TARGETED Chapter 4 Mary’s Final Solution (A True Story)

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                                              Mary’s Final Solution

Two weeks after the encounter with the IRS agents Mary was awakened by the sound of someone in the front of her house. She once again had trouble sleeping during the night and because of that had uncharacteristically slept in a little late that Saturday morning.  She could hear voices outside.

“Who is it?” she asked through a window.

There was no answer.  She noticed people walking up the little concrete path to her door but not actually coming up to the door.  Then she heard the voice of someone who sounded very much like the dreaded Agent Strong.  He was using some sort of bull horn to amplify his voice to what now appeared to be about one hundred strangers who had gathered in Mary’s yard.

“This is the tax auction for this house which has been set for this day. Please be warned that this is a tax deed that you are buying and must be perfected by you.” Agent Strong was addressing a group of would be bidders.  Mary opened her door.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

Agent Strong quickly explained to the crowd, “This is just the tenant.  Do not listen to her.” He waved her off with a disrespectful backhand.

A voice from the crowd that appeared to be that of a young woman asked, “Has she agreed to leave? I thought you said you would have her removed by now?”

“Look to every transaction and you will find that there is usually a problem, but that is precisely why our tax sales are so good.  You are not here to lose money, are you?”

There was a general consensus that was signaled by the nodding of heads and a softened chatter of the wisest of the now growing throng of spectators and potential bidders.

Agent Strong signaled to two rather large armed security agents to come and “contain” the potential distraction. The two agents “surrounded” Mary while yet another stood close by as an insurance against violence. Strong had done his job in setting up the auction.  He had treated it as a hostile tax sale and sought policing authority to provide protection.  The security detail did not know that the possible combatant would be an 86 year old woman with a heart condition. They were prepared for something a bit more challenging than an old lady armed with a cane.       

“We will need to start the bidding high enough to cover the tax liability although I am told that you should get a pretty good deal today. As you recall the house we did two weeks ago still netted over a 35% return. Now let’s get started with the bidding.” Agent Strong ignored Mary.

  “I want to know just what you think you’re doing Agent Strong!” Mary persisted.           

   It was apparent to everyone her voice was breaking under the stress. She was crying now. Strong did not have time for her. There was an auction to complete and ready buyers. He could not concern himself with her personal problems that were unfortunate but his task was quite clear. He turned to a female agent who stood by. “Please try to get her to go into the house until I can get this over with,” Strong said in an aside and then turned quickly to address the first bid.

“Do I have 126,000?”

“Stop it!” Mary shouted. Her head now pounded with pain.

“Do I have 127,000?”

“This is my house…” She was beginning to find it hard to breath.

“That's 127,000.”

 “I don't owe you…” Mary was pleading with tears flowing down her cheeks. 

“Please do not be alarmed,” said Agent Strong pointing to Mary, “This old woman no longer owns this house.  She will be removed.”

 “…anything, and you can’t do this!” Shouted Mary.

 “Do I have 128,000?”

  “Stop this right now!”  Mary was very angry and her voice really showed it. She began to raise her cane. “You have no right!” she said with her voice quivering but steady with purpose.

“I am sorry ladies and gentlemen.  Do not worry about the old lady.  She is in a state of denial and it will soon pass.” His voice showed no sign of emotion, in fact he seemed more annoyed than concerned.

“Is she alright?” observed a prospective buyer who noticed that Mary was beginning to breathe a little heavier. “She seems to be very upset.”

Mary suddenly did not look well as her complexion began to pale.  They had seized her bank account.  They had insulted the memory of her husband.  They had returned her kindness with rudeness and cruelty.  Now they wanted to steal her home and the last memories she had of her beloved late husband.

The dark figure of Agent Strong presented itself once again before the assembled group to complete his intended purpose.  Nothing, not even the sympathetic sight of a beleaguered widow, could make Agent Strong show even the slightest concern.  To him this was just another day, another house, another score. After all she deserved it, he rationalized. “They all do,” he said to himself. He had his speech ready. He was eager to resume.  She had family and they will just have to take care of her, he rationalized.  It is really is not my concern.

“I have been through this dozens of times and the results are always the same.  Grandma just needs some rest and clearly needs to be somewhere where her needs can be taken care of.  This sale will free her to go to such a place where she will be much more comfortable.  Now can we get on with the sale?  Who had the last bid?  You, Scotty?  Good to see you again!”

“Is this old lady part of the deal?  I don’t need another grandma!” said the man in his late twenties who Agent Strong had referred to as “Scotty”. His comment was met with a few laughs, however not everyone agreed with him and some even found his attempt at humor totally without taste.

Agent Strong could sense that the auction was beginning to slide.  That meant that it was not moving ahead but was becoming distracted.  He could feel the tug of a hard sell setting in.  He knew he needed to do something to overcome the obvious sight of Mary and the uncontrollable sympathy she was beginning to garner from the assembled witnesses.  

Holding up a document Agent Strong made his best argument, “I have the most recent appraisal here that shows the property to be worth at least $225,000 in its present condition. It is excellent for a multiunit complex and its location puts it into a zone where it can be converted without any difficulty.  Do I hear $128,000?”

“Sounds good, $128,000!” loudly said a stranger on the front row.

“Good!”

Mary moved up onto the porch and began in the direction of Agent Strong who was standing directly in front of the last three steps leading down from the porch. Mary had her cane and she was serious. She needed the cane to get down the three steps.  As she reached the bottom the security detail suddenly noticed her position and determined it to be a potential threat. 

“Do I have a bid of 130,000?”

Once again Mary was surrounded.  Her eyes widened as unimaginable fear flowed through her body.  Her heart was bounding into an ache that made her start to tremble.  Suddenly she felt very cold.

“Ladies and gentlemen please, this property is a steal at 130,000.  Look at the location.  You shouldn’t have any problem tearing it down and taking it into the commercial market.  Think of the potential.  Think of the money you will make.”

 “Stop!” cried out Mary her voice cracking with desperate emotion.

Agent Strong could no longer contain his frustration.  This was completely unacceptable.  How dare she interfere!  He was only doing his job.  He turned to face his opponent and made it very clear that his warning was for her. He fiercely addressed her, his eyes cold with anger.  “Enough Mary!  It’s over and it was time you accepted your responsibility. Your husband cheated and it’s just too bad that you have to pay the price.  I have to do my job. So do not interrupt me again or I will have you arrested for obstruction.”

The words fell like daggers as Agent Strong turned to again address the buyers. Mary felt her strength begin to fade while in contrast her indignation began to rise.  Something was very wrong about all of this.  It just didn’t make sense.  It was wrong and she knew it and in her helpless state the weight of it was beginning to break her.

Then Mary began to think of her options. How would she stop this insanity? She needed some help but from where?  She had to stop the sale no matter what.  Then it hit her.  In the logic of her mind she thought she could do better than just be a victim.  She needed to follow her first instinct.  She needed to reason with him. Negotiate.  At the same time she was not na?ve. She could see it was nearly hopeless but she still believed in herself.  Still it was at least worth an effort. She brought the cane up as if to point it at Strong to get his attention.

“Weapon!”  shouted one of the security team.  As the cane was shamefully and abruptly taken Mary nearly fell being deprived of her walking stick, her constant support. 

“Disarmed!” shouted another. 

Mary was both astounded and a part of her actually amused at the thought that she was considered a possible physical threat. She was also profoundly upset at having been “assaulted” in such an obviously brutal confrontation. In her own yard no less.  The truth was the violence of the action shocked her to the core.  There was none of the respect she had been accustomed to.

“Leave me alone”   Mary said so softly only those very close to her heard,

Without her cane Mary suddenly became very unsteady.  She carefully walked out onto the grass. She could see that someone in the crowd had inadvertently stepped back into her prize roses and crushed one of her favorites.  Somehow it just didn’t seem to matter anymore. They had won.  They were far too powerful against her pleas and now prayers.  She had lived by respect and a code of kindness and love that knew no strangers.  It was wrong what they were doing and yet it had become so unreal that in her mind there suddenly were much more important processes beginning to take over. To her credit she had not given in.  She definitely did not give her permission.  However there was a higher law at play here now.  The money meant nothing.  The house itself meant nothing.  She began to think of Sophie and a strange calmness began to fill her with hope and at the same time dull her senses. The pleasant moment would not last.

Even then Mary could hear what was going on.  In some part of her mind she knew what it meant, but she also knew she didn’t have to accept it.   Somehow she knew it was time. There was a tremendous rush of pain that shot through her body and those nearby her heard a sudden inhaling sound that was more like the sound that one makes when you surface after being under water perhaps a bit too long. It was a struggle to keep life in the body and then quietly an acceptance, a complete surrender.  Mary fell, collapsing silently into the waiting arms of her husband.  No more the object of scorn, beyond abuse and unkindness.  She was no longer concerned with the cruelty that had finished her life.  They could no longer harm her, but the injustice marked her and that would have to be dealt with.

There was a sudden rush over to see the old lady who had fallen on the grass.  No one knew exactly what to do or what could be done.  Mary's heart condition was no more.  Mary did what she had hoped and succeeded in stopping the auction. That was just long enough to have her body removed in a paramedic unit.

It was as though no significant event had occurred at all.  No one left.  The comments about what had just happened seemed to fade away. They all just sort of stood around and waited.  Observing that no one had left Agent Strong made a comment out of ear shot to the Agent standing nearby, “Good thing she didn’t die in the house while we have this crowd around.”

Confused the agent replied, “Why’s that?”

“Bad for business.  It would have depressed the bid.”

The agent still looked a bit confused.  

“There are those who are superstitious, don’t what to live where someone died.”

Agent Strong began anew. “Let's see. Where were we?  Oh yeah! Who will give an offer in the ‘estate of Mary?’ That's right. Do I have 130,000? I don’t think perfecting the tax deed will be a problem.”

Mary could not have predicted the profound affect her struggle and death would have on a nation.  She could not have imagined how it would be spoken of on the floor of Congress and in the country’s highest Courts.  She could not have known how so simple and innocent a life could become the rallying call for potentially millions of oppressed fellow citizens who themselves have been abused and mistreated by the government in the reality that has become America. How her story would inspire action and courage, or perhaps insanity, to fight against the tide of abuse and injustice that had taken hold and would now sweep the nation.  She could not have predicted that her quiet martyrdom would eventually burn into a fire storm of public opinion.

It has been just over twenty years since Mary’s abuse ended in the loss of her own life. After all the sorrow and pain she suffered what is important is that Mary and John were at last reunited. Their struggle was won. Their story would become the center of a perfect political storm, and their legacy had just begun.  

Special attention:  In an effort to tell my story and to spread the word about how targeting has impacted on freedom in this country, it is imperative that this story reach the masses, and in order to do that I need your help.  Please forward this story on to as many others as you can.   My following is now approaching 5,700 but the possibilities are only now beginning to be felt.  The one thing that keeps targeting in check is public opinion.  There truly is power in the People.  Please help by spreading the word. Thanks Paul. [email protected]