May 15, 2025 • 13 mins
This week we meet Dick. Dick’s at wit’s end. Bill Monroe owes Patrolman Dick Benson ten grand. Has owed the police officer ten grand for nearly two years. Dick wants his dough.
And more than wants it, Dick needs it. For his family. His wife and daughter. On several occasions he has begged and pleaded with Monroe to fork over the cash. All to no avail.
Well now Dick has a plan. A crazy-ass scheme to get his dough. And tonight's the night.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the ten Minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson,
your host, narrator and author. We hear at the ten
Minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or
rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to
(00:25):
pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human
condition as ten minutes will permit mini novels on steroids.
This week we meet Dick Dix at wits end. Bill Monroe,
(00:48):
Oh's patrolman Dick Benson ten Grand has owed the police
officer ten grand for nearly two years, and Dick wants
his doe, and more than wants it, Dick needs it
for his family, his wife and daughter. On several occasions
he has begged and pleaded with Monroe to fork over
(01:10):
the cash, all to no avail. Well, now Dick has
a plan, a crazy ass scheme to get his dough
and tonight's the night ten grand. The small town cop
drives by the offices of Monroe Construction for at least
(01:34):
the tenth time on his midnight to dawn shift, and
it's only one fifteen. The cop sees over the ten
grand that Bill Monroe owes him and has owed him
for nearly two years. For nearly two years, he's been
asking Monroe for the dough, and for nearly two years,
(01:55):
the lying bastard has been glad handing him, smiling his face,
cap teeth, insisting the doe will be in his possession
by the end of the month, end of the week,
end of the day in cash as promised. Officer Benson
rolls by the construction office, barely above an idol in
(02:16):
his forward Explorer police SUV with all the bells and whistles.
The patrolman will burn most of a tankful of gas
on his early morning shift, cruising the quiet streets of
the borough, doing not much else other than fretting and
seething over that ten grand dick. Benson rolls down the
(02:40):
window and spits on the sidewalk in front of Monroe's
snazzy brick office building. He'd like to spit right in
Monroe's face. The smug bastard really lay a nice wet
louis right in the some bitch's kisser. But of course
he's a cop and so he has to play it
(03:00):
be respectful. A stand up guy can't be slamming his
elbow into Monroe's eye socket or breaking the douchebag's kneecap.
Can't do it. He breaks backs up, stares at those
bronze stallions that stand guard at the front door of
the building. For months now, Dick has had his eye
(03:24):
on those stallions, gorgeous pieces of sculpture, perfectly rendered and
no doubt worth a truck full of cash. Ten grand, easy,
maybe ten grand apiece. Each one stands three feet high
and must be four or five feet nose to tail.
Dick wonders what the damn things must weigh. He knows
(03:48):
the bronze stallions are mounted on steel plates, and the
plates are bolted into the concrete stoop on either side
of the front door, half inch bolts, four in each plate.
Dick knows he's checked before becoming a cop. Dick Benson
was a marine, a United States Marine, the few, the proud,
(04:12):
the Marines. He served his country, did some fighting in
the Middle East, defended democracy in the American way, or
so he thinks, or so he sometimes says. Dick thinks
he's owed something, you know, for his service to his country.
He's definitely owed that ten grand goddamn it, and he
(04:34):
wants it and he wants it now. His kid needs braces,
his daughter teeth all over the place, and his wife, Jesus,
she keeps talking about his inadequacies and threatening divorce or
at least a trial separation. He'd like to take her
on a nice vacation, maybe down to the beach, just
(04:55):
the two of them get things straightened out. And of
course his truck, truck needs a new transmission. And some
wheels and nobbies would be sweet. Some big, badass wheels, chrome,
gnarly nobbies. Yeah, that's what Dick would like. All of this,
Dick contemplates as he slowly rolls through town, out past
(05:17):
the DPW yard, down Maine with its shops closed and dark,
up into the hills where the fat cats like Monroe live,
back down into town along River Road and then again
onto Railroad Avenue and another Monroe drive by. How many
trips did he make for that scumbag? At least five
(05:40):
five round trips to West Palm over a couple of years. No,
no more like seven or eight trips. Two grand pop.
That was the deal, not even a deal. That was
what Monroe offered, and Dick said, Okay, I'll do it.
He'd pull Monroe's monster car carrier loaded up with the
vine Mustangs and Maseratis nine to elevens and sl five hundreds.
(06:05):
Monroe owned more antique cars than Dick has teeth in
his head, some of them worth half a million bucks.
But do you think the prick could fork over the
Measley ten Grandi oes me Jesus Christ. Yeah, Okay, Dick's
heard the rumors, the scuttle butt about Monroe maybe being
(06:26):
on the balls of his ass, got himself over, extended,
crappy economy, messi divorce, lived two dam high on the hog.
But hey, none of that Horseshit is Dick's problem. Dick
has his own problems. He just wants what he has
coming to him. Dick just wants his ten grand He
(06:47):
makes pretty good money last year, over one hundred and
twenty thousand with overtime plus benefits out the wazoo, plus
a very sweet pension and healthcare for life once he
gets his twenty years in just two years and four
months to go. Oh yeah. Like all cops, he counts
(07:07):
the days, just has to do his duty and stay clean.
No fuck ups, absolutely no fuck ups, like the union
rep always says at the end of the meetings. Don't
screw up, boys, screw up in your risk everything employment
benefits pension, So just do your job and stay clean.
(07:30):
Dick has the suv parked right in front of Monroe's building,
right out front. He hasn't moved in quite a while,
five minutes, maybe ten at least, sits there, seething in
a kind of dream state. Doesn't even know he's dreaming,
just sitting there, staring. The last time he saw Monroe,
(07:53):
just a couple weeks ago, he asked again for his money,
practically got down on his hands and knees and begged
for the goddamn money. And Monroe, slicker than the back
stoop after a hard freeze, gave him some cock and
bowl about a restructuring, a bank loan, a new partner,
and a fresh influx of cash. Fresh influx of cash,
(08:18):
my ass, Dick mutters as he touches the accelerator and
begins another slow pass through the burrow. He thinks about
those trips down and back in three days, fifteen hundred
miles each way, endless stress out there on I ninety five,
pulling that big, badass car carrier, destroying the transmission in
(08:39):
his ford f two to fifty super duty, one hundred
cups of coffee, no sleep, worrying about those damn cars.
And then the a hole doesn't pay me, doesn't pay me,
He doesn't fucking pay me. Are you kidding me? You
gotta be kidding me. I'm going to do it. I'm
going to do it, he tells himself as he winds
through the hills. God damn it, I'm going to do it.
(09:01):
I'm finally gonna do it. I've been thinking about it
for months, and now I'm finally going to do it.
I got the right, I got the goddamn right to
take what's mine. Only want what's mine. That's all, what
I earned, what I have coming to me. His voice
is loud and clear inside the explorer assured, confident, he
(09:23):
fidgets now and bites his nails and drums his fingers
on the steering wheel. Yeah, he shouts, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Like when he was a Marine Dicks on a mission
down along River Road and then a left back onto
Railroad Avenue three twelve am town as quiet as a
church on a Saturday night, not a soul in sight,
(09:47):
just Officer Benson and his bronze stallions. He parks the
suv in front of Monroe's building, and he steps out,
opens the back door, reaches down and gra grabs the
heavy duty ratchet with the half inch socket off the floor.
Every shift for the past few weeks, Officer Benson has
(10:08):
removed that ratchet from his truck and slipped it into
the back of the Explorer just in case. Dick, ratchet
in hand, marches up the sidewalk and climbs the steps
to the stoop where the stallions await their freedom. An
overhead light provides plenty of illumination. Dick nestles the half
(10:30):
inch socket on to the first bolt, and to his delight,
he finds just the slightest bit of exertion loosens the bolt,
and soon he has all four bolts off, and the
time quickly arrives to find out if he can actually
lift the damn thing, and lo and behold, he can.
He can lift it. It's no small chore, but Dick's
a big, strong dude, and in short order he has
(10:53):
wrestled the first bronze stallion into the back seat of
the Explorer. A couple minutes and a bit more exertion later,
and stallion number two sits beside his buddy. Exactly what
the hell I'm going to do with these two steeds,
Dick says right out loud, damn DIVINEO. But I assure
(11:15):
as hell I'm glad to get them away from that
no good scumbag Monroe. Dick, heart blasting against the wall
of his chest, returns to the stoop to retrieve his ratchet.
He looks around, makes sure he has not left any
incriminating evidence, and he assures himself that all is well.
(11:38):
He turns to go, and Dick fails to see through
the small porthole window over the front door. The tiny
red light. Hey videocam with a motion sensor turned on
no doubt when Dick first stepped out of his police
suv and approached the front door, captured the whole beautiful
(12:02):
event on digital memory. Don't screw up the union rep
lectured over and over. Do not screw up employment benefits,
pension reputation down, the drain up in smoke in a flash,
(12:23):
the snap of a finger. Thanks for listening to this
original audio presentation of ten grand narrated by the author.
(12:45):
If you enjoy today's story, please take a few seconds
to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast, and then
please go to Thomas William Simpson dot com for additional
information about the author and to view his extensive canon.
The Ten Minute Storyteller is produced by Andrew Pliglisi and
(13:06):
Josh Klani and is part of the Elvis Durand Podcast
Network in partnership with iHeart Productions. So until next time,
this is Bill Simpson, your ten Minute Storyteller,
Welcome to the ten Minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson,
your host, narrator and author. We hear at the ten
Minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or
rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to
(00:25):
pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human
condition as ten minutes will permit mini novels on steroids.
This week we meet Dick Dix at wits end. Bill Monroe,
(00:48):
Oh's patrolman Dick Benson ten Grand has owed the police
officer ten grand for nearly two years, and Dick wants
his doe, and more than wants it, Dick needs it
for his family, his wife and daughter. On several occasions
he has begged and pleaded with Monroe to fork over
(01:10):
the cash, all to no avail. Well, now Dick has
a plan, a crazy ass scheme to get his dough
and tonight's the night ten grand. The small town cop
drives by the offices of Monroe Construction for at least
(01:34):
the tenth time on his midnight to dawn shift, and
it's only one fifteen. The cop sees over the ten
grand that Bill Monroe owes him and has owed him
for nearly two years. For nearly two years, he's been
asking Monroe for the dough, and for nearly two years,
(01:55):
the lying bastard has been glad handing him, smiling his face,
cap teeth, insisting the doe will be in his possession
by the end of the month, end of the week,
end of the day in cash as promised. Officer Benson
rolls by the construction office, barely above an idol in
(02:16):
his forward Explorer police SUV with all the bells and whistles.
The patrolman will burn most of a tankful of gas
on his early morning shift, cruising the quiet streets of
the borough, doing not much else other than fretting and
seething over that ten grand dick. Benson rolls down the
(02:40):
window and spits on the sidewalk in front of Monroe's
snazzy brick office building. He'd like to spit right in
Monroe's face. The smug bastard really lay a nice wet
louis right in the some bitch's kisser. But of course
he's a cop and so he has to play it
(03:00):
be respectful. A stand up guy can't be slamming his
elbow into Monroe's eye socket or breaking the douchebag's kneecap.
Can't do it. He breaks backs up, stares at those
bronze stallions that stand guard at the front door of
the building. For months now, Dick has had his eye
(03:24):
on those stallions, gorgeous pieces of sculpture, perfectly rendered and
no doubt worth a truck full of cash. Ten grand, easy,
maybe ten grand apiece. Each one stands three feet high
and must be four or five feet nose to tail.
Dick wonders what the damn things must weigh. He knows
(03:48):
the bronze stallions are mounted on steel plates, and the
plates are bolted into the concrete stoop on either side
of the front door, half inch bolts, four in each plate.
Dick knows he's checked before becoming a cop. Dick Benson
was a marine, a United States Marine, the few, the proud,
(04:12):
the Marines. He served his country, did some fighting in
the Middle East, defended democracy in the American way, or
so he thinks, or so he sometimes says. Dick thinks
he's owed something, you know, for his service to his country.
He's definitely owed that ten grand goddamn it, and he
(04:34):
wants it and he wants it now. His kid needs braces,
his daughter teeth all over the place, and his wife, Jesus,
she keeps talking about his inadequacies and threatening divorce or
at least a trial separation. He'd like to take her
on a nice vacation, maybe down to the beach, just
(04:55):
the two of them get things straightened out. And of
course his truck, truck needs a new transmission. And some
wheels and nobbies would be sweet. Some big, badass wheels, chrome,
gnarly nobbies. Yeah, that's what Dick would like. All of this,
Dick contemplates as he slowly rolls through town, out past
(05:17):
the DPW yard, down Maine with its shops closed and dark,
up into the hills where the fat cats like Monroe live,
back down into town along River Road and then again
onto Railroad Avenue and another Monroe drive by. How many
trips did he make for that scumbag? At least five
(05:40):
five round trips to West Palm over a couple of years. No,
no more like seven or eight trips. Two grand pop.
That was the deal, not even a deal. That was
what Monroe offered, and Dick said, Okay, I'll do it.
He'd pull Monroe's monster car carrier loaded up with the
vine Mustangs and Maseratis nine to elevens and sl five hundreds.
(06:05):
Monroe owned more antique cars than Dick has teeth in
his head, some of them worth half a million bucks.
But do you think the prick could fork over the
Measley ten Grandi oes me Jesus Christ. Yeah, Okay, Dick's
heard the rumors, the scuttle butt about Monroe maybe being
(06:26):
on the balls of his ass, got himself over, extended,
crappy economy, messi divorce, lived two dam high on the hog.
But hey, none of that Horseshit is Dick's problem. Dick
has his own problems. He just wants what he has
coming to him. Dick just wants his ten grand He
(06:47):
makes pretty good money last year, over one hundred and
twenty thousand with overtime plus benefits out the wazoo, plus
a very sweet pension and healthcare for life once he
gets his twenty years in just two years and four
months to go. Oh yeah. Like all cops, he counts
(07:07):
the days, just has to do his duty and stay clean.
No fuck ups, absolutely no fuck ups, like the union
rep always says at the end of the meetings. Don't
screw up, boys, screw up in your risk everything employment
benefits pension, So just do your job and stay clean.
(07:30):
Dick has the suv parked right in front of Monroe's building,
right out front. He hasn't moved in quite a while,
five minutes, maybe ten at least, sits there, seething in
a kind of dream state. Doesn't even know he's dreaming,
just sitting there, staring. The last time he saw Monroe,
(07:53):
just a couple weeks ago, he asked again for his money,
practically got down on his hands and knees and begged
for the goddamn money. And Monroe, slicker than the back
stoop after a hard freeze, gave him some cock and
bowl about a restructuring, a bank loan, a new partner,
and a fresh influx of cash. Fresh influx of cash,
(08:18):
my ass, Dick mutters as he touches the accelerator and
begins another slow pass through the burrow. He thinks about
those trips down and back in three days, fifteen hundred
miles each way, endless stress out there on I ninety five,
pulling that big, badass car carrier, destroying the transmission in
(08:39):
his ford f two to fifty super duty, one hundred
cups of coffee, no sleep, worrying about those damn cars.
And then the a hole doesn't pay me, doesn't pay me,
He doesn't fucking pay me. Are you kidding me? You
gotta be kidding me. I'm going to do it. I'm
going to do it, he tells himself as he winds
through the hills. God damn it, I'm going to do it.
(09:01):
I'm finally gonna do it. I've been thinking about it
for months, and now I'm finally going to do it.
I got the right, I got the goddamn right to
take what's mine. Only want what's mine. That's all, what
I earned, what I have coming to me. His voice
is loud and clear inside the explorer assured, confident, he
(09:23):
fidgets now and bites his nails and drums his fingers
on the steering wheel. Yeah, he shouts, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Like when he was a Marine Dicks on a mission
down along River Road and then a left back onto
Railroad Avenue three twelve am town as quiet as a
church on a Saturday night, not a soul in sight,
(09:47):
just Officer Benson and his bronze stallions. He parks the
suv in front of Monroe's building, and he steps out,
opens the back door, reaches down and gra grabs the
heavy duty ratchet with the half inch socket off the floor.
Every shift for the past few weeks, Officer Benson has
(10:08):
removed that ratchet from his truck and slipped it into
the back of the Explorer just in case. Dick, ratchet
in hand, marches up the sidewalk and climbs the steps
to the stoop where the stallions await their freedom. An
overhead light provides plenty of illumination. Dick nestles the half
(10:30):
inch socket on to the first bolt, and to his delight,
he finds just the slightest bit of exertion loosens the bolt,
and soon he has all four bolts off, and the
time quickly arrives to find out if he can actually
lift the damn thing, and lo and behold, he can.
He can lift it. It's no small chore, but Dick's
a big, strong dude, and in short order he has
(10:53):
wrestled the first bronze stallion into the back seat of
the Explorer. A couple minutes and a bit more exertion later,
and stallion number two sits beside his buddy. Exactly what
the hell I'm going to do with these two steeds,
Dick says right out loud, damn DIVINEO. But I assure
(11:15):
as hell I'm glad to get them away from that
no good scumbag Monroe. Dick, heart blasting against the wall
of his chest, returns to the stoop to retrieve his ratchet.
He looks around, makes sure he has not left any
incriminating evidence, and he assures himself that all is well.
(11:38):
He turns to go, and Dick fails to see through
the small porthole window over the front door. The tiny
red light. Hey videocam with a motion sensor turned on
no doubt when Dick first stepped out of his police
suv and approached the front door, captured the whole beautiful
(12:02):
event on digital memory. Don't screw up the union rep
lectured over and over. Do not screw up employment benefits,
pension reputation down, the drain up in smoke in a flash,
(12:23):
the snap of a finger. Thanks for listening to this
original audio presentation of ten grand narrated by the author.
(12:45):
If you enjoy today's story, please take a few seconds
to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast, and then
please go to Thomas William Simpson dot com for additional
information about the author and to view his extensive canon.
The Ten Minute Storyteller is produced by Andrew Pliglisi and
(13:06):
Josh Klani and is part of the Elvis Durand Podcast
Network in partnership with iHeart Productions. So until next time,
this is Bill Simpson, your ten Minute Storyteller,
Host
Bill Simpson
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