Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20A | 20B | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25-26 | 27 | 28-29 | 30 | 31 | 32
PART I
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
33
MARINA BLUBBERED IT all out to Dot, who had hustled her into the house as soon as Marina appeared on the doorstep. Barefoot. In her shredded and bloody nightgown. Her hair a mess. Eyes red. Skin welting up and bleeding. Chest heaving from the run.
Dot sat beside her on the sofa and held her hands while she tried to make her words make sense but she couldn’t even make them understandable.
“Marina, stop,” Dot said gently, pressing a wet towel on her forehead and cheeks as she’d been doing for the last quarter hour. “Stop talking. You can tell me later.”
It took a while. Dot sopped her brow, held her hands, rubbed her back, did all the things one does to comfort someone else while they cry. Finally, Marina was down to the occasional hiccup and she began.
Dot was also shocked by Marina’s parents’ behavior. Or at least, that was what she thought until Dot interrupted, “You upchucked. At breakfast. Before you ate.”
Marina nodded hesitantly because there was something in her voice …
“Is this the first time that’s happened?”
Marina shook her head. “It’s been happening for the last two weeks. I have the flu. Then my mother told me I was getting fat and I—”
Dot put a trembling hand to her mouth, her eyes wide. “Oh, dear,” she whispered weakly. “Oh, dear. Oh, oh, dear. Does Trey know?”
Marina squeaked in desperation. “What does Trey have to do with me having the flu?”
“Trey is responsible for this,” she hissed, startling Marina with her show of anger, but it shouldn’t have. Dot had never liked Trey. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“Well, three weeks ago. Remember? At Kresge’s that last time? Dot! I don’t understand. My mother said I was in the family way and asked me what I’d been doing with him and I don’t know how you can be in the family way if you’re not married. You can’t get that way until you get married!”
Dot’s jaw dropped on the floor. “You— Uh … I— You don’t know—” She clapped her mouth shut, then screamed, “MOTHER!”
* * *
“Oh, Marina,” Sister Albright crooned as she helped Marina sit on the toilet and crouched in front of her, patting rubbing alcohol on her cuts. Marina didn’t move, not even when the alcohol stung. It felt good, really. “Do you have any idea what’s happening?”
“No,” Marina answered dully, unable to sit up straight.
Sister Albright tsk’d when she coaxed Marina’s ice-filled hand away from her eye. “Goodness,” she breathed, unable to hide her distress.
“I don’t know what I did,” Marina whispered.
“Certainly nothing to deserve this. Your mother did this?”
“Yes. I mean, I think she’s really my grandmother, but … ” But Marina was out of breath and words.
Sister Albright sighed and continued to take care of Marina in ways she had never been cared for before.
“I asked him,” Marina murmured dully after a while, feeling Sister Albright’s gentle ministrations, “not to disappear. To tell me when he was no longer interested.”
“Mmmm.” After what seemed a long time, she said, “What do you know about being in the family way?”
Marina sighed and recited, “When you get married, God puts a baby in you.”
“You still believe that?”
“Yes.”
“And how do you think you got that way?”
If Marina weren’t in so much pain, she’d scream. “I am not in the family way. I’m not married.”
“I see.” Sister Albright continued to pet and pamper her while inspecting her cuts and bruises. “She really went to town on you,” she whispered, putting more cold water on Marina’s bruises. “I think for now we’ll just get you some aspirin and put you to bed.”
Marina’s eyes were beginning to close. She couldn’t even nod, she hurt so much. At least her tummy wasn’t upset anymore.
“C’mon,” she said as she stood, carefully taking Marina’s arm and urging her to her feet. “Help you to bed. Dot’ll be home some time this evening when Bishop’s finished his rounds.”
Marina went slowly because her legs were too trembly from her run, the deep scrapes on her knees, and sitting for so long once she’d reached safety. Sister Albright supported her all the way to Dot’s bedroom, then helped her into bed. It was hot and humid and Marina now had one of Sister Albright’s nightgowns on, so she didn’t need blankets.
“Good night, Marina,” Sister Albright murmured as Marina let her head sink into the pillow and closed her eyes. It was hot. Humid. Marina wasn’t cold.
She would never be warm again.
33
If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.
I’m feeling sorry for Marina.
Grandma is a twunt.
Anyone else been thinking about some Marina on Dot action?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u33g0vlGaPM
🎶🎶
Down, boy. Doesn’t happen.
😋
There’s always Fan fiction.
Not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mGBaXPlri8 ?
Thanks, Mo.
I sense Part Deux coming soon.
Chapter 39
Part II: “Elevator to the Gallows”
I anticipate savoring that.
Spoiler?
I wrote almost that entire section while playing the soundtrack to Miles Davis’s Elevator to the Gallows on repeat.
Toronto man beats other man with live snake.
Snake seemed to survive.
Common sense snake control joke? Nothing?
You fucking cunts.
There’s no kink-shaming on Glibs.
She would never be warm again
Marina doesn’t live long enough to get hot flashes?
She goes to work in a meat packing plant.
Huh, is that what they call it in KC?
For the KC Glibs:
Don Denkinger, umpire who gave Kansas City Royals undeserved World Series, dies at 86
For some reason, TT wants to know where he’ll be buried.
HALP why am I the only one in the zoom room?
WTF is wrong with you people? I ain’t gonna start drinking til at least 3 more of you fucking losses shoe up.
“fucking losses shoe up.”
Hmmm.
Right?
lol
You know, we wouldn’t want to encourage something she might regret.
LOL. And there’s 10 people here now and I’m still stone cold sober
Maybe people finally developed the common sense not to do Zoomshit.
I’m working. Also, I don’t drink.
Love ya!
I want to see Creepy Trey come out of the woodwork and do the honorable thing. There were a couple early marriages from girls in my high school class. At least Dot was saved that fate.
It really is a little hard to believe a 16 year old girl wouldn’t know about some things. I know, I know, it’s fiction but still…
Thanks, Moj, another week of nail biting
It’s a lot less fictional than you’d think, at least as late as the 70s*, but this is 1929. I’m pretty sure there were a whole lot of 16yo girls whose mothers never gave them the Talk and didn’t have the connections to learn about it from anyone else.
*So, my uncle was a bishop and my aunt fostered girls who were pregnant. This was the 70s. She told me she had a lot of girls come through who didn’t know how they’d gotten pregnant.
There are a lot of “claims” (so to speak) that I make in my books that are from real life or at least, incidents I am told by other people whom I have no reason to doubt. I have a character I based on one guy, like, down to details (with permission), and people don’t like how I wrote him because “people like that don’t exist.” Well. I know one who does, and one’s all it takes.
So the onset of menstruation didn’t even merit a discussion? [Not having a sister or daughter or being a mother I have no real clue about that, but really?]
Very little, especially back then if you didn’t have a wicked old crone in your family who’d tell you straight up.
“You’re a woman now*. Here’s how you work your rags and here’s how you clean the blood out of your clothes and for heaven’s sake, don’t let any man know you do that. It’s filthy.”
My mother half-ass explained sex to me and how babies are made. And she explained how to use a belt and a Kotex. She refused to show me how to use a tampon. She never actually put sex + menstruation together for me, or if she did, I don’t remember it.
*For absolutely no definitions of “woman.”
FWIW, I didn’t get any sort of “talk” from Mom or any of my three older brothers. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Different for girls sure but still.
I was wondering about that as well.
We really live in different times now.
There were a couple early marriages from girls in my high school class.
There were a few gals in my old high school that popped out kids.
None got married that I know of during high school. Maybe after high school they did.
@Sean, since you’re here, and for @Shpip’s benefit: Which BBQ sauce did you like better, Gates or Bryants?
Bryants
Re: sauces
https://www.notjoemamas.com/product-page/cajun-blue-cheese
This is a stocked item in my pantry. Y’all, this is so good. Also great on pork chops.
You know what else forgives student loans? A zero fucking balance.
Fun fact – if you default long enough, they might drastically cut the balance. I’ve heard.
Would be a lot easier if tuition wasn’t rising faster than inflation. I guess those administrators don’t come cheap.
Not sure if it was linked earlier today, but Remy has a new masterpiece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-qPrOE_VM
https://archive.is/zRjAg/d85fc4c5edd5a3e3b6cbe223d2d3316af704f081.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/hdTbp/d3b0cfd8306b5bb4edde49c7f1e9607241e24575.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/eenWX/dbcbb6ee274471821612d10c24bbff2b4f68d233.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/qrA0V/80c83b688d608cf53a16db2e3df2a192894c551c.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.is/o6cVS/c884cd730a213900048064f10e8d5a86bfed815d.jpg
NSFW.
Go on….
A while ago I posted this guy’s crazy story about his self defense killing. I didn’t buy it and neither did the jury.
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/essex/montclair/2023/05/12/james-ray-guilty-murder-of-angela-bledsoe-in-montclair/70213410007/
Another good edition of the Radio Free California podcast: https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/national-reviews-radio-free-california-podcast/new-and-improved-gavin-newsom/
In particular stick around (or start at) around 53:00 to hear the 1 on 1 discussion with Edward Ring on some of the specific water/power issues in CA – very interesting perspective this time including some interesting discussions on scarcity in a free market environment – and more detailed looks at gatekeeping which gives some rational reasons why some companies/organizations would want to prevent reducing scarcity due to losing profits – ie. water rights, energy generation, etc.
I bought something fun today.
Woot!
Racecar is wonderful. Details?
2001 986 Boxster S with a 997 3.6L engine swap and six speed with Numeric shifter, IDP plenum, straight pipes, Bilstein PSS9 suspension, new clutch, flywheel, AOS, IMS upgrade, big brake kit, the whole nine yards.
2300 lbs empty, 385hp on the dyno.
I was really close to pulling the trigger on a Radical SR3. This presented itself and I decided to go with it because that radical was gonna need more track day support than I have (which is none).
Good decision.
And congrats!
I’m pretty excited to get it through my shop for new fluids and then get it to the track. Trying to get to ECR in a couple weeks but that’s Memorial Day weekend and it’s also a club race weekend. It’ll be a circus.
So it might be six weeks before I get to track it. But that’s ok.
Sweet. Congrats!
Looks great! Have fun with it.
Nice
That is a nice trailer. Will somebody remove that car for you since it has no steering wheel or AC?
Neat! It’s got a plate, is it really road legal?
Not even close. That plate was just there so I could drive it where I could load it. Forgot to take it off.
Congrats!
Marina sighed and recited, “When you get married, God puts a baby in you.”
“You still believe that?”
“Yes.”
“And how do you think you got that way?”
If Marina weren’t in so much pain, she’d scream. “I am not in the family way. I’m not married.”
Oh boy.
New Twitter CEO blocked Shoeonhead today for…this.
I think Elon’s fucking her. Going for his 23rd kid or something.
He couldn’t have made a worse choice and by that I mean he could have done worse but FFS.
“Anderson Cooper: ‘You Have Every Right Never To Watch CNN Again’ After Trump Town Hall”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/anderson-cooper-you-have-every-right-never-watch-cnn-again-after-trump-town-hall
Way ahead of you amigo, I’ve been never watching CNN again for at least a decade.
I vaguely remember watching a bit of Headline News in the early 90s… otherwise, yeah no.
Headline News was my default background noise channel on my 13″ bedroom TV/VCR combo from around ages 11-16. I’ll bet I was the only adolescent male in the country with a crush on Rudi Bakhtiar.
Maybe only teen but definitely not the only male. She was hot.
Same. CNN was actually something reasonable to watch during the first Gulf War. But then, so was the CBC.
Were you in an airport?
This makes me happy.
https://twitter.com/emeriticus/status/1657220352387301376
Hopefully it pans out and doesn’t end up as commissary money.
This is very high profile. I’m not saying someone couldn’t take advantage of the situation but it would be awfully stupid.
I was referencing he’d have to use anything leftover to support himself if convicted. Not suggesting he was going to misuse funds.
Somewhat hopeful sign: Bragg skipped the grand jury, presumably because he was concerned he might not have gotten the result he wanted.
Funny how the two gentlemen of color who helped Penny restrain Neely weren’t charged with anything.
I’m sure the reason is… hey look a bird!
I missed your meaning. This kind of cash will allow a very thorough investigation by the defense. I’ll bet a bunch of people on that train car can testify to many more threats that were made and how they were fearful. With a good defense, he will walk.
Greetings from paradise! I have some opportunities to show my art at some galleries. I am doing guitars, longboards and jewelry boxes as usual, but this time I am using tinted powders, lets see how it works out.
Cheers!
There is a Dr. Seestak somewhere in this country. I would totally be that asshole who slips the L in there where it belongs.
Chakaa lives
I knew several young ladies during the mid 1980s in University who honestly believed that they couldn’t get pregnant if they didn’t have an orgasm.
Seriously. I have no idea where that particular belief came from.
Supposedly the orgasm caused some muscles to relax that let the sperm through. Naive I know but still better times IMHO.
They were serious? It wasn’t a joke?
“Baby, I’m just trying to keep things safe. “
Lol.
Go Chester Cheetohs and They Don’t Exist!
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/front-office-sports_some-nfl-teams-spend-weeks-and-thousands-activity-7062780666161029120-M8Fz?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
😀
Go 49er 69ers Stars!
Are you going to some Boston Bengals games this season?
I did like that the one girl was skeptical that the Pats logo was a bull.
The truth is out there.
And the Titans play the Cowboys twice!
No way this won’t work.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/12/blue-city-weighs-spending-millions-on-ritzy-hotel-to-house-homeless/
There is a party in my pants, and if you play your cards right, you could be invited.
Let’s play “hit the piñata”!
Good Saturday morning?
Today we pick up the bees, came all the way from CA just to make honey (with any kind of luck) for a geezer. The countdown to HH begins.
Good morning!
Turns out that all my irrigation was going under the oak trees I removed (???) Now I get to try to fix it all. Yay.
Now that you’ve removed the oak trees, you don’t have to worry about the irrigation going under them any more.
/ducking
Get out there and kick some ass, Glibs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5NZsCYOM4j0
🎶🎶
90s overload 👍
Good morning all.
Mornin’
Good morning, ‘loosey, Shirley, rhy, Sean, Ted’S., Lack, and 4(20)!
Overcast, but still pleasant here at Tranquility Base!
suh’ fam
whats goody yo