cackling in South Cackalacky

Willie here. South Cackalacky is the derisive term people who have left SC sometimes use. But it may be like Redneck in that you can use it affectionately so long as you use it yourself...
Anyway, I cackle at Jen and Pam. THIS THANG IS COMING TOGETHER.

Pam, what comes easily to me is unedited, unthought-out, not necessarily workable bits. I do like to type, apparently ( the old saying "That's not writing, that's typing" comes to mind) and, with no husband or children, I have time to do it- well, when I am not bankrupting myself at eBay.

By the way, friends, I feel like a junkie whose favorite pusher has gone to the Big House. I probably purchased 75-100 items from Primrose in 07-08 and I long for the resumption of JP's Back Door Outlet. Think of the money I am saving. And friends and relatives who do not wear the sizes I sometimes assume they do...



What I meant to say before my consumer personality jumped out was that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I have written is set in stone, either, or even in dry concrete. My way of "helping" is just to throw things out. When it fits, we keep it. When it doesn't, we dump it. I figure disagreement is a sign you have thought about what I said or did. I figure Olivia and John are working away- thinking of this in the shower and in the car and while they run or work out and suddenly, something will appear and they will say "That is not what I had in mind" and bang, the collaborative process begins.

And Pam, I think your character is great. I do hope that the part about no friends is made up, just as I hope that the part about Jen's character leaving her husband is.

But my job is to invent these episodes, not to remake YOUR lives.

Could your character live in Grosse Point, MI, Pam? Very rich people live there with connections to Detroit and the car industry. That might account for a busy executive husband and also the means to travel with this brash young woman who is at the other end (literally and figuratively ) of Detroit. Some nice talks about loyalty and its downside, some exchange of youth and relative wisdom. Anybody see AN UNMARRIED WOMAN?

Somebody once said that a government that robs Peter to pay Paul will always be able to count on the support of Paul. Similarly, when Mike suggested that OUR Amtrak doesn't have to follow the actual AMTRAK's limits, he got my immediate agreement. In various places around the country, there are small railroad companies that run excursion trains. If Katydidn't were to, say, win a charity auction, she could take Jen on what amounts to a personal train, from Detroit to Lexington. Of course, Jen's character would be swiveling back and forth, trying not to be too awed, but desperately curious as to how this was happening. And, while it would have cost more than a bus ticket, it wouldn't really be so expensive as to be impossible. I would imagine you could win a trip anywhere on a small railroad for maybe $10K? I know that is a lot, but maybe the husband gave it to her. Maybe he has planned a different trip and can't go ( workaholism) and then, with three days left, he suggests that Katydidn't take the train somewhere. He sends her an email. ooh. She doesn't know who to invite, then Ignatz dies ( by the way, Wilie T may expire some day from lack of interest, but Willie's puppeteer is counting on about 30 more years) and she decides to invite Jen. MAYBE maybe maybe, they can pick up Peter. Won't he be impressed?

Could it happen? The train would have to take them back, but maybe it wouldn't have to take Peter back... Katydidn't's husband could be compared to JP- a little distant, hard to read sometimes, but really a generous person. But that is better with a catalogue than a spouse...

You know, we could move Jen as easily as we moved Katy- There are pockets of money everywhere and Jen's character doesn't have to work in the same business, just nearby enough to get some irony out of their only knowing each other on the web. I think Katy's husband should have a really good job, but probably shouldn't be an entrepreneur- they seem more expansive and likely to be friendly. I don't know...

I LOVE the one tree, by the way. tres cool. I'd buy that book