It's All Relative

And no, I'm not talking about the election. I'm referring to our new literary challenge.

It will be based upon the "Rashomon Effect". This term evolved from a Japanese movie entitled "Rashomon". The gist of it all is that everything is relative, including the truth. James Berardinelli noted that that movie "is not about culpability or innocence. Instead, it focuses on something far more profound and thought-provoking: the inability of any one man to know the truth, no matter how clearly he thinks he sees things. Perspective distorts reality and makes the absolute truth unknowable."

The new challenge is as follows, with the rules being subject to change as we go as this is new territory for me:

I will begin by writing a piece, or chapter if you will, of a story being that I can't write a complete story in one sitting. The goal then is for each of you to write this story from another character's perspective, either from a character I have already introduced or a character from your own creation that you can sensibly place within the story.

This will be a contest. The best entries will be chosen and put up. From there, the story will continue with a new chapter introduced here and there with new entries being accepted for those chapters. Who will write the centerpiece for each succeeding chapter will depend upon how things go. It is my goal to ask the best entrant from each chapter to write the starting piece for the next chapter and that hopefully they will accept.

As to time limits, I intend to let this flow at a comfortable pace, rushing no one. Obviously, it will depend upon the number of entries received as well.

On days between stories it is my intention to always have something up for discussion. Any suggestions or subjects or articles that any of you have will be welcomed. Just send them in. The more, the better.

Sincerely,

RDD

Note to all: Since my computer is still busted I am having extreme difficulty accessing my yahoo email account or replying to any emails there that I have been able to read. Annie, I wanted to let you know I did get to read yours and I thank you and will be taking you up on that.

Thanks,

RDD

Here is an article I read today over at the Guardian that I thought I would share with you all on this election eve.

Article

Please note that I am in no way endorsing either candidate nor attempting to influence your vote. I merely found it thought provoking and wished to see what thoughts it would elicit from this incredible group of people that gather here on a daily basis....That includes you too Rance. Any humdingers will be considered for front page billing...

Sincerely,

RDD

News Item: Rubber Duckie Guilty of Vice
It is with great pleasure, as well all of the platitudes generally found in letters of this sort, that I hereby announce the promotion of Rubber Duckie to the positions of Vice Rance and Chief Operating Officer, effective as soon as I finishing typing this letter.

At a time when this blog was adrift, Rubber Duckie appeared and not only provided a rudder (please feel free to replace "rudder," etc., with good water fowl metaphors if you've got them; I've still got a whopping candy corn hangover and the caffeine's yet to kick in), but steered it in a new and wonderful direction--no less than the digital equivalent of a literary salon. She is a fantastic administrator, an equally gifted writer, and a swell bird--I'm thankful she wasn't among the barrelful shot by Mr. Cheney.

I now turn the control panel over to Rubber Duckie and look forward to the ride.

Sincerely,

R


Administrative Note:

Not to detract from Rubber Duckie's promotion, but it's been brought to our attention that there are "captainhoof"s and "rance"s keeping blogs elsewhere (notably mindsay) and purporting to be one and the same as the people (or machines) responsible for this site. They ain't.

PTI The Ending By Rocker aka The Director's Cut

The bubbles from the champagne lifted laboriously from the stem of the champagne glass. John looked through the opaque yellow liquid, out of the window of his hotel room. The world danced so much quicker to the rhythm of champagne, he thought. Dancing, dancing dancing...

Alexander looked on, while listening in an earpiece. Poor John Luc, he thought, so much money, so little life left. And in his ear was his wife. Crazy, poor, destitute, lost. From one man to another, he was there every step of the way. Love, they called it. The poets, the romantics, the prose masters who made him believe that one person who touched him so could make so much sense. But the harshness of life had taught him that love was as relevant as Latin. A beginning of everything, but dead, nonetheless. Daisy, my love, he thought, what a fallacy. And there, talking to her, was his daughter, Annabella. The child that a false love conceived. All he wanted for her was a good life. The purest of character, Annabella deserved the riches of John. As long as he kept his employer, John Luc, believing that Annabella was his daughter, Anna would inherit everything. Then he could let John Luc die.

Annabella stood in front of her mother. Her knees felt weak, like they would give way, but she held on. It was Daisy who fell. Her face hit the ground, but Anna didn't move. She tried to stand, but Anna didn't move. She was crying, but Anna didn't move.

Daisy, or Sara, as she once was known, or Alexis, as she was known before she met and killed the real Sara, cried. It was over, she thought. The inheritance, the life goal she built her life around. All of it was crumbling. She felt her side, felt the .45 with the silencer and contemplated killing everyone before she was forced to kill herself. Contemplated a death that warriors once believed in. Warriors like the Vietnam vet father that beat her and raped her. He was the reason for this. War and violence had twisted him. Why should she be the only one to suffer. She pulled out the pistol and watched Annabella finally fall with her, the barrel to her head, like she welcomed death.

Anna closed her eyes. She felt the cold steel on her head and her eyes closed, the memories of a false past fading in. The swingset Daisy, or Sara, or whoever she really was, pushing her while a man stood and laughed. The man they said was Inigo. The Inigo with a lost father. She had not known him, her grandfather, but Inigo wanted the best for her. He held her, he loved her. He kept her away from her mother when she was too drunk. He took her fishing. He taught her about life. Taught her about love. And then his scar on his forehead flashed. The same scar the jogger had. That man, that killer, that man who was protecting me....she smiled. She may die now, and she heard the click of a hammer being pulled back...but she would die knowing the truth.

Kites. That's what he saw. Kites outside the bars. OHHHHH, so pretty they were, Stan thought. Sam saw them too. But he was too busy crying. They hated bars, WHY THE BARS!!!! Stan slammed his head against the stone. It hurt, but he did it again and again and again and again and....

Kato's eyes opened. The darkness was gone now. Doctors walked the hallways outside his door, and he pulled himself up. The cold tile floor caused him to reflex at first, as he pulled the wires from his body. He walked out and nurses paid no attention. Why would they, he was the man in this town. The Sheriff in a southern oasis. The one thing that kept him going...Anna. He knew about her past. He knew who she was...that she could inherit it all. And along the way...he fell in love...

John fell. He hurt. His body hurt. Age had done this. Time had done this. Love had done this. A heart can only feel so much, he thought, as his body started giving way. Alexander came to his side. He held him. He had been so good, this man. He deserves it all. I wish, John thought, I wish I had known him before all this. John smiled, and touched Alexander's face. Alex let a tear fall...but only one. His face didn't show the emotion, as if that tear never existed. But John knew....he saw it. The crystal drop...in it he saw Paris...he saw New Orleans...he saw Rose dancing, Rose smiling, Rose laughing...Rose...and it all faded to black..."Anna" was all he could say...

"You don't deserve it." Anna opened her eyes and saw her mother staring at her. "You don't...I did all the work...you were a mistake..."
"Then kill me. My life is a lie. A joke. A con."
Sara blinked twice. She saw her eyes in Anna's eyes. She saw her determination in her. She saw her strength in Anna. She saw her life in Anna.
"Kill me" Anna said again. "My entire life...its all a lie. You made me a lie. And I should die now that I know the truth."
The hammer was pulled. It was all ready. Two bullets. One for he daughter, one for her.

But 'Sara' never felt the lead that filled her head. She never felt her gray matter split in two at the base of her brain. It was too perfect a shot. A shot from an assassin. But this wasn't an assassin. This wasn't a bodyguard. This was a Podunk cop in a Podunk town.

Anna watched as 'Sara' tried to smile. She was free, Anna thought, as Sara's body fell, then gun falling from her hand. And there, to her left, was Kato. Still in hospital gown. Still smiling. Still warm...He fell next to her. He held her. And behind him, the jogger, the assasin, the employ of John Luc, the man she knew as Inigo...Alexander : Her father.

"He's dead...your grandfather," There was a wink, and Alexander handed Anna the pendant and pin that would secure the inheritance she deserved. Anna stood up to hug him...but he stepped back. In China there was a missionary whose life was his charge. This selfish adventure was over...another awaited him. He blew his daughter a kiss and walked away...the fallacy of love, he thought...so fleeting...

Sam stumbled out of the broken bars....no alarm had sounded. Stan was dead. So much blood. He tried to put it back in the body but it was so messy. SO MESSY!!! And all Stan said was...GET THE PIN. IT IS OUR MONEY. MONEY!!! GREEEN!!! FROGGSSSSS!!! Sam liked Frogs...time to find that Pin. To get the frogs...Stan had died for it...too much blood. Stan lost so much blood. We need to get more...from the pin...from frogs??? And Sam took off....

And in a small room in a small house in a small part of Opelika a small girl sat in a chair and watched her false father die from the poison that killed so many before her....Her mother died and another was going to inherit what was hers...Lily knew that even though she was young...the time would come to get what was rightfully hers...so the blood that coursed through her veins told her.

"CUT!" Michel Gondry said. "PRINT!"

Dakota Fanning stood up from the chair and the hot lights that set the scene faded and the studio stage lights came on, a door opening and the sun blasting in as the crew clapped. Dakota did an exaggerated bow, laughing. John C. Reilly came up behind her and swung her around. This cast had been playful, enjoying the ride. And it translated on celluloid.

Rancette stood aside with LC, the producer, and Rance, now relegated to an exec. Producer.

"Do you think it'll play?" LC asked.

Rance shrugged. Rancette looked worried.

"Doubt it. Too many twists. This isn't a fucking Alias episode. This isn't a fucking feature." Someone said.

"Fuck it. I like it well enough. Why not, right? I told Kevin McCormick we'd have something good, and he approved the script. I don't see why Warners won't agree with the print. Shit, Michel will edit it all himself anyway. He's genius. It'll be sweet. Lorenzo thought it'd be good. And if DiBoniventura thought It'd be good, It'll be good." Rance said, assuring himself.

THE END.

PTI The Ending by Rubber Duckie (Due to Rocker being MIA)

Note to Rocker: If you happened to write your part, but simply failed to get it in please send it on and we will post it as an alternative ending.

"You're not my mother?"

The white coats behind the mirrored glass waited with great anticipation. Were they on the verge of the long awaited break through? Kato leaned forward, pressed a button and spoke into a box "It's time. Proceed."

Anna was startled by a knock on the door. An attractive lady with a calming presence entered the room. She had dark auburn hair and familiar eyes. In a hypnotic voice she began..."No, Sarah is not your mother. Your name is Rose, not Anna. You are 64 years old. The year is 1968. You are in the Moon Valley Sanitarium. You have been here since the age of 40."

Anna pressed her hands to her temples and clawed her fingers through her hair. This had all become too much. How much more insanity could she take? Through clenched teeth she defiantly, but quietly said, "My name is not Rose, nor do I live in a sanitarium." As the words escaped from her lips a white light from behind her eyes shot pain through her head like a bolt of invisible lightning. She held her head as she fell to the floor on her knees. The flashes grew brighter until eventually she could see the presence of images before them, like a shadow puppet scene on the wall projected by the light of a blazing fire. The images soon grew more defined and the movie that had been her life began to play...

She mouthed the words "My name is Rose." It was more of a questioning statement to herself than to anyone else.

The panel behind the glass listened intently. They had been working on her case for years and this was the farthest she had ever progressed. During this last episode she had finally acknowledged Sarah's death, even though it was at the hands of someone else. This was a positive sign. Perhaps she could recover her past, work through it and begin to live in the present as herself instead of this alter personality.

The woman in white took her hand and helped her up from the floor. She sat her down on the bed and in a soothing voice she said, "Your name is Rose. You were married to Clyde. You had two children, a son and a daughter. Your son's name was Anthony. You thought he had died at birth, but he didn't. Anthony was taken from you by your father and given to a couple to raise as their own. You soon after had your daughter, Sarah. As fate would have it, Anthony left home at an early age and wandered into your town. Your true relationship remained unknown to you both. He came knocking on your door looking for work and you hired him to work around the house. He became very close with your daughter. In fact, they fell in love..."

She paused here, waiting for the knowledge to sink in, looking for some recognition in the patient. Anna's eyes looked down as she squeezed and twisted her hands. A single tear streamed down her cheek. She turned her head away, but asked the woman to continue.

"Sarah became pregnant and she and Anthony came to you with the news. They were going to be married. You were sad because she was so young, but happy as you knew they were in love. When your father learned of the relationship he had the boy investigated. He wanted to know exactly who this boy was and his family connections. It wasn't long before he discovered that Anthony was his grandson, your son, and Sarah's half-brother. Karma had more than repaid him for the horrible deed he had done. He couldn't tell anyone the truth, knowing that all would see him for who he was, but he also couldn't let this baby, conceived in incest, be born. He had Anthony and Sarah killed, staging the horrible scene as a murder/suicide at the hands of a jealous Anthony. To be rid of any memory of this horrible mess he had taken your pin, the gift from John, who was Anthony's father, and had the engraving of love sautered over and replaced with the engraving of death...memento mori. He had it stuck in the breast of Sarah. He knew you wouldn't want to keep it then. He also took the pendant and had one of his lackey's sell it to the jeweler. Your father was a very powerful man. When the sheriff didn't automatically declare the crime a murder/suicide he saw to it that he was not re-elected and that the new sheriff would be in his back pocket. This would close the past for good...or so he thought."

Anna screamed out in pain. She knew! She knew that it wasn't a murder/suicide. Anthony had no cause to be jealous. Sarah had never so much as looked at another boy. And he could never have harmed her. Never! The pin would lead her to the murderer. The officials might have closed this case, but she would never give up. She had went to the police station and asked for the pin back. After all, the case had been closed and it was hers. She took it and went to every jeweler within driving distance until she found him...the one who did the work. While waiving a gun she threatened his life until he told her who had brought it in...it was her father. She drove in a blind rage to her father's estate. She found him in his parlor enjoying a Cuban cigar. It would be his last.

He had confessed to everything, horrors beyond her wildest imagination. She had made him kneel on the floor and ask forgiveness from her and his God. Then she shot him...

*********

They gave her several hours to be alone with her thoughts and to express her grief. Then they all went in to explain her condition and answer any questions she might have. Dr. Kaelin was in charge.

"Rose, we think it is now time to explain why you are here at Moon Valley. After the murder of your father you had a nervous breakdown. You developed an alter personality...Anna. We believe that psychologically you chose Anna as a representation of the child that Sarah never had. Via Anna you were always trying to solve the murder of Rose and Clyde, jumping forward years into the future. Apparently, it was too much for your mental state to acknowledge the death of Sarah and Anthony so your mind conveniently altered facts to accommodate your fragile mental state. In most of the fantasies, Sarah and Anthony were always alive; they had simply disappeared or ran off. We knew this last episode was going to be a break through because you finally acknowledged the death of Sarah, albeit at the hands of someone else. Your mind always found a way for Rose to have knowledge of Anthony's origins, thereby correcting through fantasy the mistakes of reality. Most times this was brought out through your father's natural death and his honorable admission of his secret. It was simply too much for you to acknowledge what your father had done. "

He paused for her reaction and then continued, "When you were brought here and put under the care of our staff it was our job to bring you back, bring Rose back. The people you now see standing before you have been assigned to your case and have worked with you over the past 20 years, some longer than others. I am Dr. Kaelin, or Kato as you like to call me. This is Stan and Sam, two interns who have been extremely involved in your care. And last, but not least, Dr. Sandburg....Dr. Lily Sandburg."

"You have the pin!" Rose exclaimed. "You took it from me!"

"Yes." Lily said. "I have the pin. Upon your admittance it had to be removed from your possession as it was seen as an object that you could use to harm yourself with. We soon realized that this pin might be the key to your recovery. I would occasionally show it to you in the hopes that it might trigger something within."

Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out an object. As she unfurled her fingers dazzling reflections played off the light above and danced around the room. It was as brilliant as ever...

An E-Mail
Tomorrow is the grand finale of the PTI series. After that we've got some other swell stuff lined up. Today I'm going to share an e-mail I received. Its sender would be happy if you read it as well. To those of you who'll complain of the bias implicit in my decision to share it: This is my damn blog. I'd be well within my rights to go into the rename function thing and rename it "Bring Back Chairman Mao Blog" if I felt like it. To all of you: Please vote. There are some decent civic reasons to do it, plus everyone who does gets a DVP.

Happy Halloween,

R

****

Dear {Rance},

In less than one week, America will conduct what political pundits like to call "the only poll that matters." But, as Election Day fast approaches, polls give us a clear sense of our main tasks in the final days of this campaign.

We all know the bottom line. This is a remarkably close election -- both nationally and in one battleground state after another. There is little question that our get-out-the-vote efforts will decide whether John Kerry or George W. Bush leads America for the next four years.

Friday is the last day for you to contribute online to help fund these make or break efforts. The get-out-the-vote program must be fully funded by Friday. So please make a contribution to the Democratic Party today.

https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html

It is my responsibility to analyze polling data for the campaign. Because of the special role that you have played in this campaign, I want to take this opportunity to share some observations:

George Bush appears to have hit a ceiling of support at 47-48%. During the past several weeks, he has tried to break through this ceiling by attacking John Kerry. This strategy has failed, and he is running up against the clock. An incumbent president who cannot break through the 50% barrier is going to find it very difficult to win reelection.

Young voters are overwhelmingly supporting John Kerry and are one of his strongest voting blocks. This year millions of new young Americans have registered to vote, and their turnout on Election Day will be one of the deciding factors.

Almost every poll, public and private, has John Kerry doing even better in the key battleground states than in the national horserace.
This election is going to come down to the wire. Turnout on Election Day is going to decide this election. We need to make sure that the Democratic Party has the resources necessary to mobilize every voter in battleground states. Again, every piece of polling data that I have seen indicates that this effort will decide this election.

I know that you are told repeatedly, "you can make the difference." Every day I analyze polling data and I can assure that is not just a line. This year everything that each one of us does and gives in the next six days will make all the difference. Let's make history.

https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html

Thank you,

Mark Mellman

Part 27 by feenxc
Anna quickly sidestepped, hoping her mother hadn't seen the police car pulling in.
"I need to stall" she thought.

"Mother, please, you've got to rethink this!" she blurted out.

Sara gave her a shove and said "No, little girl, you're the one who has some thinking to do. Now get moving."

"Mother, I just don't think I can take anymore of this. Do you have any idea what kind of hell the last two days have been for me? I pissed off this entire town when I bought the pin, even though I gave the rest of the junk to Lily. I have had an insane monkey-like man jump out at me. That was just the beginning."

Anna quickly glanced outside, wondering who was in the police car and what was taking so long.

"On top of that, someone left a gross message on my front door, then cleaned it up before anybody else could see it. Now people are starting to think I'm the crazy one!"
"I've been in a car crash, which I am sure gave me a concussion because I had the strangest dream last night. After that, an 8 year old broke into my house, tried to steal the pin from me, and according to you, has been conning me from the get-go."

"Well I'm not sure she's been totally conning you. I am positive she has her own agenda, though." Sara interrupted.

"But I believed her" Anna wailed, "Mother, she's just a little girl."

Sara looked at her in disgust. "Pull yourself together, we've got to get going."

Anna was getting desperate. It couldn't be Kaelin in the car, he had been in surgery last she knew. Who was it? Where were they?

"Oh no, you're going to hear me out, Mother! Lily told me the most amazing story, which I thought was about my ancestors. But no, you had to ruin that, didn't you? This has been the worst day ever! I fell down my steps, hit my head, when I came to, I thought Lily had been kidnapped. On the way to look for her, I got hauled off to a murder scene by someone I thought was becoming more than just a friend. He had even brought the files on the old case for me to read."

"Please let someone come soon, I don't know how long she'll listen to me whine" thought Anna.

"I know, I read the same files" Sara interrupted again. But Anna was on a roll, not truly listening to what Sara had said.

"The absolute worst, was witnessing Deputy Kaelin being shot. I still have his blood on my clothes. And who do I find lurking around? You, of all people! Only we don't get a chance to even talk, the electricity goes out and I get kidnapped. As if enough hasn't already happened to me!"

Anna was beyond desperate. There had been more than enough time for the cop to show up. And knowing her mother's lack of patience, Anna knew she was running out of time. The only thing she had left was to keep talking.

"Mother, the strangest man took me. He claims that he is a paid killer, working for John, trying to find the true heir to John's fortunes. Only John turns out to be as looney as those two monkey-like men who now I'm told might be my brothers."

Sara laughed "Yes, he is, isn't he".

By this time Anna was getting pissed. "Mom, he told me that you are not Sara, you are not the heir, and he implied that you killed my dad...Mother you need to start telling me the truth. Are you Sara? Did you kill my father? Mother, please..." Anna was beginning to choke up, overflowing with anger and sorrow.

Sara was still laughing "You really think you can handle the truth? Well, let's start with a little question of my own..."Why do you keep calling me that?"

Anna looked confused "Calling you what?"

"Mother..."


to be continued...and ended

Part 26 by Princessr9
As the hooded man lead John out the back door, Anna walked toward the front door. She paused to take a few deep breaths and to quiet the thoughts racing through her head. Her mother's plans were obvious and she clearly had no conscience about killing people that got in her way.

The question and the temptation was, help her mother and take what money she could and run, or stop her and get revenge for her beloved father. The answer was there burning bright inside of her. Anna would avenge her father and Sara too, for their deaths were unfair and unnecessary. She took another deep breath and reached for the door.

"Hello Mother."

Anna's mother stood in the doorway, "I suppose you've figured it out. You always were a smart girl. I hope you don't think you're going to get in my way. I need that pin and you can't keep me from what is mine."

"How can the money be yours? You're not the real Sara. Besides, I don't have the pin. I haven't had it for some time now and I don't know where it is."

"Oh come now dear Anna, do you take me for a fool? I've been watching you. I saw that sweet little girl. It would be terrible if she got hurt."

"You wouldn't do that, she's just a little girl!"

"Wouldn't I?" Anna's mother removed the small gun from her coat pocket and leveled it at Anna. "We are going to go get that pin now aren't we? You're going to help your mama just like a good little girl and no one else will get hurt."

Anna's eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. "I won't let you do this."

"Oh poor Anna, I think you will." Sara reached for Anna's hand.

Just as Anna started to pull away a police cruiser pulled into the driveway.

To be continued . . . .

PTI: Part 25? By Bubba
"This is all some kind of crazy joke, isn't it? I mean it has to be," Anna cried.

"To be, or not to be...that is the quartet of merry making and pancake flipping..." At that point John began to ramble on in a quiet voice. "This guy isn't all together there anymore," Anna thought to herself.

"I know what you're thinking," said the hooded man. "And your right, he's not all together there."

"How did you know...?" Anna began before being cut off.

"I'm paid to be intuitive. Listen, some of the stuff he just told you is true. The rest was made up in his head to fill in the pieces he couldn't solve. He's been trying to figure this thing out for years and it, along with dementia, has driven him a little batty."

"Thank God! I was this close to puking my guts out at the thought of having to go on Jerry Springer and tell the story of my inbred primate family," Anna sighed and looked over at John who was counting the flowers on her living room curtains while singing "Lady Marmalade" in French.

"Sorry, I like to let him finish before I tell it like it is. Here's the truth, or at least the truth so far as we found out. Can I get you anything before I start a cup of tea maybe?"

"Who's "we"? And why the hell are you still pointing a gun at me?"

"I'm sorry, my manners are bad, I'm used to busting knee caps and making people dig their own graves. Not so used to being around ladies. "We", is the umm, how do I put it, "private agency" hired by Mr. Luc to figure out who killed Rose, who the body was left by her side, and where Sara and Anthony are. We've been looking for the answers for decades." The hooded stranger got up, put a kettle on the stove, and sat back down across from Anna.

Anna realized, for the first time in days, that she had no idea why any of this was so important. "Great, but why?" Anna asked in her best hoity voice.

"What do you mean why?"

"Why is all of this so important? What's the importance of this stupid pin? It's just a pin once owned, or not owned as it now seems, by a dead lady."

"Because that crazy old man counting flowers is worth half a billion dollars, and who ever is related to him, inherits all that. Whoever has the pin has the prize. The pin rightfully belongs to Rose's heir, and we're just trying to figure out if there is still an heir."

The kettle whistled, which startled them both. The hooded stranger laughed, and then got up to make them tea. "He's making me tea," Anna thought to herself, "There's a hired killer in my kitchen making me tea."

"You mean, my mother is going to inherit half a billion dollars?" Anna yelled into the kitchen. When he didn't answer her she started to think about her mother having half a billion dollars to do with as she pleased, and it pissed her off. She had never really gotten along with her mother; in fact, she hated her guts. She blamed her mother for her dad's death and for making her childhood seem to last a century. They had what the southerners call "a tolerable relationship." Anna had grown up in a small town about thirty minutes away from Opelika. When she had discovered that her mother was having an affair with the county sheriff, she told her father. He had simply folded up his newspaper and said, "Your mother has a great many secrets and she is not the kind of woman whose secrets you want to get involved in." And that was that! He never mentioned it again. He just lived his life normally, until he died unexpectedly six months later. On the day that he died of an unexplainable stomach ailment, he said to Anna, "I married a ghost." Anna was twelve at the time, and the day after the funeral her mom sold everything and took Anna across country. She would pick up and move after picking up a new boyfriend, using him, and then leaving abruptly.

Anna sat lips pursed and forehead furrowed thinking over her past, and somehow she slipped out, "He married a ghost." The hooded man set two cups of tea on the coffee table between them and looked at her confused. She glanced at him and said, "She's not Sara, is she?"

"You mean your mother? No, we found Sara in 1960. She was dying in a hospital in Lawrence Kansas. She had run away after her mother's death because she was afraid of the killers. It seems that she was in the house at the time of the murders, saw everything, and left before they could find her. When we told her that she was the daughter of another man, she just smiled and said that she had always known that she couldn't have been the daughter of such an evil man." As he talked, Anna noticed that he flipped the safety switch on his gun on and off, over and over. He seemed nervous, and kept looking out the window, as if he was waiting for something to happen.

"But how did my mother get into this mess?" Anna said, hoping to distract him from his nervous habit.

"Sara had been living in an apartment in Lawrence with a young woman who happened to look almost exactly like her. They became very close, so close, in fact, that Sara finally broke down and told her roommate the entire story...the murders, the money, the involvement by both the police and the bank, and of course the story of the pin. She had never known the true story of the pin, or the fact that there was a copy, but she knew that it was the only way she could prove herself as being Rose's daughter. She could perfectly describe the pin that her mother loved so much."

Anna began to feel a sickening feeling in her stomach; she knew how the story of the real Sara would be finished. She didn't want to hear the ending, but she couldn't move her lips to speak.

"Sara came down with a horrible case of the flu, at least that's what the doctor's back then thought it was. They couldn't figure out how to treat it, and she just died. We thought that that was the end of it, Sara was gone. But then in 1982 we hear about a woman whose husband died unexplainably from a stomach problem, and that her name is Sara. Mr. Luc knew that there was going to be trouble. He hired a doctor to figure out how the real Sara had died. He came back with an answer...ricin poisoning. We then found out by shear luck and a good paper trail that Sara's friend from Kansas had ordered a large amount of castor beans shortly before her husband's death. Ricin poison can be made from castor beans."

"My mother killed my father," Anna whispered.

"Yes, and Sara. And, we think she got Mark at the Opelika Inn since that is where she's been staying. We don't know why she killed him, but he probably stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time and saw the person she's been working with."

"What about Lily? How does she fit into this?"

"She's eight. Easy to bribe. She'll probably just sell the pin on EBay."

"Oh, my god! The pin is gone! I didn't even think about it!" Anna scrambled to find her keys and jacket, and then realized there was no reason to go get the pin back at that moment. Since she knew exactly where it was, it was safe. Everybody else thought that she was in possession of it, and in the meantime, she could just use the fake pin that was resting in the pocket of a man pretending to fly fish on her Persian carpet. Lily could hold on to the real one for now, Anna had bigger fish to catch. And fake bait, if well presented, is just as tasty. Anna sat back down, and rested her head on her knees. All at once, she had a whole new bag of questions she needed to open.


"Why did you shoot Kaelin?"

"Hey, you're intuitive too. Maybe you should ask yourself why he keeps following you around like a puppy." As the thoughts began racing around Anna's head like a dog on a track, she noticed that they had been talking into the evening, and that the headlights of a car had pulled into her driveway.

"I think it would be a good idea if you and Captain Cuckoo left out the back door."


Too be continued...

Today's Entry
As we are without a PTI entry today and are being denied access to our What-I-Would-Do-If-I-Ran-Fox entries reserve, we have appropriated a picture worth at least a few hundred words from the current entry in whaler Gus Openshaw's blog. We didn't exactly get his permission, but it looks like he won't be around to compain about it:


http://blubberybastard.tripod.com

Have a better weekend than Capt. Openshaw is having,

A.S.


Administrative Note:

Bubba's turn at PTI is in, terrific, and will be posted Monday.