up, and sales are good worldwide; Lovely Chocolate is in demand everywhere; hopefully the days of outside help are something of the past.
Greg Jouglard: Mr. Ostrander, why is there such a demand for your chocolates worldwide?
Hal Ostrander: Well, Greg, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like to brag, but… (chuckling) Lovely’s chocolates are quite simply the best in the world! When other chocolate companies put in ground chocolate, we put in the best chocolate available; when other companies put in sugar, we also put in the best there is; when other companies have milk chocolate, can you name any other company that owns its own cows? We do! We have the happiest, most contented cows available, many of which have won contests in stock shows, I might add. Heinrich, what am I forgetting?
Dr. Heinrich Von Bonhoffer: Another company has creamy chocolate; our chocolate is creamier; our competition has low-grade chocolate bars; we only have high-quality chocolate bars, but we also run a line of chocolates that the average citizen can afford. When our competition says its chocolate is sweet, we can say ours is sweeter. We put our high quality into all our different lines of chocolates; whenever something is added, strawberries, mints, raisins, walnuts, pecans, it’s all the best. Nothing else will do.
Greg Jouglard: You have a high standard for your chocolates; that much is obvious. Is there any truth to the rumor that your chocolates, as good as they are, are addicting?
Dr. Heinrich Von Bonhoffer: We have done numerous studies on all of our chocolates and can verify that there is no truth at all to that rumor. I can say that our chocolates are as harmless as your mother’s homemade apple pie.
Hal Ostrander: There are even some health benefits to chocolate!
Greg Jouglard: Getting back to Susan Lovely, do you think that she would show an interest in her employees as much as Cornelius Lovely did?
Dr. Heinrich Von Bonhoffer: This is something I cannot speculate on; however, it is known that the Lovely family has always been supportive of the factory workers, truck drivers, engineers, administrators, secretaries, and so on. The Lovely family has a tradition of only good.
Greg Jouglard: And you hope that the tradition continues?
Dr. Heinrich Von Bonhoffer: Oh yes, most definitely. After all, a happy worker is a productive worker.
Gregory Jouglard: Gentlemen, we are about out of time for this segment. Thanks to both of you for agreeing to appear on “KDBC Presents,” and best wishes in the future.
Hal Ostrander: Thank you, Greg.
Dr. Heinrich Von Bonhoffer: My pleasure.
At Home
At the house that night, David and Walter and I were sitting around the small kitchen/dining room table. We were talking over drinks and chips, about the events of the past few days, and about the dilemma of the Burke family situation.
“You mean the Ceraldi hyphen Burke family situation,” reminded Walter.
“Listen, fellows,” I said, “I think there’s a solution to the Burke family disaster.”
Walter said, “I don’t think there are any fixes for that marriage; when that marriage goes, there goes the family, split-split!”
“What do you have in mind?” asked David.
“Here’s what I was thinking,” I continued. “We’ve been concentrating on Dr. Franklin Burke. So far, we’ve failed. He’s still seeing his girlfriend behind Helen’s back. But what if we turned our attention to Susan Lovely?”
David spoke up, “We’ve already made one hit on her, thanks to Walter.” He looked in Walter’s direction. Walter just grinned. “We don’t want to bring any attention to ourselves; I’ve got to lay low.”
“I agree,” I said. “You’ll be out of this. This is a one-man job.”
“Then what are we doing here?” asked David.
“I needed some feedback. From people I trust.”
Walter and David looked at each other. “Okay, shoot!” they said simultaneously.
“Susan Lovely has just inherited a ton of cash money, which Walter has …
“…borrowed,” said Walter.
“Borrowed, for a short while. As soon as Franklin finds out about this, Miss Lovely may not be as attractive to him as he thought. But along with the cash went a lot of stock in the Lovely Chocolate Company, and she’s now the top shareholder.”
“So?” said David. “What are we supposed to do, steal her stock?”
“No, nothing like that. She carries the family name, the family business, and is closely tied to and associated with the Lovely Chocolate Company. My idea, given to me by a female counselor…”--I peered at Walter, who rolled his eyes-- “… is that one of us should go and speak with the board of directors and see