Hi, I'm Lovar Burton, and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

In every episode, I handpicked a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them, and I hope you will too.

To close out this season of stories, y'all, I am excited to read another classic author,

none other than Mr. Kurt Vonnegut.

In his career, spanning over 50 years, Kurt Vonnegut wrote short fiction, plays, essays,

and novels, including Slotter House 5 and Kat's Cradle.

He was an icon of American Counterculture.

Today's story is from his collection entitled Welcome to the Monkey House.

The Foster portfolio is one of the first things he ever published.

He was fairly young when he wrote this story in his late 20s, but he had already lived quite a bit of life.

He had served in the army during the Second World War, and he'd also been a Nazi prisoner during that war.

And he later used those experiences to write Slotter House 5.

Now this story isn't one of his famous works of science fiction, and it isn't one of his satires either,

and maybe that's why I chose it.

This is a little mystery about a quiet, unassuming man named Herbert Foster.

I hope you enjoy it. I did.

Now, if you're ready, let's take that deep breath.

And let's begin.

The Foster Portfolio by Kurt Vonnegut.

I'm a salesman of good advice for rich people.

I'm a contact man for an investment counseling firm.

...