#law where is my LEFT KIDNEY

[garnetea]

if these lights could cry.

who yandere! trafalgar law x fem black! y/n. length 606 words! warnings i promise i really tried to make him in character okay.. i'm not even in the timeskip *sobbing*. angst/gore. and don't be horny about the boob contact, this is not glorification. unprofessional & dangerous surgery description. organs and blood and poetry and blaaaaah. no consent. unconscious reader. and insinuations of the reader dying that's you ;).

leman's letter! a little pre-description would be: yandere! law touching y/n in places "only they know", and turns out it's a surgery just so he can feel her organs, knowing he's the only one capable of caring for her inside and out. and the only one she must trust to do so at that, since she sleeps so soundly in his bed, with them being lovers and all. surely that's more than trust? surely it's consent? really, regardless, who is she to refuse a check-up if it's doctor's orders?

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ ㅤㅤ ★

Loosen your will, lose your drive; drift like lost wood and sink like an angel's feathered spine. Spiders thrive where memories spin forlorn, pearlescent webs of regret, and in that case, el hospital de tu corazon is a cave for bats and daddy long legs.

Spread your arms. Some sedation would do you well, wouldn't it?

Spread your legs. Some fucks to give would last this doctor the rest of the night.

Spread your belly button. Your guts, splice them. Your eyes- no, sorry, we won't dice them..

You're a prepossessing little patient with a particularly possessive, perfectionist lover. But you, you're so perfect, what is there for the doctor to heal or mend or replace? Not a single discrepancy in your spleen, your pancreas is in as little pain as preferred, your thoracic cavity is as hollow as a lost soul. And your heart.

"There's the fun part."

His hands, riddled with letters of death and intentions of.. something akin, softly palm the naked elegance of your breasts. Although consumed by anesthesia, your nipples naturally harden beneath the newfound company, slowly tightening and tickling against his palm creases. Yet he presses deeper- harder- urging your chest into the density of your thoracic cavity until he's sure you should fall apart from the pressure.

Yellow lamps see it all. Hanging from the ceiling, adding to the ambiance of your impending quietus. No amount of flickering or buzzing from the dust-worn bulbs could warn the lingering spirits of those who came before you. Are you to be an exception?

An incision-- no.. three slabs. Just skin, it's just skin, just cells, just tissue. Just an organ- an organ or two. Or five.

He's a doctor, isn't he? He must be sure you're pumping blood where it's due, not swelling or oozing where you shouldn't. Checking off his list: no tumors or cell degeneration, no irritable cysts or parasites. If this means sliding that annoying latex over his hands to ensure you're safe and sound inside and out, he's more than acquiescent to oblige. Hell, to volunteer.

"Just lucky to have me, I guess."

..Debatable. Since one kidney is currently being toyed, twisted, poked, prodded, and pulled out of it's cubby behind your trampoline of a digestion bag. Oh, I mean stomach.

However, stomachs don't usually get sliced open with silver scalpels just for the fact of doing so. Do they? Perhaps "digestion bag" is more appropriate, since you open up quite widely.

Biopsy's vary. Could be fifteen minutes, could be thirty.

For you, more hours fly past than fingers on your limp hands. Spiders crawl into the winter sunrise, abandoning you and your yellow lights of worry to run silent on misery and immobility. Resting points in between the achingly intimate hours hold no weight; they're only for letting your sensitive body lay and recuperate, with your limbs spread apart and numb like you're ready for the slaughter house. You're too perfect to take so much time out of Doctor Trafalgar's day and night. Or perhaps it's because you're so unprecedented in faultlessness that you must amount to such a duration of focus.

He's had to redistribute anesthesia more times than he's enjoyed; you're such a handful. Surely you realize everyone has their reason to lose control.. Which cakey clump of you is pushing his limits this time?

"Jeez, Y/n, don't get so worked up. Going into cardiac arrest again just wastes more time. I can re-attach your heart to the left atrium in a second." A slowed stutter coruscates in his hand like a newborn baby's first and last breath, and he chuckles, comparing your blood hungry heart to such with lidded, heavy, restless eyes. "You're about to turn this into an exhumation."

★ garnetea productions. all rights reserved, do not plagiarize.

[thedeadthree]

ok ok FINEE ill make a g*ojo girlie anything for pookie i GUESS!! <3

[wuwapetal1s]

write anything abt geshu lin or calcharo im begging on my hands and knees ill give u my first born or a kidney whichever u want

I don't need any organs can I have a pair of knees maybe (ty for the request anon :3)

Love languages

content: sfw, rambling-ish format, not entirely proofread (it's midnight currently), swearing used, etc.

reqs open!

— Calcharo.

Calcharo is an ‘acts of service man’ through and through. To me, he doesn't seem the best at giving affection verbally though he thinks he's *very* good at it personally. As in, you will ask him for comfort or reassurance and he'll give it to you readily… But it will sound so stern coming from him.

“I feel uncomfortable with [such and such]..”

“I understand. I will rectify/fix that.”

Communication KING, though I imagine it can still feel very intimidating to bring stuff up to him. It will always be met with understanding, and he certainly would try his hardest to accommodate what language/tone you'd rather hear in those moments (autistic.)

Getting back to the original point, he will do just about anything for you. There's hardly any limits or rules to that fact. He will kill for you, he will fight for you, he will get in trouble with the law for you, etc etc. He'll also grab extra of your snacks the moment he's back in town and stops at the market before he goes to visit you.

Tired from a long day at work or studying? He'll clean up as quietly as he can while you sleep. You'll wake up to all the dishes done and your living space looks pretty much spotless.

He's the kind of man to learn how you organize things pretty easily, even if you're a very messy person. He's very clued in on anything that involves you (smitten, much?) and he's also just got a keen eye on him.

"Ugh, I can't find where I left my-”

“Bottom drawer of the nightstand.”

“Oh.. Thank you!”

He loves holding and kissing you as well, it's his favorite thing to be welcomed home to. Just the ability to sink into your arms is like heaven to him. Receiving, he probably likes physical touch a lot more, but he feels 100x more satisfied doing something for you to show he cares :).

— Genshu Lin.

Genshu Lin is a possessive man. It's subtle, but it's definitely there. Above all else, he adores you. He's a deeply devoted person when in a relationship, though I don't feel like he's had a lot of experience to pinpoint that exactly, but it's his nature. I believe he enjoys gifting you things he gets his hands on, trinkets or otherwise.

He mostly enjoys giving you things you can make use of or wear. He always gets a warmth in his chest when he sees you in the bracelet he got you (one that matches his that he keeps tucked away for safekeeping) or using pens he gave you after you kept losing your last ones. As long as it works, suits you, and it means a lot to you, he's snatching it up.

I also believe he's a sucker for stealing kisses in private. He may not seem it to anyone else, but he's a softie. Just for you though. Cooking something or simply sitting around? Funny how his lips just found their way to your cheek!

He's a bit more apprehensive about receiving it unless it's the time you two lay in bed together, then he'd let you rub his back or play with his hair. In return, he most enjoys quality time.

Even if it's something as mundane as running an errand or having to pick something up from the pharmacy he wants you there. He'd tell you “I don't need your presence, I just prefer it” if questioned, but he does need it. More than he knows or even lets on, he wants you and needs you there. He hates having to be away from you. It drives him up a wall almost. Like nearly insane.

After long hours working or even days/weeks of it he wants nothing more than to just lay with you and bathe in your presence as if it's a balm for his soul :’).

I love these men they're so fine

[zorosleftmantit101]

One piece group chat shenanigans

A/N: I see a little sillohetto of a man

C/W: Swearing, telling ppl to kts, Crack post, Shitpost

Luffy: Wait so like do beavers exist

Robin: yeah why

Luffy: how do I know if I seen one

Nami: you'll fucking know when you see one

Franky: guys im shitting rn

Usopp: Nami leave him alone he's autistic

Luffy: cause like I've seen a lot in my time right?

Zoro: what are you about to tell us a fucking war story.

Luffy: Zoro, your distracting me can you litterly shut up.

Sanji: honestly actually kys zoro

@Zoro has removed @sanji from the chat

Usopp: someone add him back

Nami: no dont...

Brook: sup sluts whats going on

Luffy: brook have you seen a beaver

@Usopp has added @Sanji to the chat

Nami: alright Usopp your getting blocked

Usopp: I had to I can hear him crying

Sanji: IM NOT CRYING IM LITTERLY IN PUBLIC

Brook: don't fret sanji I cry in public constantly

Nami: here we fucking go

Brook: or at least I would

Brook: if I had any eyes 👀

@Nami has removed @Brook from the chat

Luffy: NAMI I NEEDED TO ASK HIM ABT THE BEAVERS

Nami: no one cares abt the beavers Luffy

Luffy: I DO

Luffy: WHERES THE BUTTON TO ADD HIM BACK

Zoro: who added the slut back to the chat

Sanji: Zoro I hope you piss kidney stones

@Luffy has added 8 people to the chat

NamI: LUFFY WHAT DID YOU DO

Luffy: I WAS JUST TRYING TO ADD BROOK I THINK I MESSEP UP

Shanks: HEY NERDS

Buggy: what the fuck is this

Crocodile: straw hat...

Mihawk: this is highly immature

Shanks: someone shoul put you in a retirement home

Buggy: HA

Crocodile: Buggy are you conspiring with the enemy

Nami: someone kick them

Brook: IM BACK SLUTS

Ace: ive been summoned

Robin: yo what...

Law: straw hat this is unfunny

Kidd: yknow who else isnt funny

Shanks: buggy?

Buggy: KYS

Kidd: your un present father

@law has left the chat

Kidd: HA hit a nerve fucking losser

@Kidd has left the chat

@Mihawk has left the chat

@crocodile has left the chat

Shanks: im staying this is juicy

Buggy: like my ass

@nami has removed @buggy from the chat

Shanks: NERD

@Nami has removed @Shanks from the chat

Nami: Ace yknow what you need to do

Ace: 👍

@Ace has left the chat

Nami: finally peace and quiet

Luffy: anyway brook abt the beavers

@Franky has sent a photo

*opened by all*

Luffy: is that your shit

Franky: i told you i was shitting

@Nami has left the chat

@zoro has left the chat

@sanji has left the chat

@Robin had left the chat

Usopp: Franky that looks really bad when was the last time you went to a doctor

Franky: ur mum

@Usopp has left the chat

Franky: so just the three of us

Brook: indeed

Luffy: anyway brook so beavers

[covid-safer-hotties]

Mask bans disenfranchise millions of Americans with disabilities - Published Aug 20, 2024

Last week, a mask ban in Nassau County, New York was signed into law. If I lived just 60 miles east of my New Jersey town, I would be under threat of a fine or jail time every time I left the house.

I’ve been masking consistently in public since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began, because I have a kidney transplant and will take immunosuppressant medication for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, my lifesaving medication also makes me more susceptible to infectious diseases like measles, the flu, and Covid-19. Even when people like me are vaccinated against the virus, we are at higher risk of being infected and are more likely to experience adverse health outcomes, including hospitalization and death.

The legislation in Nassau County and elsewhere primarily targets people who wear masks to hide their identity while committing crimes or during public protests, specifically against the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Masks are defined as any facial covering that disguises the face, and facial coverings worn for religious or health reasons are exempt. But people like me, who wear masks for health reasons, are disproportionally affected by these bans even when they include medical exemptions.

That’s because although the Nassau mask ban contains provisions for people who mask for medical reasons, it is up to the police to determine whether someone has a medical reason for masking if they are out in public. This means that enforcing the ban is subjective and will disproportionally impact Black people and people of color, who are more likely to be stopped by police and are also more likely to wear masks to prevent Covid. This is in part because Black and Latinx Americans are more cautious in their approach to the pandemic, reflecting the higher hospitalization and death rates in these communities. The Nassau mask ban as it is written is reminiscent of a “Stop and Frisk” law, which allows police to temporarily detain, question, and search people without a warrant.

This isn’t just localized to Nassau County; mask bans have been proposed or passed in multiple states, including North Carolina, Ohio, and California. For example, in North Carolina, where I lived for six years while completing my doctorate, a state-wide ban was recently passed. Although the final bill also includes a health exemption, it originally prohibited masking even for medical reasons. This medical exemption was only added after strong pushback from disability advocates.

There is also a statewide mask ban under consideration in New York state, where many people in my immediate family live. The bill as it is currently written bans masks not just during protests but also for people engaging in lawful assembly, or a peaceful gathering of more than two people for a lawful purpose, in the state. I’m not an expert on the New York state legislature, so I don’t know how likely it is to pass. But if it does, it means that my parents and I would be violating the law if we did something as banal as go on a walk together outdoors while wearing masks, because the bill allows people to wear masks for medical reasons only during a declared public health emergency. (The federal Covid public health emergency was declared over in 2023.) Again, enforcement of these bans is up to the police, who are not medical experts and who will apply the law unevenly. The right of peaceful assembly is part of the First Amendment, and mask bans are an infringement on everyone’s rights.

That is doubly true for disabled people participating in peaceful protest. Without protests, we would not have the Americans with Disabilities Act. A series of demonstrations beginning at San Francisco in 1977 and concluding in 1990 at the Capitol building’s “Capitol Crawl” helped codify disability rights into law in the United States. At the Capitol Crawl demonstration, 60 people with disabilities, many of them wheelchair users, crawled up the Capitol steps to illustrate structural barriers and to show that disability rights are a civil rights issue. Disabled people have relied on protesting to get our basic needs met. Mask bans don’t just take away our right to protest; they take away our right to peacefully exist in public. They are an infringement on everyone’s rights and are a threat to American democracy.

There is another reason for banning masks: the strong push for people to “return to normal” during the “post-pandemic” era. Masking is a reminder that the pandemic is still ongoing. In the same week that Nassau County passed its mask ban, weekly test positivity in the United States was the highest it has been since February 2022 and continues to climb. The CDC and other public health agencies encourage people to wear masks when respiratory viruses are causing high numbers of infection and illness in the community, especially in congregate or crowded settings. It’s a good idea for everyone to be wearing a mask right now when they are out in public.

People who are immunocompromised are told to wear masks in addition to getting vaccinated, improving air ventilation, and making sure our close contacts also receive the vaccine. But current coverage with the Covid-19 vaccines is low; only 22.3% of adults have received a vaccine dose in the past year. This means that I can’t return to your unmasked “normal.” The new normal includes exposure to a virulent, airborne illness that circulates year-round, with seasonal spikes that correspond to times of high travel and congregate indoor activities.

If masks are banned where I live, I will have to make the choice between endangering my transplant and my health every time I leave the house, or to remain on permanent lockdown in my home. As disability oracle and activist Alice Wong reminds us, mask bans are an extension of “ugly laws,” historical laws and ordinances that prevented disabled people from being in public. We deserve to be seen and to be included in public life. Mask bans are a threat not just to disabled people, but to all of us. It’s never too late to start masking again—to protect not just your health and the health of people around you, but also to protect our fundamental human rights.

[billhader]

Some of my assorted headcanons for Anoush ☺️

Likes

-Favorite movies: Some Like it Hot, Doctor Zhivago, and Saturday Night Fever

-Favorite TV shows: How to Get Away with Murder, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Frasier, and Veep

-Favorite musical artists: Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Sam Cooke, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson Trio, Neutral Milk Hotel, Cocteau Twins, Belle and Sebastian, The Cranberries, The Velvet Underground, Beirut, The National

-Favorite foods: Baguette with brie and butter, coq au vin, pasta carbonara, shakshuka, sushi (esp. anything w/ fresh tuna), pozole, orange blossom and pistachio ice cream

-Favorite season: fall (the one thing he misses about New York)

-Coffee order: triple americano with a tablespoon, no more no less, of half and half. If he doesn't trust the espresso at a place, he'd rather get a chai.

Backstory (this gets long)

-He moved out to LA about 15 years ago from NYC, and he grew up near NYC but not in the city. His main motivation for moving there was to get away from overbearing family. He does have cousins in the LA area but most of his family is still out east.

-His father ran a dry cleaning business and his mother was an administrator at a dental office - both have been retired for a while.

-He has a bachelor degree, double majored in economics and history, and he did do law school for a year before accepting that he hated it, which caused a lot of strife with his parents. He tried to make them happy by working at a law firm for a while as a receptionist/file clerk, but the environment was awful for his stress and he just knew he couldn't do it forever.

-When he moved, he worked a lot of odd jobs - a couple restaurants, a winery, some a-hole executive's personal assistant, etc. Hated all of it. He had a very tough time making friends. He even tried going to a nearby synagogue to make friends, though he's not very religious, only to find he was the youngest person in attendance by a few decades that wasn't married with children.

-I might expand on this in a later story, but Anoush met Daniel when he was looking for a car. His own car broke down and money was tight. As they were talking they found out they were both from out east, and ended up having a super long conversation. Anoush left with a nice used car and a job offer.

-He thought he would hate working in sales, but found out that he likes the actual reward for working hard and having conversations with one customer at a time/forming a connection with them.

-In his spare time, he tries a lot of restaurants. He tries to go to one new restaurant every week - he has a huge jar full of hundreds of restaurant names that he picks out of. He also gets out of town as often as he can and takes 1-2 day trips up the coast or out to the desert. California is so different from where he grew up and he just wants to get out and experience as much as possible.

-He has a hereditary autoimmune condition known as Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF). He experiences periodic attacks of abdominal pain, headaches, and inflammation, always accompanied by a fever. It doesn't happen often and it's become less of an issue as he's gotten older, but the attacks can take him out for up to a few days at a time. He's mostly healthy otherwise, but has to be on medication to prevent damage to his kidneys from the condition.

-His sexuality has always been a serious sore spot for him. He's had lots of girlfriends, but it never lasts long. He's known since high school that he's attracted to men, and his only serious long-term relationship was with a guy in college. The list of men he's been with is very short in comparison to the women, and they've always made him much happier - but those relationships have always been covert. Whenever they get to the stage where they're introducing each other to family and friends, Anoush tends to self-sabotage and the relationship ends.

-He's an only child, and the burden of not having any grandchildren for his parents weighs heavily on him. Part of why he left New York was his idea that it would be easier to date girls who weren't from the place or culture he grew up in, and it hasn't worked out. By the time we meet him in Cobra Kai, he's getting desperate to make the fantasy happen. His parents are getting pretty old. He thinks that the disappointment of no grandkids plus the shock of finding out he's gay would be too much for them.

[north-blue-hearts]

Family Practice

CisFem Reader x Trafalgar Law

CW: sex, language, violence

Summary: Modern Mafia-coded AU starts in last semester of College

Chapter 9: Collegiate

You were a little surprised to find that out of everyone in your group of five, you were the fastest to get cleaned up and changed. You had all agreed to meet outside, and so you were leaning against a cement post waiting for the others. The weather in this area was temperate. It was still cold, since it was winter, but sweats and a jacket were enough to stay comfortable, no need for heavy coats and winter boots.

You weren’t even there a minute when a tall, tanned man with pink hair practically sauntered over to you. Looking at him made you look cold, he was wearing a tank top and windbreaker pants. From the aura rolling off him, to the leading cloud of cologne, there was nothing particularly positive about him. Even his smile was off-putting. Confidence was one thing, but the kind where you over-shot confidence because you didn’t really have it, was uncomfortable.

You waved him off before he could even start talking. “Keep walking pinky, I don’t have the energy.”

“Aw, c’mon, that’s no way to be.” You didn’t even hide your displeasure when he continued to come closer. “A pretty lady like you, being left out here to wait for someone, that’s no good. I can keep you company, there’s a good Thai place just down the strip, let me get you lunch.”

It was a good Thai place, and you were well aware of that, since they delivered to your apartment. You could just tell him you were already seeing someone, but you didn’t want to lean on Law as an excuse with someone who was this clueless. Besides you could almost preemptively hear the ‘I’m sure I could treat you better’, that would be his response.

“Look, uh…”

“Fullbody.” He offers. It’s quite the name, and you hope it’s maybe a nickname.

“Uh-huh. Look here ‘empty head’, I’m not interested. Not in lunch, not in you, not in a pleasant chat. After two hours of working out with a bunch of fitness freaks, I’m tired. Not,” you say quickly as you see his falling facial expression start to brighten, “so tired that I couldn’t fully humiliate you in front of this fine establishment. So. Please – please, go. Away.”

“Don’t be so shy little miss,” he continues with a smile, and you’re already starting to sort out how you can just bodily hurl this man into oncoming traffic. “It’s just one meal, let me-.”

“Oh! There you are!” Penguin calls out and he and Sachi come over to you.

Fullbody starts to look angry, until Sachi walks over to him. “Oh my god sir, are you okay?”

Sachi looks all around the man’s body while Penguin starts to exaggeratedly placate you. “Ah, Miss, you have to remember your promises to The Association™, no bloodletting in public.”

“You don’t appear to have anything broken or dislocated; how do your teeth feel?” Sachi asks Fullybody, snapping his fingers to pull his attention away from what Penguin was saying. “Focus sir, I need to do an evaluation before I can let you go. You might not even have felt the blow.”

“Wha-?”

“There’s no blood on the miss, he’s probably still got all his organs.” Penguin reports.

“Are you missing any kidneys, sir?” Sachi questions.

You’re doing your best to look calmly menacing, but the dialog between Sachi and Penguin is killing you. You wouldn’t think the two of them could fight, with how skilled they were at avoiding fights, but that was the best way to handle things, you had to admit. A fight was hard to control, avoiding one was certainly preferred.

“Alright citizen, you’re all clear, have a good day.” Sachi says, turning and patting Fullbody on the shoulder as he leads the bewildered man away before coming back over. “Better?”

You laugh, wiping away a fake tear in appreciation of the bit. “That was beautiful. How long have you been practicing that?”

“Just a couple months.” Sachi admits. “We got to talking about doing what we could to help you keep a low profile, y’know, cause you talked about doing fights for money, but your Pops wanted you to stay outta trouble while you were here.”

“But we didn’t want to be all macho asshole dudebros about it,” Penguin adds. “And the Captain said you wouldn’t want to be treated like some damsel in distress either, so – we made Bepo play the part of the ‘Miss’, and this skit was the one that made the Cap’n laugh.”

You clap your hands a few times. “Well done and thank you. I was so close to just tossing him into traffic and that would’ve ended poorly.”

“I’m almost sad we stopped that.” Sachi muttered looking around to make sure the pink-haired man was good and gone. “He’s got a bad reputation in the gym, but the staff tend to watch him closely now so he can’t go around bothering people when they’re inside.”

“Oh, that reminds me – I mean, not really, but more I just remembered, Sachi!” You put your hands on Sachi’s shoulders and get his attention. “Don’t give up Strawberry! Law and I are dating, but we haven’t gone on a date yet, you still have time!” You pat his shoulders and take a step back, as the smile spreads across his face. “I mean, if you don’t already have someone you can ask out, you probably don’t have enough time.”

“You’re going to have to suck it up and ask Ikkaku.” Penguin said. “You’ve been beating around the bush for weeks now.”

“Oh, Ikkaku, she came by during that study session the one time.” You remember getting introduced to her, but your impression of her was that she would more likely break Sachi than date him. The rough attitude toward the guys might just be an act though. “Ah… Good luck.”

“It seems you understand too well,” Sachi sighs as you pat his hat.

“I hope you didn’t wait long.” Law says as he and Bepo walk over to the rest of you.

“Nah, I got to see Sachi and Penguin’s comedy routine, so it wasn’t bad.” You reply with a smile.

“Comedy routine?”

“Ah, she was getting ready to toss Fullbody into traffic,” Penguin explained. “So, we did the thing we practiced.”

There was a strange look on Law’s face for a second and you laughed. “Torn between unbelieving and sorry you missed it, huh?”

“I… yeah.”

“It was pretty impressive.” You admit as the small group of you head back toward your cars.

“Mind if I come over? You can tell me about it, and I want to talk about going on a date this weekend before classes start back up.” Law questions, kissing the top of your head.

You nearly choke on a laugh as you hear Sachi just sigh.

“Sure, sure.” You manage before you finally lose it and start laughing just from looking at Penguin while he’s trying not to laugh at his friend’s bad luck.

. . . . . .

“So yeah, that’s why we were laughing at poor Sachi,” you finish explaining as you step into your apartment with Law close behind.

You get your shoes off and put your jacket into the coat closet before stepping up into the hall. You pause to X off some days on the calendar before moving further in. You don’t get far when a hand on your shoulder stops you.

You start to turn toward Law when his hand goes over your eyes and he pulls your back into his chest, his other arm holding you against him. His voice was husky, and teasing as he murmured in your ear.

“If you stare at me like that every time we work out, you’re going to get me banned from that gym.” He nibbles along your earlobe, before kissing the back of your neck softly.

You gasp softly at his voice and his teasing. “Y-you have really good form.” You say, a crooked grin on your face and in your voice as you take a step forward and away from him, turning to face him as you step back a little further. “Figured I could, uh, learn a few things.”

Law steps up, closing the small space between you both and looks down with a mischievous smirk. “If you want private lessons (Y/N)-ya, you only need to ask.”

“Haa,” you let out a nervous sigh and practically flee into the kitchen. “I did not expect this side of you, Pre-Med. I’m not complaining,” you clarify quickly as you get glasses out for the both of you. “I just figured you ran a little cooler than most.”

“Usually.” He admits leaning against the counter ledge between the kitchen and the hall, letting you have your space. “But you weren’t just admiring my form.” He says pointedly.

“Depends on your definition of form,” you mumble as you fill the two glasses.

“Then, which definition of it do you want to admire, (Y/N)-ya?” He asks coolly as you let out a breath at the sink trying to cool yourself off before you turn toward him.

Handing him a glass of water you give your best I’m-not-flustered-cheeky grin. “Which definition are you willing to let me admire?”

“Answering a question with a question is against the rules.” Law says as he takes a drink.

“Mmm…well, then - all of them, but -,” you sigh and pinch the bridge of your nose. Your next words were gonna suck, but hopefully it wouldn’t be a deal breaker. “After graduation.”

There’s a moment of disappointment on his face, but then a small smile.

“I don’t like it,” he admits. “But I can’t argue it. Getting distracted in our last semester could end poorly.”

“Yes, and also, yes.” You admit. “I wish I could say I had the willpower to draw a definitive line in the sand, but um…”

“But you’re turned on watching me exercise.” Law muses, his face red despite the sure grin on it.

You nearly choke on your water, but still nod. “Right, and at the same time,” you step closer to him. “I don’t want to create unnecessary distance. Being around you has been comfortable pretty much from the beginning.”

“So I can still ask you to come on a date with me Saturday night?”

You almost laugh. “Of course, and hold hands and snuggle on the couch, and maybe even tempt fate with a kiss or two.” You admit, your sure smile turns shy despite your efforts.

“That’s a relief.” Law says, pulling out his wallet and removing two tickets. “I don’t know that I could’ve canceled these.”

You take the tickets from him and laugh. “No way, tickets to an opera!” You read further and your face nearly pales. “Private box seats?! Holy shit Pre-Med!”

“This way we don’t have to worry about proper etiquette, and we can just enjoy the show.” He explains, though you’re sure he wanted to avoid the crowded bustle of theater seating as well.

“Is this something we’re both going to get all dolled up for, or are we crashing the upper echelons with jeans and t-shirts?”

“I leave that up to you. It would be good practice for your Christmas debut next year.”

“Mm, it certainly would be. But seriously, I’m curious what you were thinking of when you bought these?”

Law’s face goes pink, and he looks away. “I… just tried to get some good seats. For a good perspective.”

You were confused for a moment until you remembered what you had said to him when the two of you first met, and after that you remembered what he said about his dream. You felt your own face go red as you realized how attentive this stoic man was. He always looked barely interested in the world around him, and even when he was around his longtime friends his demeanor didn’t change much.

Unless you really paid attention.

“I… would like to get dressed up.” You say finally turning away and busying yourself with getting a second glass of water. “I mean, it’ll be good practice, and um… it’s an early afternoon show, should we get something to eat after?”

“I made some reservations.”

“Some?” You question as you turn toward him. “Did you make reservations at several different restaurants?”

He grunts and rolls his eyes a little. “No, I bought the tickets, made dinner reservations and reserved a hotel room.” He clears his throat. “Given today I should cancel that.”

You could feel yourself turn red down to your feet at the implication. “I… er…” you covered your face, almost staring at your feet. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

You glanced at him from between your fingers. “Maybe for one day we can be ‘not college students’.”

“… Can you compartmentalize like that?” He sounds hopeful despite his attempt keep his voice even.

“Law. I’m a pseudo adopted mafia boss’ daughter with an MMA ranking in the Metro who also has that Marine Admiral as a father and who is attending college as a ‘regular’ student. I’ve - I compartmentalize three fourths of who I am with almost everyone I know. You and Beeps are the only people on campus who don’t think I'm a pity-case here on scholarship.” You admit. “Hells, Nutmeg invited me to celebrate the holidays with her so I wouldn’t be alone. She doesn’t even know I’m from the Metro.”

“… you told me you were from the Metro on day one.”

“Mm, and we have no classes together, and plus - accidental friends are the best.” You say with a grin. “Besides, I did you a solid, and you’re not the gossipy type. I wasn’t worried.” You admit, going over and sitting on the couch. “What about you, can you compartmentalize like that?”

“If not, I'm not going to last long as a doctor.” He admits. “I have some practice,” he sits down beside you, putting his arm behind you along the back of the couch. “I think as long as you don’t try to strip me in public again, then-.”

“Oh my gawd,” you laugh, scooting close enough to lean against him. “I have apologized for that, and I didn’t strip you. I lifted your shirt and immediately regretted it.”

“Oh?”

“… I had kind of barged my way into being your friend and thought it would be a bit rude to try and go further, except, well, I mean, your shining personality aside -.”

“I have good form.” He offers with impressive neutrality in his tone.

“You have good form.” You agree, your voice going soft as you continue. “And, admittedly, I really like your personality too.”

There was a moment of silence before Law shifts his position and turns toward you. “Sorry, (Y/N)-ya.” He says softly as he leans in and kisses you. It was a soft and warm kiss, something about it made your heart skip, even though he was holding back.

His hand held your face gently and you felt your cheeks go hot as he broke the kiss, leaning back. You couldn’t help the small happy sound that escapes you, covering your face as he smiles before sitting back.

“What was that for?”

“I… I’ll tell you after I open the clinic.”

“You’re gonna make me wait months?”

“Think of it as a gift for the both of us making it that far.”

[fxllen-rxse]

//I think I've reached the ultimate breaking point with my dad and his family...

So I'm randomly on Facebook again, which I've come to realize is probably not the best of ideas, but here I am anyway.

Little bit of back ground, my Nana (grandma on my dad's side) was hospitalized recently for stage 4 kidney failure. My dad also has kidney issues and is on dialysis for it, as well.

He called and told me this yesterday and I said my husband and I would be thinking of her.

This morning I was asking for her cell number to shoot her a message, but then he calls me and said she might have had a stroke last night. So it's escalated a little.

She lives in southern Texas. My dad and I resound in and around northeastern oklahoma (different places but not too far off). With my dad being on dialysis at home on a daily basis, I figured he isn't able to do any traveling. So never did the idea occur to me that he could go down and see his mom, my grandma.

Anyway, back to me scrolling on Facebook tonight. I come across a random post from my step sister's daughter in law, saying they have a 6-8 hour drive to make to Texas. The area where my grandma lives. She tagged my step sister, my step mom, and my dad.

Not one word was said to me that they were going to see her. My dad made no indication that they were, but somehow, this hurt. Like A LOT.

I have been shunned and treated differently by my step mom for years because I'm from a previous marriage and apparently was not raised in her own godamned image. She's treated me terribly while my dad just sit by and let her.

Through her, my dad has grandchildren and now great grandchildren. He has the ideal family. And they are not shy about it on Facebook, which this is not the first time this has happened.

Many times, I see "family" pics including my dad at some family function. I would only find out about all of these on said Facebook.

Now, this.

I don't think they meant for me to know, but that daughter in law made the mistake of friending me and posting about it.

Like, she's my grandma. Granted I haven't seen her in a years, but it's not exactly easy to just drop everything and travel affordably that far.

The fact they couldn't bother to just message me or something about them traveling to her.... I just.... I can't anymore.

I'm 36. My dad is the only real parent I have left, but honestly, I've reached a point where I feel like I've already lost him.

I can't keep going like this with him. I've tried and tried to maintain a relationship, but it's brushed off constantly like it's nothing. I'm only an afterthought for birthdays and holidays. That's it... And those are only phone calls or texts.

I just want to end it with them once and for all. My mental health can't handle this shit anymore...

[ahorsebyanyothername]

Hi I'm Beau, and the horses I care for are listed below. I work at a few barns, primarily I'm the barn manager at a sanctuary for thoroughbreds. Pacific Northwest, Queer :)

Hugh (RIP 01/25/24) - thoroughbred, late 20s, died of kidney failure. A truly massive guy, he was a champion jumper before retiring to the sanctuary. Heart of gold and soulful eyes, he wandered freely between pastures and was generally the favorite.

Fred - thoroughbred, somewhere between 31 and 36, blind. He was a pony horse at the track and then later a hunter/jumper, and briefly a lesson horse, before he came to the sanctuary. One of his students still stops by to see him from time to time.

Atlas - thoroughbred, an old racer. He was passed around from home to home after his career on the track, and wasn't always treated well.

Jethro - thoroughbred, my favorite horse, a total jerk but he likes me. The most beautiful bay I've ever seen.

Patrick - thoroughbred, piss baby little bitch,on good days he's a total sweetheart though. His feet hurt because his soles are thin so he's always irritable. Biter.

Dalva- thoroughbred, second most beautiful bay I've ever seen. She's got a lot of spirit! She was passed around a few homes and not always treated well before she came to the sanctuary.

Marsha- thoroughbred. Perfect, amazing, and very opinionated old mare. Loves to be brushed. Mom to Chris, Horatio, and Hugh.

Chris - thoroughbred, idiot 1. You know how people say "two heads are better than one"?

Horatio - thoroughbred, idiot 2. When we put these two together, they get stupider.

Evie - thoroughbred, wonderful sweet stubborn old lady to those she's well loved by. "Evil Evie" to others.

Xander - thoroughbred, lovely gentle old gelding. Total pushover, follows Evie around like a puppy.

Angel - thoroughbred, first career racing, second career hunter/jumper. Her conformation was not well suited for jumping and she had to be retired. She's appropriately named in my opinion.

Bond - thoroughbred

Sara - thoroughbred, dapple grey, elderly. She was in a kill pen with 24 hours left til she would be shipped off to a slaughterhouse in Canada, when the sanctuary bought her. She had worms, but was otherwise in decent health. She ended up at the feedlot through no fault of her own, but because her owner had passed away.

Sylvester - thoroughbred

Amelia - thoroughbred, rehabilitated by Sound Equine Options after being seized by law enforcement from a home where she was neglected and had never been handled. She bonded immediately with Laney, who died in 2021. She is currently in pasture with Sampson.

Sampson - thoroughbred

-

Rain - morgan

Lilly - morgan

Treasure - morgan

Grover - morgan

Tribute - morgan

Harley - morgan

Pepper - morgan

-

Maeve - mustang

Jax, Lucy, Moonpie, Valor, Inca, Vinnie, Lily, King, Ruby, Fury, CC, Buddy, Ferrero, Touch, Bennie, Three Socks, Tango, Casper, Buddy, Sunny, Athena, Nugget

Dewey - thoroughbred, was in a kill pen when he was rescued. Found a good home with Paige who loves him very much.

Rococo - paso fino

Jolene - mustang

Who am I forgetting... at least 2 of em

[laxu00]

The charismatic Charles Wade Read full novel here

Chapter 1

The luxurious Willson family villa is brightly lit.

Tonight is the birthday banquet of the seventy-year-old Mrs. Willson, the head of the Willson family.

Many grandchildren, granddaughters, and grandsons-in-law gave gifts.

“Grandma, I heard that you love tea. This century-old Pu’er tea brick is worth 500,000 and is a birthday gift for you.”

“Grandma, I heard that you believe in Buddha. This jade Buddha is carved from Hetian jade and is worth 700,000.”

Old Mrs. Willson looked at the various gifts and laughed, making the whole family happy.

At this moment, Mrs. Willson’s eldest grandson-in-law, Charlie, suddenly said: “Grandma, can you lend me a million? Aunt Lena from the orphanage has uremia and needs money for treatment.”

The entire Willson family was shocked.

Everyone looked at Charlie with incredible eyes.

This live-in son-in-law is too courageous, right? The Lady Willson was over her birthday. Not only did he not prepare any gifts, he even dared to open his mouth and ask the Lady Willson to borrow one million?

Three years ago, the surviving Mr. Willson, don’t know from where found Charlie, and insisted on marrying his eldest granddaughter Claire Willson to him. At that time, Charlie was penniless, just like a beggar, same as now.

After the two got married, the Old Master passed away. Since then, the Willson family has been deliberately trying to drive him away.

It’s just that Charlie is indifferent, and is not moved by other people’s insults, so he has always been a live-in son-in-law in the Willson family.

It is also helpless to ask the Lady Willson to borrow money today.

Aunt Lena from the orphanage where he was taken in and saved, had uremia. Dialysis and kidney transplantation required at least one million. He really had no choice but to speak to the Lady Willson.

He felt that today is the Lady Willson’s birthday, and then she may be kind and willing to help when she is happy.

Unexpectedly, the Old Mrs. Willson was still laughing for a second, and she immediately pulled her face down this second.

She threw the teacup in her hand to the ground and shouted angrily: “b*start thing, you are here to celebrate my birthday or to borrow money?”

Charlie’s wife, Claire, hurried forward and explained to the Lady Willson: “Grandma, Charlie is ignorant, don’t be surprised.”

With that said, she was about to pull Charlie aside.

At this time, Claire’s cousin, Wendy, sneered and said, “Sister, look at what kind of rubbish your marriage is! Gerald and I were just engaged and not yet married, so Gerald gave grandma a Hetian Jade Buddha, it’s good for your husband, he didn’t bring any gifts, and he still have the face to ask grandma to borrow money!”

“That’s right, Brother Charlie, we are both grandsons-in-law of the Willson family. You, as the eldest grandson-in-law, are really a failure!”

The man who spoke was Wendy’s fiance, Gerald, the young master of a large local family.

Although Gerald was about to marry Wendy, in his mind, Wendy’s appearance was a thousand miles away from Charlie’s wife Claire.

Claire was a well-known goddess in Aurous Hill, but seeing the goddess marrying this worthless man and a waste of money, Gerald was also very upset.

“This kind of garbage, it’s best to get him out of our Willson family as soon as possible!”

“Yes! The Willson family’s face has completely lost this guy!”

“I think it is fake that he borrowed money, and his interest in deliberately sweeping the birthday feast of the Lady Willson is true!”

Charlie couldn’t help clenching his fists when he saw that the entire Willson family was targeting and insulting him.

Had it not been for the medical expenses of the savior, he would have turned around and left this place of fake extravaganza and pomp.

However, thinking of his father’s teachings to him since he was a child, letting his kindness of dripping water and retribution to the spring, he tried to suppress the humiliation in his heart, and said to the Old Mrs. Willson: “Grandma, saving a life is better than building a seventh-level Buddha. Please be merciful”

Someone snorted coldly and cursed: “Wade, you don’t want to give grandma ecstasy here. If you want to have someone, you can find a way by yourself and don’t let your grandma pay to help you save people. What are you?”

It was Wendy’s brother, Harold.

The brothers and sisters have always had great opinions on Claire, who is superior to them in all aspects, so they like to seize the opportunity to mock Charlie the most.

Claire on the side looked a little embarrassed and said, “Grandma, Charlie lost his father when he was eight years old. Aunt Lena from the orphanage brought him up. He wanted to repay his gratitude because of a grateful heart. Please help him”

Old Mrs. Willson said with a dark face: “Let me help him? Okay, unless you divorce him and then marry Mr. Jones, if you do, I will immediately give him one million!”

The Lady Willson was talking about Wendell, who had been pursuing Claire. The Jones family was an upper-class family in Aurous Hill, much more powerful than the Willson family, and the Lady Willson always wanted to curry favor.

At this time, the housekeeper ran in and said loudly: “Mr. Jones sent someone with a birthday gift! A carved jade amulet from Laokeng is worth three million!”

Mrs. Willson was overjoyed and blurted out: “Bring it quickly, let me see!”

The butler immediately handed over an emerald green jade amulet, and everyone present let out a breath of surprise.

This jade amulet is emerald green, crystal clear, without a trace of impurities, and looks like a first-class genuine product.

Gerald, who had sent the Hetian Jade Buddha, saw this jade amulet, and his face was a little bit awkward. Unexpectedly, Wendell had nothing to do with the Willson family, and his shot was so generous!

Old Mrs. Willson happily played with jade amulets and said merrily: “Oh, Mr. Jones is really interested! Only if he could be my grandson-in-law, I would really wake up in my dreams!”

After that, she looked up at Claire: “How about my condition, would you like to consider it?”

Claire shook her head: “Grandma, I will not divorce Charlie.”

Mrs. Willson’s expression instantly turned into a haze, and she angrily cursed: “Don’t give me your face! You must hang on this rubbish! Let this rubbish get out of my face! My birthday banquet, he is not allowed to participate!”

Charlie was completely disappointed, and he had no face to stay in the Willson family at this time, so he said to Claire, “Claire, I will go to the hospital to see Aunt Lena.”

Claire hurriedly said, “Then I will be with you.”

Old Mrs. Willson cursed at this moment: “If you leave too, I won’t have you as granddaughter in the future! You take your parents and your mother, and get out of Willson’s house with this waste!”

Claire looked startled, and she didn’t expect the Lady Willson to say such harsh words.

Charlie said hurriedly: “You stay, don’t worry about me.”

With that said, before Claire recovered, he turned around and walked out.

Harold laughed behind him, “Oh my good brother-in-law, you left hungry and won’t go to the streets to beg for dinner? In that case, our Willson family’s face will not let you lose all of it? I still have it. For a coin, you can buy a steamed bun to eat!”

Harold said, took out a coin and threw it at Charlie’s feet.

The entire Willson family burst into laughter.

Charlie gritted his teeth and left the Willson family without looking back.

When he rushed to the hospital, Charlie immediately went to the payment office, wanting to communicate with the hospital, and to inform them that the medical expenses would be delayed for another two days.

However, when he asked the nurse, he was suddenly told that Aunt Lena had been sent to the best Hospital in Eastcliff overnight.

Charlie was shocked, and hurriedly asked her: “How much does it cost? I’ll find a way!”

The other party said: “A total of three million is needed. One million has been paid, and there is still a gap of two million. It will be paid in a week.”

“Who paid this million?”

The other party shook her head: “I don’t know either.”

Charlie was surprised and was about to figure it out. When he turned his head, a man in a black suit with gray hair, about fifty years old, was standing behind him.

With eyes facing each other, the man bowed to him and said, “Young master, you have suffered for so many years!”

Charlie frowned, as if his temperament had changed, and asked coldly: “Are you Stephen Thompson?”

The other party said in surprise: “Mr. Wade, you still remember me!”

Charlie’s expression froze, and he murmured: “Of course I remember! I remember every one of you! Back then, you forced my parents to take me out of Eastcliff and escape all the way. During this time, my parents died unexpectedly. I have also become an orphan, so why are you looking for me now!”

Stephen Thompson said very painfully: “Young Master, when your father passed away, Old Master Wade was also extremely sad. He has been looking for you for so many years. Now that it is all right, he wants you to come back to him with me!”

Charlie said coldly: “You can go, I will never see him in my life.”

Stephen Thompson said, “Young Master, do you still blame Master Wade?”

“Of course.” Charlie said word by word: “I will never forgive him in my life!”

“Hey” Stephen Thompson sighed and said: “Before I came, Master Wade said you might not forgive him.”

“That means he has self-knowledge!”

Stephen Thompson said: “Old Mr Wade. knows that you have suffered over the years, he wants to compensate you a little. If you don’t want to go back, he will buy the largest company in Aurous Hill and give it to you. In addition, he has asked me to give you this card. The password is your birthday.”

With that, Stephen Thompson handed over a Citibank premium card.

“Mr. Wade, there are only five such cards in the country.”

Charlie shook his head and said, “Take it away, I don’t want it.”

Stephen Thompson said: “Mr. Wade, for your savior, you still have a shortfall of 2 million in medical expenses. If you fail to pay, her life may be in danger.”

Charlie frowned: “You deliberately fix me?”

Stephen Thompson hurriedly said, “I don’t dare to! If you accept this card, it will be enough to pay the money.”

Charlie asked, “How much money is in this card?”

“Mr. said, this card is for you as a little pocket money, not much, a total of 10 billion!”

chapter 2

Ten billion? !

Charlie was stunned.

He knew that his grandfather’s family was rich, but at that time he was young and had no idea about money. He only knew that the Wade family was one of the top families in Eastcliff and in the country.

But he didn’t know exactly how much money it had.

But at this moment, he knew it.

Ten billion is just pocket money, and when it is about the entire Wade family, he is afraid it will be more than one trillion!

To be honest, at this moment, he was deeply moved in his heart.

But thinking of the death of his parents, Grandpa couldn’t shirk the blame, and he couldn’t forgive him.

Stephen Thompson saw his entanglement and hurriedly said, “Master, you are the heir of Wade family. You deserve this money, and strictly speaking, it belongs to your father.”

“Master said, if you are willing to go back, you will inherit the trillions of family properties. If you don’t want to go back, this money will be given as your living expenses.”

“Oh yes, Aurous Hill’s largest enterprise, the Emgrand Group with a market value of 100 billion, was wholly-owned by Yejia yesterday. Now all the shares are in your name, you can go to Emgrand Group for the hand over by tomorrow!”

Charlie was a little unbelievable.

Wade Family’s investment is too big for him to handle, right?

Ten billion premium cards, one hundred billion Emgrand Group!

Although Aurous Hill hides the dragon and crouching tiger, the only true god is the Emgrand Group. Any family must bow to their knees in front of the Emgrand Group. It is the emperor of Aurous Hill’s business field!

Even the Willson family and White family who humiliated him today, as well as the Jones family who pursue Claire, are all small in front of the Emgrand Group!

Unexpectedly, it turns out to be his own now?

At this time, Stephen Thompson handed him a business card and said, “Mr. Wade, you may need to calm down and think about it. I won’t bother you anymore. This is my phone number. Please tell me if you have anything to do!”

After speaking, Stephen Thompson turned and left.

After he left, Charlie was still in a daze.

He didn’t know whether he should accept Wade Family’s compensation.

But, thinking about it carefully, the humiliation that he has experienced over the past ten years, and the humiliation he has been given in the Willson family, these are the compensations given to him by the Wade family, why doesn’t he take it?

Moreover, Aunt Lena’s medical expenses still need two million, and it is urgent.

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and immediately turned back to the toll office: “Hello, I want to deposit the two million.”

Swipe the card, enter the password, the transaction is successful.

Two million was easily credited to the hospital’s account.

Charlie felt like the whole person was in the mist.

Has he become a billionaire?

Going home in a muddled manner.

The family had fallen out at this time.

Claire and her parents did not live in Willson’s villa, but a very ordinary building.

They have been driven out since Claire married him and Old Mr. Willson died.

His mother-in-law was yelling at home: “Charlie that rubbish! Let us lose face today! If you don’t divorce him, your grandmother will drive you out of the Willson Group!”

Claire said, “I’ll find another job when I get out.”

“You” said mother-in-law angrily: “What’s so good about that rubbish? Why can’t you divorce him and then marry Wendell? If you marry Wendell, our family can be proud!”

The father-in-law also said to the side: “Yes! Marry Wendell, our family will become a treasure immediately in front of your grandma, and your grandma will rush to curry favor with you every day.”

Claire said: “Don’t say anything, I won’t divorce Charlie.”

“You kid!”

The two had to persuade Charlie to push in.

When they saw him, his father-in-law and mother-in-law didn’t look good.

The mother-in-law snorted coldly: “A rubbish, and a face to bear it all!”

Charlie sighed inwardly. His mother-in-law has always looked down upon him, but if he were to let her know that he is now the boss of the Emgrand Group and has 10 billion in cash, what would she be like?

However, Charlie is not yet ready to let people know his identity.

He has been away from the Wade family for many years, who knows what the Wade family is now? What if someone in the Wade family is unfavorable to him if he exposes himself?

Therefore, it is better to keep a low profile first.

So he lowered his head and said apologetically: “Mom, I’m sorry, I caused you trouble today.”

The mother-in-law scolded: “You are more than trouble, you are killing our family of three! You can’t be a little self-aware, and get out of our house?”

Claire hurriedly said: “Mom, how do you talk, Charlie is your son-in-law!”

“bulls*it!” Mother-in-law said bitterly: “I don’t have such a waste son-in-law! The farther you go, the better!”

Claire pushed Charlie: “Hurry go to the room.”

Charlie nodded gratefully and fled back to the room.

He and Claire had been married for three years, but they had never been married for three years in the strict sense. Claire slept on the bed and he slept on the floor next to her.

This night, Charlie couldn’t sleep for a long time.

What happened today is really shocking, he will not be able to digest it for a while.

Before going to bed, Claire said to him, “How is Aunt Lena? I still have more than 100,000 private money. You can take it to her tomorrow.”

Charlie said: “No, someone has already paid Aunt Lena and sent her to Eastcliff for treatment.”

“Really?” Claire said in surprise, “Aunt Lena is saved?”

“Yes.” Charlie said: “Aunt Lena has done good and accumulated virtue throughout her life and helped so many people. Now someone has finally repaid her.”

“That’s good.” Claire nodded and said to Charlie: “You can breathe a sigh of relief.”

“Yes.”

Claire said: “I have to go to sleep. Recently, the company has a lot of things and I’m so tired.”

Charlie asked: “What happened to the company?”

Claire said: “The business is not very good. Grandma has always wanted to cooperate with a large company like the Emgrand Group, but the strength of the Willson family is still much weaker and people look down on it.”

Charlie suddenly thought of the Emgrand Group and asked her: “The Willson family has no cooperation with the Emgrand Group?”

Claire laughed at him and said: “How can the Emgrand Group look at the Willson family! Even Wendy’s fiancé and Gerald’s family are barely able to catch up with the Emgrand Group. Grandma counts on them after they get married. The White family can help the Willson family connect with the Emgrand Group.”

Charlie nodded.

It turned out that the Willson family had sharpened their heads and wanted to cooperate with the Emgrand Group.

However, Mrs. Willson was afraid of dreaming and could not think of it, Emgrand Group is now his own.

Thinking of this, Charlie decided to take over the Emgrand Group first, and then give Claire a little help through the Emgrand Group. She was too bullied in the Willson family. As her husband, he had the responsibility to help her improve her status in the family.

At first, Your husband is different from today!

I will never let anyone look down on you again!

I will make the entire Willson family bow to you!

Chapter 3

Early the next morning.

After Charlie finished cooking, he rode his little ebike to the Emgrand Group.

He parked the little ebike next to the parking lot of the Emgrand Group. As soon as the bike was locked, a black Bentley car slowly parked in a parking space opposite.

Charlie looked up inadvertently and saw a pair of young man and woman walking down the car.

The man is dressed in high-end suits, they look very stylish, and the women are coquettish. Although a bit gaudy, they are also rare beauties.

It turned out to be Claire’s cousin Wendy, and her about to be engaged fiance, Gerald, the eldest of the White family.

Charlie didn’t know what Wendy and Gerald were doing in the Emgrand Group, but in order to avoid trouble, he still prepared to hideaway.

Unexpectedly, things are hiding more and more.

The sharp-eyed Wendy immediately saw him and shouted loudly: “Oh, brother-in-law!”

Wendy’s brother-in-law yelled extremely cordially, but Charlie couldn’t help but he strode faster after hearing it.

Out of courtesy, he could only stop, and when the two approached, he smiled and said, “Wendy, why are you here?”

Wendy giggled: “I and Gerald came over to meet with Doris, the vice chairman of Emgrand Group!”

After that, she looked at Gerald with admiration and said, “Gerald’s family has a lot of cooperation with the Emgrand Group. In the future, not only will it help the White family, but also our Willson family.”

Charlie didn’t know that the White family had a cooperation with the Emgrand Group. After all, the Emgrand Group had just become his industry and had not had time to understand it.

But he didn’t show it, just smiled and said: “The Prince has an extraordinary temperament and a good strength. You are really talented and beautiful!”

Gerald White looked at Charlie contemptuously, and couldn’t help feeling injustice in his heart.

This stinky rug was scolded by Mrs. Willson yesterday as a dog, and today he has a hippy smile like a okay person.

Why would a stunning beauty like Claire marry such a useless waste?

If it weren’t for this useless man, he would definitely pursue Claire desperately, and how could he be engaged to this inferior Wendy in every respect?

Thinking of this, Gerald was upset, and deliberately asked, “What did brother-in-law come to the Emgrand Group for?”

Charlie said casually: “I’m looking for a job.”

“Looking for a job?” He sneered and said, “Why do you want to find a job in the Emgrand Group?”

Charlie frowned: “What does my job search have to do with you?”

Wendy called Charlie to stop, just trying to sarcastically sarcasm him. Seeing that Gerald had started first, she immediately sneered: “Why, is Gerald wrong?”

“For academic qualifications, do you have a diploma?”

“If you want a job, do you have any achievements apart from your uselessness?”

“If you come to the Emgrand Group to apply for a security guard, They will not want a waste like you. If you are a little self-knowing, you might as well go picking up rubbish on the street. You can earn two or three thousand at least a month!”

After speaking, she threw the drink bottle in her hand at Charlie’s feet and hummed: “Hey, don’t say I don’t take care about you, pick up this empty bottle and sell it for money!”

Gerald smiled and said: “Although you are rubbish, since you are a relative, then I have to take care of you as much as possible. It just so happens that I have some friendship with the vice chairman of the Emgrand Group. Why don’t I help you with two good things and let her arrange it for you? A job cleaning the toilet?”

Charlie smiled coldly and said: “The kind of job I am looking for, you don’t need to worry about it. You should worry about yourself. Emgrand Group is a large enterprise. I believe they will not cooperate with you with such low-quality garbage.”

Gerald suddenly got furious: “Who do you say is rubbish!”

Charlie said disdainfully: “You are rubbish!”

After speaking, he was too lazy to talk to Gerald, and walked into the Emgrand Group Building.

“Drafting it, stop for me!” Gerald quickly followed, and caught up with Charlie at the elevator entrance.

He wanted to teach Charlie a good lesson, but at least slapped him twice to let him know the fate of people offending him.

But when he saw that he was already inside the Emgrand Group Building, he was worried that doing something here would anger his partners, so he had to temporarily dismiss the idea of ​​teaching him.

he gritted his teeth and said, “I will let you go for a while today, and you won’t have such good luck next time!”

Charlie snorted coldly, stepped into the elevator, and said to him: “Gerald, do you think you are a powerful? Believe me, you will soon know the cost of arrogance!”

“f*ck you” Gerald stepped into the elevator.

Wendy gave him a hand and said in a contemptuous tone: “Gerald, don’t take the same elevator with this kind of rubbish, lest you get smoked by the stench on his body.”

Gerald nodded, knowing that he couldn’t do something with him here, so he said coldly: “Letting you go, I want you to look good next time!”

Charlie took the elevator directly to the top floor where the chairman’s office was.

On the side of the Emgrand Group, Stephen Thompson had already arranged it for him, and the person in charge of docking with him was a woman named Doris Yong.

Doris is well-known in Aurous Hill, and she is the most famous career oriented woman in Aurous Hill. Not only is she beautiful, but she is also very capable of working. She has been promoted to the vice chairman of Emgrand Group at a young age. She has contributed to Emgrand Group’s existence today.

Now that the Emgrand Group has been acquired by the Wade Family, the original chairman has abdicated, and Doris stayed and prepared to assist the new chairman.

When she saw Charlie, Doris was shocked. She didn’t expect that Charlie would be so young and handsome!

After that, she did not dare to delay, and immediately said respectfully: “Mr. Wade, please come to my office.”

Chapter 4

Charlie also saw Doris for the first time.

I have to say that Doris looks really beautiful!

At the age of twenty-seven or eighteen, she has a slender and plump figure, an alluring beauty and a noble and capable temperament.

Charlie sat down at Doris’s desk and said: “I won’t come to the Emgrand Group often in the future, so the Emgrand Group wants you to preside over the overall situation, and don’t reveal my identity.”

Doris knew that the Charlie family in front of her was extraordinary, and an emgrand group was nothing short of drizzle to his family, and it was normal to not want to manage it himself.

So she hurriedly said: “Mr. Wade, if you have anything in the future, you can just tell me.”

At this time, a female secretary knocked on the door and came in and said, “Miss Doris, there is a man named Gerald who has brought his fiancée to visit you.”

Doris immediately said: “I’m seeing the distinguished guests, let them wait first.”

Charlie asked her: “Do you know this Gerald?”

Doris hurriedly said: “His family is a partner under us, and their main business is dependent on us. Their family has always said that they will come to visit, and they have been here several times.”

Charlie said coldly: “From now on, the Emgrand Group will no longer have any business dealings with the White Family. All ongoing and preparatory cooperation will be suspended. If the White Family can still earn a cent from the Emgrand Group, you deputy Chairman, will have to pack your things!”

When Doris heard this, her expression suddenly frightened. She didn’t need to ask to know that someone from the White family must have offended the young master.

So she nodded immediately and said: “Mr.Wade, don’t worry, I will order now to terminate all cooperation with the White family!”

Charlie snorted and said, “Tell them that Emgrand Group will not cooperate with low-quality garbage, and then let the security guards drive them out.”

Outside, Gerald and Wendy were waiting excitedly.

The White family has always wanted to become a strategic partner of the Emgrand Group, so they especially hope to get closer to Doris.

But unexpectedly, Doris’s secretary came with several security guards.

Gerald couldn’t help asking her: “Hello, will Miss Doris have time to see us?”

The secretary looked at him and said coldly: “I’m sorry, our Deputy Doris said, Emgrand Group will not cooperate with people of low quality like you, from now on, we are canceling all cooperation with your family!”

“what did you say?!”

Gerald was stunned for a moment, and was astonished. Why is this sentence so familiar?

Oh, right! When he was in the parking lot just now, Charlie also said exactly the same thing!

What does Miss Doris mean? Why should they stop cooperating with the White family?

Gerald felt his brain congested.

what happened?

Terminate all cooperation?

More than half of White’s profits are made by the Emgrand Group!

If the cooperation is terminated, wouldn’t the family strength be cut by half immediately? !

He could not accept this reality and shouted: “I want to see Miss Doris! I want to ask Miss Doris face to face!”

The secretary said coldly: “I’m sorry, our Deputy Doris won’t see you, and you won’t be allowed to step into the Emgrand Group in the future!”

Gerald scolded angrily: “Did you deliberately play with me? We are a long-term partner of the Emgrand Group. How can we terminate cooperation like this!”

The secretary ignored him and said directly to the security guards around him: “Take them out!”

The security captain rushed forward, grabbed Gerald’s wrist, and then twisted it behind him.

Gerald yelled in pain, and the guard yelled coldly: “Get out! If you dare to make trouble in the Emgrand Group, be careful that I dispose of you!”

“You are a security captain, dare to yell at me, do you know who I am?”

As soon as Gerald’s voice fell, Captain slapped him and cursed, “In front of the Emgrand Group, what are you?”

Gerald was slapped with a fierce pain on his face. When he was about to get angry, the phone rang suddenly.

The call turned out to be from his father.

When the phone was connected, an angry roar came from the other side: “Gerald, what did you do? Now that Emgrand Group wants to cancel all cooperation with us, who did you offend?”

Gerald said aggrievedly: “Dad, I have not offended anyone. I just came to visit Miss Doris, but I haven’t even seen Miss Doris’s face.”

On the other end of the phone, Gerald’s father yelled, “The people of the Emgrand Group said that the reason they discontinued their cooperation with the White family is all because you are an unqualified rubbish! Now the family has suffered heavy losses because of you, so you hurry back to me and personally Explain to your grandpa!”

Gerald was driven out of the gate of Emgrand Group by security all the way, holding the phone with a surprised expression.

He suddenly thought of Charlie, and couldn’t help asking Wendy: “Wendy, is it because of your rubbish brother-in-law? Has he have anything to do with the Emgrand Group?”

“Huh?” Wendy was taken aback by Gerald’s words, thinking about it carefully, it might indeed be related to her rubbish brother-in-law.

However, he is obviously a waste!

Thinking of this, she shook her head flatly and said: “How could he have something to do with the Emgrand Group? He is not qualified to come to the Emgrand Group to clean the toilet!”

“That’s right.” Gerald nodded, thinking of his furious father, he said sullenly: “No, I have to go home quickly.”

The news that the White family was terminated by the Emgrand Group immediately spread throughout Aurous Hill.

Although it is not known why the Emgrand Group wants to block the White Family, everyone knows that the White Family must have offended the Emgrand Group.

At this time, the White family was over.

The White family’s strength has plummeted by more than half. It was already close to the standard of the first-tier family, but now it has fallen directly into the tail of the second-tier family.

When the Old Mrs. Willson heard the news, she was shaking with anger.

She wanted to annul the marriage contract between Wendy and Gerald, but thought that the White family was thinner and camel was bigger than the horse, and the Willson family could not afford to offend, so she could only give this thought up temporarily.

At this time, in Doris’s office.

Charlie learned the whole process just now and admired her style very much.

Charlie said with satisfaction: “Doris, what you did just now is very good. Starting today, your salary will be double.”

Doris was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly stood up and bowed to Charlie, “Thank you Mr. Wade!”

Charlie nodded and said, “Also, I want you to announce two things.”

“Mr. Wade, say it, and it will be done.”

“The first thing is to announce the change of ownership of Emgrand Group and the appointment of the new chairman, but do not reveal the identity of the new chairman, only the last name is Wade, that is what people need to know.”

“The second thing is to announce that Emgrand Group will invest 2 billion in Aurous Hill to build a six-star hotel. At the same time, it will launch a partner bidding. Construction and decoration companies in the city can participate in the bidding!”

The main business of the Willson Group is decoration. The Lady Willson dreams of going to the big ship of Emgrand Group. Whoever can win the cooperation of the Emgrand Group will definitely become the red man of the Willson Group.

Now the Emgrand Group is his own, and of course he has to give his wife some benefits.

Chapter 5

The two news released by the Emgrand Group completely detonated the entire Aurous Hill.

Hearing that the Emgrand Group has changed hands, the Willson family wanted to understand why the White Family was kicked out by the Emgrand Group.

It seems that the new owner of the Emgrand Group still looks down on families likes of the White Family.

But who is Mr. Wade? Is this person too good? The Emgrand Group, which has hundreds of billions, buys and buys, and the richest man in Aurous Hill is not as big as his!

For a time, countless families were ready to move. On the one hand, they were eager to have a relationship with this mysterious Mr. Wade, and on the other hand, they also longed for their daughter to marry Mr. Wade.

In addition, the Emgrand Group wants to invest in a hotel project of 2 billion, which also makes the entire Aurous Hill construction and decoration industry tremble!

Two billion!

Just get a little leftover material, and you can make a lot of money!

Countless companies want to get a share of it.

This naturally also includes the Old Mrs. Willson who is addicted to money!

Mrs. Willson was very excited at this time. This is a great opportunity for a two billion project!

If the Willson family can get a contract from it, it will really be ascended to heaven!

So she immediately ordered a family meeting to be held at home tonight to discuss how to make a breakthrough in the new project of the Emgrand Group. Everyone must attend!

That night, Willson’s villa.

Because the Lady Willson asked everyone to be there, Charlie followed.

He knew that the Lady Willson was going to a meeting to discuss how to get a share of the Emgrand Group’s big project.

Therefore, he wanted to take this opportunity to help his wife Claire grow her face!

When he arrived at the Willson family villa, Claire’s cousin Harold immediately sneered when he saw him: “f*ck, Charlie, you have such a thick skin, and you have the face to see grandma again!”

Claire said with a cold face: “Don’t talk nonsense. Grandma asked everyone in the Willson family to come. Charlie is my husband, and naturally also from the Willson family!”

Harold laughed and said, “He is though considered a half Willson family! But just a live-in son-in-law!”

Charlie touched his nose and said to Claire, “Forget about him my wife, don’t be familiar with him, go in quickly, save grandma waiting.”

Claire nodded, and owed Harold a good face, and walked in with Charlie.

Seeing this, Harold’s expression also became cold, waiting for them to look good.

After entering the conference hall, Charlie and Claire found a place in the corner to sit down.

Soon, Mrs. Willson stepped forward and the family meeting officially began.

The Old Mrs. Willson sat in the main seat, knocked on the table, and said vigorously: “The Willson family has been waiting for an opportunity in the past few years, an opportunity that can make us one of the richest in Aurous Hill! Now, this opportunity has finally come!”

Mrs. Willson said loudly: “This time the Emgrand Group has thrown out a two-billion-dollar project. Whoever can get a cooperation contract from it will definitely benefit a lot!”

“Moreover, this is the first major project of the Emgrand Group after the change of ownership. For the Willson family, it is a great opportunity!”

“If we can cooperate with the Emgrand Group and leave a good impression on the new owner of the Emgrand Group, then the future of the Willson family will be limitless!”

Although the Lady Willson was very energetic, the people below seemed a little unmoved.

In fact, it is not a day or two for the Willson family to cooperate with the Emgrand Group. For such a long time, the Emgrand Group has ignored the Willson family. The Lady Willson now wants to take a share of the new project of the Emgrand Group. How can it be possible?

Seeing that all the people present were silent, Mrs. Willson immediately questioned in annoyance: “What? Are all dumb? Don’t you have the confidence to take a little leftover from the 2 billion project?”

Everyone looks at her and each other, but they dare not talk to each other.

The Lady Willson was even more angry, and gritted her teeth and said: “I will put the words here today, who can talk about the 30 million cooperation share from Emgrand Group, who is the director of the group!”

As soon as this remark came out, everyone sitting was taken aback.

The Lady Willson has always been arbitrary, so she has never appointed a director in the group. After all, the director has a lot of power, and it is almost the successor of the future group that is qualified to hold this position.

The Lady Willson is now using this position as a reward. She definitely hopes that there will be a brave competition for the reward. It can be seen that she is extremely eager for the Emgrand Group project.

However, although the position of the director is good, it is not so easy to take.

In the eyes of the Willson family, if you want to reach a cooperation with Emgrand, you have to get a contract of 30 million? Don’t be kidding, even if Mrs. Willson goes out in person, the executives of the Emgrand Group will not see her, let alone talk about cooperation.

There was silence in the family meeting hall.

Seeing this, the Old Mrs. Willson asked angrily: “You are descendants of the Willson family, don’t you want to share the worries for the Willson family?”

After that, the Old Mrs. Willson looked directly at Harold: “Harold, leave this to you!”

Harold laughed a few times and quickly said: “Grandma, even Gerald’s house has been cleared by the Emgrand Group now. Our strength is worse than the Whites. How can we get the Emgrand Group contract?”

Mrs. Willson suddenly cursed: “rubbish! Deny yourself if you haven’t tried it. You are more rubbish than Charlie!”

In fact, Mrs. Willson didn’t know her heart, but she didn’t want to be the helm of a second-and third-rate clan forever. She dreamed and longed for the Willson family to rise to the next level.

And this Emgrand Group project is the only opportunity.

Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, she would not give up.

She thought that Harold, as the eldest grandson, would be able to take over the task happily, but she did not expect that he would withdraw at this time!

Harold was also very depressed, who would take on such an impossible task? He was afraid that he will be kicked out before entering the gate of the Emgrand Group.

At that time, not only did things fail, but they were also ridiculed and laughed at by others, so he decided not to agree in any way.

After cursing Harold, the Old Mrs. Willson shouted and asked: “Where are the others? Don’t you dare to take this task?”

Charlie lightly touched Claire with his elbow at this time, and whispered: “Wife, you take this task!”

Claire hurriedly said: “It’s crazy! It’s impossible for the Emgrand Group to cooperate with a small company like the Willson family!”

Charlie smiled slightly and said confidently: “Don’t worry, you can definitely talk about this cooperation!”

Claire asked in surprise, “Really?”

Charlie said confidently: “Of course! I don’t think you have a problem at all! Seize this opportunity, and your future status in the Willson family will Hangingrocket!”

Claire didn’t know why. At this moment, she believed Charlie’s words in a bewildered manner.

She stood up subconsciously and said to the Old Mrs. Willson: “Grandma, I’m willing to try.”

Chapter 6

Claire’s statement made the entire Willson family stunned!

Everyone felt that Claire must be crazy!

Don’t divide the time to show off! At this moment of being in the limelight, what can be the result besides death?

The Emgrand Group is the largest company in Aurous Hill. How can people look at the Willson family? Whoever talks about it will never succeed!

Harold couldn’t help but sarcastically said: “Claire, do you think you can get the contract from the Emgrand Group?”

Harold’s own sister and Claire’s cousin, Wendy, also sneered at this moment: “Sister Claire, what is your identity, and what is the identity of the Emgrand Group? You go to talk so rashly, don’t shame our Willson family. !”

Someone agreed: “That is, if she is driven out by the Emgrand Group by then, our Willson family will definitely become a laughing stock in Aurous Hill!”

When Claire heard the sound, her cheeks were extremely red, feeling very embarrassed.

Since marrying Charlie, her status in the family has plummeted, becoming less and less important, and almost squeezed out, and even her parents have been ridiculed.

She felt that if she could talk about this project with the Emgrand Group, her position in the family would definitely be consolidated.

The most important thing is that parents can also stand upright.

But at this moment, being ridiculed by so many people, she couldn’t help but retreat.

She gave Charlie a depressed look. Why did she listen to his bewitching words? Won’t get up for this if she knew it

Old Mrs. Willson was very angry when she heard what everyone said.

After asking this question several times, no one dared to take this task. Now Claire took the initiative to stand up, and the group of people began to pour cold water again!

Although the Old Mrs. Willson had always disliked Claire, at this time, she felt that Claire was at least willing to share her worries, unlike other people who only knew to hide in their shells at this moment!

Especially Harold, her beloved grandson, really disappointed her, too much!

Because of this, Mrs. Willson’s attitude towards Claire also changed a lot.

So she immediately said: “Since others dare not agree, don’t talk nonsense! This time we cooperate with Emgrand Group on the project, let Claire talk about it!”

Claire could only bite the bullet and replied, “Don’t worry, grandma, I will definitely go all out.”

At this time, Harold sneered coldly from his nose and said, “What’s the use of going all out? It’s not a shame for the family to fail in the end!”

Charlie asked with a sneer, “Harold, what is your purpose in singing badly? Don’t you think the Willson family is qualified to cooperate with Emgrand Group?”

Harold didn’t expect that Charlie would dare to speak at the family meeting, and he would wear a high hat on himself.

Seeing that Mrs. Willson’s expression was also a little sulky, he immediately explained: “I don’t mean that, I just think it is impossible for Claire to discuss this cooperation!”

Charlie smiled and asked him: “Then what if she can talk about cooperation at first? Shall we make a bet?”

Harold sneered: “Come on, just gamble, I will be afraid of you? Tell me, what are you betting on?”

Charlie said: “If she start to negotiate a contract, you kneel down and knock me three heads in front of the whole family and say you are wrong. If she can’t negotiate at first, I will knock three heads for you and say aloud that I was wrong, what do you think?”

“Hahahaha!” Harold immediately laughed wildly: “You rubbish are really looking for death! Okay, I’ll bet with you!”

Charlie nodded in satisfaction and said: “The whole family is here to witness that if anyone goes back, it will be equivalent to wishing death for father, mother, grandpa, grandma!”

Charlie deliberately said the three words “dead grandma” very seriously, because he was afraid that Harold would back out it when he loses.

As soon as these words came out, Harold never dared to go back, because in that way, wouldn’t it be cursing his grandma, that is, Old Mrs. Willson to die? When the time comes, Mrs. Willson will not let him go!

“Okay!” Harold didn’t know that Charlie had dug a hole for him, but instead felt that it was impossible for him to lose.

So, he laughed and said: “The whole family witnesses, I am waiting for you to kowtow to me!”

Claire was startled, and kept winking at him, but she didn’t expect him to completely ignore it.

Old Mrs. Willson didn’t care about this kind of gambling. Her only concern was whether she could enter the Emgrand Group’s cooperation list this time. If she could, don’t say let Harold kneel to Charlie, even if Harold called Charlie his father, she didn’t care either.

So she said: “Today’s meeting ends here. Claire, you have three days to win the contract and the meeting ends!”

Back home, the father-in-law and mother-in-law immediately attacked Charlie and Claire.

The mother-in-law Elaine was anxiously worried, and blurted out: “Claire, you are crazy, how can you listen to Charlie’s rubbish words, so confused and promised this job!”

Father-in-law Jacob Willson also scolded Charlie and said, “Charlie, Charlie, you rubbish, you have killed my girl!”

Then, his father-in-law said angrily: “If you can’t talk about the Emgrand Group’s cooperation in the first place, you will definitely be squeezed out by the family. You, this rubbish, will also kneel and kowtow to Harold in front of the whole family. Don’t let you lose it?”

Charlie said seriously: “Dad and Mom, as long as the contract can be negotiated at first, everything will be solved?”

“Talk, talk, talk! Talk all bullsh*t!”

The father-in-law scolded: “Do you know how strong the Emgrand Group is? How can they look at the Willson family!”

Charlie smiled and said, “Maybe people can see it? I think it must be fine at first, and she can definitely get the contract down.”

The mother-in-law sneered at the side: “Do you think? Think you are the boss of the Emgrand Group? A rubbish, do you use any a**brain of yours? You are still talking here!”

#gangster #boss #billionaire #novel #charliewade #amazingson-in-law #Heroofhearts

[innerpalaces]

The Life of a Cannon Fodder Mother-in-Law - 18

Chapter 18: The Deceived Mother-in-Law 18

It's not that Qi Zhengming was stingy. His family could still afford to go to Tai'an Restaurant once in a while. But as far as he knew, when Qi Hechen was with his friends, there were at least two tables in total. If his family paid the bill... thinking of that possibility, his heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys all began to ache. 

One wouldn't know how expensive firewood and rice are if you don't manage the family. In the past, Liu Huixin often nagged him about the family's expenses and the difficulties of doing business. Therefore, even if Qi Zhengming doesn't make any money, he also knew that money was hard to come by, especially now that Liu Huixin left and his family's golden doll had disappeared. Qi Hechen saw his father walking towards him with a gloomy face, and secretly cursed in his heart, but asked with a smile on his face: "Dad, what's wrong?" It would be better if he hadn’t asked. Once this matter was mentioned, Qi Zhengming became even more angry: "Who paid for you to go to Tai'an Restaurant?" There is no airtight wall in the world, and Qi Hechen had already thought about the possibility of his father finding out about it. He immediately smiled bitterly and said: "I paid." "Does this family have mountains of gold and silver!?" Qi Zhengming said bluntly, "It's reasonable to invite one or two acquaintances, but two big tables full of people, you are really promising!"

"Dad, listen to my explanation." Qi Hechen said confidently, "When mom was still here, I talked about treating everyone to a meal at my classmate's full moon party. Now that they're urging me to fulfill my promise, I can't go back on my word!" Qi Zhengming is also a scholar, and he knows that it is easy to make such jokes when a group of people gather together. It's understandable. He said angrily, "You treated them, but why do you want to pay on credit? Wouldn't it be embarrassing if it gets out?"

After Liu Huixin left, he was in charge of the family's accounts. Two tables at Tai'an Restaurant cost dozens of taels of silver at least, and the money in the accounts may not be enough. He waved his hand and said: "Hurry up and pay the bill. Remember, we don't have much money at home, and you are already married, so think of a solution yourself!" The final decision was made, and there was no room for negotiation. Qi Hechen was anxious: "Where can I find the money?" Qi Zhengming said without looking back: "That's your business." Both father and son knew in their hearts that if they couldn't get it from the Mansion account, they could only get it from their wife's dowry. Just now, when Qi Zhengming said "you are already married" just now, he emphasized his words. It was a troubled time at home, and the slightest movement would soon be known to everyone. When Zhao Zhenyan heard about this, she went crazy. She immediately packed up her things and went back to her parents' home to stay for a while. Liu Chanchan came from an ordinary family and had almost no dowry. This is something that everyone knows, so when she heard about the father and son's conversation she was not anxious at all. A broken ship still had three pounds of nails (t/n: an idiom meaning that something can always be salvaged, even in a bad situation. The closest English equivalent would be 'every cloud has a silver lining'). The Qi family has such a big house and a shop outside. It is impossible that they can't even pay this small bill. However, when she learned that Zhao Zhenyan was packing up to go back to her parents' home, her expression turned thoughtful, and she left her yard and went directly to the outer study room: "Husband, I haven't gone home to visit my parents since I came in. I want to go back early tomorrow morning, is that okay?"

Qi Hechen was feeling agitated at the moment. Hearing this, he waved his hand: "Go!" Liu Chanchan received a satisfactory answer and did not leave immediately. She tugged at her sleeves and hesitated to speak. Seeing this, Qi Hechen asked impatiently: "What else do you want?" "You and sister are going back to her parents' home. Are you coming back tonight?" She looked cautious: "It would be better if you could go back with me..." Qi Hechen didn't hear the second half of what she said at all, and asked in surprise: "When is Madam going back to her parents' home?" Liu Chanchan looked even more surprised than him: "Sister just asked someone to prepare a carriage... doesn't husband know? Does sister want to go back alone?" It was common for a married woman to return to visit her parents' home. Zhao Zhenyan usually went back three or four times a month. Qi Hechen didn't think much about it at first, but seeing Liu Chanchan's surprised expression, he felt that Zhao Zhenyan was trying to avoid him. Anyone who wanted to could find out what the father and son said just now in the garden. Qi Hechen was reading in the study room, but in fact, he couldn't concentrate at all. He was thinking about how to talk to her about this matter. But she actually wanted to avoid him. In Qi Hechen's view, even if she didn't agree, it would be better than evading like this. 

The anger in his heart could no longer be suppressed, and he stood up suddenly: "She is not allowed to come back." The servant outside responded and left. Before he could get far, Qi Hechen thought of something and called him back: "I'll go and tell her in person." He thought about it. The more Zhao Zhenyan didn't want to give him the money, the more intent he was on getting it! They are husband and wife, and they will prosper together. If he can make connections, she will also benefit from it. Why should he be the only one to work hard and let her take advantage?

Thinking of this, Qi Hechen went over and happened to block her at the gate. Zhao Zhenyan's heart sank, and a smile subconsciously appeared on her face: "Husband, I want to visit home."

"I'll accompany you." Qi Hechen took a long step and directly got into the carriage. In the carriage, he was gentle and told a few jokes. Finally, he talked worriedly about the debt at Tai'an Restaurant. "Originally, I thought about letting mother pay after she comes back. But dad knew about it in advance... and just gave me a scolding. Yan'er, give me some money, and I'll pay it back to you later." Zhao Zhenyan couldn't maintain her smile at all. She could still refuse if he just asked for it to be given, but if he said it was a loan, how could she say no? Besides, the two were husband and wife, and Zhao Zhenyan knew him quite well. If she refused, he would definitely be angry later. Liu Chanchan, that little devil, was waiting to take advantage of such a situation. It was really painful to give it, and it was also painful not to give it. Zhao Zhenyan was so angry that she clenched her teeth secretly, and the smile on her face was a little ferocious: "Okay!" The couple lived together day and night, and Qi Hechen naturally noticed her displeasure, but just getting the money was already very good. As for whether she is happy or not...he would just  buy something to coax her later. Zhao Zhenyan gave him the silver and felt that she didn't need to be so careful in front of him anymore, so she asked curiously, "What's going on with mother? What happened when father went there?" Qi Hechen sighed, "Father came back and was angry with me. I didn't have time to ask. But since he was so angry, it shouldn't be good." Seeing that he was not in a good mood, Zhao Zhenyan glanced outside the carriage and asked casually, "Your godmother is getting married tomorrow. Do you want to send a gift?" After she accidentally found out that Cheng Rumeng was Qi Hechen's birth mother, she was unsure about how to handle such a big matter, so she told her mother when she returned to her parents' home. Of course, in front of Qi Hechen, she was an obedient wife who faithfully kept his secret. When she returned to her parents' house this time, her mother would definitely ask about these things. It was not a good thing for his biological mother to get married. Qi Hechen wiped his face and said, "I haven't decided yet." Logically speaking, he should give gifts. However, he was part of the Qi family and had to take his father's thoughts into consideration. Cheng Rumeng was sitting on the bed, already wearing a veil. It was deserted around her, with only two or three people serving her. She has been a widow for many years, and her first husband's family no longer cares about her. As for her natal family...some of them had advised her to remarry before, but she didn't plan to marry again, and she was afraid that her family would ignore her wishes and come to her house and notice something was off, so she simply cut off contact. She was a little nervous under the veil. When she first met Master Zhang, she thought it was a good match. But these days, especially after returning from the suburbs, she suddenly realized that Master Zhang was an iron rooster (t/n: In Chinese the expression 'iron rooster' is used to describe someone who is extremely stingy and is unwilling to spend even a small amount of money. The idea is that you can't even get feathers from a rooster made of iron.)

The betrothal gift was so simple that it was ridiculous, and he even said that they would be a family after marriage, so there was no need to spend money on these face-saving efforts. Even her wedding dress was bought from a pawnshop. She was sensitive and had long discovered that Master Zhang might not be a good man.

By now, it was too late for her to regret it. The two became a couple, and Qi Zhengming knew the whole story. He didn't look for her even once after they came back from the suburbs, and he was obviously disgusted with her. Therefore, she had to marry even if she didn't want to. What made her even more uncomfortable was that Qi Hechen didn't show any reaction at all. Thinking of this, Cheng Rumeng's nose felt sour and she shed tears. Seeing this, the matchmaker next to her hurried forward to help wipe her tears: "Don't cry, or you will ruin the makeup. The sedan chair is about to arrive, madam, please bear with it!"

Cheng Rumeng didn't want to lose face, so she forced back the tears.

Speak of the devil, the devil will appear. The sound of celebration outside was getting closer and closer, and the gongs and drums were very lively. Hearing this, Cheng Rumeng's eyes lit up, and most of her discomfort dissipated.

Master Zhang is very stingy, but he is still willing to give her some dignity. Cheng Rumeng adjusted her sleeves and asked the matchmaker who ran out after hearing the noise and just came back: "Is my skirt messy?" Shehad  lowered her head and couldn't see the matchmaker's expression clearly. She only heard her say: "Madam, it's time to go out. Please follow me. " Cheng Rumeng was shy and followed the matchmaker out the door. Suddenly, she felt something was wrong. The sound of celebration was getting farther and farther away, and it didn't reach her courtyard at all. She listened carefully again and confirmed that the gongs and drums had gone to the other end of the alley. She frowned and said, "Auntie, is this my sedan chair?"

The matchmaker's expression was indescribable: "The sedan chair is already waiting at the gate, and Master Zhang is also waiting in the main room."

As she spoke, the sound of gongs and drums had faded away, and Cheng Rumeng was puzzled: "Then why is there no celebration?" The matchmaker lowered her voice and said, "Master Zhang didn't prepare one. It seems that he planned to take advantage of other people's celebration."

Rumeng: "..." Is there any use for such a thing!?

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[thecrownedred]

White Rabbit's Crown

one.

"The love of your life awaits you in the deepest part of the hell you never believed in."

I always observe. The thing about me is, when I do that, people tend to mistaken it for some cruel stupidity that the elites are exclusively allowed to do so, but it's not. I am not one to compare with. I am better than them. Come on.

Scaly face. Vertical green eyes disguised as british blue eyes, or hazelnut if they're mixed. Royals? No, fucking shape shifters. I'd like to call them that. Friendly fire?

I call that unexclusiving yourself, if that's a word. I'm an off-screen writer, that should be a word.

Love is nothing in their faces. It's like a splash of water you get when you're at a pool party trying to enjoy yourself with a shot of patron when some rubbish garbage decides to do cannon-ball beside you to impress your not-so-perfectly sober sisters. Completely brushes it off. Basically a one night stand. That's what they believe.

Man, what if the shitshow is hell itself? This family. Everybody against everybody. Geez, give this young man a break.

"Here is your breakfast, your highness. You'll have no events, ceremonies, or tea parties to attend today." Acting like I do exist now? Why would I even bother to come in the first place?

"Your sister is covering for you. The archery field is open for you if you want to stop by."

A full english breakfast. With no beans. Too much grease, I wont need it.

Still no real conversation with the helpers. Are they even real humans or what? Too bad the government made them earn these characteristics. It's not unique at all, like at least make one of them do some personal handshakes with you or add bugs to your already perfect maple pancakes. American style.

I push the tray away, just like I always do. Didn't even get any sleep because well my in-law is in 'search' for making my sister feel better after a suitor spilled some coffee on her high-tailored baby blue dress she had always dreamed of. I could bet my great-grandfather's preserved skull in the museum, she will be turning to me, taking two hours off of my reading day. I don't have problems with it, however, time is money. Money is time. And based on my study on my own family's history, no one from my bloodline is one to be blamed for. I know what I am capable of doing and I'm not afraid to do them to my in-laws because to be frank, I never approved at allㅡShit. My doings.

Thank God it's not the 18th century because I get to drive my own car anywhere I want.

But where the fuck did I put the keys?

Geez, and this coat is too fucking heavy, abusing the stamina of your body to hide a rotting body? I'm in a kidney-pain level of not fit, why does the universe keep pushing me to do this?

Secret garage. Cliche. Could've used what my grandfather gave to me last summer to hide them but unfortunately the mansion is in Switzerland.

I scrunch my nose as the familiar rotting smell entered my nose. Not sure If I'm glad I trimmed my nose hair this morning or not, was just testing a friend's product. But clearly,

"Fucking hell.."

The only product I need right now is two and a half gallons of bleach and probably a handmade italian meat grinder created just for your daily spaghetti meatballs. Probably should tell Mr. Finch, the family butler, if only he wasn't a snitch. He's kinda self-explanatory I guess.

I kneeled down, the smell, christ, been doing this for years yet can't stand a week-and-two-days-old corpse? Well, in my murdering spree 'career' which gets me nowhere, I had never left a body for this long period of time. Well now look at this brownish astonishing marinara sauce, completely homemade, fucking dead woman's blood combined with her melting inner fluids. How could I have forgotten?

No, how could I murder someone I loved? Jane Servemore. Her €23,000 dior lipstick she never brags about is still visible right underneath those broken skin tissues. Of course she can afford it, the daughter of the Jace and Mill Servemore, supposedly, the founder of the next Chanel. Maybe I should watch TV more, that way, I would not forget that I murdered a woman in a bunker over a 'simple' affair and that she is indeed missing, and I know where she is.

You know, Jane? You could've fixed my bloodline with just a runway show in Paris but you chose to fuck that designer knowing damn well I don't like sharing anything. This proves to me she never listens to what I say, and why should I when she screams for her life at the top of her lungs?

Good fucking evening. I'm finished. Took me half of the day to get rid of her guts, yuck. I should really punish myself for making me in the future go through shits he didn't want to go through.

At least a cold shower helps after a long day because now the warmth of the library is indeed getting into me. It gets you right in the mood, you know? A cup of tea, read a few pages of Patricia Cornwell's tenth book of the Kay Scarpetta series Black Notice, and no one to interrupt your reading. You know, this is the great side of being left abandoned by your late father aside from being inside the family that rules the country.

No one knows or dare to care who the fuck you are.

"Sorry to bother, do you have Ruth Rendell?"

My eyes never shot up at this pace before it actually hurt. Ruth Rendell? Psychotic woman, I see.

"Certainly, but all we got left is The Brimstone Wedding and A Dark-Adapted Eye. It is on the right corner rack right there."

Right, my direction. I read those things, not that I'm ashamed of it.

Medium brown hair, long eyelashes, dark but subtle lipstick, almost no makeup. She is indeed one to imply her efforts, half-tired eyes, probably comes from writing journals about how decomposing a dead body should start with removing their teeth and nails, if she's even a journalist and a feminist. Feminists love dark romance, don't they?

Also sleeve gloves? Is she an official? A witch, perhaps. Ha! That was a good one.

I need to look away. Appear natural.

The corner of my eyes reads that she is choosing the Brimstone Wedding one. A woman that likes to torture her own mentality, to cope, I suppose? That's brilliant.

I finally made eye contact with her as she sat down across my spot. Hazelnut brown eyes, she's a country's gift. A trophy. She might be as old as I am. A 27 year old writer? A journalist? Or judging by her hand placement on the book and her purse, public speaking, to be precise. Balanced it well. A news anchor? Is that why her face is so familiar?

"Would appreciate it if you give a bit more attention to your book, really." Shit.

"I apologize." I clear my throat because I am a loner rich nobleman, at least that's what my family made me become.

"Your voice is nice," There. I complimented her. It's probably too straightforward but she had already caught me checking her out already.

I breathe the air in, she enters. Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. Jane hated this, she said it smelt too musky. But I loved it, it matches her energy, not Jane. The universe brought me to her.

I could feel her eyes on me so I stared back, and I was right, she looked horrified, no, mortified. Great job, your highness or whatever. It was a moment of silence, her mouth parted as she was trying to build up a sentence to respond to my stupid compliment. Maybe I shouldn't have bitten anything. I'm starting to think that I should've eaten the full english breakfast today.

"Your voice isn't bad either," She pauses, fixing her position. Maybe not mortified, nervous? "Could be an F1 commentator, or the driver I must say from your looks."

Did she just call me fit? Impressive I must say for eating greasy things for breakfast and chips for lunch. Just like that she continued reading her Ruth Rendell, no expressions, so that's probably sarcasm. Not interested in me one bit. She called me loud too with that commentator thing. Quite arrogant, don't you think?

Anyways, I made my way through two pages in under five minutes while talking to a woman, how dare I do that yet still spend the whole day just to get rid of one person. The math never adds up. But hey, this book's quite better than comparing the shits you do with reading.

"Being evil is universal, including the ones who serve the law and the ones who break it. Is that what you're seeking?"

Damn. I just read that line a minute ago. She's most definitely a journalist. Or a fortune-teller?

"Everyone is evil, don't you think?" She closed her book, to debate with me? Nice, a political woman. Did she go through a divorce?

"No, if that's the case our country would be such a mess." Smart. Straightforward. Blunt. She doesn't think of others when she talks because apparently she addresses her false points better than the truth. Also, our country's like this because someone like her wouldn't know who I am. Good though, serves me peace, serves the country peace. Political, like her. Maybe we connect in some way.

"Well, everyone knows their boundaries as well as the others." I close my book too, if she wants to debate, I'll do it. "I bet if we stay the old-fashioned way, there'll just be drunken noblemen up your door threatening you to invent something new or else his butler will have you decapitated in some kind of way."

"Okay now, that is another case. If we're talking about our country right here, don't you think it's being ruled by some brainwashed elites creating their own beliefs? Terrible people." I smiled at that as I leaned back to the sofa, she has a way of talking.

Her phone rang which she then picked up, a woman of work. Workaholic? She even stands up and walks away to answer that call. A rare sighting in Hanover, honestly. What if she makes more money than I do? I might be the one doing the dishes if we were ever marriedㅡOkay no, too far.

It didn't take me long enough to realize how my eyes had followed her figure through the bookshelves. Is the phone call so important?

"For the love of God, I said tosca, not jade! How can we do the exhibition tomorrow if the light is not on the theme, Stefan?!" And she left, leaving her Ruth Rendell open on page 51. Huh, a gallerist? I got it all.. wrong. The first time I read someone wrong.

"Here's the hibiscus tea for your lovely wife, sir."

Geez, jumpscare. She ordered something? Hibiscus tea? Does this woman smoke?

"Ah, thank you very much. Is it paid for?" There's no way she leaves me here to pay for her drink which she hasn't drank because apparently, some work urgency. Ugh, her watch is still here too.

Fossil. She is a workaholic.

"No, do you perhaps want the bill?" Great. No, really. This is great. Moving on takes years or even decades for some people, I say they're weak for not being able to accept what they are and move on. Talking from someone who had just disposed of his ex-girlfriend's body into a meat grinder, it clearly wasn't easy.

"Sure."

I took the amusingly smaller watch in my pocket, but yet just the right size for her slender wrist. Not proud of what I'm doing. It doesn't mean that I'm a bad person, right? I did everything I could, and Jane Servemore chose to ignore that. I did not want to hurt her, it's a form of love, at least the one that I had always believed in.

And maybe this time, I'll give her the form of love she wants. Whatever you desire for, Ms. Gallerist.

[xtruss]

Lois Gibbs never avoided the spotlight in her fight to protect Love Canal's families from chemical waste. The press surrounds her outside the Love Canal Homeowners Association in 1980 as Gibbs waits for a phone call from the White House. Photograph By Mickey H. Osterreicher

Meet The Mom Who Took On Toxic Waste—And Won

The Love Canal disaster transformed homemaker Lois Gibbs into an environmental warrior after she learned her Niagara Falls neighborhood was built on poisoned ground.

— By Erin Blakemore | April 19, 2024

When Lois and Harry Gibbs moved to a three-bedroom home in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1972, the young wife thought she’d hit the jackpot. “I really thought I had succeeded in finding the best house in this entire country,” Gibbs recalls. Her husband, a chemical worker, had a good job. Her neighbors were close-knit, the area idyllic. And kids, were everywhere, roaming the neighborhood, swimming in the local creek—the Love Canal neighborhood was an area “alive” with children.

But things were not what they seemed. Under the surface, in the soil beneath its perfect houses, lay chemical contamination from a toxic waste dump—a ticking time bomb that would result in disease, tragedy, and Gibbs’ transformation from shy housewife into a nationally known environmental activist.

Buried Dangers

Years earlier, the partially developed Love Canal became a dump, courtesy of the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation, which buried over 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals there between 1942 and 1952. Eventually, the company leased the area to the Niagara Falls Board of Education for $1, complete with a deed that contained a disclaimer excusing Hooker Chemical from any liability related to the chemical dumping. In the years that followed, the land surrounding 16-acre landfill became a neighborhood complete with tract homes, churches, and trees.

Left: Founded in 1903 in Rochester, New York, the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation disposed of some 20,000 tons of toxic waste at Love Canal between 1942 and 1952. Photograph By Bettmann/Getty Images Right: Map

By 1978, the site was home to an elementary school, and houses like Gibbs’ lined Love Canal’s placid streets. The school was a hub for the area’s stay-at-home moms, Gibbs recalls. Since the school didn’t have a cafeteria, Gibbs and other women would bring their children their lunches at mid-day. She’d walk to the 99th Street School, pushing her daughter in a stroller, and spread out a blanket on the school playground, where the family would eat along with the other mothers and kids.

“Oh, my God,” she says. “How many times did we eat on a toxic waste dump?”

Surfacing troubles

The first sign of trouble at Love Canal appeared in 1976, when the Niagara Gazette reported that some homes were experiencing chemical leaching in their basements. But Gibbs didn’t take note until her five-year-old son Michael began having seizures. “My sense was that the playground was where he was getting exposed,” she says. “I really thought that Michael was somehow more sensitive, and that the school board should move him [to another school] right away.”

The family had no history of epilepsy, and a consultation with her brother-in-law, a biologist, made her wonder if Michael’s problems had something to do with the chemicals. Citing the potential danger of the site, she petitioned the school board to move Michael. But when they denied the request, she sprang into action.

“I have an Irish temper. You can’t sit there and tell me you’re not going to move my child,” she says, her voice still bristling forty-six years later. “We’re gonna fix this.”

Taking Action

Soon, she was going door to door with a petition to shut down the school. But as she surveyed her neighbors, she realized she wasn’t the only mom whose kid was sick.

Health problems were everywhere in Love Canal, from hyperactivity to epilepsy, migraines to miscarriages. Neighbors began telling her about cancer, kidney problems, lung issues. Eventually, Gibbs realized that a full 56 percent of children born to Love Canal residents within the last five years had been born with a congenital anomaly.

“I heard about a 12-year-old who had to have a hysterectomy,” says Gibbs. “A woman with two crib deaths. These weren’t normal things.”

Though the state health department agreed to run tests on homes near the dump site, progress was slow. Once officials began environmental testing, residents were shocked by the sheer extent of the contamination. It wasn’t just the playground. It was the basements. The back yards. The bedrooms. The drains. An ocean of deadly chemicals was percolating upwards from the ground: benzene, dioxin, toluene. Ultimately, over 100 deadly compounds were confirmed at the site. The air was polluted; so was the groundwater.

Poisonous Impacts

By then, Gibbs was president of the Love Canal Neighborhood Association, a grassroots group devoted to figuring out what was wrong in their neighborhood. Obtaining evidence of the unfolding disaster turned out to be the easy part. Getting the right people to listen was another matter entirely, says Gibbs.

The women put in hundreds of hours on the telephone, going house to house, begging local and then national officials to help. They circulated petitions, collected evidence, and lobbied. Once shy and reserved, Gibbs was now in the center of a tornado of publicity, unanswered pleas, and a continual sense of dread about what the chemicals were doing to her community.

Lois Gibbs's grassroots efforts brought national attention to the Love Canal environmental disaster. Photograph Courtesy of University Archives, University at Buffalo 🦬, The State University of New York

Meanwhile, the life she loved was collapsing before her eyes. People had started dying, including a young boy, John Allen Kenny, who had often swum in the creek behind his house. Gibbs found herself advising and comforting her distraught neighbors, including one chemical worker who unburdened himself to her.

“I had never seen a man cry before,” she recalls. “This was a macho, blue-collar man. He talked about playing football with the little boy.” These kinds of incidents became a daily occurrence.

So did the pressure. “No longer is her house clean, her floors waxed, and her dinner on the table by five o’clock,” a reporter wrote in 1978. This was a bone of contention with her husband Harry, who expected her to cook him dinner. “When is this going to be over?” he’d ask. “I want dinner.”

Fighting While Female

Gibbs’ identity as a stay-at-home mother turned out to be a blessing and a curse. As one reporter wrote, it enabled her to ask “innocent but deadly” questions, disarming powerful officials without intimidating them. But it also opened her up to criticism, gossip, and sexism.

“I’m a woman, so I can’t be too bright,” says Gibbs. People would ask if it was her “time of month,” implying that her pleas were hysterical. Eventually, she says, she heard that lawmakers in Albany had given her a nickname. “Instead of calling me the Love Canal president, it was ‘The Bitch.’”

In August 1978, state officials evacuated pregnant women and children under the age of two from the Love Canal neighborhood. But that wasn’t enough for Gibbs and her neighbors. They filed lawsuits, picketed, and disseminated the growing evidence that the neighborhood was even more polluted than first thought. Finally, in May 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared a national emergency at the site. Ultimately, about 950 families left Love Canal.

The health consequences of Love Canal were dire. Follow-up studies showed that women living in the neighborhood during their reproductive years were twice as likely to give birth to a child with a congenital anomaly and at higher risk for giving birth to a baby with low birth weight. Residence in the neighborhood has also been linked to higher rates of rheumatic heart disease, heart attacks, and cancer of the lungs, kidney, and bladder. However, the exact effects of the environmental disaster may never be fully ascertained, given the difficulty of determining precise exposure rates to chemicals in the landfill.

Gibbs continued to fight for environmental justice even after Love Canal. Here she leads a protest outside the Virginia home of EPA official Rita Lavelle, who would be convicted in 1984 of misusing funds from the Superfund program. Photograph By Scott Stewart/AP

Love Canal Legacy

Today, Gibbs is considered one of the mothers of the environmental movement. Her efforts at Love Canal put the dangers of toxic chemical contamination into the national spotlight, prompting the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program, a program that cleans up contaminated sites, and the attention of scientists who continue to study the dangers of chemical contamination for humans.

Her story—and that of the others who fought for environmental justice in the Love Canal neighborhood—has inspired many TV films and documentaries. The latest is American Experience’s Poisoned Ground: The Tragedy at Love Canal, premiering on Earth Day 2024.

Their tale is closely tied to neighborly collaboration, but ironically, Gibbs’ fight led to the demise of the neighborhood she loved so much. Though she’s still in contact with her former neighbors, the Love Canal evacuation spread them all over the country. Eventually the entire Love Canal neighborhood was demolished. “It’s gone. It’s just gone,” says Gibbs. “It’s hard to put a value on that.”

Though her children are currently healthy, she says she still worries for their long-term health and that of their successors. “There’s always a cloud,” says Gibbs. Ultimately, though, she sees her work at Love Canal as a triumph. “We won,” she says. Gibbs went on to found the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, becoming a key figure in the environmental movement and inspiring generations of grassroots activists.

And if she could do it, anyone can.

“Democracy works,” she says. “[We] stood together and had a united goal. You can do that for any issue. If people would participate in democracy, we could change the world in ways that are not even imaginable right now.”

[jdgo51]

Reflect on what it means to be a Good Samaritan (person) on this Wednesday, December 27, 2023:

DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR DECEMBER 27, 2023

Stewardship

By Pete Velander (Tennessee, USA)

READ LUKE 10:25-37

"A Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him."

LUKE 10:33 (NIV)

"In 2003 I donated a kidney to someone I had never met. I didn’t begin with that outcome in mind. Initially I was tested for compatibility with a colleague who needed a transplant. I wanted to know if I could help.

Going through the pre-donation testing process changed me. I spent many hours in waiting rooms filled with people who could do nothing but hope that an organ would become available to save their lives. For me, it became a matter of stewardship. I realized that I had more than I needed because it’s possible to live a healthy life with just one kidney. I found myself surrounded by neighbors in urgent need of my abundance.

As it turned out, my colleague received what she needed from another donor. But God transformed my heart, and when I was approved as a donor, I chose to give a kidney to whoever needed it most. I’m grateful for the lessons God taught me about giving through this life-changing journey.

Everything we have belongs to God, and God wants us to serve our neighbors out of our abundance. We often think of stewardship in terms of money, but it is also about our time, possessions, and, yes, even our bodies." Be a steward of whatever you have to give. It can be small and simple or more complicated. Just give freely to provide what is needed. Our offering does make a difference.

TODAY'S PRAYER

"God of compassion, open our eyes to opportunities to serve our neighbors. Help us expand our lives of stewardship to include all that you have given us." Amen.

Luke 10:25-37

"'25 A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?” 27 He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” 29 But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. 31 Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 32 Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 33 A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. 34 The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ 36 What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?” 37 Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”' We must be like the Samaritan, go and give what is needed to help others. We are not here to beat others down or destroy anyone's hope; rather we must give freely to restore them to where they should be. Lift up-not kick down. Bless you! Joe

[notmuchtoconceal]

The Mitosis

I awoke one morning, from a cold and unfulfilling wet dream, to find that Sickle Cell was sitting at the foot of my bed, split into two.

They sat serenely, identical in every way, with the solemn and slightly uncomprehending eyes of a lamb at Golgotha, or Christ in an abattoir.

This was no run-of-the-mill bisection. Instinct assured me I had been roofied. On one side: two sets of eyes, two firm breasts, one navel, two thighs. On the other, the same. The stability of the waking world still not fully static, I swear I felt the weight of two intelligences staring back.

The residue of something still clung to the end of the bed frame, between a detached dermal layer and a human-sized cell membrane. A slit ran down the back, where a seamstress could attach a zipper; where, if one was careful enough, minded its frailty and never once moved while inside, one could slip into into the warmth of its rubbery cytoplasm and pose naked and feminine until the substance found new life in the wearer.

The entire bed had been soaked. The sheets still clung to the trunks of my legs, which were uncomfortably warm and numb, since they had been kneeling at the base of my ankles presumably since this began. Sections of their form were milky clear, not yet fully skin. An amniotic dew still dampened their perfumed flesh--that smell, sweet as a magnolia grove, bitter as an infected kidney, I swore I would never forget. They seemed softer than flesh, as though a touch of their shoulder would leave an imprint of my palm, the ruffled satin of the pink bedsheets which were not on my bed when I fell asleep, creasing and veining their calves and knees with its wrinkles.

How long had they sat there, unmoving? Had they been waiting for me to wake up, as though it were the necessity of the eyes of another to cement in them the change from individual to dual awareness?

If I never speak, refuse to acknowledge the change, could they stare into the wall forever alone, laboring under the delusion that they are still one person? Or can it be that this hibernation state is not the void of pre-experience where they are simultaneously one and two, but indicative of the possibility that they are not yet wholly alive? Is this plasticity of their skin, the servo-motion of their eyes the mark of an animate being?

This moment is a gift to me from the incalculable machinations of randomness itself. A moment where I may act unbound by the lumbering machinery of law, for I have outpaced the futility of its restrictions. It is my imperative, my pleasure, to discover the answers to these questions firsthand.

“Well, well,” I say. “Which one of you is the real Sickle Cell?”

They look upon one another blankly, as I raise with a delicate wrist a teacup, filled with pure glucose to my lips. A salve for the dry heat of morning. The pollen of the gilded lily wore black with age. The smell of spring flows through the room.

“I am,” says the one on the left.

Has this question already ruined them? Is it not a constant in man to impose his biases upon acts of nature and thus distort not nature itself, but merely his place within nature? These two, is it possible they could not know who they are, or who they had been before? For reasons still vague, they have mutually decided that one of them is the Sickle I have always known, and that the other is not: is in fact, by my framing of the question, a duplicate, or a homunculus. Would it have been better to ask if they were both Sickle, or to have said that neither of them is Sickle--that the only Sickle to have ever existed (who could ever possibly exist) is now gone forever, leaving the two of them free to forge not only an identity distinct from Sickle, but identities distinct from one another? Would the long term crisis of identity which could have emerged from mourning their progenitor have been less damaging than one thinking they are a biological forgery wrought by an act of chaos? It can be only speculation now. Action, when taken, shuts out an infinity of possibilities. For there to have been no Sickle is an outcome which was only available when we three were still silent. I am, unique amongst my species, in a position to distort the natural world with abandon.

“For the sake of clarity,” I say, “we will call the one on the right Donna, and the one on the left will be Delilah.”

“’kay,” they respond in unison.

“Now Delilah,” I say, “why is it that you think you’re the real Sickle.”

“It’s just a feeling, I suppose,” she begins to twiddle her fingers in that, admittedly, quite familiar way. “I look at you, and I know. I look at her, and I know more. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to put things like that into words very well. It’s something I’ve struggled with my entire life.”

“All five minutes of it?”

She stops twiddling her fingers. She’s not even looking at me anymore.

“Donna, doesn’t it bother you that Delilah is Sickle and you aren’t?”

“Not particularly. It seems she wants it more.”

“It doesn’t hurt to know that you’re a fake?”

“Not particularly. Who’s to say I’m a fake? I don’t feel fake.”

“Is there anything you do feel particular about?”

“I’m quite particular about not being particularly fond of your tone of voice.”

“Spirited. Quite spirited,” I have just about finished my glucose. The boy ought to be in soon to bring more. “Tell me, Delilah, are you listening?”

She nods.

“You seem a bit distracted. Is something troubling you?”

“It’s a lot to get used to, I guess.”

“Time numbs all sensation. Now listen carefully. This is very serious. A very serious question. Are you ready? Tell me, Delilah, are you Delilah?”

“Um...”

“Don’t rush to answer. Take all the time you need.”

She stares at her hands for a long time.

“I suppose I am. Who else would I be?”

“You’re Sickle, aren’t you?”

She looks very disconcerted.

“I guess I have to be, don’t I? I already said I was.”

“But how can that be? Doesn’t it follow that if you were Sickle then, you would have been Delilah then, as well? I can say, as something of an authority on the subject, that Sickle was certainly never Delilah. I’ve never met Delilah once before today.”

“Oh... I guess...”

“Hello, Delilah. It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can be good friends.”

“Hey? You want me to say hey?”

“It’s considered polite to respond when greeted.”

“Then, hey, I guess?”

“You guess? Are you saying hello to me or not?”

“It doesn’t feel right to say hi like we’re meeting for the first time. It goes against every instinct I have. I’ve known you for years. I’ve known you all--”

“All five minutes of it? If that were true, you’d know I hate repeating myself.”

“But I know you. I know I can tell--”

“How can you know me? We’ve only just met. Let me buy you dinner first.”

“I... I...”

“Captain? There’s no need. I’m not the boss of you.”

She looks about to bury her face in her hands. Donna looks at her, then to me. She is about to reach out and touch Delilah’s shoulder. I shoo it away.

“Where is your sense of levity, beloved? Of course you’re Sickle. We’re merely having a bit of fun. You remember all the fun we used to have, don’t you?”

“I think so?”

“Now who wants to play in my sheets?”

“That’s okay...” An echo glides across the room.

“The question I’m sure the gentlemen at home are pondering is this: should the two of you lie together, fair hair against ripened bosom, lip-gloss against lip of vulva, would it be fair to call that an act of Sapphic love, or mere Onanism?”

Delilah, so lovely in the morning light, is one stream of runny mascara away from looking like an assault victim on prom night.

“I’m feeling,” Donna says, “a tad Marlene Dietrich.”

She says this not as seduction, but as threat.

“Well, well, whatever shall I do with such feminine bounty?”

Pink sheets of the bedroom dissolve into the ruffled pink apron of the kitchen.

“I am going to drive this meat-cleaver directly into your heart, okay Donna?”

“But why?” Delilah asks.

The font, used every year for the past fifteen, is a sculpture in rust. Had it been a relatively humid day, I’m sure it would have dissolved.

“Curiosity, first and foremost. Economy a distant second. To monitor the two of you for days unto months would require around the clock observation, and I am only one man. Under different circumstances, this might not have been an issue. If neither of you retained Sickle’s lethargic aversion to written composition, self-reporting might have been a possibility. Sadly, the last hour of polite nagging has confirmed my worst suspicions. Rather than watching the two of you go out into the world and interact with different people, regret different regrets, cherish different joys and, to put it simply, diverge into two completely different people--well I doubt that exercise in tedium would be as fruitful as a good-old-fashioned vivisection. Frankly, I’m not certain if one or both of you is morphologically human. It would be better now, to study your anatomy, for some clue as to the origin of the phenomenon, and thus any chance to replicate the trigger. Before I get too attached to either one of you, of course. Should this prove fruitful, I can create more of you later, once I am in the possession of a dedicated research team and some damn funding. I may be a man of science, but even I--poor I who hath loved Sickle as a summer’s day and will come to mourn her loss for years once the shock has receded--will feel the unfathomable weight of my immediate actions. Right here.”

“Right where?”

“This place I’m pointing.”

Donna stares in a fearful approximation of emotionlessness, her eyes listless, her speech muddled in the throes of an opiate fugue.

“And you want me to film the whole thing?” Delilah asks.

“But, of course. Once I’ve mined your carcass of every ounce of usefulness, I’m going to submit the tape as a pilot for a cooking show! You will be a pioneer, the first probable subhuman to be gutted, stuffed and fried. Stimulates bloodlust and the salival glands. Are we beaming a snuff film straight into America’s living rooms? We’ll leave the decision up to our viewers. Controversy is simply free marketing, self-appointed moral guardians are desperate to defend the sanctity of human life, and daddy isn’t getting any grant money any time soon. Delilah, for God’s sake, steady the camera.”

“I’m not a tripod.”

“You’re whatever I say you are. Now, once you’ve loaded the tape, it should only be a few hours before our feast! There’s enough oil boiling for each of your succulent tits, Donna. The real Sickle Cell and I will each have one. Ready the seasons!”

“Seasons readied, oh anesthetic lord.”

Empty prescription bottles and plastic Intravenous bags are strewn across the countertop.

“Delilah,” I lick my teeth, “do you want your tit sweet or spicy?”

“Spicy, please.”

“Wonderful, I only take mine sweet. Ready the glucose!”

“Glucose readied, anesthetic lord.”

“Sauté the left tit in some Coke, I’m starting to fade.”

“I thought any minute I would wake up,” Donna says, slipping off of her feet, and held aloft only by the shackles binding wrist to refrigerator. “All day, I thought any minute now. But I don’t think I am anymore. I think I’ve been awake this whole time.”

“Glad you’re laying off the Nyquil, darling. Delilah, how is that Coke coming?”

“The Coke will spoil the purity of the glucose.”

“My palate requires only blunt stimulation. I want the tastebuds to peel off. I’m not sniffing any bouquets, or spitting in any wine buckets.”

“Any minute now,” Donna says, “I will be dead. I always thought things would end in despair, but what I feel now is not a tragic sense of the absurdity of it all, but of its idiocy. I want to laugh. I want to say this is all too much of an affront to our shared humanity to even register disgust. But I am in pain. I cannot laugh in wrath.”

“Glad you’re making peace with your imaginary God, my dear. Delilah, drop a few Easter bunnies into the soup, I want chocolate milk coming out the nipple.”

“I was never a good girl,” Donna says, “I was never fair, seldom considerate of strangers, never remorseful. I knew I would never make it to old age, knew my death would be a drawn-out agony. It’s the life I’ve lived. I never questioned it. Could never question it. There was no way out for me. For you. For us. I always thought we would die together. It would be horrible, but comfortable in that way familiar company can soften horror. I never thought, could never imagine, it would be you doing it to me.”

“Does Theseus sail across the Acheron? Stay on the beach, my dear. Take the obol and dial me from hell. Delilah, stop it with the spoon. Stir with a goddamn Twizzler.”

“My mastectomy scars, they shall be the crossroads of Hekate.”

I tap my nose.

“Delilah, we’re going to perform the amputation first, so that the pillowy flesh may have proper time to baste. Where is my meat-cleaver?”

“Could you have set it down?”

“It was just--”

“Was it dirty? You could've put it in the sink.”

“No, I’m... fairly certain it was clean.”

“Did you even take it out of the drawer?”

“Statistically probably. Check the drawer.”

“It’s not here.”

“Fuck,” I sigh, “what else is in there?”

“Oh look, a butter knife.”

“A butter knife? A butter knife! I would assume her tits to be a little thicker than butter, Delilah.”

“You can never be too sure.”

“Suppose it’s worth an attempt, if for no other reason that to confirm my initial hypothesis that her bones retain a softness similar to newborns.”

She is looking at Delilah with the finality of one who has seen beyond the reassuring fictions of the inherent value of human life.

She is finally human.

“Sweet anesthetic lord, might I use the bathroom before our feast?”

Futilely, I jab at Donna’s breastplate with the dull blade.

“Make it quick, beloved.”

An hour passes. Donna has lost consciousness and likely any feeling in her arms. I spend the time polishing my chrome vivisection tools, for I so seldom have any reason to use them. It runs in the family, I suppose. One set for vivisection, one for dissection, one for surgery, and one which can double as silverware if I need to improvise a meal in some kind of stranded at sea scenario. My vivisection set is an antique, German-made, pre-Third Reich, stained only with the atrocities of a naive world who thought the first World War was enough to render humankind irredeemable garbage. Someday I hope I will once again have the joy of experiencing genuine surprise. But I know I never will. Expectation is a trench, and I can not see far enough above the muddy walls to know how close the bombs will fall. Every gift is an obligation, every enchantment a curse. Clothe me in mink, and send me to the cold as the fur falls out. Anoint me in myrrh, and the baptism will come in piss. The things we could accomplish if we were not always holding out our hands and begging, rubbing our wounds when they swat us with steel and wood. This is the door, come a little closer, I would like to slam it in your face. I could have been someone. I can still be anyone as long as it’s who I am told. These are the scraps I am fed, given while they say without them I would starve. I say without them, I would know how to hunt. She would know how to till the land and harvest the crops. For there to have been more than gristle on bone, rotting on a dish in the corner, is an outcome only available before I was born. But I have done well with my scraps. To me the dirt itself is a cornucopia. I have drawn enough blood from stone to drench a prom queen. It is my curse, I suppose. I cannot be unique. It must be by design. How often had I called to the many, and been told over and over, they never made it. Could never make it. What chance do I have? Laugh, damn you, laugh. That joke isn’t funny anymore. Give it time, it’ll come around. That I am who I am, that the dividing egg was to decide so arbitrarily what it would become, was beyond my control, and any control I may exert now is the force of an insect repelling a boot. I know well enough the things I will never know. Tasted so sweetly the dreams of the almost were. Know that in spite of it all, I am the perpetual motion of my own experience. I must be unique. It could not be by design. Ah well. Can’t be helped. Love is callous in its choosing.

It’s only after the near two hour mark that inhaling chrome polish begins to tire me, and I realize, between wondering if my sinuses will begin to bleed, or if my sense of smell will ever return, that not even Sickle could take this long in the bathroom.

“Delilah, I thought we had a dinner date. I doubt it’s in there.”

When my knuckle taps against the door, it glides open unlocked. Steam fills the room, gauzy as a wedding veil. A shower pours behind the curtains, still blazing after what must have been the full two hours sat alone, but there is no shadow to break the sunlight beyond. Her pink eyes stare at me from the sink. Immersed in cold water, only the peaks break the surface, symmetrical with their own reflection. Beneath the steam, they may simply wash away. They don’t look real. One rotation of thumb around areola and a fine layer of frost is already half dew on the heat of my skin. Pulling the curtain aside, the ventilation slot hangs out on the other side of the frosted glass perimeter, a streak of blood down the tile wall, in what must have been the final composition of her hand before she went through. Drifting in the water, almost a furious sea when the retinas detach far enough, my meat-cleaver floats in the scalding water, faintly red.

I tap my nose.

Loneliness fills my heart.

The strings of a violin float in the atmosphere of a candlelit dinner. Donna, only faintly woozy, clad in a beautiful black dress and pearls over the foam of her neckbrace, pierces a peppered nipple with her salad fork.

Behind us, the tapestry hangs vibrant and dark, untouched by the light of the sun. In the reds and purples of its velvet, a spiral threatens to sever heaven from earth, and over the void into which it feeds, spinning out to engulf the whole of time, the eye hangs blind and wise, three darts tipped with hearts radiating from its hollowed-out pupil into featherheads.

It reeks of incense and prostration, and I have only burned it with a cigarette once.

“Sickles,” I say.

“Yes?” she says, cutting into the tender meat with her butter knife.

“Never leave me.”

“Of course.”

“Pass the wine.”

Tearing the nipple to shreds with her pearly incisors, she uncorks a bottle of chardonnay. Pouring it into my crystal goblet, I impale a glucose slathered tit with my steak knife and tear into its sweet flesh. Sugary blood cascades down my chin. No matter how much I add, or how long I let it soak, I can never get out the taste. The iron is bitter. Unmistakably what we know it to be. An acquired taste, if there ever was one, but a delicacy. It’s hard to be a sophisticate amongst the rabble. To keep one’s palate always stimulated. I dab my chin with a napkin and smile. It will not be like this forever. For us, nothing can last forever. This is my time. I am only allotted so much. I owe it to myself to enjoy what I can of these little rituals, when they come. Sipping the wine, the steel of the grape, the splinters of the oak, it’s no use, it’s barely more than water, not enough to wash it down. I lick what remains stuck between my teeth.

[phawareglobal]

Katie Sample - phaware® interview 392

Attorney Katie Sample discusses losing her husband to complications following a bone-marrow transplant. Two years later, while still in mourning, this single-mother from Long Beach, California was diagnosed with Ideopathic Pulmonary Hypertension.  

My name is Katie Sample. I'm 39 years old. I live in Long Beach, California. I was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension in March of 2020. I'm an attorney. I graduated law school in 2008, which was a recession time actually. I got my first job in the law off of Craigslist. I felt very lucky to get that job. At that job, I met my husband, who was a partner in the firm. We worked together over the next 10 years, which was wonderful. When I met my husband, he was about five years out of having a bone marrow transplant following a leukemia diagnosis in his late thirties. He was treated at City of Hope. He underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, a round of radiation, and then had a bone marrow transplant in 2005. His cancer never came back. He was always cancer-free during our time together, but he did have ongoing health issues after having a bone marrow transplant. He had what's called graft-versus-host disease, where his body was sort of rejecting the transplant. For a lot of patients, those rejection issues can dissipate with time. But for my husband, it did not dissipate. He was on high doses of prednisone and other medications to suppress his immune system to kind of keep that in check. But when you're on immunosuppressants, then you become very susceptible to infection. For my husband, that meant that he often had bouts in the hospital from infections that would become dangerous. He had infections that got into his bloodstream and became life threatening a couple of times. But overall, he was a very functional person. He worked full-time as an attorney and a trial lawyer. We loved the work that we did together. It was his really number one joy. We got married in 2013, and I had my son in 2016. In 2018, my husband was in the middle of a trial, which was out in San Bernardino. For those of you who are not from California, that's kind of an inland area. It takes about an hour and a half or two hours with traffic from Long Beach. He was commuting back and forth to court, very busy. On the tail end of that trail, he started retaining fluid. We knew that that meant that something was wrong. Usually that means your heart isn't pumping right or your kidneys aren't working right. He went to City of Hope and deliberately didn't pack a bag, because he thought that that would be bad luck that they would admit him. He was right. He went to City of Hope and they did admit him. Before they checked him in, he left to go to Target and get some pajamas for the night before I could bring a bag. That was kind of where everything changed. He was diagnosed as being in kidney failure, because of some of the medications he was on had put too much stress on his body. They wanted to wait it out and see if he was going to have to go on dialysis, which he ultimately did. It turned into a very extended hospital stay. He was in the hospital for about a month when we were finally talking about having him be discharged and go outpatient to continue dialysis on an outpatient basis. All of a sudden, everything changed when a nurse heard a crackle in his lungs when she was doing a routine check. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, which put alarm bells off pretty quickly. City of Hope knows that when an immunosuppressed patient is diagnosed with pneumonia, it can be very dangerous. For the next week, he was stable, but not improving. Then all of a sudden, he took very scary turn when they wanted to do a CT scan. He went into basically an arrest with his breathing and they had to intubate him. From there, he never recovered. It was a very difficult thing being at the hospital and having a two year old. Ultimately, I was the caregiver who had to make the decision to let him go, and I knew that that was what he would've wanted. We let him go on April 13th, 2018. I stopped working for a long time and just took some time to be with my son and my family. I started traveling and kind of just doing some soul searching on how I was going to move forward. It was in my travels that my life really changed, because I started to notice that I was very short of breath when I was on some of these trips. First, I went to Iceland with a couple of girlfriends from college, and it was a big adventure trip. We were hiking a lot. We were doing a lot of outdoorsy things. I noticed that I was having a lot of trouble keeping up. I was fatigued. I was more tired than the other girls. But I just kind of ignored it. Everyone thought, "Hey, you're grieving and you're in this situation. You're probably a little out of shape." Life went on. Then three months later, I went to the Middle East again with girls from college. I had a friend from college whose husband had gotten a job in Abu Dhabi. We went to Dubai, Abu Dhabi. We went to a country called Oman. Then we went to Jordan. At the end, we hiked Petra, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In that hike, I was so short of breath and lightheaded. The other girls went ahead of me. I didn't know if I could finish the hike. I saw all of these older travelers passing me. There was a very heavy set gentleman, probably 30 years older than me, who passed me. He himself was struggling and he still passed me. I thought, there's something wrong here. Him hacking up his lungs, he's probably a smoker, still moving beyond where I was. I knew that something wasn't right. I kept telling friends and family I felt short of breath and everyone again said, "You probably have asthma. Just you're fine." I never went to a doctor about it. I just ignored it. I had gone back to work in June of 2019. I was working full-time. I had my son. I was very busy. I just didn't really put a lot of thought into what might be going on with me. Then one night I left work and I was walking up the stairs of our parking structure and I felt so lightheaded, I knew I was going to faint. I made it to my car. I opened my car door. I slouched into the front seat of my car. The next thing I know, I woke up and I had fainted. I immediately called friends and family and said that I had fainted, but I felt well enough to drive home, which I should not have done. I went home and my parents said, "You need to go to the ER. You've fainted. Something's wrong." I said, "Nope, not going to go. I'm fine," but they convinced me the next morning to go to the ER. So I did. You have to remember, this is now February of 2020. It was really just the beginning of COVID. The ER was packed. They didn't have room for me at all. They did a number of tests on me, but no one even came back to talk to me and tell me what the results of my echo were. When I finally insisted on knowing what was going on, the ER doctor on the floor quickly looked at my echo and said everything was normal, but that they wanted to run more tests, because they were concerned that my resting heart rate was near a hundred and my EKG had been abnormal. Even the doctors made excuses for that and said, "Maybe your heart just fires abnormally. Maybe that's your norm." I don't look sick. I'm young and I'm petite, and so everyone thinks you must be healthy. I wound up signing AMA paperwork, which is against medical advice, and I left that ER, because they weren't telling me that anything was wrong. I had been there for a full day and they didn't have a room to admit me. I didn't want to spend overnight in a communal ER space. So I went home. In the middle of the night, a cardiologist who was on call from that ER took a look at my echo and realized that there was something severely wrong with the right side of my heart. He thought that I had a pulmonary embolism. He called and left a voicemail in the middle of the night, which I didn't get until the next morning, and said, "You are in a life or death situation. You need to go to a hospital immediately. Call 911." When I woke up, I called 911. An ambulance took me to a different bigger hospital that I asked them to take me to, which is Long Beach Memorial. I was there for the next four days, where they quickly did CT scans and tests to determine whether or not I had a pulmonary embolism. I didn't, but they could see that the right side of my heart was extremely enlarged and that something was very, very wrong. Within a few days of being at the hospital, they had tentatively diagnosed me with pulmonary hypertension. They could not find a reason why. My diagnosis is idiopathic. They then said that I could go home, but they wanted to do a right heart catheterization on March 4th to confirm my diagnosis, which they did do. It confirmed that I had pulmonary arterial hypertension. My pressures were extremely high. I believe it was something like 140 was the top number and it should be between 20 and 25. I had a very severe case, and my heart was very enlarged, so I was in heart failure. They told me, "Your best chance here is that you need to go to UCLA," because that's where the biggest pulmonary hypertension treatment center is in Southern California. That's where I went. I had gone from being very high functional and continuing to work every day to feeling like I could not get out of bed. I had no energy, and I didn't know how I was going to move forward in my life. I felt like I was basically permanently disabled. Mentally, I was in a very dark place. I couldn't stay off Google and reading that my life expectancy might be two or three years. My son was little. My husband had already passed. It was just a nightmare. I found Richard Channick at UCLA and he was just a light. He saw me. He got me on medication right away, which immediately made a big difference. He told me that I needed to not look at Google and I needed to know that he has patients that have lived with this disease for decades, even 30 years. That really I'm going to do how I'm going to do. It depends on whether I'm a responder or not. He calls it a responder, a non-responder. We saw pretty clearly right away that I was a responder. There was some hope, but there have still been ups and downs. He put me on two medications to start with, and I did feel a big improvement right away. I had been on disability for a while after my diagnosis. After my medication levels were where there were supposed to be and I was feeling better, I did go back to work. But Rich did another right heart catheterization I want to say in September 2020, probably about six months after my diagnosis. My numbers were down, but my top number was still around 90 or 100. He wasn't as happy with my progress as he wanted to be. He decided that we needed to be aggressive and go on a third medication. I went on Uptravi. For those in the PH community, you know that that's a pretty hard medication to go on. There's a lot of side effects. You have to titrate on it. For some people it's easier than others. I had a very difficult time titrating. When you're titrating, you're supposed to stay on a level just for about a week at a time, and then you can step up. It took me much longer. For a while, I had to stay at a level for about a month before I could really titrate up again. I wasn't sure if I was going to even be able to handle going to the max dose, which is 1,600 micrograms twice a day. I got stuck at like 800 micrograms. I really had a hard time with it. I was very sick from the medication, but ultimately those side effects dissipated and I was able to get to the max. It's really changed my life. I'm so glad that Rich convinced me that I needed to go up to a third med and get to that level on the medication, because I've now seen a vast improvement. We did another right heart catheterization. My numbers are down. My top number is now in the mid-forties. I want to say 45. That's a big difference from 145 when I was diagnosed. It's still considered I want to say moderate, but my six minute walk test is very good. Very functional. He's happy with all of my progress. I haven't had to go on intravenous medication yet. So I've been stable where I'm at. But I still have good and bad days, just like anybody with chronic illness. All the while, I'm trying to be a mom and work full-time. I look healthy, so it's hard. People don't always understand everything that I'm experiencing, because they assume that I am a healthy 40 year old woman. For me, the biggest thing is that I wanted to travel again, and the pandemic and my health situation kind of took that away for me. Travel was always something that was very important to me. Here in November, I have my first international trip planned since I've been diagnosed. I am going to Spain and to Portugal to celebrate my 40th birthday on November 17th. My advice is to listen to that voice in your head or that gut feeling. If you know that something is off with your body, don't ignore it or put it off to the wayside. As a caregiver to my husband, I never ignored any symptom that he voiced to me. I was his biggest advocate, and I was really an aggressive advocate on his behalf. If he said something was wrong, I was paging the doctors. I was sending messages in the portal. I did not let it go untreated. It's so ironic that when it came to my own symptoms, even when people were urging me to seek medical care after I had fainted, I kept wanting to ignore it. I think I didn't want to face that there might be something really wrong, because I think deep down I knew that something was really wrong. I had always been an active, healthy person, and it wasn't normal for me to be that fatigued and that short of breath. I knew that I wasn't just overtired or overworked or grieving. I knew that there was something going on with my body. For anyone who has that feeling, go to the best medical provider or at least your general practitioner. Try to find a specialist like I have at UCLA, who can really do the workup that you need. To get diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, you do ultimately need to have the right testing and the right heart catheterization to confirm the diagnosis. I was lucky that at Long Beach Memorial, they were a big enough medical center where they were equipped to do all of those tests and had a cardiologist and a pulmonologist who were well versed with pulmonary hypertension and knew to give me that workup and begin my journey with the diagnosis that I was given in March of 2020. My name is Katie Sample, and I'm aware that I'm rare.

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