CANDLELIT CHRONICLES: HISTORIC HAUNTS

May 26 & free read 18+ 563 word count

Read in the L.A. Times this morning that British Petroleum (BP) had warning signs of the potential expl;osion which destroyed the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico resulting in tragic loss of lives and the tremendously-expanded oikl spill which has destroyed marine life and threatened the livelihoods of fisherpesons across the width of the Gulf Coast of the United States. Five hours warning! Lives could have been saved!


This is the kind of information that makes me repeatedly speechless and unable to comment concerning this disaster-I just cannot feature the level of human greed and negligence that would countenance this. Ditto on the Upper Big Branch Mine tragedy recently in West Virginia.





http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100526,0,110384...





On a similar-loss-of-life note-a computer component manufactory in China has experienced nine worker suicides this year, plus a tenth who committed suicide in Northern China, and two who tried but survived falls.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-suicides-20100526,0,10...

Chapter Three

         Alice accepted her special root beer float from Danny Wilber with a demure thank you and a downcast smile. Alice knew she was supposed to be nice to everybody, but something about Danny just never had set right. Alice was still too young (and always would be) to understand about men who liked little girls for all the wrong reasons, but something in her spirit recoiled from Danny all the same. She was always glad when Lisabeth declared herself done at the H&K Root Beer concession and ready to move along home, or to skip over to the park a half-block away. The girls also enjoyed visiting the Madison Mills Keepers' Zoo, but they were not allowed to go there without at least one parent to accompany.





         Danny Wilber was very interested in little Alice Cavendish-but not for any of the usual or expected reasons. Stunted in his own emotional growth, Danny had no interest in sensuality, and lived only to serve the commands of The Testament Core. Besides, Danny had been dead since birth, so none of his biological processes functioned properly nor did nonexistent emotions ever interfere with the pursuit of the tasks set for him by his Testament handler, the Vice President of Personnel, whom Danny knew only as “Mr. Joe.”





-*-*-


Alice was enjoying the first of her four days with Lisabeth, her “best friend” and really, her only playmate. Alice's family lived deep into the country, not too far from the Westernmost extent of The Big Forest, where of course Alice had been forbidden to play (as if at age seven or younger she could have travelled that distance). Her mother had insisted on homeschooling her, although Alice had asked at age five why she could not attend “big kids' school” like her friend Lisabeth, whom Alice had known since age two. Lisabeth was about three and a half years older than Alice, but since their fathers were two of the only three highly placed managers at The Testament Logging Corporation, the girls played together fairly often, especially  in the summer and during Lisabeth's school holidays. Lisabeth attended a private school, Summerset Academy, which was funded by The Testament Logging Corporation. Scholarships were offered to the children of Testament employees, and Alice would have been covered by a scholarship as well, if her parents had allowed her to enroll. But on this situation, both Louise and Jerralld Cavendish had insisted: Alice was to be home schooled.