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rewards. Greedy corporate megastores, led by

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Walmart and Target, are pushing for

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law and Congress to take away

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your hard-earned cash back and travel

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points to line their pockets. The

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Durbin Marshall Credit Card Bill would

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enact harmful credit card routing mandates

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that would end credit card rewards

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as we know it. If you

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love your credit card rewards, tell

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your lawmakers, hands off, my rewards.

0:25

Tell them to oppose the Durbin

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Marshall Credit Card Bill. I

0:32

inherited my parents old house about a year ago. As

0:34

a single guy in his mid-twenties, this

0:37

was quite a windfall. My mom had died of

0:39

a stroke in the upstairs bedroom. The

0:41

room I now kept mostly locked up. I

0:44

never knew my dad. He split before

0:46

I was born, but the house was something he

0:49

left my mom before disappearing. It

0:53

was a house that's been in his family for generations

0:55

and it was the only piece of my father that

0:57

I had left. My

0:59

grandparents had been dead before I was born and my

1:02

father was an only child. That

1:04

being said, it was no real

1:06

family to inherit the family estate when he

1:08

was pronounced dead other than my

1:10

mother and I. As an only

1:12

child myself, my father hadn't really got around to serving

1:15

any other brothers or sisters for me. I

1:19

never really wanted for much. Dad's

1:22

estate took care of the bills, my education and the

1:24

upkeep of the house. I always

1:26

kind of wish that he had just stuck around if

1:28

he'd gone that far, but I

1:30

suppose he'd finally caught up with him.

1:34

Mom always said that it was eccentric. A

1:36

scientist who studied weird stuff for a research

1:38

facility and whatever he did. It

1:41

must have paid well because I had

1:43

made it all the way through college without even touching the

1:45

trust fund that my mom had set up aside from me.

1:49

And now I had

1:52

an eight bedroom, three bath mansion in

1:55

need of some serious renovation. I

1:57

decided to start with the attic. The

1:59

attic. It can always intrigued me even when

2:02

I was child in are you still

2:04

like to play up there putting into

2:06

all the old chests begin on Mars

2:08

is carry myself with. I.

2:10

Believe dose. Nice

2:13

of their. Stained glass window

2:15

that overlooks the street always made little rainbows

2:17

on the wood floor just for me. Or

2:20

that clean up a little bit, build an

2:22

office up. There Is that I could do

2:24

my accounting and bookkeeping piece about was that

2:26

it was structurally unstable. The. Wall was

2:28

a crumbling on bricks and mortar trying to

2:30

let go for the last forty years or

2:32

so. Afraid that it

2:34

wouldn't take more than one good windstorms?

2:36

Not at all. And. Really

2:39

wanted to six it up and work my way down. As

2:43

a started cleaning it out, I was delighted

2:45

to find the attic might actually pay for

2:47

its own. On vacation he was packed with

2:49

old furniture, antiques. last ounce of interest with

2:51

some of the local antique dealers. I.

2:54

Took the pictures my phone and sent them

2:56

to some of the antique shops and they

2:58

seemed all the more and thrall to get

3:00

their hands on. m I separated Also things

3:02

I want to the South cheating small pile,

3:04

things I did not. Not a couple of

3:07

days of men dollies coming in and out

3:09

of the house I found myself about twenty

3:11

five thousand dollars richer. The

3:13

old adage had more than paid for it's

3:15

face lifts and started looking at supplies replace

3:17

the old brick with. I.

3:21

Didn't know if I had to replace the

3:23

beams behind it, but I suspected that I

3:25

might. Mom told me that Dad said the

3:27

attic was one of a few original torch

3:29

the house which apparently had been don't and

3:31

late seventeen hundreds. It was one

3:33

of the first large homes to be constructed in the

3:35

area. And his ancestors had received

3:38

it from some cielo after work in the

3:40

landform. They'd. Been less

3:42

indentured servant and more live in

3:44

caretakers. A man had hundreds of

3:46

acres. Large. Farm

3:49

and several dairy cows and uses be

3:51

taken care of. My dad's

3:53

forebears of their children have more than

3:55

up to the task, having recently immigrated

3:57

mind. When he left at all to them

3:59

in his. Well, they had suddenly become very rich,

4:01

very powerful, and what was an up and coming

4:03

part of a world. That.

4:06

Would make the attic nearly three years old

4:08

and as active still standing was a marvel

4:10

in itself. I talked to the

4:13

friend of mine who was a number of code

4:15

enforcement for the city. They had told me to

4:17

be careful when I started taking down the bricks.

4:19

He said he was pretty certain they wouldn't be

4:22

load bearing, but if the attic was as old

4:24

as I said it was, that could be an

4:26

accident waiting to happen. I'd

4:28

been up in the attic during all kinds of whether

4:30

I'd never seen as much as It's Way in the

4:32

Wind. Whoever. Built it, done

4:34

an amazing job and certainly don't at the

4:36

last. As I

4:38

said to work taking on the first of the bricks.

4:41

I. Did so with an ear out and he's on his

4:43

runs. I

4:46

barely set my hammer to work on. I saw something

4:48

sticking out between a loose break. If.

4:50

You'd be an envelope old and yellow

4:52

thing that likely would have crumbled nothing

4:54

had it not been sealed up. I'm

4:56

a wall. I. Reached out for

4:58

it's fighting masonry dust off of it as I

5:01

looked at the front. It

5:03

was signed My Child from. Marcus

5:06

Crim. And

5:09

will date night Teams: thirty four. As

5:12

gave me pause. As far as I knew,

5:14

there was only one Marcus Crim that it ever lived in

5:16

this house. And. And.was

5:19

my father. To.

5:23

My knowledge of them He had not been

5:25

alive. And Nineteen Thirty four. I

5:28

said the letter aside, not really sure what to make of

5:30

it and of working. The. Wall appeared to

5:32

be held up, not by wouldn't beams,

5:34

but metal beans. When. That struck

5:36

me as weird because the means to do

5:38

so in the seventeen hundreds would have been

5:40

difficult to achieve. They were crude mental beams

5:42

to be sure, but they were very sick

5:45

and very sturdy and likely taken someone a

5:47

very long time to put in place in

5:49

that a crane. some sort of tools. However,

5:52

The architect managed it. Is since.

5:55

Tremendous. I would save

5:57

a lot of my recent windfall by not having

5:59

to replace it wouldn't beings that I had assumed

6:01

would have been there and decided the flaky wall

6:03

was just a product of his time. I

6:06

was halfway through the north face of the wall when I found

6:08

in a letter. The

6:10

for this one read to my

6:13

child from Marcus Crim. Nineteen.

6:15

Eighty Four. The

6:18

data letters seemed reasonable, but wonder what around

6:20

twelve years old in Nineteen Eighty Four? But

6:23

I doubted that he would be writing letters

6:25

and putting them in a masonry. I set

6:27

it aside, wanting to get back to work,

6:29

but it was hard not to open it

6:31

and see what it contained. This.

6:33

One looked a lot newer as me other one and

6:35

I suppose it had spent a lot less time. A

6:37

wall. Post. My father leading

6:39

letters from means that along the attic. I

6:43

didn't know, but I his suppose that when I

6:45

was done for the day I might sit down

6:47

and see what he had written me. By.

6:50

My dad found five other letters

6:52

in a curiosity piqued. I

6:55

found one from Ninety Eighty Four,

6:57

one from Nineteen Thirty Four, another

6:59

one from Nineteen Fifty Six, and

7:01

another from Eighteen Nineties in a

7:03

fierce from Eighteen Fifty Four. They've.

7:05

Been stuffed into the wall behind, those bricks popping

7:07

out as I smashed up the walls of my

7:10

sledgehammer. As I broke for launch, I decided that

7:12

might be time to have a look at them.

7:15

And is no this was some elaborate jokes among

7:17

was playing on me or not. but the idea

7:19

of getting letters from the father died. Never

7:22

known was intriguing. Maybe.

7:25

The date was a code or something I

7:27

wondered if there was some other treasure to

7:29

be found them house besides the antiques me

7:31

at. And started to

7:33

open a letter from Nineteen Eighty Four. First. It.

7:36

Being the closest to today's date. Inside

7:39

with a handwritten letter in what I

7:41

recognized as my father's meticulous script. I'd.

7:44

Seen some of his journals and a library

7:46

riding on physics and scientific theories, and I

7:48

was familiar with the way that he wrote.

7:51

He. Marked the envelope with a stamp though

7:53

I have no idea why has been

7:55

sealed with wax that crumbled as I

7:57

broke it? Hello!

8:00

As. I've not yet learned your gender. Yeah,

8:03

your mother insisted this be a surprise.

8:05

I will just call you child. I

8:08

suspect you have questions and I was a

8:10

good answer all of them. By fear this

8:12

letter will be a poor explanation. Your

8:15

mother. May. Have told

8:17

you there was involved with organization,

8:19

the studying scientific principles. One.

8:23

Of the principles are very interested in. Was.

8:27

Two hundred. It

8:32

wasn't something I believed in, but I was

8:34

willing to take their money, study their series

8:36

or not. The concept was so much hogwash,

8:38

but as he began to make breakthroughs ahead,

8:41

admit that there was merit to it. Began

8:44

to get excited. Thinking I

8:46

might actually break the secret of

8:48

passing backwards and forwards and time.

8:51

From a day of testing, we all drew straws to

8:53

seats. Who would be the one to test the device?

8:56

I drew the short straw. Cells

8:58

placed inside a chamber. And

9:01

pray they didn't send anyone after me,

9:03

because it appears that something's gone terribly

9:06

wrong. I

9:08

closed My eyes. and Nineteen Ninety Eight

9:10

And open them again. And Nineteen Eighty

9:12

Four. We. Don't have we gone

9:14

back in time? It's to there was

9:16

a problem. I

9:18

had no way to return. It

9:21

appeared that my means of time

9:23

travel was unstable. By

9:25

arrived in the summer of Ninety Eighty

9:27

Four. The three days later I was

9:29

in September of Nineteen Eighty Four, I

9:32

was jumping backward in time will hops.

9:34

At first, I suspect they might become

9:36

progressively stronger as time goes on. I

9:39

don't know how to contact your if

9:41

you ever find these letters before. The

9:43

house has existed for at least one

9:45

hundred years. By leave a letter

9:48

in the Arctic somewhere likely to be stumbled

9:50

across until someone is looking for something else.

9:53

Maybe you'll find it The deal. Know

9:55

that I didn't abandon you and your

9:57

mother. You'll know what happens. Going

10:00

to break into your grandparents' house tonight and hi

10:03

this in the attic. I remember the

10:05

tonight was when they left me at a serious house.

10:08

And went to see late Lucy. To

10:10

the should be more than enough time to get him and

10:12

leave the letter in the wall of the attic. At

10:15

the find the one. Out

10:17

that you are. Well, For.

10:19

Feeling. Marcus.

10:21

Crim. I

10:25

was. Speechless for a moment. Not sure

10:28

what to make it. Was.

10:30

As real. I

10:33

don't My father was a little the

10:35

centric mother said that he told that

10:37

fine line between genius and crazy but

10:39

this will help their the My father

10:41

been saying some elaborate so we left.

10:44

Even trying to trick a small child

10:46

into thinking that his father was just

10:48

a time traveler and a deadbeat. I

10:52

didn't know, but it only made me more

10:54

curious to see the other notes. I sifted

10:56

through them until I came to the one

10:58

from Nineteen Fifty Six. It

11:01

was the next one in chronological order and it

11:03

seemed the best place to pick up the story

11:06

I opened. It was a singer wincing has of

11:08

the old paper sliced me a little spice up

11:10

the paper towels I spilled the paper on of

11:12

the old desk one that I had kept up

11:14

here for the antique. Few

11:17

drops of blood spatter around blotter. The.

11:19

Letter was spared. Can

11:21

as I sat down at I read when he'd

11:23

written there. I

11:27

spent the last week shifting backwards every

11:29

few days. Sometimes.

11:32

I'd stay in a spot for a few

11:34

days, sometimes seconds but it seems and destined

11:36

to live my life backwards. I

11:39

always seem to stay in the same town the

11:42

town I grew up in. And. As

11:44

on to watch the town slowly grow

11:46

younger. Opening your eyes see the town

11:48

shrinking a building in a time. I

11:50

spent two weeks sleeping backwards various speeds.

11:52

But when I finally came to rest

11:55

and march nineteen fifty six as help

11:57

jet lagged. The town was

11:59

have to say. That had been. The

12:01

cars are different from the turn of

12:03

the sentries they would be in the

12:05

early nineteen hundreds. People looked at me

12:08

funny, my clothes likely appearing strains that

12:10

my money still worked. The

12:12

tellers would get a shock when they realized

12:14

they had bills that wouldn't be circulated for

12:17

four years that I needed to eat. I

12:20

didn't have a lot of money when I traveled.

12:22

A hundred and a couple of twenties and my

12:24

wallet bears. the cost of things goes down. The

12:26

money stretched a little further. A

12:29

grandfather. My dad is. So.

12:31

Young. I saw him

12:34

playing outside the house. The. Boys

12:36

maybe ten or eleven. It

12:39

was hard not to hail in and talk to him.

12:41

A plan to break into the house again when

12:44

the family is gone and leave this letter in

12:46

the walls, the attic. For. Better

12:48

do it soon Who knows along and have for I

12:50

travel again. And will be doing

12:52

well. Help your mother is also well.

12:55

Strange. To talk to someone you've never met them.

12:58

Out. These letters said some light on where

13:00

I've dan and why I haven't been in

13:02

your life. I

13:06

was beginning to think that is noted. The left

13:08

by my mother. How to so

13:10

expertly duplicated his handwriting. All my father's

13:12

journals are written like this to see meticulous

13:14

script and it it even sounded like

13:16

a voice I always given him when I

13:19

read his journals. You

13:21

sound like a scientist which my science

13:23

teacher had when I was in school.

13:26

Or it for the next letter. I came across

13:28

one from Nineteen Thirty Four. The

13:32

envelope was ancient looking. The.

13:34

Outside yellow sealed in the same waxy

13:36

i was it done. The

13:39

wax on this one was brittle with aids in

13:41

it crumbled under the singers As I broke it,

13:43

I started aside my singer hundred the adhesive but.

13:46

Looked in the desk to i sound

13:48

of a letter opener that I remembered

13:50

seeing their a quick/and I a note

13:52

my hand. Child

13:56

I went to sleep two days ago after delivering

13:58

a letter to the wall. And

14:00

woke up. Sixty years since passed.

14:03

Is. A long as don't I've ever made all

14:05

at once. I had a righteous when quickly

14:08

before it sent me sealing off again. The.

14:12

Town looks more like Mayberry for me, Andy

14:14

Griffith show and a bustling city that I

14:16

remember. Main

14:19

Street is here as as the post

14:21

office in the police Station. but everything

14:23

else has changed. Their.

14:25

Stores, but they seem less grand of the

14:28

ones here before them. The.

14:31

House is still here and I could see my grandfather.

14:34

As he sits on the lawn of my grandmother. Both.

14:36

Of them In their senior year of

14:39

high school, Grandpa will get his draft

14:41

notice and six years taking him out

14:43

of the steel Know before the explosion,

14:45

the kill so many and probably saving

14:47

me from never been born. Grandma.

14:50

Give birth to my father a year

14:52

after that and Grandpa. I'll come back

14:54

from France with a few scars. Many

14:56

stories to regain his son and leaders

14:58

grandson. I

15:00

never knew my great grandparents. But.

15:03

Well anyway, And

15:05

odd to see them as they go about alliance. As

15:08

he men going into the house for the

15:10

past few days, men doing work on a

15:12

study on the second floor and I'd managed

15:14

to hook a pair of white overall said

15:17

caps from a clothesline. Tomorrow.

15:19

Mingle with them and dropped his letter

15:21

to the walls if not years farther

15:23

from where I started as. A

15:28

sort of the remaining letters my work forgotten

15:30

and decide on the one from eighteen ninety.

15:33

It. Was the next one a sequence? Though the sequence

15:35

was far out of whack now. My hands shook

15:37

a little as I open it with letter opener.

15:39

Sake or not, someone had gone to a lot

15:41

of trouble to set this up and a story

15:43

was so good I had to know how it

15:45

ended. My. Work had been forgotten.

15:47

The mystery too much for me to put

15:49

down as a wax seal. Zelda Biddle sides

15:52

on the desk, I took out the thick

15:54

and uncomfortable paper that have been laid into

15:56

the equally heavy envelope. Child.

16:00

It appears I sealed my letter in the

16:02

wall at just the right time. The house

16:04

was humiliated the next day and it would

16:06

it nearly impossible to get back in. I

16:09

also traveled again four days later, and this

16:11

one. Was. One of my

16:13

more hectic trips. And be

16:15

stuck in in time for a day or

16:17

two. But just as I would pen letter

16:19

I be dragged backwards into something else. I've.

16:22

Started trading my money for gold and

16:24

silver as I go further back. Soon

16:27

come into a time and paper money meant

16:29

nothing and then I might as well burn

16:31

the notes to keep me warm. Gold

16:33

however maintains it's value as the

16:36

silver and so high now have

16:38

a few actual dollars less than

16:40

some mint things of gold and

16:42

silver on my person. Has

16:45

got them hidden in a backpacks and also seems

16:47

to travel with me. As.

16:49

I experimented with this little more with

16:51

even though these letters or decades apart.

16:54

I've really only last a few months at most.

16:57

It. Feels like. To said last

16:59

week, I opened my eyes and Nineteen Eighty

17:01

Four. And a mechanic worried

17:03

that I might be slowing down a little. His.

17:06

Last job at brought me to Eighteen

17:08

Ninety and the town's little more than

17:11

a general store, a saloon, and a

17:13

collection of frontier businesses. Had

17:15

a seal more close by, model and

17:18

tires marking me as an outsider. I'm

17:21

thankful that I traded for gold. A

17:23

money would be useless out here. Gold's always

17:25

useful. The. House is still

17:27

here too, but I skipped four or five

17:29

generations. The. House is now

17:31

a plantation. the land work by field hands

17:34

and how set out of town. I

17:36

wanted to seek field work but they sought

17:38

that. I was a cousin who come to

17:40

call. They put me up showing a

17:42

lot of the old family hospitality I'd always

17:45

heard about which will make it easy to

17:47

hide a letter. Fell

17:49

by to rest soon. I hope

17:51

this stops. I

17:54

go to sleep and blink. My heart's filled

17:56

with dread of where I'll be on. I

17:58

opened my eyes again. I

18:00

hope you're all well and I. I'll

18:03

be living better life than I am. I.

18:06

Exhaled looking at the last letter. This

18:09

one was marked eighteen, fifty four and it

18:11

was last one I had. As

18:14

I picked it up, a thought occurred to me. How

18:16

many more letters could there be in these

18:18

walls? How many more could there be that

18:20

covered dates in between the ones I'd found?

18:22

I was no longer skeptical. Quite contrary I

18:24

was. I was hungry for more and as

18:26

I split the sun open, I held the

18:28

biddle paper gently, afraid that will fall apart

18:30

before I got a chance to read it.

18:34

To child. Is

18:36

traveling is destiny slowing down? I spent

18:38

three months with my forebears and eighteen

18:40

Ninety. And after that, I spent a

18:42

month and eighteen eighty. Two months and

18:44

eighteen seventy. And now I've landed in

18:47

Eighteen Sixty Four. I

18:49

returned to the house again, claiming to

18:51

be a cousin, and it's odd to

18:53

see the same people I saw an

18:55

eighty ninety forty years younger, the matron

18:57

who invited me and is no mere

18:59

slip of girl. Her.

19:01

Brother maimed in a war is

19:03

now a healthy young man. Passions.

19:06

About states' rights and a laws

19:08

that govern man. I'm

19:11

embarrassed to report that the field hands I

19:13

saw earlier have been replaced with slaves. I

19:16

suppose that was to be expected. They

19:20

accepted me into their home again and I suppose

19:22

I'll stay here and I travel again. And

19:25

you. Hate. Me:

19:31

There. Was. That.

19:33

Was it. Bears.

19:35

On was a newer I could find the other letters.

19:38

It was late into the night when all the bricks

19:41

were torn down. I looked amongst the rubble for any

19:43

signs of paperwork. i'd started out

19:45

being very careful and archaeologist looking for old

19:47

bones but after hours of fruitless plinking i

19:49

began to level the wall with abandon i

19:52

no longer listen for the grown of

19:54

all board the the crash of the ceiling

19:56

nine braces how the added got this long

19:58

they do it away longer. I

20:01

searched and searched, looking for something. When

20:03

I saw a metal glinting beside a

20:05

bracing, I went to it and

20:07

found a lockbox made of rusted old iron. It

20:10

was a relic. The metal so

20:12

old it began to disintegrate in places,

20:15

and I was careful as I knocked the lock off

20:17

and pulled at the lid. I

20:20

didn't think it would open for a terrible

20:22

moment, but as it squealed apart like a

20:24

fun-house door I saw a tube inside with

20:26

a wax cap on the end. The

20:29

lid had written 1775 on the outside,

20:32

and I opened it carefully as I dumped

20:34

the fragile paper out beside the rest. If

20:38

the paper from the last one

20:41

had been fragile, then this one

20:43

was almost as if it

20:46

was skin. It was so thin that

20:48

I could almost seep through it. The

20:50

ink was thick and flaky, clearly done with

20:52

a real pen, and as I

20:54

read it I realized I'd come to the end, or maybe…

21:00

maybe the beginning. CHILD

21:05

CHILD 1770.

21:09

I've come back as far as I'm able. The

21:11

last year was a series of travels back and

21:14

back and back. Sometimes I

21:16

might get as much as a week in one

21:18

time, but usually it was hours. It

21:20

seems, however, that I've come to a rest at last.

21:24

I've been living on the land that will

21:26

one day be our family home, and

21:28

I realize there's no old benefactor waiting for

21:30

us to come to settle here. The

21:33

land is mostly trees, but I've come to the

21:35

spot where our house will soon stand. I went

21:38

into town, the closest town I could find, and

21:42

purchased it for what I would consider a

21:44

pittance. The man at

21:46

the trade office seemed surprised by the amount of

21:48

gold I had on my person, but

21:50

it seemed like nothing to someone in our time. I

21:54

had co-workers who'd begun laying gold

21:57

back for the coming millennium. saw

22:00

that the banks would crash and money

22:02

would be useless, but out here money is

22:04

nothing but paper and ink. I was

22:08

able to buy one hundred acres and secure enough

22:10

supplies to build the house and start the farm.

22:13

I've shown them how to make metal beams, something

22:16

I took for granted in my world

22:18

of metal and glass. House will

22:20

be strong and no wooden

22:22

beams to break and bend, and I

22:25

secured enough strong backs to help me build it.

22:31

1773. The instructions done for

22:33

the most part. The

22:35

attic's difficult to build with their current level

22:37

of technology, but I think we did okay.

22:40

The house looks like it always has, and

22:43

as I set up the barn and the fields, I've got

22:45

to loan money to those who are in need. The

22:48

interest alone has made me wealthy. I've

22:51

become quite well known in the area. The

22:53

workers I hired have settled land nearby, and

22:55

I believe they're establishing the town that will

22:58

one day encompass this house. 1775.

23:03

I've lived here for five years and have

23:05

not traveled once in all that time. I think

23:07

perhaps whatever moved me

23:09

has dissipated. I am now here

23:11

for good. The town's doing

23:14

well. They've established a general store and are

23:16

now a steady trade route on the road

23:18

west. I have men who work

23:20

the land for me. They tend the cows and the

23:22

sheep. I sit in my mansion,

23:24

rake in the profit. Life

23:27

is good, but I am aware of

23:29

what's to come. I'm no fool, and

23:32

I know where this path will take me. 1780.

23:37

I saw

23:40

them today. They

23:42

came to the house asking for work. My

23:46

eight-time great-grandfather came onto the porch with his

23:48

hat in his hand and begged

23:50

me for a job that his wife would

23:52

be happy to be my cook, and his

23:55

children would help with the farm. It

23:58

sounded fine. Most

24:00

of the young men who helped me build this house

24:02

and work the land have gone to fight in the

24:05

Revolutionary War, and I've been struggling to

24:07

keep up with the chores around here. Thomas

24:10

has ten children, a

24:12

good big Irish Catholic family, and

24:15

the youngest is old enough to help with the day-to-day

24:17

affairs of the farm. I

24:19

agreed to hire them on immediately, and

24:22

the generous benefactor, my family legend,

24:24

seeks us, but I'll be

24:26

dead in the next fifteen years. I

24:28

may have stopped traveling, but I can feel my body

24:31

aging faster than it should. Fifteen

24:34

years is a long time, but

24:36

I'm sure it will seem like no time at all to me. Seventeen

24:42

eighty-five. The war has been

24:44

over for two years, but a

24:46

lot of the men who went to fight haven't come back. I'm

24:51

going to finish this letter and put it in the

24:53

attic while I still have the strength. I'm barely fifty.

24:56

I look like a man in his seventies. I'm

24:58

barely making up the stairs on a good day. I

25:02

don't know how I'll live another ten years, but I know

25:04

that if I don't get this into the wall, it may

25:06

be my last chance. It's

25:08

sobering to remember that I'm the one who's

25:11

responsible for my family's wealth. The

25:13

one who made it possible for those who came before

25:15

me to live in relative ease. I

25:18

suppose that's the way of it.

25:22

If you ever find this, I hope you won't hate me too

25:24

much. It's not

25:26

my intention to leave you, but I see now that

25:28

I would have likely been a terrible father. My

25:33

work held too much of my attention to ever take you to

25:35

a baseball game or sit with you and

25:37

spend an afternoon on the couch. I

25:39

would have neglected you. And

25:42

for that I'm sorry. This,

25:45

it appears, is my gift

25:47

to you. You

25:49

did well. You never know when

25:51

you might be called upon to make your

25:53

own history. I

25:56

love you. And

25:59

I hope you're well. Nor

26:01

is all right. Marcus

26:03

Krem. I

26:09

sat in the desk and just looked

26:12

at a collection of letters. It

26:17

was my dad. He

26:20

built the house. He'd set our

26:22

family up and then he died. He

26:25

died without telling them who he was. Unthinkable.

26:31

And I realized I had no way to prove any of it.

26:34

There'd be no records going back that far. The

26:36

original owner of the house had lived before the town did,

26:38

and any receipts of

26:41

the bill of sale

26:43

paperwork, they would not have survived. I

26:48

suddenly wished Mom was here. She

26:50

would have wanted to see these letters and would have

26:52

likely believed them without question. I

26:55

wished a lot of people were still here. There was no

26:57

one to substantiate these claims.

27:03

I wondered if this was how Dad had felt. You

27:05

know, as he walked to town to

27:07

begin building this house. He felt

27:09

so utterly alone, knowing that his only real family was

27:11

still ten years away in a place that he'd never

27:14

seen. It

27:17

felt so alone, so utterly desolate. And

27:21

I sat there. I sat there looking at the

27:23

letters and thinking until the sun made rainbows, the

27:25

stained glass. As

27:29

it did, I saw them fall on something I'd missed.

27:34

It was wedged far in the back behind one of the

27:36

bracers, and I walked toward it like it might

27:38

bite. It

27:41

was another tube. This one carefully placed

27:43

so that it wouldn't be jostled or broken when it

27:45

came time for repairs. I

27:49

opened it, and

27:52

inside was a beautiful oil painting of a

27:54

man sitting in the parlor downstairs. The

27:58

blues looked a little different. in

28:00

the style of the late 1700s, but the

28:02

man sitting in the winged-back chair

28:04

was someone I knew, someone I'd seen

28:07

his picture of before, but he had traded

28:09

his white coat for a dark, rich suit.

28:12

His hair was short, more orderly. And

28:15

he'd grown a mustache. But

28:19

I'd know him even if he had a beard. He

28:23

was my dad. I

28:27

knew what I would find when I carefully flipped the painting

28:29

over. Marcus

28:33

C. Rim. Commissioned

28:36

1774 by Warren Fritz. It's

28:46

framed downstairs now. Those are the letters the

28:48

dad left for me. And

28:50

I think I cherished them more than the house.

28:54

As well as the knowledge the dad never really left us.

28:58

He's always been there, making sure our

29:01

way was smooth. From

29:06

a gap of generations. Hey

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there kids, it's me, Mr. CreepyPasta, and I wanna

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tell you thank you so much for watching tonight's

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past year has been rough. I've been gone

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for my own life. And Patreon

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