CT-205                         CORNERSTONE TRAVELER                                                   MARCH  19  ‘13

 

Hi all and welcome to another exciting and thought provoking issue of this bi-weekly newsletter, The CORNERSTONE TRAVELER.  This newsletter, besides being available free of charge at P&G’s is also available on the web at cornerstonetraveler.com.  There have been people who have asked for more of my short stories that appear at the end of each newsletter.  For everyone who would like to read more of my short stories, I have a book of short stories available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com called The COSMIC WHISPERER.  If you like fantasy, sci-fi, supernatural, life after death and just the plain weird, you might like the stories in this book.

mid-Hudson Valley

news:  I have stressed again and again that there is much to see in the

mid-Hudson Valley, both historic and natural.

In New Paltz alone there is Huguenot Street.  The oldest street in America with the original homes still standing.  At this historic site you will learn that the volunteer Ulster regiment during the Civil War was able to thwart Picketts charge at Cemetery Hill during the battle of Gettysburg.  The battle that ultimately brought to an end the Civil War.

The Elting library across the street from P&G’s was the home of General Elting an officer during the Revolutionary War.  There are rumors that this library is haunted.

A hogan was unearthed behind the stone houses on Huguenot Street.  A hogan was a wooden structure to house the native peoples of the eastern New World.  This unearthed hogan dispelled the idea that the Esopus and Lenape tribes in the Hudson Valley were nomadic.

my political commentary:

When John Brennan was confirmed director of the CIA, Senator Rand Paul filibustered for over thirteen hours to delay the vote.  Most conservatives hailed this filibuster.  Why?  They and I have no clue.  I personally believe that a filibuster should be illegal in Congressional proceedings.  If a majority of a congressional body want to vote on something, they should not be barred from doing so with delusional rantings of one person.  This is simply not democratic.  I personally think there is something seriously wrong with Rand Paul.  But what cam you expect from the son of Ron Paul who insists the 1965 Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional.  I can only guess that the old adage: Like father, Like son.  applies here.  I guess I should be happy he just didn’t read from a phone book like other filibusters have done.

I remember the Republicans wanted to suspend debate on Obamacare by insisting each Senator read succeeding portions of the bill.  If I was in the Senate, I would have insisted that each Senator be questioned about the section of the bill they read.  Just to see if each Senator actually understood what he or she had read.

sports:

other:

As with all previous issues of this newsletter, everything in this newsletter is either copyright protected or copyright pending.

The history of P&G’s follows this newsletter.  Spanning from about the mid 1930’s to almost the present.

Following this history is another long short story I wrote.  It will be in three maybe four parts because I have still not decided on how to end the story.

Thank-you  – Rik McGuire

History of P&G’s continued to the present

From 1925 – 1945 a number of diverse businesses occupied the building.  These included Carols Clothing Store, Atkins Drug Store,  Schaffert Real Estate Office, Marie Shop and Dicks Bar and Grill among others.

In 1947 Dicks Bar and Grill was purchased by two Lake Mohonk employees, Pat Cafferty and George Jayne.  Legend has it that neither told their wives of their intention to purchase the business.  They immediately changed the Grills name to Pat and Georges.  Among it’s loyal customers it was simply P&G’s.

One of the best things to happen to P&G’s occurred in 1961.  An ex Dodger player named Stormer Nickerson became a bartender.  Stormy as he was affectionately known became something of a legend.  His heart, quiet good humor and generous spirit made P&G’s the one place that welcomed all from the harsher outside world into a refuge for college students, business people, local characters and even for a while, in the 1960’s, bikers.  According to one source.  “They weren’t as rowdy a crew as you might expect because although he was quiet, Stormy commanded and got respect.”  His professional baseball background made him a natural to pitch batting practice for the New Paltz College teams and he did so for a number of seasons.  One college fraternity considered P&G’s their private domain.  The scene of everything important, news, views, camaraderie and especially humor was always evident at P&G’s.

After the St. Helens volcano erupted and news reports discussed the possibility of ash fall out across the U.S., Stormy came to work to find the staff dressed in garbage bags and metal kitchen colanders on their heads.  Since no ash was reported on anyone, Stormy reasoned the

attire had been affective by making everyone laugh their ash off.

In June 1991, after 30 years, Stormy retired from P&G’s.  He died in June of 1994.  From his casual humor that lingers, to his Chile recipe that is still served and the kind memories often repeated by his many friends, Stormy is still here.

In 1969 Edwin Beck bought P&G’s.  His first weekend as owner was completely successful.  The following weekend, however, the place was deserted.  A disheartened Beck couldn’t understand what he had done to alienate everyone so quickly.  He was relieved to learn it was simply a matter of poor timing.  Everyone was away and wallowing in a farm in Bethel NY.  A music festival or something.

Ed Beck never spent time worrying.  He looked across Main Street and up Platekill Avenue, seeing thousands of thirsty college students who, for the most part remained on campus.  Taking a good supply of liquid refreshment, Beck went to the campus and gave the students (all legal in those days) a new place to call home.  He transformed P&G’s from a neighborhood bar into a local institution.

The face of Beck’s personality had much to do with the continued success of P&G’s, the place was fun.  One oft quoted story about Beck concerns a young P&G’s enthusiast who wanted to be just like Beck when he grew up.  It is reported that Beck in all humility replied.  “Well you can’t do both.”

The name Pat and Georges was officially changed to P&G’s in the 1980’s by Ed Beck and his son Mike.  In 1985, Mike bought out his fathers interest.  In 1994, he undertook extensive renovations, making the building exterior appear as it did in 1900, when it was the Casino.

The WOLF PACK

 

Germany 1939

The saloon in the small German village lay just fifty miles from Berlin.  The saloon was filled with young men laughing with the telling ribald jokes about the Jews.  They were all nervous because the following morning they would be going to the training camp as new recruits for the Fuhrer’s army.  They all knew of the plans of the Nazi party to invade and take control of surrounding countries.  They were all fearful of their futures.

Max and Vincent stood apart from the joking young men.  They were just trying to blend in with the German people.  They even gagged down several German Lagers so that they would not stand apart from the others.  But they knew they had to leave and report on what they had learned to their leader.  They did not notice the man with a black trench coat enter the saloon.  The man had a fedora tipped over his forehead so his eyes were not easily noticeable to anyone.  He just stood to the side and watched the young men in the saloon as they joked among themselves.  Max and Vincent did not see him enter and took no notice of him when they left the saloon.  The man followed discretely as they walked to the edge of the village with the intent of walking to the woods that bordered the village fifty yards away.

They were about to leave the village border when the man silently walked up to them with his Lugar drawn.  He ordered them to stop and turn around.  And naturally they both did with hands at their sides.

“Are you to serve the Fuhrer?”  The man asked.

Max and Vincent smiled and said.  “Of course.”

“Show me your papers.”  The man demanded.

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Max shook his head.  “I’m sorry, but we left our papers at our home.  We will show them to you if you will tell us where your office is located and we will be there within an hour.”  This always worked before when they were asked to show their papers.  But it appeared to Max that the man was not to be put off so easily.

“I am an officer in Himmlers SS and I demand you either show me your papers or take me to your home where you supposedly left them.”  Himmlers SS man demanded.

Max and Vincent looked at the SS man, smiled, turned and sprinted to the woods.

The SS officer was stunned because he had never seen anyone run so fast as the two men he saw sprinting to the woods.  He aimed his Lugar and fired four shots.  He saw one of his shots was true with the man on the left because he saw a crimson stain of blood spread on the shoulder.  The man only twitched and kept on running as fast as he did before being shot.

They reached the edge of the woods, turned so see if the SS officer had followed them.  They saw the man had turned around and walk slowly back to the village.

Max and Vincent hid themselves in two copses of trees on either side of the trail into the woods. They carefully stripped off their clothes and folded them neatly.  Vincent turned and saw the crimson stain on Max’s shoulder.

“You were shot.”  He said to Max.

Max turned and Vincent saw that the bullet went totally through his shoulder.  He also saw the wound heal quickly leaving only the barest hint of a scar that he knew would disappear within a few hours.  “Did it hurt?”  He asked.

Max. shook his head.  “About as much as a sting from a honey bee.”

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“Honey Bee?”

Max smiled.  “Okay.  Maybe a wasp or a hornet, but not more.”  He looked to the village and said.  “It is time we change to our natural selves.”

Vincent nodded his agreement and within thirty seconds their 5’9″ bodies shape shifted into ferocious looking mountain wolves.

The wolf essences of Max and Vincent reached down to the ground with their paws to pick up their neatly folded clothes.  They both leaped into the air depositing their clothes on a V crevice branch of the trees.  They landed silently and padded deeper into the woods.  They didn’t need to sprint because the SS man was back in the village and the village people were frightened of the woods because of the tall tales of ferocious wolves that lived in the woods.

They trotted silently side by side through the barely visible trail until they came to their lair.

They both howled and growled the precise sequence of the code pass words until they were allowed entrance into the lair by the two wolves that guarded the cave entrance .  They both nodded their grizzly heads at the two guards who nodded back in recognition.

They padded down one cavern tunnel until they came to the lair of the Alpha Queen.

“What did you learn?”  The Alpha Queen growled in wolf language.

Vincent was the first to speak, growl.  “We learned that the impotent mad man who essentially controls the country of Germany is intent on showing his leadership by damning the Jews and conquering other countries so that he can show the world that Germany, the motherland is the master of all.”

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“Can he be stopped?  The Alpha queen asked.

Max was the first to speak, growl.  “Other countries from around the world are gathering their forces to stop this madman.  But I fear that he will do much damage and kill many before he is stopped.  There are too many who believe he is the second coming of a deity.”

“What can we do to maintain the balance?”  The Alpha Queen asked.

Max spoke again. “We can use our canine selves to infiltrate the upper command of this mad man and do our best to thwart his efforts at world domination.”

“You can do this?”  She asked.

Vincent nodded his shaggy and grizzly head.  “We have done this countless times in our three hundred years and we have learned how to perfect our efforts each time.  Though this might be more difficult because this madman is so maniacal he has a majority of the German population believing his is a king or god.  And he has to be followed.”

“But you can help defeat this madman?”  The Queen asked again.

Max nodded.  “Yes.  But with some help from the others who can shape shift as we can.”

Not all wolves could shape shift like Max and Vincent.  It was an inherited and learned ability and much revered by other wolves.  They on occasion would shape shift into the much feared werewolf.  Though they avoided doing this.

“So what is your next move?”  She asked.

“We need to get papers so we can more blend in with the German population.”  Vincent explained.

“You can do this?” She asked further.

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Max nodded.  “Yes.  We know of two or three individuals who are master forgers and they will make the papers we need.  But at a very high price.”

“Can you pay this price?”  The Alpha Queen asked.

Max nodded again.  “Yes.  Vincent and I have become very adept at thievery when we need to be.”

“When you obtain these needed papers, what is your next step?”

Vincent smiled his tooth bearing grin.  “We will only observe then infiltrate.”

“Do it.”  She commanded.

 

Later Max and Vincent crawled on the floor of the lair to sleep.  They did this because they both knew the next day would be demanding after they had shape shifted into their human selves.  They both knew they would have to run and hide from Himmlers SS officers until they had obtained their proper papers.

Max and Vincent padded into the small village as mangy and starving dogs searching for scraps of food.  And in reality they were just watching the people of the village.  They shape shifted themselves into German Shepard’s and they were barely noticed by anyone including the Nazi command and military.

As they walked into the center of the village they noticed a military truck in front of one small apartment building.  The Nazi soldiers were dragging out of the building a family who all wore the blue Jewish star on their sleeves.  One of the Jews being dragged out of the building

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was a young girl, not more than seven years old and she was crying hysterically.  The leader of the soldiers was the same Himmlers SS officer that they had encountered the previous night.  The SS officer was commanding the soldiers with his lugar pointed at the family.  Max and Vincent looked at each other and knew without a word being said what they had to do.

Max ran up to the SS officer and grabbed him by the hand with his powerful jaws and pulled him to the ground while Vincent rushed the two Nazi soldiers and at the first one he swiped a sharpened claw across the chest of the soldier causing the soldier to release the little girl.  He then attacked the other soldier before the man had time to unsling his rifle from his shoulder and Vincent ripped the mans throat out.  The man died gurgling in his own blood.

Meanwhile the SS officer was whimpering and crying like a baby as Max used his powerful jaws to crush the mans wrist.  With the SS officers wrist in his jaws, Max stared at the officer and snarled.  The SS officer lost control of his bowels and bladder and continued to whimper like a baby.  Max was pleased with his efforts to take charge of the situation.  Finally he looked to Vincent and saw he had taken control of the two Nazi soldiers.  They nodded to each other and left the SS officer and remaining Nazi soldier and sped to a nearby alley.  As they sped away, they heard the SS officer shout at the soldier to fire his rifle at the two mutts. Before he could even raise his rifle to his shoulder, Max and Vincent disappeared into the alley where they quickly shape shifted into their human selves.  They quickly dressed into clothing they had hid in various points in the village so they could be clothed when they shape shifted from their animal essences.  The soldier followed them into the alley, but stopped when he saw Max and Vincent. He asked them if they had seen two dogs running into the alley.  Max and Vincent both

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pointed  to the far end of the alley that led to the field that bordered the woods. The soldier shook his head and walked back to the scene of the assault by Max and Vincent.

Vincent clapped Max on his back and said.  “We both did good.”

Max nodded.  “Now we only have to get that family relocated so that SS man won’t harass them again.”

Vincent nodded.  “How?”  He asked.

Max motioned with his hand.  “Just follow me.  I think that SS officer will be fearful of entering this village again considering what I did to his hand and wrist.  Did you hear him bellow like a baby?”

Vincent could only laugh.  “Yeah.  I heard his cries.  Not very typical of Hitler’s elite I would think.”

They came out of the alley, turned left and saw Himmlers SS officer still lying on the ground, massaging his right hand and wrist gingerly. He was still whimpering to anyone who would listen.  He tried to order all the civilians that gathered around him to call for a military ambulance.  Many just smiled and walked away from one of Hitler’s elite.

Max and Vincent gathered the family that Himmlers SS officer had tried to capture.  They guided them to a known safe house at the edge of the village.  They had used this safe house countless times before to secure the safety of the Jewish residents.  The owners of the safe house had the ability to smuggle Jewish families out of the country to safety.

As they walked to the woods where they could shape shift unseen by anyone, they were happy with their accomplishments of the day, but they knew it was not to be the last.  They knew

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the Alpha Queen would require more of them to maintain the balance in the world.  But they accepted this, their duties to the world.

When they got back to the lair, they went immediately to the Alpha Queen to report on their efforts.

“What did you accomplish?”  She asked.

Max. was the first to speak.  “We were able to stop the madman’s people from taking a Jewish family to the camps.”  He said.

“And?  What else?”  She demanded.

It was Vincent’s turn to speak.  “The madman’s SS officer who was in charge of gathering the Jewish people to the camps has been neutralized and mainly because of Max’s efforts to hurt him.”

“Will that be enough?”  She asked.

Max shook his head.  “Probably not because there are far too many people who adore the madman.”

“So?  What are we to do to maintain the balance?”  She demanded.

Both Max and Vincent shook their grizzly heads.  “We are unsure.”  They growled in wolf language.

As it turned out when Max and Vincent went back to the village as the same mangy mutts as before.  They learned that Himmlers SS officer was so upset at being thwarted by two mutts, he ordered a quarantine of the entire village   In other words, residents of the village were not allowed to leave and no one was allowed entry.  The SS officer knew that this

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quarantine would lead to starvation of the residents of the village, but he didn’t care because most were of the Jewish persuasion and it just made his job that much easier if everyone died in the village accept those loyal German young men who had signed up for the Fuhrer’s army.  They and their families would be fed, but everyone else would just suffer.

The SS officer was able to maintain this quarantine by having Nazi soldiers patrolling constantly the perimeter of the village with orders to shoot on sight.

Max and Vincent knew what their duty was and that was to smuggle food into the village by any means necessary.

They went to the nearby villages and artfully procured  food they could bring to the quarantined village.  They did this by their human selves and by their mangy mutt selves.  And on occasion would revert to their wolf selves to snag chickens, pigs and lamb along with the occasional cow or bull.

They were able to sneak past the patrolling Nazi soldiers with parcels of food in their jaws.

After a few weeks the SS officer was unsure how the people in the village were feeding themselves.  He half expected to find them begging in the streets for scraps of food, but there was none of that.  Instead the villagers seemed to be robust and in good health and spirits.  He sat in a café of a nearby village mulling this dilemma and nursing his fifth or sixth brandy.

Max and Vincent were able to follow the SS officer to the café as their mangy mutt selves.  They waited as the SS officer constantly rubbed his forehead thinking and ordering

brandy after brandy.  They looked at each other and understood they would allow their werewolf

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selves to emerge when the SS officer walked back to his home away from the village proper.

Their intent was not to kill him, but rather scare him into flight.

The SS officer left the café on unsteady legs with the intent of making it to his home to sleep it off.  Max and Vincent followed discretely as their werewolf selves.  They wanted to confront the SS officer in a very secluded spot where the officer could not be seen or heard when they confronted him.

Finally at a copse of trees near his home they emerged in front of him, growling menacingly.  The SS officer immediately drew his lugar from the holster at his hip and fired four shots at the ferocious, grizzly looking wolves in front of him.  Two bullets struck each of them, but Max and Vincent didn’t even flinch.  This bothered the SS officer.  He didn’t know how he could defend himself from beasts that just shrugged off bullets entering their bodies.

The SS officer backed away until he was against two trees growing side by side and he knew he had no escape from the two beasts that confronted him.  He tried to scream in terror, but his throat was too constricted to even sound a muted cry.

Max and Vincent approached him with ferocious snarls as he whimpered. And just as the previous day he lost control of his bowels and bladder.  Max and Vincent smelled the offensive odor and almost smiled with their snarls.

The man put up his hands to cover his face when Max spoke in a werewolf gnarled voice in precise German.  “You will leave the Jewish people of this village alone so that they can live in peace or we will be forced to do something about it.”

Vincent nodded his shaggy and grizzly face and spoke in the same guttural German.  “Or

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we will be forced to fillet you like a fish.”

The SS officer spoke with a whimper.  “I don’t know if the high command would allow that.”  He said.

Max could only nod.  “Convince them or we will be forced to deal with them as we are dealing with you.  And it won’t be so pleasant.”

Within a couple of weeks Max and Vincent saw that the Nazi command did not harass the Jewish residents of the village.  It was apparent to Max and Vincent that Himmlers SS man did not think the few hundred Jews in the village was worth the confrontation with the beasts.  What was a few hundred Jews in the grand scheme of things?  He probably thought.

Max and Vincent knew they won a small battle.  Now they had to help win the war.

The wolfs lair 1944

The war in Europe turned out to be a long and deadly affair with the madman who controlled his army in Germany.

Max and Vincent were lying on the ground of the lair, trying to rest after their repeated efforts to bring balance into the world.  But the madman was insistent on proving the superiority of the master race in Germany.

Max and Vincent had infiltrated the upper command of the Fuhrer’s generals as just friendly German Shepard dogs.  Though they learned a lot, they could not fathom how to stop the madman.  Even the Alpha Queen could not figure a way to bring the end to the madman.

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She was a shape shifter like Max and Vincent, but because of her advanced age she seldom used this ability.  She was over nine hundred years old and her age was showing on her body, Max and Vincent knew she was not long for the world and wondered who would take the reins of the lair when she died.  They thought that their three hundred years was too young to be Alpha leaders.  But who else could take command of their lair?

The Alpha Queen rose from what appeared to be slumber and asked.  ” What have you learned in your five years of infiltration of the madman’s generals?”

Max growled. “We have learned that he is not as easily defeated as past tyrants we have confronted.”

The Alpha Queen nodded.  “So what are your future plans?”

It was Vincent’s turn to answer, growl.  “We are unsure.  We do know of a group of lower officers, a German resistance, in his army that is planning for his assassination.  But so far it is only in the planning stage.  And both Max and I don’t think they will succeed.”

“Why not” She asked.

Max was the first to answer.  “Because we have managed to listen to their plans and efforts as pet dogs to these officers.  And they are afraid of any repercussions if they should fail.  And besides Himmler’s SS have become more and more proficient in their jobs.  This SS faction is a problem.  There have been several attempts on the madman’s life and they all ended in complete failure with the culprits being executed painfully.

Vincent added.  “These young officers are on the lines during battle and they see better than the generals and the madman that this German army has no hope for victory.  And they see

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the madness of their leaders mind set.  To defeat the combined armies against Germany, they know this cannot happen.”

“So What are we to do” The Alpha Queen asked.

Max growled first.  “We are unsure.  It seems the balance has been shifted too far on one side and we do not think we, alone can bring it back into balance.”

“You have to!”  She commanded.  “I am not long for this world.  But I want to leave it with everything being in balance.  Do you understand?”

“We will do our best.”  Max. and Vincent agreed as they left her lair.

They padded down the tunnel from her lair slowly.

“She is right.”  Max said.  “I can smell it as you can that she is not long for this world.”

Vincent nodded.  “Yes.  I agree.  But I can’t think of what more we can do.”

Max stopped thought then said.  “Why don’t we shape shift into German officers and try to convince the plotters to carry through with their efforts.  And even volunteer to do their

bidding. We can never be caught.”

They were able to artfully procure German officer uniforms with the proper papers and ingratiate themselves with the plotters against the Fuhrer.  It was a long and time consuming process before they were able to gain the confidence of the plotters.  But they knew patience.  They learned this ability in their three hundred years.

As they became more and more accepted with the plotters group.  They gave suggestions on how best to bring the fuhrer down.

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Hitlers den

Himmler knocked lightly on the door to the fuhrer’s office, den.  He found him seated in a chair rubbing the heads of the two dogs that showed up suddenly and unexpectedly at the Wolfs Lair gate.  Himmler knew that the fuhrer had become very attached to the two mutts.  So he only stood at rigid attention in front of the fuhrer and snapped a straight arm Nazi salute.

Hitler only nodded then asked.  “What have you learned of the attempts on my life”

Himmler could only stammer.  “We have learned that the leaders of an attempt on your life are line officers who are directing our troops in battle.”

“Can you replace them?   Then bring them to trial and execution?”  Hitler asked.

Himmler shook his head.  “We are unsure of who the real culprits are and we would have to bring every line officer in for questioning which could devastate our troops in battle.”

“What are your plans?” Hitler demanded.

Himmler shook his head.  “I have my best SS investigators questioning everyone and as

of yet they cannot point a finger at any one or two people.

Hitler turned to his desk and slammed his fist down on it with more force then Himmler thought he was capable of.  “Damn it!  We should have executed Rommel publicly to show my authority over peoples lives.”

Himmler shook his head.  “We all agreed that a public execution of Rommel would have been a public relations nightmare.  We were all well aware of how well Rommell was thought of by the troops.  We would have lost the troops loyalty and we knew that could not be allowed.

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Especially now with our losses being an almost daily event.”

While Hitler and Himmler talked, Max and Vincent laid their heads down on their outstretched front legs.  They would occasionally turn their heads to each other and smile a quiet snarl.  They knew that the madman was becoming more and more frustrated with his army’s failure to bring about a victory in the war.  They knew he was devastated by the Nazi army’s failure in Russia.  They were bothered that the madman wasn’t concerned with the losses of men in his army, but rather more concerned with his image as a world leader.  They and he knew it was becoming less and less popular with each passing day.

When Max and Vincent were on occasion able to scamper away out of the lair, they took advantage of their solitude by agreeing that the madman was making their job that much easier to bring the world back into balance.

They learned that there had already been several attempts on the fuhrer’s life and each attempt had ended with the execution of the would be assassins.  Even one of the fuhrer’s top

generals, who had been so successful in Africa was one of the officers who thought the madman

should be brought down.  Romell was forced to take a poison so that his family would live.  Romell agreed to this, being the faithful officer and family man that he was.

Max and Vincent knew it would be their responsibility to bring the fuhrer down.  And they eagerly volunteered their services.

They had used their shape shifting ability as dogs to sneak into the fuhrer’s lair and dispatch him.  But before they could do anything the madman had moved himself and his entourage to another hideout where he could protect himself from  assassination from his troops.

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They tried again and again, but the madman had an evil protection so that he would move or leave at a moments notice just minutes before they could carry out their assignment.

Max and Vincent were becoming frustrated with their efforts to stop the madman and bring balance back to the world.  As was the Alpha Queen when they reported to her regularly.

Finally it was decided that they should sneak into his latest hideout, the Wolfs Lair, a

fitting name they thought and dispatch his mortal essence.  There they thought to shape shift as scraggly and starving German Shepard mutts into the madman’s hideout where they could figure out the next step in their assassination attempt.

The fuhrer took a liking to the scraggily mutts and fed them regularly.  They were happy with the arrangement and no longer felt the need to report on their progress to the Alpha Queen because they knew they would be successful in their attempt to kill the madman.

And as it turned out they didn’t have to do anything because they knew he had lost his attempt to have the German master race control the world.  He was that bothered that his army

had been defeated by the combined forces of other nations.

He and his defacto wife hid in one of his bunkers and committed mutual suicide.

Max and Vincent immediately reported to the Alpha Queen of the demise of the madman.  When they got to her lair they were immediately shocked at how old she looked.  They knew she was nearing the end of her days, but they were still shocked.  It had only been just over a year since they last reported to her in their efforts to bing balance into the world and they couldn’t believe at how much she had aged in that short period of time.

“So the madman has been eliminated and his fanatics captured or scattered into the wind.  17.

What will you do next?”  She rasped hoarsely with a growl.

Vincent spoke, growled first.  “We thought to be there when the Allies who defeated the madman liberate the camps he used to imprison and essentially murder the so called undesirables in the German society.”

“What will you do there?”  She asked.  “And do you think your efforts will have of any aid to these people”

Max answered.  “We really don’t know.  But we have to be there to help these people because there is still an imbalance in the world.”

The Alpha Queen nodded.  “I know.  I have felt it also.  Just do the best you can because you will both will be needed when I leave this world.”

“But. . . .”  Both Max and Vincent protested.

The Alpha Queen shook here head.  “No buts.  I have been on this world for a long time and it is almost time for me to leave and ascend to the next level of consciousness.”

“But who will lead our lair?”  Max asked hopefully.

The Alpha Queen could only smile.  “I know the two of you can figure this dilemma and

choose wisely.”  She demanded.

“Of course.”  Both Max and Vincent growled as they bowed and left her lair.

“What are we to do now” Vincent asked as they padded down the tunnel to the wolf’s lair entrance.

“We go to the camps and help all those who have been freed so they can continue to exist.  We will use our natural abilities to help clothe and feed these poor people who have

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suffered at the hand of the madman.”

Vincent could only nod his grizzled muzzle in agreement.  “Yes. I do suppose that is what we should do.  But what of the Alpha Queen?  Should she pass while were gone, what will happen to our pack”

Max could only shake his head.  “We leave it to the rest of the pack to decide.  What else can we do?  And we do trust the others in our pack, correct?”

Vincent could only nod.  “I guess you are right.  So now we go to the camps”

“Yes.  And immediately.”  Max answered.  “I have the uncanny feeling that the people released will be needing our assistance so we must leave now.”

They left their liar to go to the nearest camp being liberated by the victorious troops and they were stunned by what they saw.  They couldn’t believe mans inhumanity against man.  They knew instinctively that this inhumanity of man against man was what really brought about the imbalance in the world.  And now it was correcting itself with the release of these emaciated

and near death prisoners.

They shape shifted themselves to appear as allied soldiers of the troops liberating the

camps.  They took it upon themselves to almost carry out the surviving prisoners of the camps.  As they did this both Max and Vincent shook their heads at the emaciation of the freed prisoners.

“We have to help them get fed again.”  Vincent said to Max.

Max agreed.  “The victorious Allies are doing a very good job of feeding these people.  Though the little children look worse than all.  I don’t know how much food that I have given

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these children.  It is heart breaking to see them almost inhale food that they were denied for so long.  How could anyone have allowed children to starve because of the wishes of that madman”

“Yes.  And what of the camp guards?  I have learned that many of these guards escaped to surrounding towns and villages when they accepted that they had been defeated.  What should we do about them?”  Vincent asked.

Max could only nod.  “We find them and bring as many as we can to justice.  And maybe even use our werewolf selves to scare then into surrender.  What else can we do”

Vincent nodded his shaggy head.  “First we finish here then go to other liberated camps and bring aid to them.  And maybe we can learn where those sadistic guards escaped.  What else can we do?”

Max thought then said.  “We could go to the Alpha Queen and ask for her guidance.”

Vincent shook his head.  “That would take too long.  We have to remain away from the lair and aid those that need our help.”

Max agreed and they kept themselves as shape shifted soldiers until they thought they had done all that they could at the camp then shape shifted into their natural selves, wolves, and

sprinted to the next liberated camp.

As allied soldiers they had dinner at a local tavern, café and were amused when they saw the Himmler SS officer working as a dishwasher and cleaner.  The same SS officer they had met years earlier in the small village where everyone cowed at his appearance.  Now he was cowed by the barking orders of the café owner,   He bowed sheepishly to each command.  They almost

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laughed when they saw how things had changed so much in the new Germany.  They could only smile when they saw the madman’s officers reduced to menial jobs only to survive.

One night as they lay in a barn as their natural selves, wolves, they heard the howl of the wolves in the forest.  They knew immediately it was a message to all wolves that the Alpha Queen had died.  They turned to each other and asked.

“What do we do now?”

The next morning they sprinted to the lair to pay their last respects to the Alpha Queen.