CANDLELIT CHRONICLES: HISTORIC HAUNTS

June 3 thoughts plus Free Read

Thinking about responsibility and culpability this morning, but wanted to pause for a moment of silence for Rue McClanahan, the actress who winningly portrayed “Southern Belle-ism” on TV's The Golden Girls. Ms. McClanahan was 76. May she rest in peace, and we pray for her family and loved ones who survive.





http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=79989&catid=175





Responsibility: British Petroleum has failed yet again to clean up the mess its exploded offshore drilling rig, Deep Horizons, caused. BP can't stop the spill-and what has already leaked over the past weeks is, of course, being in/on Gulf currents, spreading. We didn't notice BP having any difficulty accepting responsibility for the profits rolling in, so why now? Indeed.





Oh, not to mention, there is currently a $75 million CAP on fines demanded from oil companies who fail. Really.....





http://www.care2.com/dailyaction/homepage.html





http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100603,0,841699...





Deciding to return to sequelling this month, so I expect to complete Book Three of The testament Logging Corporation Chronicles, Child- Puppets of The Testament Logging Corporation. Here's today's free read from that story:

Chapter Seven

         The Testament Core liked to utilize children as its Puppet-Tools; adults usually needed to be dead to give in, although some would accede to Testament's demands simply because they themselves were evil enough. Most, though, needed to be Dead before their true service could begin. Children were gloriously ready creatures, and among this number were newborn Clyde Jenks in 1900, and in 1946, the perky pest child Lisabeth Hudson, daughter of


the Vice President of the Logging Division, the most imporant Division (along with Personnel-living and Dead) at Testament-much more important than mere Finance-which Alice Cavendish's father managed. It was the importance of Lisabeth's father's position as Vice President of Logging Operations that preserved him and her mother from a fiery death that weekend of June 1946 when little seven-year-old Alice Cavendish spent four days with Lisabeth for the occasion of Lisabeth's eleventh birthday party, to be held on that Saturday.





         Nothing had helped newborn Clyde Jenks' folks, nothing had prevented their separate and respective deaths, and nobody stood in its way. Nobody-not even their kin-spoke up to say, “No, don't destroy that one-or, save him-save her.” Nobody.





         Little Clyde Jenks came into the world evil-not the Original Sin promulgated by the Roman Catholic Church, but pure, unadulterated, self-centered, evil. Little newborn Clyde's soul, in fact, was so self-centered and self-referential that sometimes it was difficult even for The Testament Core to reign him in. It was this self-reference and self-admiration that led to Clyde's eventual-and early-demise-in the Spring of 1950 inside The Big Forest-and even then, it was not The Testament Core, but the Evil Entity buried deep within the heart of The Big Forest itself, which exterminated old Clyde Jenks and his loyal hound, Ol' Barnea. (= 10,000 words)





         Clyde was not an easy Tool for The Testament Logging Corporation to utilize, but he was a very efficient Tool. When The Testament Core first took Clyde's willingness out for a test drive, he was only six days old, a solemn and seemingly peaceful child, whose true nature only appeared when he was alone or at least unobserved. Then a look of extraordinary evil crossed his face and stars from an evil galaxy danced within his eyes.





         The evening of Clyde's sixth day, when his Daddy Willis arrived home from work, walked in to discover the wood stove not yet fired up, the lanterns not lit, and his wife nowhere to be seen, although his newborn and only son lay in his crib fresh, dry, and silent, Clyde had been a busy little baby. He had chosen to remove his mother first, because he had expected her to be the easier of his two parents. But of course Clyde had no way of remembering the way Willis had been before he met Clytie, Clyde's Mamma: weak-hearted, shiftless, work-avoidant. Clytie wasn't like that-Clytie loved Willis a whole bunch, and she loved her baby boy Clyde even more (with no good reason, as it turned out), but she was strong, stronger-willed, determined, and a very hard worker. In short, twould have been better if Clytie had been born into the Jenks line 'stead of Willis-except that then she would have been just as subject to the evil of Callwood as she became to her infant son Clyde.





         Clyde went to work on his Mamma's situation-or rather, her status among the Living-just as soon as his Daddy kissed them both goodbye and headed off to work at the Diner. Clyde bestirred her to wake up long enough to stop cuddling him sleepily, to get up and change and dress him, and to place him in the crib. He had no intention of being found in her arms when the Demon came to fetch her. No, indeedy-little newborn Clyde had way too much self-interest to take that chance! So he made certain that he was safely tucked away in the crib, close enough to observe, far enough to be out of range of spilt blood and flying body parts. He allowed enough time for Clytie, still worn out from an eighteen-hour labor which ended only six days ago, and feedings three times a night, to fall back asleep, hoping to catch at least a few hours before Clyde either became wet or hungry and decided to wake her up. The baby chuckled silently to himself; his Mamma didn't know it, but she was about to enter into an “eternal cat nap.” And when she was soundly enough asleep not to hear approaching noises, Clyde from his crib psychically threw across her an extra veil of sleep. And then he called the Demon.