#Apparently David Jenkins noticed too

[sandinthepipes]

So, uhm, I noticed we have a thing for "pure" characters post break ups, turning up with a full beard. What do we think about that?

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

03/04/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Cast&Crew;WJW; Con O'Neill; David Jenkins; Bumbles; Rhys Darby; A LeagueOfTheirOwn Watch Party; Wrecked WP Continues; NewarkNewark WP tomorrow; Fundraiser Statuses; SchadenFreude; Fan Spotlight; Podcasts; LoveNotes; DailyDarby/Tonight's Taika

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

== Wee John Wonday ==

Today's Wee John Wonday featured our Pirate Queen Ruibo Qian! Please check the video out on Kristian's Instagram! Don't have time to watch? There are some highlights below the pic!

Some Highlights:

Anapela couldn't make it tonight sorry!

Ruibo is really into perfume like Kristian

Ruibo and Anapela really clicked on set!

Ruibo still has hope regarding s3!

“DO I wanna smell like a haystack with a cow dung hidden inside of it?” - Ruibo

Ruibo would be interested in polycule, Zheng may not be

Kristian has an announcement coming out tomorrow - 📚

Apparently the last episode, when they were all walking out in the colonial outfits, it was SUPER LONG and a lot of it was cut.

Qian means money = so Ruibo is literally the Money Bitch

== Con O'Neil ==

One of our wonderful crew-mates was out and about and ran into none other than THE Con O'Neill! Thank you so much for sharing this meet up with us @queerjolras!

Con also posted a picture of himself and his pup Cooper on IG today!

== David Jenkins ==

Our friend @cosmosart-s posted a lovely picture of David for the 2 year anniversary OFMD anniversary and David ran it on his IG Story! One thing I've noticed a few people mentioning was the "3" hearts. Not to clown/honk too hard, but just something to think about <3

== Rare Bumbles Sighting ==

Many of you know of Rhys and Rosie's cat Bumbles, but we don't get to see Bumbles too often! Rosie uploaded an adorable photo of one of the Darby Feline-Fam.

== Rhys Darby ==

Are you in Aotearoa? Stop in to seen see Rhys on Wed 3 Apr 2024, 8:00pm–10:00pm at the Wild Estate in Auckland!

New Cryptid Factor Episode!

89: #089 The 2nd First Issue!

Spotify / Podfriend / Apple Podcasts

== New Watch Parties ==

= Mar 3 - Mar 7 A League Of Their Own =

Join us this week starting Monday, March 4th for a multi-fandom watch party! Each day will have different games and polls! (Sorry this is a bit late, I didn't get it until today!)

Where: Amazon Prime

Time: Every day 1 PM EST / 10AM PT! 

Day One, March 4th: Pilot episodes for both series with tweeting predictions for the rest of the seasons. 

Day Two, March 5th: Bingos! Live tweet your reaction and share your filled out bingo cards! 

Day Three, March 6th: Polls! Live tweet your reactions and share your thoughts on the shows so far! 

Day Four, March 7th: Caption the screencaps from the shows: Wrong answers only! 

Day Five, March 8th: Finale time! Share your predictions for the next seasons with the hashtags. 

Watch Party Hashtags:

OurFlagMeansBaseball, 

SaveOFMD 

SaveALOTO to join the event! 

== Watch Party Reminders! ==

Mar 4 - Mar 8: Wrecked Season 1

Wrecked is no longer on any streaming platform, and it is not available digitally on US sites. (Apparently, it is available on German Amazon?) There are sources being passed around. If access is an issue, DM @iamadequate1 on Twitter or Tumblr

Season 1 watch from March 4th to March 8th. 

Season 2 watch from March 11th to March 15th. 

Season 3 watch from March 18th to March 22nd. 

Times will be 10pm GMT / 5pm EST / 4pm CST / 2pm PST. Watch two episodes per day. Episodes are 21-22 minutes each. Use the following Saturday for the tags/watch if interested but not able to make this time.

Hashtags: 

#WreckedPirates

#SaveOFMD

#RhysDarbyFaction

= Mar 5: NewarkNewark with @adoptourcrew =

Please join @adoptourcrew for a @NewarkNewark watch party on March 5th at 10 pm GMT/ 2pm PS / 5pm EST!

== Fundraiser Statuses ==

= Underground Ads =

The Final Stage of the Save OFMD Crew fundraisor for the underground ads is still going! If you're so inclined, feel free to donate or share around! Ko-Fi Link

= In Soup Now =

Wow! Only 24 hours open, and already at 10%! Great job all!

== Schaden Freude ==

Thanks @iamadequate1 for catching the very sad times WBD Inc is experiencing on the NASDAQ

== How to Help ==

Another Ranker Poll! Feel free to hop in and bump OFMD up. You can rank shows up AND down so make sure to rank other shows as well. Ranker Link

== Fan Spotlight ==

Our lovely crew-mate @melvisik is back again, this time with our favorite Captain Rhys Darby as part of the Crew Cards <3

== Podcasts ==

@fandomthingpod on Twitter did an episode on the OFMD Renewal campaign and interviewed our esteemed crew-mate @lcwebsxoxo! They gave lots of kudos to the @saveofmdcrewmates and @adoptourcrew and the recaps got a shout out too! (Ty for the mention LC!) The Campaign To Save OurFlagMeansDeath

== Love Notes ==

Hello lovelies :) It was an action packed day for sure (as Mondays usually are). That being said I took some time to do some stuff today I've been meaning to, so I apologize for not taking more time on love notes!

Please know me and your crew-mates are thinking of you and hoping for all the best things for you in the upcoming days.

I know it's short but here are some reminders / love notes in other people's words for today/tomorrow. <3

Stay Strong Lovelies! Whatever you're up to, you're gonna make it through, I believe in you!

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

Yeahhhhh no gifs tonight luvs, I am running late and I can't stop looking at these still pictures anyway, so here you are <3

Taika Src / Rhys courtesy of Prim on Discord!

[ladyluscinia]

Izzy, Bottles, and Apologies

Izzy's arc in S2 has been a wild ride.

The S1 Izzy enjoyers are feeling vindicated as hell, many people are fully revising their opinion of him, and the people still hating him have a new criticism or off the wall theory daily. David Jenkins LOVES Izzy and is having the time of his life trying to make sure everyone else does too. They had Con O'Neill sing in drag!

And naturally I have thoughts.

This is gonna be a two part post, I think. First, as much as people are celebrating Izzy having realized his arc and come into his own - from the singing to the apparent BlackBonnet shipping - there are some threads they could pull on that might reveal more arc to come. And I am really hoping they pull them, so I'm gonna tell you why you should too!

And second, I have some minor points I dislike and concerns that this might be the end of the arc. Which would be disappointing but I think I get why, so I'm gonna discuss that too.

To start...

---

"How are you handling all this so well?"

Here's the thing about S2 Izzy - while I need to be clear his behavior is not OOC or inconsistent with S1, it is happening rather fast. I'm pretty sure that has a lot to do with out of universe reasons I'll get into later, but in-universe it stands out. Now, he's hardly the only one operating on an accelerated schedule - the timeline for this season is an insanely fast not-even-two-weeks - but Izzy's defining struggle in S1 was fear of change. That was the cause of his friction with Edward, and what made him an antagonist in the first place.

In S2 he's gone through a lot of trauma, yes, but that fear is noticeably less present than I would expect.

Izzy in 2x06 has been cleaned up from his sobbing mess phase for just over 48 hours and he faces Edward with a joke, and then that night sings a moving French serenade to the crew. The next morning he's teasing them about finally hooking up and spends the day offering both Stede and Edward relationship advice.

He's a newly realized man... shedding repression and embracing who he could be. Accepting his breakup with Edward and trying to openly support the relationship that's better for him.

It's fun!

It's also, potentially, a bit of a flag. Maybe not a red one, not yet, but... pink-ish? A bit orange?

Let's look a little closer at those frayed edges.

---

"Well, you see, I have a system..."

There's an exchange from right at the start of the Pilot episode that has echoed through the entire series so far:

"Bottle it up?" -> "No, Frenchie! No, that's the worst thing you could do!"

Not talking to other people, not addressing your traumas... that's the kind of shit that just builds and builds inside you. When the cork eventually pops, the resulting damage can be a lot. Look at the finale of S1, where all of Stede's bottled up guilt and insecurities laid waste to his relationship with Edward, and then inadvertently became the first domino in the Kraken.

S2 is quick to bring this scene back into the forefront. The first time we see the Breakup Boat crew talking in 2x01, Frenchie reveals that "Bottle it up?" wasn't just a random comment he made, but a philosophy of his:

"Ah - well, you see, I have a system for dealing with all the terrible things I've seen. There's a box, in my mind, and I put the things in the box, I lock the box, and then I don't open it again. Works like a charm."

Apparently, Frenchie is the only one it actually seems to be working for.

Now, the show has been drawing some interesting lines between Frenchie and Izzy. From both serving as Blackbeard's First Mate to being frequently shown as a duo - tormenting Navy guys together on Sunday's raid, Frenchie holding Izzy's hand, Frenchie leaning on Izzy's leg in the cell, Frenchie behind him raising the flag in 2x05 - it's fitting that Izzy echoes Frenchie's preferred coping method. First he frames the non-acknowledgement of harm from Edward as just... part of piracy. He's a pirate, so he's fine with it.

And then we get Izzy's little whittled shark reveal and the conversation with Lucius about his leg:

"I don't know what you're talking about. Shark did this... dangling my legs over the side of the ship. Served me right, too."

Lucius calls him out on the unhealthy behavior, and Izzy concedes his point:

"O-kay, that seems healthy. Using a bit of fiction to help cover up your trauma." -> "Yeah, well... not moving on is worse. Twatty."

And to give him credit, he's right in his advice to Lucius. Filling his sketchbook with pages and pages of Blackbeard trauma is Lucius's form of bottling it up - thinking in endless recursive circles about his tumble off the ship and everything that followed. We already know chasing revenge instead of living is bad - Jim and Spanish Jackie established it last season, and Pete just echoed them. When Izzy advises Lucius to move on, that's what Lucius does.

But what Izzy is doing with the shark? That's not the same thing at all. He's lost a leg, grazed a bullet off his own head, and was snarling drunken accusations at himself in the mirror... he's not moving on from that. He's bottling it up with a nice dose of self-blame.

Cutting the legs off the unicorn for not doing it's job right and saying "served me right" about his fictional shark? There's a real dark knot of emotions there.

(Recall, too, that Edward deflected his hurt from Stede's abandonment into a "fictional character" during his chats with Lucius, and that delayed the explosion but couldn't stop it.)

So... Izzy's definitely coping with trauma in a way the show does not advise and often circles back to. Can we see any signs in 2x06 and 2x07?

---

The Weight of Things Unsaid

At the very start of 2x06, Izzy gets the thing he spent all of 2x05 mentally bracing himself to never hear - an apology from Edward for his leg. He walks up to initiate conversation and begins talking like nothing has changed. Edward is back in his leathers. Appropriate, given that his penance onesie was nothing genuine, just "how long do I have to wear this fucking thing for?" And Izzy is ready for them not to address the obvious hurt, to just smooth over a few jabs and go back to normal... but even Edward's mumbled little "Sorry about your leg" is so significant and difficult he flees as soon as he gets it out, leaving Izzy to sit, incredulous, with the acknowledgement.

It's still almost definitely not enough.

There was so much between them in 2x01 - 2x03. The writers literally did BlackHands love confessions on both sides. An apology from Edward Teach - a man who historically does not apologize - is a huge first step but still only the first step. The real things unsaid are so much bigger than a leg.

We get something else, too... Edward commenting on Izzy's drinking.

"Jesus. Really putting that away, aren't ya?"

Izzy has had booze a lot this season. He lost a leg and pain meds aren't really an option, so not surprising, but notable. Edward, advocating for substance abuse to deal with bad feelings, calls him a lightweight in 2x01. When they are found with the dead seabird in 2x03, Izzy takes a pointed drink from his bottle, and then 2x04 he spends the entire episode completely plastered. He seemingly sobered up for 2x05 - probably to focus on sword training and his whittling project - but now the bottle is back again before Izzy disappears for several hours.

And a little liquid courage might explain his going all in for the Calypso's Birthday performance.

I do appreciate that the performance on it's face is something completely unexpected for Izzy, but when thinking about it... it does make sense.

We already know music and performance were available on Blackbeard's ship even before Stede. Edward learned to play shanties on the piano somewhere, and singing is a common and encouraged part of sailing culture. Izzy's choice of song to perform is something a lot more emotional, but this is probably not his first performance for a crew.

Makeup, too, is in fashion for men and women at this time, and OFMD has shown it as such before. Izzy has never worn fashion makeup, or tried to be beautiful, but the concept wouldn't be alien to him. Wee John's description of a dramatic party look might even have intrigued him specifically because Izzy has actually done "looks" before - of the terrifying "theatre of fear" kind. The Kraken did have his whole crew in makeup for their raids. Taking the opportunity to embody something a bit more vulnerable and try to bring joy to this crew that took care of him is meaningful as fuck.

And it's still a drag performance!

It's a good pair of moments - before and after Ned. Proof that all this isn't just coping method - that's not what I'm arguing here - and even if Izzy's still bottling up a lot of feelings he's not doing the same full pressure bomb thing as he did in S1. There's been growth!

(This is why the flags are only pink-ish / orange-ish right now.)

Episode 2x07 though... I'm not so sure he's doing good as much as pretending it's all good.

Showing up to make his joke in the morning is a fun moment. I especially enjoy Edward's little "fuck off" with no bite to it 🤣🤣🤣 Reminder they do live together on a ship, so this is likely not even close to the first morning-after that Izzy has gotten front row seats to. But, at least to me, there's also a very performative feeling about it. Izzy being very Look how normal I can be about you fucking your boyfriend, Ed - and Edward picks up on it too. That's why he turns to Stede and whispers "He's jealous" as Izzy walks away.

Izzy continues to make jokes and give advice through the day to our main couple, but he's... subdued. I think his fake chill also disguises that he and Edward aren't on the same page about what they discuss at the docks, hence his poor advice to "listen to it" when the "it" in question is Edward's immediate desire to run away from Stede and become a fisherman. They are talking again, but haven't resumed communicating.

I also think it's relevant that Izzy goes to try and support Stede after Edward dumps him, because we're still waiting for Stede to stop bottling things up. He doesn't talk about Badminton or feelings of inadequacy or even the babiest little olive branch to Edward about "hey my dad kinda sucked too." Edward's two exes are sitting in the bar corner together, thinking about all the shit they won't talk to him about until it kills all three of them. Exciting!

The pressure is building. It has to circle back to Stede in S3. I'm hoping at the same time, it circles back to Izzy, too.

Hoping we get to explore some of his anxiety, and his internalizing negative self-image and blame. At the moment, I think Izzy might have less gotten over his anxieties and more just let go of the wheel of his life entirely, and fortunately had people around to steer him in okay directions. It would be really interesting to explore that more.

(Even if I have some concerns they may not.)

---

Subtle as a Cannonball to the Face

Izzy's character arc was always going to be a long journey - not because he was somehow morally worse than everyone else, or required particularly painstaking growth, or even because there was going to be some great need to "hold him accountable" for S1. No, it was going to be a long journey from an antagonist start for the same reason I mentioned earlier: Izzy's core struggle is fear of change.

OFMD opens with two protagonists recklessly pursuing change in ways that harm themselves, their relationships, and others, and a primary onscreen antagonist resisting change in a way that harms himself, his relationships, and others. There's no easy morality here - they all fuck up. And they all require the entire show to actually figure out the correct balance of change and growth and facing the past.

"I think the three of them are on an arc together that's pretty inseparable." - David Jenkins (Source, 9 Oct 2023)

So... why is there a chance that everything I've mentioned above is going absolutely nowhere and Izzy's arc has been wrapped up with a bow in S2?

Well.

It's late March 2022, the fandom's age is still only countable in weeks, I personally haven't even watched the pilot yet, had only even heard of the show 3 days before... and one of David Jenkins first post-finale statements is telling people to pay attention to Izzy's POV and his and Edward's love story on rewatches (Source, 25 Mar 2022), and then soon after comparing Stede to a homewrecker in Edward and Izzy's toxic marriage (Source, 15 Apr 2022). Lots of links because this stuff was available to the fandom from the start.

By the first half of May 2022 (while poor Mr. Jenkins is still anxiously trying to get his series renewed for S2, since the confirmation won't come until June 1) the takes on Izzy have soured a lot. It's not a "homophobic gay" joke anymore. Now it's "Izzy is the embodiment of colonialism who enforces a racist and homophobic ideal of Blackbeard on Edward" and "pretending Izzy could be canonically gay is homophobic" and "Izzy bought Edward as a slave from the British". Harassing anons have already started on tumblr. No first hand experience with Twitter but I've heard horror stories. These takes are spreading like wildfire through the fandom, with a heavy backing of white fans accepting and spreading anything that sounds vaguely racially-conscious as something they just missed in their privilege and need to listen to POC about. Or listen to other white fans that say they've been listening to POC.

The anchor hoist in 1x09 (that was a complete directing coincidence, as the crew confirmed in late May) is being taken as incontrovertible proof that Izzy is a violent racist, and the relatively small Izzy fandom pushing back against any of these reads is being likened to toxic fangirls declaring Kylo Ren a poor widdle victim because they think violent white guys are so hot their brains fall out. This is happening loudly and in the public forums of social media.

Can you imagine being David Jenkins right then?

This is one of your favorite little guys, who you wrote a silly little homoerotic pirate jealousy arc for. He's kinda cringefail and tends to be a dick, but you cast a guy who you think embodies him with so much sympathy and genuine emotion. You're so excited to explore his direct relationship to the main couple of your series even more. Unfortunately, you and a lot of the cast and crew are also engaging maybe a bit too much in fandom spaces, which very few of you have much familiarity with navigating as creators. AND there's still renewal stress!

If I were him, I too would consider that perhaps my intended Izzy arc was a bit too nuanced and drawn out, and maybe I needed to clear up some misconceptions as soon as I got the opportunity.

Enter S2.

MAX reduced the budget for the season significantly and it shows - particularly in the whole thing having to squeeze into 8 episodes - and I wouldn't be surprised at all if worries over a S3 renewal / S3 budget impacted S2 writing as well. Character arcs got pinched, goals had to be prioritized... and from the looks of the season, "make sure everyone knows Izzy is not a homophobic villain tormenting Edward as fast as possible" came out as a big goal.

I mean they open with a dream sequence that literally mocks the idea of a heroic Stede rescuing Edward from the dastardly Izzy. It's not subtle.

And the lack of subtlety is kind of what's concerning me.

Izzy's arc is (I think) leaving enough threads that they can extend it into S3 with the reveal he's not actually fine and done developing, but they also seem to want his S2 arc to end in a place where maybe he is. Lots of giant signs pointing to him and saying "Look! Everyone likes him!" or "Look! He's also gay!" at the expense of some of his cringefail or dickish charm. My guy had anxiety he dealt with poorly in S1, and I do think they are trying to frontload or adjust the arc so he's basically (or at least seemingly) over that before the next hiatus.

The best way I've seen it described is that the show no longer trusts the audience to pick up what they are putting down, and so they feel the need to really hammer it in. Not necessarily OOC, but definitely de-emphasizing any of his rough edges that were originally just written to not be any worse than the other characters.

This is why Izzy gets shot by Edward in the very first episode for a bunch of complicated reasons that are really good character work and not super hard to discern, but then later they have Izzy point out to Stede why he got shot twice. It's all very "look into the camera and say the themes", because to some degree they are afraid everyone is going to get easily convinced Edward shot him for calling him a namby-pamby that one time.

It makes me worried they are too afraid of misinterpretation to commit to the arc they originally conceived of, even with the finish line in sight in S3.

And, again, I get it, Mr. Jenkins. In October 2022 he made a funny quip and a boner joke on a tweet about Edward's blanket fort and the hordes descended to scream victoriously about how he was cutting down the Izzy stans for their racist infantilization crimes of thinking Izzy would *checks notes* help hold up a blanket. It's a very reasonable conclusion that this fandom cannot read and needs to be spoonfed Izzy's arc.

It just sucks that a toxic section of fandom's misinterpretations appear to have undercut a strong - and, honestly, not that complicated - character arc so much that S2's BlackBonnet arc can be about fuck ups and backsliding, but Izzy needs at least the illusion of having no flaws left come hiatus time.

[thetragicallynerdy]

[ID: my own tumblr tags that read # also sorry op d jenks said in an interview that theyre exes # i will however continue to ignore his interviews # but yeah # that was the intent # but yeah they did jim and olu so dirty this season # ofmd s2 # ofmd s2 spoilers # ofmd. End ID.]

Okay, I was writing another essay in the tags and then just decided to go for it here lol. I had said I wasn't really going to say more beyond being really disappointed, but apparently I have too many thoughts.

Yeah, I don't understand why they got broken up either!! We had this beautiful love story in Season 1, and then it just... disappeared. They got changed to 'best friends,' and it really felt like the romance got written off. We got some beautiful moments hinting at a polycule, but that felt more like something the actors did than something written into the script.

And if they did break up - which, again, David Jenkins has said in an interview - we didn't even get a scene showing that properly. We got ONE conversation between Jim/Olu this season, and it read more like a "hey I kissed someone else, are we still fine?" "of course we are" than anything. The rest was just implication, and lack of something solid.

The hints of a polycule were amazing, but like, god they weren't enough. I adored episode 6, and really wish we'd had more interactions between just Jim/Olu, and just Jim/Archie, and any conversation between Jim/Olu/Archie that was about them and not someone else.

And then even the snippets of polycule we got in the background got torn away. Episode 7 and the Zheng parts were... really not my favourite. They didn't feel like a "welcoming someone into the polycule" to me. And the way that Jim/Olu having had sex gets turned into a joke for the second time this season was so infuriating.

And then from then on out, Jim and Olu just don't interact. (I might be misremembering, I haven't done a second watch through, but I don't remember them together in Ep 8 at all.)

And Samson and Vico have such GOOD chemistry!!! Olu and Jim were so fun on screen together! All we got were some background shots and - really?? That's it??

There's also the way that Jim and Olu both felt flattened this season, and shoved into the background. (Not just them, it was a consistent problem with every character but Ed, Stede, and Izzy, but I noticed Jim and Olu most. And I know part of it is limited budget, and a focus shifted to Izzy to give him redemption arc, but it also felt like a frustrating shift in writing.) So much of their characterization from last season seemed just gone. Where is smart leader Olu who advises Stede? Jim's arc with the siete gallos is really just over that easily??

I have more complaints about them, and about the season. But yeah, their relationship being effectively erased made me so upset. There were things I really loved about this season, and I need to do a rewatch so I can find more things. But overall? Still disappointing as a tealoranges fan.

My ONE saving point is that from rumours of ppl who've met Vico at cons (and given the very little they can say right now with the strikes), they seem just as on the polycule train as the fandom. They've said that "Jim has two hands", and wore teal and orange at MCM this weekend, and I'm sure there are other things, but those are the two I know most of.

So yeah - Jim/Olu is still real, even if it's not in the writing. The polycule is, too. And it's damn disappointing that it got erased. It's frustrating that all we got this season for them were tiny scraps. I'm still upset about it, and I know it's going to affect my excitement for a third season.

Time to write all the fanfic fixing it, I guess XD

Ik izzy’s got all the attention rn but like… pour one out for the tealoranges stans… rip

[jemej3m]

a comprehensive set of rules (p.2)

i have no control over my writing schedule. it has been completely consumed by this au. this is all of y’all’s fault. 

heavy tw: blood and gore and bodies. also, bad people talking about raping allison and using homophobic slurs.

*

July:

“Andrew,” Renee called out, rapping her knuckles on the guest bedroom gently. 

Andrew was currently living out of one, black suitcase: he’d spent half his time at different hotels and half his time at colleagues’ homes, though calling Allison a colleague was a bit of a stretch. Wymack had let him camp out in his girlfriend’s spare room, seeing as his place was apparently too small for the both of them. Dan and Matt had even let him crash on the couch between motel rooms. 

Andrew was really fucking excited to get his place back. According to Neil, his father was pulling out all stops to get rid of him, or whoever was aiding him. As far as Andrew was concerned, Neil was in more danger, but the man refused to exonerate himself from the situation. The next best thing was ensuring that Andrew was untouchable. 

“Andrew, can I come in?” 

Andrew grunted, still bent over his files in the middle of the room. He’d pushed the bed to one side to make room and was suddenly shirtless, fan pulsating in the corner. He never did great in the heat. 

“Oh,” Neil’s voice squeaked like an elementary schooler’s clarinet. “Uh - I can come back?”

Andrew squinted up at him. “The fuck are you doing here?” he got to his feet and made his way over, reaching up to tug on Neil’s hair. Definitely real. “Huh.” 

Behind Neil, Renee snorted. Andrew glared at her: she put up her hands in surrender and paced off to do something else. 

Andrew shuffled Neil into his room and shut the door, treading carefully around his work. 

“This...” Neil looked over it, carefully avoiding the many photos and files and labelled evidence bags as he walked. He was silent as he moved, unnoticeable if he wasn’t always on Andrew’s radar. 

He also looked much more presentable than the last time Andrew had seen him, which had been before Dimaccio was arrested. A button-down, much like he wore when they first went to dinner. The collar was irritatingly popped, and his trousers were properly pressed, the shoes delicately shined. He looked like a rich man’s son. 

Andrew hated it. He also hated how good it looked.

“Sit on the bed,” Andrew instructed. “I don’t need you scuffing anything up.”

“This seems like a lot more than what’s necessary,” Neil said, avoiding looking at Andrew as he tugged on a shirt. “Also a lot more than we originally discussed.”

Andrew pointed at the profile of a smiling woman, and various other men. “Williams. Reacher. Jenkins. The three of them worked tirelessly on gang violence. They completely eradicated the Terrapin family from the game. Countless Bearcats and Catamounts have been locked up by them. But as soon as they turned to the Wesninski family, they were never found again. Three different detectives. Almost three consecutive years. They deserve justice too.” 

Neil was, clearly, not expecting to have to put names and families to the bodies his father had diced and scattered. His expression had become shuttered as Andrew talked, fingers curling into tight fists, the fabric of his trousers ensnared between his whitened knuckles. 

"You’re afraid.” 

Neil looked at him, eyes blazing. “He is all I’m afraid of. I can’t just - turn that off.”

Andrew crouched down on the floor in front of him. “You’re allowed to be afraid. You have to promise me that you won’t run away because of it.”

Neil’s shoulders were curled inwards. “I don’t want to become him. I don’t -” he looked at the photos of the officers and the remnants of their bodies and the ruination caused by his father’s work. “I don’t want that. I don’t.”

“So leave it behind.”

Neil grit his teeth. “I can’t! Look at me. Look at me. You think this is my father? Parading me around at events, trying to find me a wife who can bear my child, tracking my every move? Of course it’s not. My father is someone else’s weapon, a well-enamoured thug at best. He’s a Baltimorean gangster. He’s not the one in control here.”

Andrew put his hand over Neil’s wrist and let him breathe for a moment. 

“They know that he’s fucked,” Neil continued, eyes squeezed shut. “They know they’re going to lose him. So I’m being conditioned. I’m being shaped up to replace him. You know I’ve been in New York for the past two weeks?” He shoved his hair out of his eyes. Andrew opened his palm upwards, and Neil let himself tangle their fingers. “I want to escape my fate so badly, but my family has been indentured to them for - I don’t even know. Forever, it seems like.”

“Who, Neil?” 

He let out an aggravated sigh. “Who else controls enough of the east coast to keep the fucking Butcher in check? It’s the bloody Moriyamas.” Andrew stiffened. “If you breathe that name outside this room, I’m dead. You’re dead. Everyone you ever loved will die. They’re so well protected that the crazy second son can go off and do whatever he likes, including training to be a police officer and almost killing the partner he’s given, but it doesn’t even matter. It’s hushed up within the week.” 

He held tight onto Andrew’s hand. “The best I can hope for is a negotiation. A price that I can pay off in - a decade, maybe. Possibly two. Maybe securing a new family to pass the relationship to. I don’t know.” 

“Then that’s what you do,” Andrew vowed. “We deal with the monster under the bed first. Then the basement that lets them out. Don’t run,” Andrew insisted, his hand having worked its way up Neil’s arm to grip the back of his neck. “Don’t hide. You can’t afford to, not now.”

Neil rested their foreheads together. “I’ll try.”

Andrew’s thumb brushed circles under Neil’s jaw. “That’s all I ask.”

*

Breaking news: Nathan Wesninski being brought to court for multiple homicides, including Baltimore police officers and Mary Hatford, his wife...initially being assessed for money laundering and tax evasion, Wesninski is now being persecuted for multiple acts of violence, mutilation and extortion. Police officers under Captain David Wymack have collated resources and new-found evidence and will attempt to put Wesninski behind bars permanently.

*

August: 

Andrew’s heart was pounding. They’d tapped into comms just over an hour ago, received the corresponding telephone data and locations, and now they were paging the block. 

It was eerily quiet, and too dark for a suburban area. The cul-de-sac had no streetlights and all the houses were either empty, with for sale! signs posted on their laws, or all the blinds were drawn closed. It was only nine in the evening. 

Andrew took out his gun as they approached the house. Renee was at his shoulder. 

The house in question was two-storey, seemingly empty, the garage locked shut. The gardens were immaculately kept, the painted finish on the house brand new. God knows what was happening within: Andrew hoped that whatever mess had been made within wasn’t irreparable. 

Andrew’s radio cackled. “How do you want to go about this, Minyard?” 

Andrew cracked his knuckles and fished out his lock picks from his back pocket as he radioed back. “Silent entry. I’m going to unlock the door, and only our squad heads in. Everyone else surround the premises if they notice and escape.”

“Alright, sarge,” Matt said, jokingly, a few feet behind Renee. Dan must have pinched him because he immediate said “Ow!” 

Andrew and Renee crept up onto the front balcony: Andrew crouched down and worked for about two minutes till the lock had opened. Kevin had already phoned the security firm to let down the alarms, so Andrew and Renee stepped inside, unnoticed. Dan, Matt and Kevin dispersed, but Andrew always headed to the basement. 

The light was on. 

“...We should get back to Junior,” one voice said. “God knows he’s probably slipped free by now.”

“You kidding? We had him practically halfway into a coffin. Let’s just clean this up first.”

“Maybe pretty Alli’s woken up. If Junior wasn’t so fervently protective of her I’d’ve had her bent over by now.” 

“Christ, Romero." But the man was laughing. “Maybe now’s your chance.”

Disgust crawled down his spine. He glanced at Renee, just as they approached the doorway: she had her eyes closed momentarily, lips moving with a prayer. The door was left ajar. 

One, he mouthed. 

“Didn’t think boss had the guts to get rid of little Junior.”

Two, she returned. 

“Maybe he liked that bitch of a wife, after all. He could’ve had a kid with Lola and gotten rid of the pathetic faggot, but he stuck by Nathaniel anyway.”

Three, they both nodded, kicking the door wide open with his foot and grasping his gun in both hands. 

“Hands up,” he growled. “Drop whatever you’re holding.”

“Kneel,” Renee said, softly. “We will shoot you if you don’t comply.”

Neither of the men had guns. They dropped their knives to the ground and knelt down, furious. By them was a body, heavily dismembered. The hair was neither auburn nor blonde.

“Basement,” Andrew barked into his radio, training his gun on the one he recognised as Romero. His hands were limp, twitching by his sides. Andrew wanted to cut them from his body and watch him bleed. 

The other three skidded into the room, guns ready. 

“Go find them,” Renee murmured, under the cacophony of Dan and Kevin wrangling the perps to the ground, Matt kneeling by the body. “Andrew, go.” 

He nodded stiffly, falling back. Up the stairs and to the left was the door to the garage, which he kicked down. Switching the lights on, he looked to the two persons still on the floor, tied up and beaten down. 

“Andrew,” Neil gasped, covered in blood and cuffed at the wrists and ankles. Allison seemed alright, if a bit groggy, with a gag in her mouth and her hands tied behind her. 

Andrew grabbed the hedge clippers from the wall of gardening tools and broke through the handcuffs, cutting Allison’s rope bindings and tugging off her gag. 

“Perps restrained, fall in through the front,” Dan said through the radio. “Victim dead. Get a stretcher: Forensics team definitely not necessary.” 

“We can’t be found here,” Allison hissed. “We can’t be brought in.”

“Jesus Christ,” Andrew muttered, fishing the keys to his cousin’s place out of his pocket. “Fine. If you can get him on his feet,” he jerked his head to Neil, who muttered I’m fine. “Go to Nicky’s place. I’ll meet you there later. Unless you need a hospital?”

“It’s all superficial,” Neil mumbled, wincing. Andrew felt concern curl and knot in his stomach. He looked to Allison. 

“Maybe you should do a first-aid cert.”

“Maybe that’s not a half bad idea,” she grunted, hauling Neil to his feet. 

“The back should be clear of cops now,” Andrew said, cutting through the padlock on the garage door. “Get out.”

“Good to see you too, Minyard,” Allison drawled, pulling Neil along. With a wink, they were both gone. 

Andrew rubbed at his temples, giving himself only a minute of reprieve, before heading back into the fray. 

*

Nicky’s house was cold and dark. The two of them had been on a spontaneous trip around Europe for the last few months, visiting Erik’s family. Nicky wasn’t stupid: when Andrew offered him this and that, he took it without question and knew there was a reason why.

“When I get back,” he insisted over the phone. “When I get back the three of us are visiting Aaron. Got it?”

“Fine,” Andrew had grunted, hanging up on his cousin without a goodbye. 

Neil had parked himself on the couch, staring at the ceiling with square bandages across his cheeks. Bruises mottled his skin, and his hands and forearms were mummified in a similar fashion. 

“I was going to try and contact you,” Neil said, not needing to see Andrew to know who’d entered the house. “I would’ve called you.”

Andrew sat on the end of the couch as Neil drew his feet up to give him room. “Right.”

The man struggled into a seated position. “I was.” 

“Should’ve let them kill you,” Andrew muttered, glaring at the unused television. Neil snorted, swinging his legs off the couch and settling next to Andrew. 

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” 

“Just - shut up.” 

For a while they sat in silence. Andrew lit up a cigarette and smoked it through to the filter. Neil seemed to lean a little closer, attracted to the scent. 

“Hey,” he murmured, when Andrew threw the stub onto the coffee table. 

Andrew turned and looked at him. His eyes were clear, purposeful. Andrew remembered their first date, their second. Cleavers and thugs and light, candle light and club lights, striping across Neil’s cheekbones like something from a painting. 

Kissing him felt - 

Normal. Right. Like coming home. Like finding - not the last piece of the puzzle, but the last edge, making a solid shape to be filled in, something clear and decisive. Andrew’s fingertips found his jaw and he felt Neil’s fingers curl in the collar of his vest. His police vest. 

It was enough to draw him to a stop, pulling back just enough for him to breathe. 

“You don’t swing,” Andrew accused, poorly hiding how winded he was.

Neil huffed, equally as breathless. “You don’t date.” 

Andrew’s teeth ground together. “You don’t date cops.” 

“And you don’t date mobsters,” Neil retorted. “What’s your point here?” 

“Yes or no?” Andrew demanded, because he needed to know. He needed to know for sure. Without a doubt, with complete surety, with perfect clarity - 

“Yes,” Neil answered. “Obviously.” 

“‘Obviously’,” Andrew parroted with a scoff. “I hate you.” 

When Neil’s lips curved up into a smile, Andrew kissed him quiet. 

*

September: 

“You know I’ve got a week off, after next week,” Andrew said, trailing his fingers over the threadbare t-shirt that Neil wore. He said ‘next week’ and not ‘Nathan’s trial’. They’d both come to an agreement that where they could avoid talking about it, they would. 

It was out of Andrew’s hands, anyway. All the evidence was with the prosecutor, and it was their job to put him behind bars. 

There was no way Nathan Wesninski was getting out, now. Not a single chance. 

Which meant there was no reason to talk about it. Or about Neil’s future inheritance of his father’s position, or Andrew’s award of recognition for his work. Which felt rather cheap, really - he was just lucky that Neil had decided to give him a second chance. 

Then again, policing was mostly luck, and a bit of charisma. Andrew was usually lacking in both, but right now, in the golden afternoon sunlight, with Neil in shorts and unkempt hair, he felt incredibly lucky. 

Neil craned his head back to look at Andrew. His new scars were bright red, but healed over at this point. “Just Chicago?” 

Andrew hummed assent, closing his eyes and pressing his nose to the crown of Neil’s head. Casual intimacy had always been - too much. Too soft, too nice, like it was covering up something sinister. Never had Andrew felt so relaxed, not even after sex, which usually resulted in Andrew grabbing his shirt, shoes, phone and wallet and leaving immediately. 

And they hadn’t had sex yet. Andrew didn’t know if Neil would ever want to have sex. That was - unsurprisingly - not the most important thing on Andrew’s list of wants and needs. 

Instead, here he was, lying on his back in Nicky’s guest bedroom. Neil was lying next to him, on his side, head cushioned on Andrew’s shoulder. And he did want this. He’d been tied up and exhausted for months: now it was all coming to its peak, the finish line right around the corner. And they were - okay. Ish. Maybe. Probably. Andrew wasn’t peeved about it. 

“Don’t die whilst I’m gone,” Andrew muttered, fingers threading through his hair. 

“I have to go to New York, anyway,” Neil said, sullen. “Might as well do it whilst you’re away.” 

“How many times are they going to pull you up there?”

“Till they’re confident I won’t screw everything up in the change-over, I guess. Or maybe it’s about the wife thing.” 

Something in Andrew’s chest twisted. He simply hummed. 

Neil shifted, propping himself up on his elbow to look at Andrew properly. “You know I’m not going to go through with it, right?”

“And if they threaten you?” Andrew reminded him. “Your life isn’t exactly yours.”

“Fuck them,” Neil said as he leaned forward, forever antagonistic. Andrew sighed: Neil paused. “No?”

“Yes,” he muttered, pulling Neil down. One hand brushed along the slither of exposed skin that revealed itself as Neil’s shirt rose up: Andrew relished in the shiver that flitted across Neil’s skin. His scarred fingers - covered in circular burns from a dashboard lighter and various scratch ridges - felt familiar and known when Andrew guided them to the back of his head. Neil was careful, as always.

Andrew had intended on asking when the hell Neil had heard about Andrew’s past, but he wasn’t sure that he wanted to know. He didn’t want to talk about it now, anyway.

Just as Neil let Andrew push his shoulder back, following him over to kiss him into the mattress, Allison’s nails tapped impatiently on the bedroom door. Andrew broke away, startled, just as Neil cursed, sitting up. 

“Yes, Allison?” Neil demanded, clearing his throat. “What is it?”

“You sound odd,” Allison remarked, door handle turning. 

“Uh - !” Neil scrambled off the bed, looking to Andrew with wild eyes. “I’m - naked! Don’t come in.”

“Right,” Allison drawled. “Should I just wait in my room for him to leave, then?”

“I hate you,” Neil complained. “What do you want?” 

“Andrew’s phone was going off in the kitchen,” Allison said, slyly. “Sounds like the prosecuting lawyer wants some of your time, Andrew. Nice of you to glide by without saying hello.”

“I’m busy,” Andrew retorted. 

Allison just laughed, strutting down the corridor with her heels tapping on the wooden floorboards. Neil crossed his arms, red-faced. 

“C’mere,” Andrew said, still sitting on the bed. 

“But Thea,” Neil tried. 

“The law can wait,” Andrew insisted, extending his hand.

The look in Neil’s eyes sent sparks flying across Andrew’s skin. 

*

“Took you long enough,” Thea Muldani said, a master of clipboards and abridged glares. She was a lawyer worth Andrew’s time, he knew that, but he also didn’t feel like putting up with Kevin’s heart-eyes or Renee’s unsubtle glances. 

Jesus Christ, he thought, slamming his bag on the table hard enough to cause everyone to jolt. “I’m here, now.” 

“Congratulations,” Thea remarked. “Don’t care. We have a problem.”

Andrew narrowed his eyes. 

“Nathan Junior’s prints are all over a tonne of this evidence. If we don’t have him accounted for, defence is going to be all over it.”

“Are you serious?” Dan demanded. “Nathaniel would’ve been 15 when Mary was murdered.” 

“Doesn’t matter. If the evidence has been tampered with, it could be rendered useless. It would be extremely helpful,” Thea said pointedly. “If people’s CI’s could come forward and testify. We have almost no witnesses, except for Andrew and Renee, who claimed that Jackson Plank and Romero Malcom were acting on orders from Nathan whilst murdering Janie Smalls, last month. Neither of them will confess to any sort of collaboration with Wesninski, and two unidentified blood sources were found in the garage.”

“That sounds like circumstantial bullshit,” Dan argued. 

“And can we prove them wrong?” Thea shot back. “No. We can’t. For all we know, it’s been Nathaniel behind all of this instead. He’s certainly old enough now.”

Andrew stood out of his chair, grabbed his things and turned to leave. 

The lawyer gave him an appraising look. “I haven’t dismissed this meeting, Minyard.”

“I don’t care,” Andrew said. “If you won’t do your job, then I suppose I’d better go and fucking do it for you.” 

“It’s Thursday,” Thea reminded him. “Case starts on Monday.”

Andrew ignored her, making sure to slam the door on the way out. 

*

Romero Malcom was a sullen man. His skin was papery thin, even only a few weeks into his prison stay. Andrew couldn’t say that he pitied him. He sat down with his cup of coffee, leaning back in his chair with his leg crossed at the ankle. Romero was locked to the interrogation table opposite, shoulders curled in, fingernails scratching against the table top. 

Trying to get a rise. It wouldn’t work. 

“Honestly, between you and your sister, you seemed like the more rational one,” Andrew said, eyebrow arched. He put his coffee down and opened up his file. “Did you think about how your lifestyle had an expiry often? Nathan had Dimaccio as his right-hand man, but kept Lola as his carefully concealed weapon. You and Plank seemed just like...more prized cannon-fodder.”

Romero’s eye twitched. 

“You know, you said something that caught my interest,” Andrew leaned forward. “You said you’d’ve fucked Nathaniel Wesninski’s friend. What was her name?”

“Allison,” he said. 

“Right. You said you’d intended to rape her.”

“No wonder you’re so hung up on it, Doe,” Romero sneered. So they’d all done their research. “Well I didn’t, did I? Not that she’s shown up. She knows Nathan’ll kill her. He’s pretty sure she’s the rat.”

“Do you think she is?” Andrew inquired. “Mind you: I know who the rat is, and you don’t.”

“I think she’s the rat.” Romero sneered. “Princess bitch won’t be loyal to nothing but herself.”

“Which was why he asked you to kill her. She’d betrayed you all.” 

“We didn’t kill her.”

“No, but you were going to. He wanted you to kill all three of them.” 

“It was probably Junior that called the cops on us,” Romero scoffed. Andrew’s jaw ticked. “Fucking brat. It was about time.”

“About time for what?”

“To get rid of him.” Romero rolled his eyes. “Not that Plank could manage that, either. Useless. But Nathan gave us the call. We were waiting for it, honestly. Killing off Junior meant there was more of an incentive to keep Nathan out of jail. Otherwise there’s no other options.”

Moriyamas, Andrew thought, but he had no interest in involving them. “So Nathan called the two of you, ordered you to get rid of Allison and Nathaniel.”

“He didn’t want them showing their faces and causing trouble.” 

“So why Janie?”

“Wrong place, wrong time,” Romero laughed. It sounded like rusted truck breaks. Andrew was very close to knocking the scalding coffee onto exposed skin. 

“Nathan probably ain’t happy,” Andrew amended. 

Romero barked out another laugh. “He’ll be livid at this point. He sent me an email on exactly what he wanted me to do to your tiny little body, Minyard. An email. Who the fuck sends emails anymore? Anyway, yeah. He’s pissed.”

Andrew stood up from the table, carefully putting his audio recorder into plain sight as he picked up his coffee. “Well, I’d say it was a pleasure, but it wasn’t.” Romero looked at the recorder, slightly sickly. “Have fun in here, Malcom. I’m sure your sister sends her regard from max.”

With that he spun on his heel, the sweet sounds of Romero’s panic putting a hop in his step all the way out of the centre. 

*

“I’ve never...” Neil chewed his lip. “Get a blood sample? That’d put me into the system.”

“And help me identify your pieces as they come floating down the river, if your father’s bosses ever learn about this,” Andrew reminded him. “If I can prove that Romero and Jackson were ordered to kill you, there won’t be any ground to stand on. Neil. Remember what I said.”

The man looked at him from an extended moment of time, evaluating and revelautating. 

“Alright,” he said, voice barely a whisper. “Okay.” 

*

October:

Andrew leant his head from side to side, letting his spine slot itself back into place. He hated everything about flying, so much so that even his cousin’s persistent chatter hadn’t been enough to distract him from his living nightmare. 

“Well!” his cousin said, somehow still animated. He and Erik had spent their time in Chicago getting over jetlagged and playing with Aaron’s new puppy, whilst Andrew spent his time watching their antics and silently drinking coffee with Aaron, save for the occasional question here and there. 

Heard you made a big bust, yeah. How’s the residency. A nightmare. Katelyn and I want a baby when it’s done, though. Interesting. You can be the Godfather. Save that for Neil. Neil? Like, the criminal guy? Don’t mention it. Andrew - I said, don’t mention it. Oh, fuck. You’re serious. Jesus Christ, okay. 

“Shall we get a cab?” Nicky inquired. 

“Neil can drop you home on the way to mine.” 

Nicky narrowed his eyes. “Neil? Like, absolute hottie Neil? Allison’s friend? The one you never called back because you’re an idiot?”

“I hate you,” Andrew insisted. 

“Oh my god!” Nicky squealed, tugging on Erik’s arm. “I didn’t know y’all were together. How long has it been? Andrew, you gotta tell me these things!” 

“On second thoughts, you should take a cab,” Andrew grunted, lugging his luggage to where he knew Neil would already be standing, waiting for them to arrive. 

Nicky’s laugh rang out like bells, just as Neil rose up his hand to wave the three of them over. 

Yeah, Andrew thought, letting Nicky gush whilst Neil looked at him like that. 

This isn’t half bad. 

*

And that’s how they got together! andrew will continually tell himself that neil inherited the syndicate after they got together, even if there was only like a month or so between their first kiss and nathan getting locked up. neil will continually tell himself that andrew was only interested in him for the case. they’re both stupid liars who are in love. 

[lilacmoon83]

Lightning in a Bottle

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 30: Crosswinds, Pt 2

Aurora felt the phone buzz in her sock, as she stood out on the deck outside the beach house. She looked around and then pulled it out, reading the text.

"Need to hear from you or the deal is off," she read. It was from her military contact and she looked around nervously. She didn't want to work for them...but if she didn't, then it was quite possible that she would go to jail and never see her son again. For the moment though, she ignored the text and shoved the phone back in her sock, before going back inside. More passengers had arrived by then...including David Nolan and his wife. It was curious. Margaret Nolan was the only non-passenger that seemed clued in on everything and showed up wherever David went. Aurora counted eighteen other passengers arriving, nineteen if one were to include Margaret Nolan, who wasn't on the plane. But she kept coming back to how odd that was. While it was reasonable that some other spouses might know a bit about what was going on with them, those on the plane seemed to keep their loved ones out of this or at arm's length. But David chose to bring her into everything and even hearing Margaret speak, if one didn't know, they might think she was on the plane too. She was as heavily immersed in all of it, as much as her husband and she debated on whether or not to reveal that to her blackmailer.

She knew they would find it interesting, but she liked them. They seemed so close and so in love in a way she had never seen before. She shook her head. Nothing could get in her way of getting her son back.

"Thank you all for coming…" Fiona said, greeting them.

"And why exactly are we here?" Captain Liam Jones asked.

"Yeah...and she's not a passenger, so what's she doing here?" Leroy Miner slurred.

"Are you drunk?" David asked.

"What's it to you, handsome? Why don't you answer my question," Leroy replied.

"She's here, because she's my wife and I want her here," David replied sternly.

"Yeah...so back off and I hope you didn't drive here," Emma said, giving him a warning. He glared at her, as he saw the badge on her hip.

"Relax…I took a cab here, blondie," he said, in a surly tone.

"Okay…I know tensions are high, but we brought you together today to assess our situation," Glinda said.

"Why us?" Bethany asked.

"As you know, the Nolans were integral in helping rescue these passengers from a military black site operation. They were experimented on and with the exception of a couple, most remain unresponsive," Glinda said.

"We also know that when the plane exploded, these ten passengers had the same urge to go to it that we did. They just weren't allowed to come to the hanger since they were in captivity," Regina added.

"We think it's important that we all share our experiences since we know that we are definitely their focal group," she said, as she looked at the Nolans.

"You weren't there...so why are you involved?" Liam asked suspiciously.

"It...it is a derivative of my research that they were using to experiment with the Callings. Against my knowledge," Glinda responded.

"So you say," Liam murmured to himself.

"Well...if we're talking about experiences, then let's talk about the believers. They were waiting outside the courthouse when I made bail, fawning and trying to follow me. It's creepy," Bethany complained.

"I agree...these believers are always standing around the street. Before the plane, I was an entrepreneur and then I came back to nothing. No one will take me seriously now in the business world. It seems these believers are the only ones that don't hate us," Baron Samdi said.

"Well...there's a reporter after you two. Anyone else have the press following them?" Emma asked.

"Oh no...that's just golden boy and his pretty little wifey here that wasn't even on the plane," Leroy replied.

"Excuse me? You think we like being followed around by reporters?" David asked.

"You certainly seem to be in the thick of all of this," Leroy replied.

"My husband is the reason the passengers that were held captive are alive!" Margaret exclaimed.

"She's right," Regina agreed.

"Squabbling is not going to get us anywhere. I want this house to be a sanctuary for all passengers. I have it available until spring. Hopefully, we can help the passengers that were experimented on by then, but I think it's important that we stick together, especially with all the attention on us," Glinda reasoned. Liam looked at David and gave him a head nod, motioning him outside, as they mostly dispersed. David took her hand and followed him out onto the deck.

"Captain…" David said. Liam briefly gave Margaret a look, wondering if he could really talk with her there, but then decided that her husband would tell her whatever he said anyway.

"I don't think we can trust this woman," he said. They exchanged a glance.

"I'll admit, we had our reservations at first, but she's helped us every step of the way," David replied. Margaret nodded.

"He's right...believe me, I thought the same as you at first. But she has helped. She was there with us at the rescue," she said.

"Her research is the reason those passengers are vegetables!" he pointed out.

"This whole thing could just be another extension of the experiment and we're all her lab rats," he added.

"I get your caginess, but I truly don't think she has malicious intent," David said, but Liam didn't look like he believed it.

"You don't understand...you don't have people blaming you for the flight," Liam said.

"The government is all over this and this stuff in the wrong hands…" he said, as he trailed off.

"What stuff?" David asked, but Liam sidestepped him again.

"We can't trust that woman and this whole thing was a waste of time," he hissed, as he stormed off for his car to leave. David and Margaret exchanged another glance, before turning to find Aurora Rose there.

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. But he seemed to be getting really agitated there," she mentioned. David let that slide for the moment and decided to ask her some questions.

"When you were held captive...did you ever hear them talk about someone called the Major?" he asked. She thought for a moment.

"I overheard a conversation that Jenkins was having on speakerphone with someone he called Major and he acted like he was afraid of her; like she was really powerful or something. She said that money was no object, because the Holy Grail was priceless," she said, with a shrug.

"I remember that, because it was a weird thing to say. I don't know what the Holy Grail is...but she wants it badly," she added. David's eyes widened and he looked at his wife.

"The Major is a woman...you're sure?" he asked. Aurora nodded and she was surprised when Margaret took her hands.

"Thank you so much...that's very helpful," she said.

"She's right...we really appreciate your help," David replied. Aurora smiled, a real smile, like she hadn't in a long time. She didn't remember the last time that someone had been kind to her or appreciated her. It felt nice. She watched them go and felt the phone buzz in her sock. She took it out and glared at it, before tossing it into the ocean.

~*~

Emma got to the station and dropped Paul's file onto her desk. She looked up and noticed that Killian was walking in the door, which was heralded by clapping. He looked a bit shy at the attention and she smiled, as she gave him a hug.

"Welcome back," she said.

"Thanks," he replied.

"I'm surprised to see you. You know you could have milked this for a few more sick days," she teased.

"I know...but I actually wanted to talk to you," he replied.

"Oh...we'll have to talk later. I'm trying to find a woman. She's the wife of a passenger that didn't show up at the hanger when we got back," she said.

"And before you ask...yes, the Captain signed off on the investigation," she added. He smiled.

"So fill me in," he requested. She hesitated though. She knew they needed to put some distance between them. He was married...and she couldn't have him. But...as usual when it came to him, she caved.

"Her name is Helen Santino. He was an attorney before the plane...and apparently a good one. We're talking serious money. When he disappeared, it looks like she lost everything. Last known address is some crappy apartment in Astoria," she replied.

"Social media?" he asked.

"Yeah...that's the weird part. There's nothing...she's about our age, so it's strange that she doesn't have anything," Emma replied.

"Maybe she wiped it," he suggested.

"You think?" Emma asked. He shrugged.

"If Clorinda Taylor's reaction to her sister Tisbe coming back is anything to go by...then we know some people didn't react well to the plane coming back," he replied. She nodded.

"Everything before that suggests they were happy...so why didn't she show up at the airport?" Emma wondered.

"Maybe there is someone else," he replied, as their eyes met.

"Uh yeah...anyway, I think I'll go check out her place in Astoria," Emma said.

"I'd love to tag along," Killian replied. She was about to protest, but he was really good at this kind of stuff, so she relented and allowed him to follow her to her car.

~*~

David drove them home and out of curiosity, they started listening to Aaron Glover's 828 gate podcast on the way

During the 5 1/2 years that the plane was missing, the flight path, weather patterns, and telemetry have been exhaustively studied. The NTSB took eighteen months and it's full of holes. But I'm not giving up. I'll find the truth.

As they arrived home, David shut it off and they looked at each other.

"Well...he's definitely better than creepy Sidney Glass," Margaret mentioned.

"Yeah...but I'm still not sure we should trust him," David replied.

"There's only about a minute left in this one. Let's finish it," she suggested, as he turned it back on.

"That's about all for this episode, but don't miss next week's installment when we discuss the mysterious Major involved in all this and her quest for the Holy Grail," he said. Their eyes widened and they looked at each other in shock.

"The Holy Grail…" Margaret said.

"Just like Aurora talked about," he replied.

"I guess we need to talk to him, after all," Margaret said, as they got out and headed into the house.

"Hey Dad...can we shoot some hoops?" Henry asked. David smiled and took the ball from him. They would call Mr. Glover later. It had been a long time since Henry felt well enough to play basketball.

"Sure buddy...that sounds great," David said. Margaret watched him go and saw Olive on the couch with her math book.

"How was your day, honey?" she asked.

"Pretty boring...how about you and Dad? Did you find Johanna?" Olive asked. Margaret sighed.

"We did and she was happy to see us at first, until she realized we were there to talk about my mother's death," Margaret said.

"What happened?" Olive asked.

"She told me to leave it alone, stay away from Cora Mills, and then she practically kicked us out of her house," Margaret replied.

"Well, that's majorly weird and suspicious," Olive said.

"It was...and I didn't get a chance to ask Regina to pull my mother's medical files," Margaret replied.

"Well, until you do...we could poke around the Internet for more information," Olive suggested.

"Okay...let's see what we can find. You drive, Internet wiz," Margaret said, as she sat beside her daughter and they began looking.

~*~

A few hours later.

After helping her Mom do some research, Olive left the house with her gear and arrived at the rock climbing studio.

Lance unpacked the gear back in the box of his truck, as Olive approached and he smiled when seeing her.

"Hey Olive," he greeted.

"Hi Lance...thanks for meeting me. I know this is still kind of weird," Olive replied.

"It's not...just so long as your parents know," he reminded her. She nodded.

"They do...and they're fine with me continuing to do rock climbing," she said.

"That's great...so how are they?" he asked. He said they, but Olive knew he meant her mother. She beamed.

"They're great...I mean Mom is her old self. With Dad back, it's like the light inside her turned back on and Dad is way more patient with me than I deserve," Olive said.

"Don't say that...you're not half as bad as you make yourself out to be," he replied.

"Maybe…I think he gets that I'm not a little girl anymore, but he also still treats me like I am...but in a good way that I didn't realize that I missed," Olive confessed. Lance smiled.

"That's wonderful...and that's what a father does, no matter how old you get," he replied. She nodded, as they went inside the rock climbing place. They were unaware, however, that Sidney Glass was across the street in his car, snapping photos of them…

~*~

While shooting some hoops with Henry, David waited to hear back from the podcaster about a meeting. He hadn't agreed to anything yet, but Aaron texted back and agreed to meet for coffee. Margaret told him to go ahead and then pick up dinner on the way home, while she spent some time with Henry. He agreed and kissed her quickly, promising not to be long. He parked and arrived at the coffee shop, looking around in hopes that no one was watching him. He was a bit higher profile lately than he was comfortable with.

"Hey...thanks for meeting me," Aaron said, as he handed him a coffee.

"Thanks…" David said, as they sat at a corner table outside.

"So...you listened, I assume?" Aaron asked.

"Margaret and I listened to a few episodes," he said.

"So, you're agreeing to be interviewed?" Aaron asked.

"Not yet…" David said.

"You have to understand that the passengers...we don't know who we can trust right now. We feel like we all have a target on our backs," he added.

"I get that," Aaron replied.

"But you might be able to earn my trust," David said.

"How?" Aaron asked.

"What do you know about the Holy Grail?" he asked. Aaron looked around.

"Where did you hear that term?" he asked.

"Not important…" David evaded. Aaron sighed.

"I have a source," he said vaguely.

"Can I talk to them?" David asked. Aaron shook his head.

"I can't reveal my source or the information will dry up," Aaron refuted.

"What can you tell me then?" David asked.

"Right after 828 returned, the Senate Intelligence Committee, House Appropriations started having secret meetings in which they earmarked millions to preserve the phantom shiner. It's a fish. Hasn't been seen since the 1940s. So why earmark funds?" Aaron asked.

"To pay for a Clandestine operation," David surmised. Aaron smiled.

"Very good, Professor," he teased.

"But all my source had was a fragment of a conversation he overheard. A senator said, 'It's the Holy Grail.' We have to be the first, or 828 blows up in our face," Aaron said.

"The Holy Grail? You think that's what the Major's looking for?" David asked.

"No, not literally. This isn't Arthurian legend. But it's something big," Aaron said.

"So...you ready to go on the record?" Aaron asked.

"Not quite," David replied.

"But you told me something...so I'll tell you something I know," he added, as Aaron listened with rapt attention.

"The Major is a woman," he revealed.

"You're sure?" Aaron asked. David nodded.

"And we know that it was a military black hawk that she came to Red Hook in, but we'd need someone in intel to trace it further," Aaron said. David thought back to Agent King and though he knew that he blamed him for Vance's death...he could tell that he truly cared about Vance. If he could somehow convince him that it might have been this Major that was responsible for his death, then he might agree to help them.

"If I could talk to Agent King...I might be able to convince him to help. But I need access to him. Do you think your source could make that happen?" David asked.

"It's worth a shot," Aaron replied.

"Good...make it happen and we can see about that interview," David agreed, as they shook hands and parted ways.

~*~

Emma and Killian arrived at the apartment building, which was the last known address for Helen Santino. Emma knocked and when they found no answer, they turned the doorknob, finding it unlocked. Thinking that might mean foul play, they drew their weapons and slowly walked in. They searched, but found no one.

"Clear…" Killian called.

"Clear…" Emma echoed, as they met in the kitchen. They found a carton of milk that had an expiration date that was well past. There was also stuff scattered everywhere, like someone left unexpectedly.

"I do not want to know what's in that carton," Killian joked. She snorted.

"She definitely left in a hurry," Emma said, as they looked through her things.

"She either left in a hurry or was taken," Killian said, as Emma found some documents and photos.

"Yeah...can you continue searching? I'm going to take these to Paul and see if it jogs his memory at all," she said.

"Sure," he agreed, though he was clearly disappointed that she was ditching him. Perhaps it was for the best. They couldn't be together anyway, but that didn't stop him from watching her go with longing...

[racingtoaredlight]

Degenerate’s guide to college football TV watch ‘em ups: 2017 Senior Bowl edition

This game is the best because the game itself has little to no impact on the draft.

All of the good and bad impressions are made during the week at practices and meetings and one-on-one drills. I’m just gonna pick out some players to watch and if you can stay awake through a whole college all-star game then god bless you.

NORTH ROSTER

RTARLsman contender Haason Reddick has been a favorite of draft twitter and I kind of feel like that was a given. He’s small for a DE but as the football world moves more towards the EDGE designation I think most DCs worth their paycheck can find a use for him and justify a high draft pick. I want to compare him to Dwight Freeney but my guess is that Reddick will line up in the back 7 more than as a down lineman.

Nate Peterman, Pitt’s not great seeming QB, has impressed with his arm talent (!!!) and maybe he’ll be one of those rarities that’s better in the league than he was in college. But I feel like John Skelton is a pretty good comp for him - guy who should hold a clipboard but might make it into a game or 10 on a team that hasn’t noticed the outsized importance of having a good QB in the NFL.

Shouts out to Datom Cat since Cooper Kupp is apparently showed very well in practices and should get drafted no later than the third round. Kupp was about as big a star as a 1-AA receiver can be in the current environment and he’s got decent physical tools for a WR. We’ll see how he does at the combine/pro days but he’s a fantastic route runner with great hands so he’ll have a role in an NFL offense even if he can’t run past pro defenders.

I haven’t seen any hype this week for Zay Jones, Trent Taylor, Jourdan Lewis, or Desmond King but I’m interested to see them on a field against future pros.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

SOUTH ROSTER

I’m no scout but this looks like the way more stacked team to me. By the time we know if that’s true or not there’s a zero percent chance anybody remembers this game or this post. Possibly the best player in the Senior Bowl was on the South roster but he got hurt and isn’t listed anymore but he’s also an OL and, let’s be honest, you weren’t gonna know what the fuck you were looking for in him anyway. Good luck, Forrest Lamp, your name is awesome.

O.J. Howard is going to end up in a rare battle for the draft’s top tight end. Usually there’s one guy who is way ahead of the rest in draft hype but Howard and David Njoku are pretty close in terms of size and physical skill which is to say that they’re both a bit freakish and they’ve both got pretty good tape to go along with that. I’ve got no idea what the deciding factor will be.

Eddie Vanderdoes missed most of 2015 with an injury and came back in 2016 looking like he had consumed Eddie Vanderdoes from 2014. I mean he looks fat as hell and he didn’t always look like that. I think that probably helps him though? He didn’t seem to lose any explosion from what I could tell and it’s not the worst thing in the world for an interior lineman to be fucking huge. Between him and Takkarist McKinley it seems almost like JMJ had to try to lose games in 2016 and that’s exactly what he did. I know the offense sucked but how does a defensive minded coach fuck up that badly with approximately 40% of the defensive talent in the Pac 12 on his roster? Any way, you won’t miss Vanderdoes when he’s on the field.

Two Hurricanes defensive backs have gotten a lot of praise from online scouts and it’s possible they both end up as second or first day picks now. Corn Elder is a decently well known quantity among CFB fans for being the guy who scored the TD that shouldn’t have counted but also shouldn’t have been necessary against Duke in 2015 and for being named Corn. Most Hurricanes fans can tell you he’s a playmaker who also has the “onfield coach” thing going for him, a la Ed Reed (no I’m not saying he’s as good as Ed Reed. Nobody is as good as Ed Reed.)  Rayshawn Jenkins is a thumper with good cover skills. That’s pretty much what you want from a safety. He’s also got pretty good size for the position and will, as Miami players often do, post eye popping numbers at the combine.

Donnell Pumphrey is so small it’s comical and I keep convincing myself it won’t matter. Warrick Dunn made it. Darren Sproles made it. Can’t Donnell, who has the FBS record fro career yards make it, too? I can’t divorce analysis from rooting interest so I’m not the one to ask. I say he stars in the NFL.

The South also has Matt Dayes and Jamaal Williams at running  back. My impression of both of these guys is that they can hack it as primary rushers in the NFL. Maybe not right away but someday. I can’t remember the knock on Williams - injury prone? slow? fumbly? Dayes always seemed underappreciated at NC State but NC State has that effect.

Ben Boulware could be a good special teams player and might end up in jail for sexual assault because some cop sucked at football. I want to see him get humiliated.

Travin Dural is a pretty talented kid who maybe had a lot of drops but he will never again play with a QB as bad as what he played with at LSU and he will never again play in an offense as stupid as LSU’s. Unless Jeff Fisher gets another job.

Taywan Taylor had an insanely good senior season in an offense that dealt in volume. I don’t know what to make of him as an NFL prospect because, as I’ve stated before, WKU actually bored the hell out of me.

The other defensive linemen on the South squad are legit talents (Daeshon Hall, Carlos Watkins, Tanzel Smart) or freakishly sized 1-AA players (Tanoh Kpassagnon, Keionta Davis) that I know nothing about. On paper they look like an NFL unit. Hall got overshadowed at A&M by Myles Garrett but he could end up going in the first round as well.

Can you feel the excitement?

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

[elliotbrokerybzh416-blog]

Working Investment Websites Online

When you have a brokerage account then you might need to stick with this. Or else, yoll need to discover a brand fresh place that will assist you invest your funds. One company I regularly https://investa.info suggest is Betterment. Together with Betterment, your money may be invested in ETFs plus so they dot control a fee for handling these for you. In addition, they truly decide on the ETFs you invest in centered in your desire for risk, investing aims, and also other factors.

A second place to pay some your excess dollars this year will be in peer reviewed lending systems like Lending Club and Prosper. Together with these businesses, yore able to loan money to men and women in little increments as if you had been the lender. The optimal/optimally part is, you get to make a pretty decent speed of return usually up of 6 percent or longer.

He would buy a pool of genuine estate properties, and then investors such as myself might invest money into his project. From there, he would manage the properties pay me a dividend or interest off that capital. For mepersonally, this was an attractive method to spend in without having to be always a landlord or cope with tenants.

Evidently, there is a ton of risk in a situation like this. You must have lots of trust to invest in real estate notes provided by an individual.

Much like Lending Club, Fundrise necessitates a upfront amount of approximately $1,000 to begin. After you spend, yet, Fundrise primarily lets youset it and forget it Even better, you may get quite a hefty rate of yield via this system. Over the business website, Fundrise maintains its returns have averaged between 8.76percent up-to 12.42% during the previous five yearspast Perhaps not too muddy.

Given that wve discussed the value of purchasing the stock market, les discuss exactly the way to commit your dollars. Which would be the tools and vehicles we all may utilize?

What does that mean? That means that you can spend your hard-won income, then sit back and delight in the returns and allow them to do the tough work.

For example an investor at peer financing, yore buying other folks and their objectives. It's 's comforting knowing you aret lending individuals you dot know huge quantities of dollars. Alternatively, the amount of money you commit is divided into account as small as $25 around hundreds and sometimes even 1000s of money loans.

Every dollar you donate can Secure a Greenback match states Scott.Thas a 100 percent yield on your investment

Like a final notice, thers one more simple approach to invest in the stock exchange with much less effort boosting howmuch you bring to a work-sponsored retirement account. Arizona fiscal planner Charles C. Scott claims this may be your best alternative yet specially if yore perhaps not contributing sufficient to find a suit from the company.

#2: Peertopeer Lending

Money cost averaging necessitates us to trickle our funds into investments within any given period of time. It could be 1-2 months. It'd be 18 months. Heck, it may be five years.

For those who have a fiscal advisor working on your behalf, they may be able to weed the well-performing actively managed mutual money from those which aret carrying out thus fantastic. Otherwise, you could put money into index funds, which are not actively managed but possess a long background of returns that are solid.

This really is yet another scenario at which in fact the options are all overwhelming. Still, I typically suggest people get their feet wet with mutual funds or ETFs.

Regardless, I presume is very trendy that technology has enabled investors to find usage of commercial qualities at an sense we havet managed to at the previous decade.

Colorado economic adviser David Henderson of Jenkins Wealth extends farther to describe how dollar cost averaging will work:When the market is higher, you get fewer stocks so when the industry is reduced you buy more shares he states. It follows that, over time, you are going to have decreased average share price using this method. Clearly, is easy to see why this might be beneficial.

If yore perhaps maybe not even earning the most of your 401(k) or donating ample to find yourself a game, then yore likely most useful starting up there.

M certainly not. I strove purchasing physical property seven seven years ago and lost my top. I learned lots of lessons from my own foray into turning into a spouse, the greatest of which was that I scatter desire that type of tension in my life.

Evidently, there is hazard buying a platform like this particular one, as well. First off, the company is more recent so that it doest have decades of data to talk about. Second, yore letting a thirdparty choose investments and buildings on your behalf, which means yove given up control.

Along with this stock market and peer reviewed lending sites, an third investment plan to look at this past year is real estate. The thing is, m not implying everybody else go out and get a investment property. Afterall, perhaps maybe not everybody is cut out to be a landlord.

When it may look unusual to hear that a financial advisor suggest people invest in peer reviewed lending, theres not the sole individual who sees the worth in these types of platforms. Kansas town Financial Advisor Clint Haynes explained that he supports peer reviewed lending as an alternate into the stock exchange for a couple of explanations. Firstthese companies allow it to be effortless to sign up and begin. Second, your rate of yield can range from 5 percent for safer financial loans and a lot more for riskier loans. Last however, you are able to on average start a new account with as low as $1,000.

The fantastic news isthat you can find other strategies to put money into real estate outside real estate notes. One alternative m quite excited about is a company called Fundrise. Fundrise offers an investment scenario similar to the one over. They get business attributes and allow traders to invest tiny sums of dollars. Apparently, that is still another hands-off expenditure. You may have part of a business property estate project, nevertheless, also you dot even view or manage the property itself.

Fortunately, there are a good deal of means to put money into real estate without even dealing with an actual property. One option to consider is investing in actual estate notes. I have started out off investing in realestate notes as a excellent close buddy of mine was devastating it by real estate and also giving his buddies the occasion to invest.

No 3: Realestate

In the event you prefer more hands over your own investments, internet brokerage businesses such as Ally Financial, then TD Ameritrade and E-Trade allow it to be effortless to stay in charge with reduced prices and easy-to-use platforms. Furthermore, there are plenty of additional "robo advisors " to choose from.

[marilynnewbury-blog]

I remember the day the light went on.

I have been told that using a colloquialism is an excuse for real words, but in this case, the words are exactly what they mean.

The light really did come on.

It was a regular school day...

...in a rural town surrounded by a large farming community where the local weather forecast eclipsed the importance of reading novels. Survival with hard physical labour for an unpredictable harvest understandably often out-weighed the value of the fine arts. Like my parents, I had little knowledge of 14th century Medieval classics.

An English Literature Class - Grade 11, I think.

The day is stored in my memory data as a photograph and a brief video.

Other students were in the class, but they are not in the picture.

Just me, Chaucer, and the teacher.

I never thanked this teacher, and she likely never knew how powerful her lecture was, at least for one student - me. Besides that one day with the ten-minute clip of the light coming on, I have no recollection whatsoever of being in any of her other classes  I might have paid more attention, at least to her name, if I had realized that the light would never go out, and that both she and her teaching would matter so much some forty years later.

To be dedicating a whole article to this teacher and not even know her name is somewhat embarassing.  Other teachers’ last names, like Barr, Sheets, and Jenkins, for example, are still embedded in my brain, but I cannot recall hers. She may have been Miss or Mrs., in those pre-Ms. days, and her surname might have started with the letter J.  Lest she be unnamed, I will call her Ms. ? J.

Ironically, I remember how Ms. ? J. looked on that day. Tall and well-groomed, she wore pumps, possibly black, and a dark-coloured belted dress, tailored to fit snugly but modestly on her slender figure. I’m not sure why I noticed or still remember, except that her appearance seemed to command attention to detail and all matters of import.

I thought her to be somewhat austere in manner, but most likely she just took her profession and subject matter seriously and did not waste time on trivial conversations or silly hilarities.   She was there to unfold the writings of Chaucer, after all.

We were studying The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

I remember the title, at least, and the fact that there were a lot of characters in the story. Other than that, the words were as incomprehensible as a foreign language.

Ms. ? J. was lecturing, and I was listening, but not understanding.

Then she started to describe one of the fictitious persons in detail. The role and occupation of the character were apparently incidental, as I cannot remember either, although it may have been the parson or the cook. What I do remember is that the teacher showed how Chaucer looked beyond the person’s rank and title to see the real human being underneath the outward persona.

In words much fancier than mine, Ms. ? J. explained that the author did not directly tell us what the character was like. Instead, Chaucer elaborated on the individual’s appearance, conversation, interactions, and life experiences so that we, the readers, would be able to discern and understand the supposedly fictional person’s attitudes, personality, convictions, and character.

Suddenly, I got it, from my seat in the far left row next to the boring beige wall.While the teacher’s voice continued on in the otherwise silent classroom,I stared at her, mesmerized, from my sideways angle looking to the right, and believe I remained unmoving.

Inside my head, not just one light went on,but rather a cascade of colourful fireworks,exploding like lightning as new revelation ignited in my mind.

Chaucer and my teacher knew something I was just finding out: people are not defined by their roles and are not always what they seem.

I do not know how other members of my fellow human family come to this realization, but I had to be taught that I, too, could discover the stories behind story by observing people’s conversations, demeanour, and actions.

And then, just as abruptly, it was over. For all intents and purposes, I left the classroom the same as I entered,back into the oblivion of lost memories of the rest of that ordinary day.But, unknowingly, I had changed.

I tried harder to understand and asked more questions, even though the meaning of Shakespeare still seemed mostly unattainable. I have to confess that I did not turn into an avid reader of the classics, unless I can count all book and video versions of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, of dubious classic repute. I did, however, become a serious student of human nature.

I no longer trusted my impressions of a person's rank or appearance and wanted to know how people felt when they told stories of their experiences and adventures. I paid more attention to authors and radio commentators who brought humour and insight into otherwise boring everyday life experiences: Erma Brombeck, Peter Szowski, Stuart MacLean, and David Barry.

I read magazine editorials and newspaper columns about people baking, graduating, going to medical appointments with a fatal disease, grappling with marital disharmonies, doing menial parental household chores, struggling to obtain eye glasses in an isolated northern community, trying to remember left and right, and how one student struggling with dyslexia became a renowned eye surgeon.

I started to understand that the obvious story-event was not as important as the more subtle sub-plots that revealed character strength or lack of it. I saw how others laughed at themselves and was inspired by those who felt deeply in crisis but somehow still coped.

Eventually, I surprised myself as I, too, was able to see and feel my own life experiences on multiple and sometimes complex levels.  I learned to find the new stories in the story.

I don’t know what grade I got on on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in Grade 11 Old English Literature, but what I learned in my life-long test about understanding human nature greatly exceeded a measureable mark followed by a percentage sign.

For that, I am grateful.

Thank you, Ms. ? J.

Photo Credits:  pixabay.com

Subscribe at http:subscribe.marilynnewbury.com

Originally published at https://www.marilynnewbury.com