The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition)
So that he would never forget that, he hung a plaque over his desk in his office that had a verse from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians engraved in brass. It read, “ Be angry, and do no sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath" (Ephesians 4:26) . That left no room for interpretation, no room for “old neighborhood” ethics. Revenge was out of the question, if De Niro were to keep to his faith, so he continued to study his Bible and prayed that he would find something that would allow him to channel his rage in a righteous direction. The more he studied, the more he felt that God was giving him the ability to understand prophecy. De Niro focused on prophecies concerning the United States. He learned that since Jacob was renamed Israel, all of his offspring were Israel. Each of Jacob’s sons became a tribe and each tribe eventually would become nations of people. Jacob’s son Joseph had twin sons of his own. They were Manasseh and Ephraim. The descendants of those two tribes became Great Britain and the United States. The prophecies of Ephraim became his obsession.
    De Niro drove around the long circular driveway and pulled up to the front of his sprawling hacienda. There were already several cars parked here and there, most likely parents and kids from the Yankees who got a head start to his home. De Niro’s ranch was well known to most everyone in his community. Without Lisa though, De Niro didn’t socialize much. She was the one that volunteered in their community and was known by all of their neighbors. As a result, most people who lived nearby were curious to see the ranch and jumped at any chance to visit it.
    William was standing outside with a few of the other hacienda staff. One of them opened the passenger doors to the Escalade as William opened the driver’s door. The boys jumped out and grabbed their own bags from the trunk - De Niro and William were on the same page about raising the boys to pull their own weight, including tending to chores and taking care of their things.
    As De Niro and his brother-in-law exited the vehicle a young Mexican man named Concho jumped into the driver’s seat. Concho was the head mechanic on the estancia. De Niro hired him after he caught him trying to steal one of his most expensive sports cars. While waiting for the police, De Niro engaged Concho in conversation, in Spanish. He was greatly impressed by the young man’s knowledge of automobiles in general and of his fleet of vehicles in particular. They both shared a love of finely made machines. By the time the police arrived, De Niro had dropped the charges and offered Concho a job as mechanic. Within a year he was put in charge of De Niro’s entire fleet of vehicles. Concho had a small team assigned to him, all of them family members of his. Together they maintained all of De Niro’s sports cars, SUV’s, one stretch limo, off-road vehicles, farm tractors and equipment, trail bikes, motorcycles, boats - De Niro owned three, a luxury yacht he kept docked in Newport Beach, CA and a speed boat and fishing boat he transported back and forth to Lake Mead, jet skis, as well as De Niro’s Rolls Royce Corniche Convertible, his Bentley Azure Convertible Mulliner and his favorite, a midnight blue (with white racing stripes) Shelby GT500 Mustang that Carroll Shelby’s Special Performance Plant in Las Vegas rebuilt into a 725 hp “Super Snake.”
    De Niro liked the passion he saw in the young man.
    “ ¿Hola hombre, que pasa?”
    “ ¿No mucho, cómo es usted jefe? Replied a grinning Concho as he sped away, kicking up a little dust to William’s dismay.
    De Niro put his hand on William’s back as they walked into the hacienda.
    “ Is everything under control with the barbeque?”
    “ Yes sir, people started arriving about five minutes ago. I’m having them escorted around the side of the hacienda.”
    “ Very good, did the Tompkins family arrive yet?”
    “ No, sir, their plane should have just touched

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