Chapter 1: Introduction

Today is December 5, 2066 and I am Mrs. Carl Simmons. My husband Carl was just an average person until he became the sole winner of the September twenty twenty-eight one point four billion dollar Powerball Lottery drawing.

Then, he began to change.

Carl kept two Journals. His lawyer and close friend, Victor Charles, asked him to keep a journal of his business-related thoughts, decisions, and activities, regarding the creation and operation of Carl’s two businesses. This request came after Carl created his two companies, so he had to retroactively create journal entries for the period of time before Vic made his request. Carl decided the first journal entry should address how he came to buy his winning Lottery ticket; since that single act was the turning point in Carl’s life.

When Carl and Vic first met, Carl told Vic he expected to be sued, and he hired Vic to defend him. As his lawyer, Vic wanted to use Carl’s journal as background information for advising Carl on how to structure his business empire and for creating a defense strategy. Carl told me he enjoyed creating that journal for Vic. Journaling his activities gave him a better perception of what he was trying to do, and the ramifications of his actions; so he continued to maintain the journal. For a similar reason, he started a journal of his personal life, and he eventually merged the two journals.

Carl passed away in his sleep on the twelfth of May twenty sixty. He was thirty-nine years old when he won the Lottery in September of twenty twenty-eight, and he was seventy-one at the time of his death. As we approached what we thought of as our retirement years, Carl told me that he had accomplished most of the goals he set for himself. He was happy with the life he had led. Somehow, we just kept putting off retiring, and we continued walking the path of public service we had built for ourselves.

After Carl’s death, I inherited his entire estate. As the new owner of Carl’s business empire, I took on the positions of CEO and President of Simmons Investment and Management Corporation, which is known to most people as SIMC, which is pronounced as SimCee. A few years ago, in October of twenty sixty-three, I retired and turned the Presidency and management of SIMC over to our youngest daughter, Helen. As a retired old lady with nothing better to do, I set out to create a tribute to Carl. I knew I would never be able to tell the world the full story of Carl’s accomplishments; but at least I could provide the world with a slightly sanitized version of the founding of SIMC.

Since Carl’s life was so involved in the newspaper publishing business, I decided it was only appropriate for me to tell the world about his early days in a series of newspaper articles. The articles would be a history of what motivated Carl to evolve from an average person into someone who was hated by a few, loved by many, and highly respected by those who knew the true background of the events that changed several facets of our society and our laws.