The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) Read Online Free PDF

with a community pool and work-out facilities just for ranch staff, and stables for his horses. He converted fifty acres of the land into an organic garden and farm to grow all of his own fruits and vegetables and another one hundred-fifty acres to raise his own cattle, chickens, turkeys, goats and lambs.
    There were horse trails leading to all parts of “Estancia De Niro,” the name his head “gaucho,” Martin Fierro, gave to the ranch. De Niro met Martin in Argentina at a horse and cattle auction a decade ago. Although an accomplished rider himself, De Niro had never seen anyone better with horses – riding them, training them, and caring for them, than Martin. He knew that gauchos were considered undesirables in modern-day Argentina but he never paid attention to stereotypes of any sort. His dad taught him to head the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - to judge each man by … the content of his character and so De Niro offered Martin an opportunity to come to work for him, to run his stables. At first, Martin turned him down because he didn’t want to leave his wife and children in Argentina, but he was overjoyed when De Niro paid to relocate his entire family with him. That made Fierro extremely loyal to “Don” De Niro.
    As was all of their staff, Martin was broken-hearted from the murder of Señora Lisa, so much so, that he told De Niro that he would gladly fly to the hills of Pakistan to find and kill Osama Bin Laden himself. Though De Niro turned down his offer, it wasn’t because he didn’t think Martin had the skills. He knew the man was equally proficient riding a horse, tracking, shooting a rifle and pistol, wielding a knife and tossing a lariat, but De Niro also knew with his Latin blood, he might very well start a war all on his own.
    The horse trails also lead to a remote area where De Niro had a compound built deep within the foothills themselves. The only people that knew its location were his sons and his Personal Assistant William Brett, a transplanted proper English butler who Lisa had hired when they first moved to Colts Neck.
    William was the butler for a British friend of De Niro’s, a member of the royal line, who was known as a playboy and daredevil. While Lisa thought Cris’s friend was a bit of an egocentric fool, she was impressed by William. When news reached them of the royal’s death in a boat-racing accident, De Niro and Lisa flew to London, De Niro to attend his friend’s funeral and Lisa to solicit William to come work for them. Although William was taken care of quite handsomely in his master’s will and had no interest in living in the United States, he took a liking to Lisa. As she was prone to do, Lisa finally got her way when she persuaded William by telling him that she was pregnant - with Richard, at the time - and that he could heal some of the loss he was feeling - he practically raised his former master from childbirth and was taking his loss as one would, losing a son - by helping to raise her children.
    William had the utmost respect for Lisa and took her death with the heaviest of hearts. After her funeral, his loyalty to De Niro grew when De Niro offered him the opportunity to become his Personal Assistant. William also became fiercely devoted to Richard and Louis after their mother’s death. In fact, De Niro would entrust no one else with his sons – even making sure to stipulate that in his will.
    Martin and William were the two men De Niro most relied upon. They had both remained with him and his sons through their most trying and depressed times. They not only looked after him but they were fiercely protective of Richard and Louis, partially a result of 9/11. Just as De Niro did, William and Martin both harbored irrational guilt about not protecting Lisa that day. They were two very different men, but they shared an unbridled loyalty to De Niro and the boys. They also shared mutual respect for one another but you could never get either of them to admit