lines and called the police. Then David asked Hudson to accompany him outside to question the phone man.
Carol Stone waited outside to direct the police once they arrived. The phone man tried to run when he saw David and Hudson approaching him. Hudson easily caught him, and they waited for the police. When the police arrived, they found out the man wasn’t a phone repairman but a private investigator named James Daly. James claimed that District Attorney Keith Daniels hired him and authorized the wiretap.
The police arrested James Daly, and David Berch called Judge Sandra Cruz, who was hearing the case involving Tony Morelli and District Attorney Keith Daniels. Judge Cruz called an emergency meeting in her chambers for 10 a.m., and all hell was about to break loose. David Berch left for the meeting, and Hudson helped his Mom with her work until lunchtime.
Hudson and his Mom went to lunch, and when they returned, her boss, David Berch, called them into the conference room. David sat with a happy Tony Morelli and told them what happened in the Judge’s chambers. Once District Attorney Keith Daniels learned that his private investigator, James Daly, had been arrested for tapping phone lines, he admitted he had authorized it.
The case was dismissed with prejudice, and District Attorney Keith Daniels was arrested for authorizing an illegal wiretap. Tony Morelli thanked Hudson for being observant, and Hudson walked Mr. Morelli to his car. Tony gave him his business card and asked Hudson to call him so he could thank him properly. He left, and that’s how Hudson got his second customer for his game.
When Hudson returned to the law office, David Berch thanked him for the excellent job he had done that morning. David told them to take the rest of the day off with pay and that he would see Carol the next day. Hudson asked his Mom what pay when they left, and they laughed. They stopped at the market on the way home to pick up steaks and potatoes for a celebration. She said my bonus would be great this quarter, thanks to you, Hudson.
Dad came home happy and said Bernie Whelan was fired today, per a memo distributed to all employees. Overnight, Bernie’s car caught fire in the parking lot and was fully engulfed by the time the fire department arrived. Dad said I think Bernie’s safer in jail and we agreed. Then Mom told him about her day and how Hudson caught a man wiretapping the law office phone lines. That led to our case being dismissed with prejudice and the District Attorney being arrested for ordering an illegal wiretap.
We enjoyed Mom’s steak-and-baked-potato dinner and talked about the good luck the Stone family was having. Dad said with Bernie out of the way, his chance of landing the subcontractor contract was almost a sure thing. Hudson told his Dad he would have to start discreetly approaching the key people in the department. Maybe say you are thinking of starting your own company, and if they want to change jobs, keep him in mind.
His Dad said I’ll bet Bernie told more people than me, and now they are wondering what to do. Mom said to wait a few days for the Bernie fiasco to blow over before you start. After dinner, they said goodnight and went to bed.
The next morning, Hudson went to the dojo to train with Sensi Chen. He went to the dojo three times a week and practiced his forms every morning. Sensi Chen put Hudson through a grueling two-hour workout, which was never the same. He believed that repetition builds complacency, so every workout was different, taxing Hudson’s endurance to the limit.
Sensi Chen was a strong believer in using your inner strength or chi. Sensi said building your chi was better than building your body with weights. So, for every workout, Hudson tried to keep his chi active for as long as possible. Sensi Chen would notice when he lost it and then tell Hudson to stop, regain his chi, and continue. That persistence on Sensi’s part was hard, but now Hudson could almost make it through a workout without losing his chi.
Sensi Chen instructed Hudson to maintain his chi throughout the day while performing his tasks. Sensi believed the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Therefore, the stronger and more aware you are of life’s challenges. Exhausted from the workout, Hudson bowed and thanked Sensi for his instruction. Then he went to the locker room, showered, dressed, and called Tony Morelli.
Mr. Morelli told Hudson to come to his office at 1 p.m. Hudson stopped at Carl’s Jr. for lunch, then went to Tony Morelli’s office. He arrived at 1 p.m. and was escorted to Mr. Morelli’s office by the receptionist. Mr. Morelli welcomed Hudson and told him to call him Tony. Tony said, “Hudson, you saved me a lot of money and headaches, so I would like to extend my gratitude and handed an envelope to Hudson.
Hudson thanked Tony and said You might not know, but the law isn’t my first passion. I just graduated with my master’s in computer programming, which I find interesting. I’ll finish my law degree next semester, but I have no interest in becoming a lawyer full-time. I developed a game during my master’s studies that may interest you. The game is a front for the program’s real purpose.
Then, Hudson explained the game and how it worked. Tony asked for a demonstration, so Hudson gave him one. Tony loved the idea of the game for secure communication and asked what the program cost was. Hudson said there is no fixed cost per se, but you can choose to pay what you feel it is worth every month. My other customer, a stockbroker, offered me five percent of the trades made using the program. What you offer is fine, but remember that I maintain the game and keep it secure.
When Hudson left Tony Morelli’s office, he had a new customer, and this one was paying cash, which was a bonus. Tony agreed to have Hudson come to his office once a month to do computer work and receive his payment. On the way home, Hudson thought it would be a good idea to have two or three other games ready in case the climbing game was compromised.
Online poker was popular, so that could be one of them. Solitaire was also a popular online game, which made two. The third should be different, and then an idea came to Hudson that was too good to pass up. The third game was “The Pickup Artist.” A man enters a bar, and there are fifteen women. When the man approaches a woman, he’s given four pickup lines to choose from to see if he scored.
The way into the secret room is to have the man approach the bartender and ask for a drink; 20 options then pop up. If he chooses the right drink, the bartender says, “Cherry is waiting in the back room.” You lucky dude. When the man enters the room, a login screen appears. It asks for your player number, login name, and password. The key to the game is that the drink changes every week, adding an extra layer of security.
When Hudson arrived home, he started programming the new games. The only thing that changed was the beginning, so it wasn’t as difficult as the first game. When Hudson’s Mom arrived home, he saved his work and went into the kitchen to help her with dinner. His Mom said she got a ticket on the way home, and the officer said she hadn’t come to a complete stop.
Hudson asked his Mom to draw out the intersection and where the police officer was when he observed her infraction. When his Mom drew it out, Hudson said it was physically impossible for the officer to make that determination. He didn’t have a clear field of view from two cars behind you. Have your boss subpoena his dashcam footage, and the Judge will dismiss the charges.
Hudson’s Mom thanked him and said she would have her boss subpoena the dashcam footage. Hudson told his Mom that once they get the subpoena, they may drop the charges rather than go through the cost and time of producing it. When Hudson’s Dad got home, they ate dinner, and he said We got our termination notices today and our severance offer. The department is closing in 30 days.
Mom said that we’d better submit the subcontractor bid immediately. They must have a subcontractor in place by the time the department closes, and Dad and I agreed. Hudson told his Dad not to forget to include a coordinator and a receptionist when recruiting. If he had to train them from scratch, it would be a nightmare, and he agreed.
The next thirty days went fast, and Dad won the subcontract. He hired the best computer techs in the department, Cheryl as his coordinator, and Debbie as the receptionist. Like any government agency, they were overstaffed and had too many layers of management. So, Dad’s bid saved the State money and made Dad a lot more money. He was able to do the job with half the staff and offer them a pay raise.
A lot has happened in Hudson’s life in the past 30 days, too. The office was too small, so he worked remotely from home. He completed his semester, took the finals, and signed up for his last semester of law school. Then Sensi Chen said he should take up a team sport, preferably outdoors. Sensi Chen told Hudson that he spent too much time indoors and needed a physical sport to interact with others his age.
Hudson told his parents about Sensi Chen’s recommendation, and they discussed his options with him. Football was ruled out due to injury risk and was played by schools Hudson didn’t attend. Basketball was an option, but those would be pickup games. Soccer was the only team sport left, and how he would learn to play the sport was the question. Hudson’s Mom said she would ask some friends at work, and Hudson said he’d check at the YMCA.
When he went to work with his Mom the next week, they had a new client who got pulled over, and a large amount of money was found in his vehicle. The client was Jose Ramerez, and there was no doubt he was a drug dealer. The question was if the traffic stop warranted searching his SUV. Hudson found case law that said if the officer pulling over the vehicle didn’t smell or see drugs in plain sight, calling a drug dog was an illegal search. He also found case law that said a majority of money in circulation would test positive for drugs.
David Berch was ecstatic and filed a motion to dismiss the charges of illegal search, supported by the case law Hudson found. Two weeks later, the case was dismissed with prejudice, and the money was ordered returned to Mr. Ramirez. That’s how Hudson got his third customer for his game and soccer training. It turned out Jose Ramirez was a soccer fan and sponsored a junior league team. Mr. Ramirez hooked Hudson up with a trainer and arranged for him to practice with his team.
As his Dad would say, Hudson took to soccer like a fish to water. Hudson earned an attacker-midfielder spot on the junior team within three months. His Dad’s business was doing well, and his Mom earned a record bonus. Hudson had two cash-paying customers and a healthy investment account. Things were going great for the Stone family.
Then, two months later, tragedy struck the Stone family. Ben Stone got sick and went to the doctor and found out he had an advanced form of cancer. Within two months, he died, and Hudson and his Mom’s lives were turned upside down. They got another surprise at the funeral when Ben Stone’s Dad arrived. Ben had told Hudson and his Mom that his father and mother died when he was in college.
Ben’s father, or my Grandfather, told us what caused the family separation. Ben and his older brother, Tom, never got along and were constantly fighting. Tom was good at sports but did poorly in school. Ben was the opposite and got straight A’s, but wasn’t good at sports. Tom stole Ben’s girlfriend in high school and then got her pregnant. Ben was so upset that he never spoke to Tom again. When Tom had just graduated from high school, Grandfather said he had hired him at his company so he could support his wife and child.
When Ben graduated from high school, he got a scholarship, and I promised to support him if he returned home and computerized the company. While in college, Ben didn’t come home but once a year and stayed with friends. Tom, his wife, and his baby lived with us, so we had to meet him at a restaurant. When Ben graduated, we threw him a party. Tom wasn’t invited, but he showed up and told Ben he would be working for him at the company as a joke.
The next day, Ben was gone, leaving a note saying he had no family anymore and that he didn’t want to be contacted ever again. Tom divorced his wife because Ben wasn’t around to rub it in his face. His wife took him to the cleaners with alimony and child support, and Tom turned to drinking and killed himself while driving drunk. Tom was my wife’s favorite son, which kept me from doing more for Ben. When Tom died, my wife died six months later. I had to sell the company because I could not compete with their computerized systems.
Hudson told his Grandfather he should sell his story to Hollywood. It would make a good movie or mini-series, and everyone laughed. We exchanged contact information and promised to keep in touch, and Grandfather left for home. Mom said that Ben’s Dad had no balls, or he would have put his foot down and stopped that shit when it happened, and he agreed.
Hudson’s Mom sold Dad’s company through a broker, and with Dad’s life insurance, we were okay financially. Our lives continued almost as if Dad hadn’t died. Mom continued to work at the law firm, and Hudson continued with his studies, side business, working out at the dojo, and playing soccer. With Dad’s business sold, Hudson had more time, so he went to Mom’s work twice weekly. It made Mom feel better that Hudson was around more, and now they were paying me for my time, which helped.