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    Postremo Proelio (The Devil's Bet)
    Postremo Proelio (The Devil's Bet)
    Postremo Proelio (The Devil's Bet)
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Postremo Proelio (The Devil's Bet)

    By Steven Holt

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    About this ebook

    In this religious court-battle legal drama, the earth is ensconced with the Second Coming of Christ, an event that enthralls the world’s population. International organizers take Jesus from country to country, rich and poor cities alike, to bring peace and goodwill to Mankind. However, lowlife Rudy Kretz, a very miserable and abjectly downtrodden individual, decides to seek his revenge on God for his miserable life by shooting Jesus, killing Him in front of millions of viewers. Lacking any action or vengeance from God, the authorities are forced to proceed with the legal prosecution against Mr. Kretz in the form of a criminal trial for “Murder in the First Degree” and other minor charges.
    The slam dunk case, with ample worldly evidence against the defendant, is suddenly interrupted by the entrance of a slick lawyer- The Devil himself- who wants to represent Rudy for obvious and personal reasons. But before the shock can wear off of the court attendees, in walks another deity in the form of the new "replacement District Attorney," representing the prosecution- God! Despite the overwhelming evidence against his client, Satan makes a bet with God that he can win the case outright using only the human’s weak judicial system (in this case, California criminal law) without any tricks, magic powers or subliminal force- just plain old legal wrangling with the loser being banished from the earth forever!
    God accepts the bet and handles the case exceedingly well. Strangely enough, the Devil offers no counters to the overwhelming evidence or witnesses God has presented in the trial. Instead, Lucifer clearly states his case is based merely on a loophole of jurisprudence- that of the simple legal definition of the charges- “Murder in the first degree!” And to the shock and fear of the whole world, he wins!
    However, before Satan’s obnoxious victory celebration can be completed, God points out that, in his excitement to win the main legal issue of the case, the Murder charge, the Devil has overlooked the few minor misdemeanor charges that were also attached to the case aside form the main charges of murder.
    Since the bet with God was for the total victory (i.e. "all the marbles"), namely the Devil winning it outright and completely, Satan, losing the bet on the smallest of the charges, has no choice but to be banished from the earth forever. In the end, Jesus returns to earth and comforts the poor distraught Rudy who was really just a pawn in God’s perverse but effective attempt to rid the world of the Devil after all. And with that ending, Rudy is given his life back to him, now devoid of all the suffering he endured to make it all happen. A modern day Job style story with an unexpected twist.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSteven Holt
    Release dateNov 10, 2012
    ISBN9781301834013
    Postremo Proelio (The Devil's Bet)
    Author

    Steven Holt

    Steven was born and raised in Los Altos, a suburb of San Jose, California in the now famous "Silicon Valley." He graduated from San Jose State University with a Master's degree equivalent and taught Special Education in college as an Adjunct Professor and also was a counselor at the California School for the Deaf as well as an Interpreter for the Deaf, wrestling coach and sports official. He currently lives in Fallbrook, California with his dog. He enjoys road racing motorcycles, herpetology and has written various books including children's and fiction. He is also one of the top free-lance writers in America. He has won several literary awards in poetry.

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      Book preview

      Postremo Proelio (The Devil's Bet) - Steven Holt

      POSTREMO PROELIO

      (The Devil’s Bet)

      By Steven E. Holt

      Copyright TXu001787272 2011

      Published on Smashwords

      Art work by Steve Cooney

      Edited by Mike Ross

      Cover design editing: Tristan Curnow

      Formatted by eBooksMade4You

      * * *

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      * * *

      CONTENTS

      THE CACOPHONY

      RUDY KRETZ- THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

      A LIFE OF ABJECT MISERY

      ABSTRACT REALISM

      JUSTICE FOR THE DOWN-TRODDEN

      THE IMPRISONED

      HABEAS CORPUS

      VENI, VIDI, VECI (I came, I saw, I conquered)

      #1 vs. #2, BEST MAN WINS…

      THE BET

      DETAILS, DETAILS….

      IUDICIUM IUDICII (the trial)

      SLICK WILLY

      THE LOOPHOLE OF ALL LOOPHOLES

      THE BEGINNING OF THE END

      A VERY PYRRHIC VICTORY

      CARPE DIEM

      AUTHOR HISTORY

      * * *

      POSTREMO PROELIO

      (The Devil’s Bet)

      THE CACOPHONY

      Rudy Kretz was sleeping soundly when suddenly a cacophony of noise burst into his loft, stabbing his brain like the way a bright light shocks one's eyeballs. He was slow to realize the degree of the noise coming from outside. Once awake, he got up and stumbled to the window where he removed his temporary cardboard box window shade and peered outside to the street below.

      He was surprised by two things: first, the early morning, which normally is dark at this time of year, was now bright and sunny- a definitely unexpected meteorological change from any day previous during the winter time. Secondly, the most obvious thing was the level of noise emanating from the streets and apartments surrounding him. Car horns blared, garbage cans were rattled and banged, air horns went off and people were screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs. He actually saw people dancing in the streets!

      Having been rudely awakened from his deep slumber, Rudy was pissed off by the noise and racket emanating from the celebrating crowd. What the fuck are you people doing?!, he brazenly screamed at a pitch to overcome the outside noise. Rudy, not being a happy person or particularly well loved by any of the neighbors, was definitely not a morning person. The rising noise just confused him as to why these people were going so crazy. It was worse than the millennium party celebrations he had seen in the year 2000. He took an empty beer bottle lying at his feet and threw it out the window towards his tormentors.

      Stupefied, he leaned out the window sill and stared in disbelief at the goings-on down below. One of his neighbors shouted up to him, Hey Dickhead, haven't you heard the news? It's the biggest day in the world. It's the Second Coming of Christ, He's finally arrived!! Turn on your damn TV set and catch up with the news, you moron! It just happened this morning and every TV station and YouTube has it all over. Where ya been, under a rock?! With that said, the revelers went on dancing and making more noise.

      Rudy just looked on in awe and then mumbled some curse words and went back into his room, putting up the cardboard window covering, hoping to somehow block out the light and noise obtrusively entering his loft. He crawled back into bed still cursing to himself as now he was wide awake and probably wouldn't get back to sleep anytime soon. The noise intensified as he tried to smother his ears with his pillow and pretend it was just a dream.

      What the hell do they mean by the ‘Second Coming?’ There's no way Jesus is going to come down to this hellhole for any fuckin’ reason and do anything for mankind. He hasn't done anything for us yet so why should he come now? It must be a hoax, Rudy thought to himself as he lay in his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Fucking idiots! They’re full of shit! He lay there in bed for a good half-hour before he realized sleep was a futile gesture. He got up and turned on his small TV set to see what the excitement was about.

      There it was, on every channel, excited reports about the actual Second Coming of Christ! Every channel reported that Jesus had arrived on earth at 5:35 AM Pacific Standard Time, just minutes earlier than a now fuming Rudy had been rudely awoken. Jesus apparently arrived in a very inconspicuous place, Tierra del Fuego in South America. His arrival from out of the heavens was accompanied by a bright light and a florescent-like glow that resonated throughout the skies of Tierra del Fuego and surrounding areas. Suddenly everyone felt an entire weather pattern change throughout the world. Everyone throughout the earth felt the warm breeze as skies parted all clouds and cold and stormy weather fronts were dissipated as the sun shone down on all continents.

      The coldest, darkest areas were now spring-like and glowed with the warm resonance of sunshine. Birds all started chirping in an almost comical serenade across the lands, adding to the cacophony of human celebrants. The world was in shock but yet the evidence was overwhelming. Videotapes and cell phone cameras had all captured the amazing moment and live feeds were coming into the TV channels and newsrooms minute by minute.

      It was a terribly exciting time, especially for all the religious people, as, this time, finally, there was no doubt as to the veracity of the event. People of all religions, faiths and creeds were all drawn together by an inner warmth that had never been sensed before. Even the unbelievers and atheists had their doubts thrown away by the absolute proof and evidence of facts that Jesus Christ had arrived. Everyone knew that this time it was for real. In the thousands of years of mankind's existence, this was the first time that there was absolute, empirical proof and witnesses of the Second Coming. There had never been a spectacle of this magnitude ever in modern times. God was alive and His Son was here to prove it.

      * * *

      RUDY KRETZ- THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

      Rudy Kretz was a very unhappy person. He was born that way, he grew up that way and he was living that way. Life had given him lemons and he didn't like lemonade. Some say he was born under a bad sign while others said he just was a bad sign. Since youth, Rudy had had a miserable life in so many ways that it's impossible to think anyone wouldn’t have been scarred by his experiences.

      Although he now mostly kept to himself, people could tell he was a

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