Chapter 1:
The Phone Call from Hell

An unexpectedshock to the systemcan force you to see things you thought were deeply buried in the past. Suddenly you come face to face with your beliefs and question who you really are and what your Life’s all beenabout.

Either your Life System evolves and adapts, or itcollapses.

London, February 1992

Life has its way of testing you, sometimes more than once.

Something unexpected happens, whether you’re ready or not.

You never know who you really are until you’ve been tested.

It’s called a “shock to the system”.

The shock can be from external or internal origin.

A shock of one type or another is going to happen; they always do.

They make Life interesting; but the problem is that they can also be very destructive.

Your Life will change in an instant.

You either adapt and recover or your “Life System” collapses and falls apart.

How you react will show you who you really are and what lies you’ve been telling yourself.

It all gets exposed.

And sometimes, Life likes to keep you guessing because things may not always turn out as they first appear.

“My brother wants talk to you. Something very important. I asked him explain. I don’t want you misunderstand. He speak English better. He call you few minutes. You talk to him please?”

Although I understood her, my wife’s English still needed work.

It was about 1 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. I was at my desk in the den, wrapping up my work for the weekend. The only thing I was thinking about was taking the family out for a drive to Richmond Park and then a pizza.

It’s the largest Royal Park in London and the second largest in England at about 2,300 acres.

It’s only thirty minutes or so from central London.

In 1625, to avoid the bubonic plague in London, King Charles moved to that area and put a wall around it.

He also brought in a herd of deer that, until today, are free to roam around the park without fencing.

I was just beginning to relax a bit early for a change.

We had moved to London from Toronto to be closer to my parents just over a year ago, just after Kuwait was liberated.

I had been working a lot more than usual, so I wanted some quality time with the family.

I lifted my head to look at her, and suddenly I felt the room go dark and zoom away from me.

You know how they do something called the “Dolly Zoom” in the movies?

It was first done in the Alfred Hitchcock movie called “Vertigo” in 1958.

The focus is on the person, but the background zooms in or out, as the camera is pulled on a dolly.

I always thought that was just a camera gimmick, but it happened to me right then and there.

I felt dizzy, as if I was in a tailspin and falling out of control.

Like an airplane that was climbing and suddenly its engines cut out.

It continues its climb for a few seconds, peaks, and then begins a nosedive.

I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt a deep sense of foreboding and excitement at the same time.

It was emotionally exhausting, and it put me in a sour mood.

“What’s going on, Fei?”

“He’ll call right now.”

It had been a while, but I would never forget the last time I spoke to her brother on the phone.

By this time, she and I had been married more than 16 years and had raised 3 kids together; so, I shouldn’t have had anything to worry about.

But you know the saying “once bitten, twice shy”; I expected to be hit on the head again.

I wasn’t wrong.

“What’s going on, Fei?” I repeated in a louder, angrier tone. I didn’t like surprises, like the last one he gave me. I’ll tell you about that later.

“Please wait; he’ll explain. Calm down, please; it’s nothing bad. But I need him explain. Please, it’s very important.”

Fei and I had always communicated in a mix of Japanese and English. For normal conversations, that was ok, but she didn’t know legal and business terms.

I waited for the call, all the while trying to figure out what was going on. I’ve never been known for my