a few things

Hey All,

A few things.

1 I’ve been going out to look at Hercules every night. I told you a week or two ago that he’d been pulled several feet from where I’d left him, and then several feet again. I didn’t check on him last night, and then I checked on him tonight, and he was gone. Clearly someone hauled him off into the forest. I followed a couple of game trails a little ways, but whoever moved him pulled him far enough away I couldn’t find him. I don’t know who it would have been. Most of his meat was gone. There was a fair amount of skin left, and the bones. I’ve mentioned before that bones are not a generally desirable item in the forest. I still see chicken bones from years ago when I was feeding the forest, and I see rib bones I threw out in the forest a decade or more ago. I don’t think it was bears, because they haven’t been around, and if they were around they would prefer dog food than bones. There are mountain lions here, but I don’t think they’d be interested in skin or bones. I don’t think opossums would either be interested, or strong enough. His skeleton would still be a bit big for them. Maybe they could pull him five feet but not 40. Same with foxes. There are bobcats here, but I don’t think they did it. Certainly not crows or vultures. I’ve seen crows carry away bones, but not a whole skeleton. Maybe a neighborhood dog. Or maybe a coyote. I’m not sure what a coyote would want with the bones, though.

I’m seriously considering rescuing another dog or two. I had to do some traveling for medical stuff, but that’s over for a while. I keep watching the online pages for some local rescues. There are three I’m sort of thinking of. One is a hospice dog, at the shelter and with lymphoma, with a life expectation of six months or so. They would cover all of the medical expenses. My only hesitation (and this is true for all three) is that Tony is such a little terrierist. The second one is a newfie with cushings. Longer lifespan and also they cover meds. A third is a bloodhound who is six or seven, and nobody has shown interest in him at the local shelter.

I’m reading a book about the 1812 Moscow campaign. It was a ridiculous campaign, in that it was even more than normal a pissing contest between the two leaders. Neither side really wanted war. It’s fine if they want to have a pissing contest, but it cost so many humans and nonhumans their lives. For a pissing contest.

As always when I read these stories, I feel especially for the nonhumans. There have already been definitive histories of war horses, war dogs, and war elephants, otherwise I might try to write a book on one of these.

So I’m running into more issues with the screenplay. Nothing out of the ordinary. Those of you who’ve been with the reading club a long time know that’s part of writing a piece. The first issue is that I need to introduce another half dozen girls. I know how I’ll do it, which I’ll tell you another time. I’ll tell you the reason, here. I have I think 8 or 9 girls so far, but there are going to be caught after escape, girls killed, girls who convert to Islam, girls who become pregnant, and some girls who get away. That’s more than 8 or 9.

I’ve always thought one of the great things about being in the reading club would be that the characters are still alive. When I read a book, the characters may be alive to me, but their path is predetermined, because the book is done and published. Old Yeller always gets killed. When I read Harry Potter, I knew someone important had to die, but I didn’t know who, which doesn’t alter the fact that the result could not change since the book was done.

In this screenplay, I honestly don’t know yet whether Amaka will survive, or whether kikelomo will survive. I’ll find out when the story tells me. So when you read it, she as a character is alive, with a path still undetermined.

Another problem I’m running into is that the reality is so horrible that I can’t keep piling on the unrelenting horribleness without people thinking I’m making a propaganda piece. They’ll think I’m making up especially horrible speeches or atrocities to happen to them. I’m not. I’m using literal speeches that were literally said by those who were literally in charge of Boko Haram. And so far what I’ve had them to do the girls is nothing compared to what is real. To have women slowly cut off the heads of hog-tied men, women, and children, taking twenty minutes and going from the back instead of the front so as to not cut into the jugular or carotid and kill them. And have everyone else have to watch. I’m going to be accused of exaggerating, but I’m lowballing it.

I need to go to sleep. I started this 1.5 hours ago.

More soon,

thank you,

Derrick