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(aka Bike) Part 880 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad
All Rights Reserved. |
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I stood there looking at the card and remembering my last encounter with this man. Putting it plainly, he was a creep and the worst sort of gutter journalist–even the word hack was probably elevating him to heights beyond either his scruples or abilities. That I despised him and everything about him, could have been considered a tiny bit biased, but I was happy to be seen in that light.
“Whit’s that?” asked Tom plucking the card from my fingers. Then before I could answer he added, “I’ll deal with this.” A moment later the kids came dashing in and I could hear raised voices through the open door.
“Who’s that man, Mummy?” asked Trish as the troops assembled around me to hear my response.
“That is Mr Jackson, who works for the local echo. He makes his living by writing nasty stories about people and much of the time they seem poorly researched and presented.”
“So he’s a bad man is he?” she persisted.
“That may be going too far, but he’s certainly not a nice one.”
We all watched Tom order him off the property. Tom then came in and slammed the front door and much to our delight, the bang caused a minor avalanche of snow to fall off the roof onto the unfortunate reporter.
Tom was confused by our laughter, he was still red faced from his shouting match with the idiot at his door. However, when he looked around and saw the moving pile of snow, he laughed too.
“It wis an accident,” he said smirking.
“If I believed, I’d almost say it was an act of God,” I chuckled back.
“Aye, that’s as guid a proof as ye’re likely tae get.”
I looked out a few minutes later and he’d gone. I expected him or someone like him to be back so we’d be in a state of siege if we weren’t careful.
The phone rang, Julie answered it. “Who wants her?” she asked.
“It’s the Echo, Mummy, shall I tell them to go take a running jump?”
I shook my head. “Cathy Watts, what do you want?”
“Ah so you are there, the nutty professor said you weren’t.”
“He may not have known I was here, I wasn’t earlier.”
“Okay, even allowing for that, did he have to assault my reporter?”
“In what way?”
“He dumped a ton of snow on him.”
“Pity I missed that, but from what he said it slid off the roof onto your man.”
“After he slammed the door to trigger it.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“It was deliberate.”
“How can you say that?”
“It’s obvious.”
“Prove it in court.”
“I will unless you talk with us.”
“What about dormice?”
“Very funny–you know damned well what I want you tell us.”
“I’m qualified to talk about dormice or aspects of mammalian ecology, that’s all.”
“You’re that mystery healer, aren’t you?”
“What mystery healer?”
“The one who healed those two kids.”
“What two kids are you on about?”
“The kid on the sled and the baby–we know you were there, the helicopter bloke had your name–said he took you with them to the hospital.”
“I went to the hospital, but I didn’t stay–I have a several young children staying with me, so I’m going to hang around a hospital aren’t I? I’ve got better things to do, so it wasn’t me.”
“The last time this mysterious woman was there so were you–quite a coincidence, don’t you think?”
“Ask Norman Saxon, he’s the expert.”
“Him–he’s barking.”
“Are you qualified to diagnose mental illness?” I asked.
“In his case, yeah. Now look, your claims of coincidence is like Clark Kent saying he isn’t Superman.”
“There is a slight problem with your example, Superman or Clark Kent are characters from a comic strip–I’m a real person, this is real life. I’m also a scientist and unless I can reproduce it in a laboratory, I don’t believe in miracles. I’m a fully paid up agnostic–so I’m probably the last person to ask about this sort of stuff–I think it’s all codswallop.”
“So you’re still denying you’re Superman?”
“Superman? No I’m Wonder Woman, but only on weekends.” I put the phone down, it immediately rang again and the same withheld number notice came up on the caller display, so I ignored it.
I called the kids together and told them, “Look the press are trying to find someone who did some healing on someone at the hospital yesterday. They seem to think it was me–it wasn’t. Please don’t talk to them if they try to ask you questions.”
“If you say it wasn’t you, Mummy, that’s good enough for me,” Julie said from the back of the group.
“Good enough for us too,” said Danny and Billy agreed.
Trish blushed and jerked Livvie when she was going to say something. The three girls went off and I heard them squabbling a few moments later. Checking that we weren’t overheard, I spoke with them.
“But you do healing, Mummy?” protested Livvie.
“So what do you want me to do–tell them and have photographers and reporters camped outside?”
“You told us to always tell the truth–you told a lie, Mummy.”
“I know, sweetheart and I don’t like doing it, but it’s for the best. If they thought I was involved, they’d stay there until I spoke to them. I don’t want to.”
“Are they nasty men, Mummy?”
“They’re not very nice, Liv.”
“Did you do it, Mummy?” asked Trish, “coz, I think you might have done.”
“Why do you need to know?”
“Um–I don’t know.”
“Well then, I’m not going to say either way.
“But if you told a lie–that was wrong, Mummy.” Trish seemed a little upset with the whole business.
“If I did it was wrong but done for a greater good.”
“What does that mean, Mummy?” The three girls looked perplexed as if I’d given them something dreadful to contemplate and I suppose I had. Children see things in black and white, so a grey episode is very difficult for them to understand.
I racked my brains to think of an example–when I did get one it wasn’t very good but I went with it. “Imagine there was a man outside with a bomb and he was going to blow up this house with everyone in it.”
“Ooooh,” squeaked Mima, “Vat’s howwibwe, Mummy.”
“Yes, darling, it is. But a policeman sees him and shoots him before he can explode the bomb.”
“Yay–good policeman,” shouted Livvie.
“But it’s wrong to kill someone, isn’t it?” I challenged.
“But he was going to blow us up, Mummy.”
“Yes, so in killing one person the policeman saved half a dozen or more of us. So we can say although he did wrong, by shooting a man, the policeman acted for the greater good.”
“Is the man wiv the bomb gone, Mummy?” asked an anxious Mima.
“There is no man with a bomb, stupid,” said Trish, “it’s just pretend.”
“I’m not stupid, you stupid,” said Mima and she ran off crying.
“Girls, please no squabbling, things are tough enough without that.” I rubbed my forehead, I don’t usually get headaches, but I was sure I could feel one coming on.
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Comments
Quicksand
...and Cathy sinks into it.
These are concepts a bit too complicated for 5-year-olds. Trish, on the other hand, is 5 going on 20, and a clever one at that. I think Cathy needs to explain things better, and maybe she'll get it. How about describing the priority to protect your own life and the lives and safety of your loved ones, one that is more important than the no-lying rule? A cogent example might work. Wasn't Trish with Cathy at the castle during the siege by the mobsters? Under circumstances like that, it would be okay to tell the bad men lies, to protect others.
Avalanche
The snow on the reporter was a nice touch.
Precipitating Subsidence
Bike Resources
A new quagmire...
Situational Ethics. Most adults have difficulty with them... When you get to some hard or emotional areas. Kids, some seem to "get it" but most, when exposed to the idea, seem to want to use it to justify anything.
Example 1: A person is walking along, a group of others "jump" this person, and beat the person up.
Ask most people if the group was justified, and most will say no. Some will say probably not, what are you not telling us. If that individual walking happened to be LGBT, far more people will say the action was justified, or at least say it was understandable and the walker probably did something to provoke the attack. This same seems to affect many other groups as well. Hitler used this to target the Jews, the Gypsy's and others quite successfully (from his point of view).
Example 2: A girl is raped. She was an attractive Cheer Leader, and very popular.
I've actually heard people say things like "She dressed like a tart" and "She probably teased the guy, and actually enjoyed it. It's only after they had fun, that she was afraid for her reputation." and things like that - saying that it was the rapee's fault, instead of the raper.
Cathy's likely to have some issues - at least for a bit - with this at home. The Echo's likely to publish something even without an interview. With one, it sounds like they'd quote her out of context (including this phone conversation), and make her look bad. Bad publicity is likely to NOT smooth things with social services.
I look forward to seeing how things work out...
Thank you,
Annette
Wish The Avalance Was Bigger
I wish that avalanche of snow had been bigger. I think she will have to go to Court because of this. She did paint herself in a corner with the kids about being honest. Trish knows that she is the one who healed the boy and the baby. It is kind of difficult to tell kids not to lie and then do the same thing you tell them not to do. I hope this doesn't lead to the kids starting to lie about things. The editor of "The Echo" has blackmail down to an art and fortunately Cathy was not intimidated.
They will probably burn her at the stake
somewhere around episode 999 when Angharad and her black demon Bonzi decide they have had enough.
where is the real problem?
the media wouldn't be the real problem. if she'd go out and said "yes it was me" they'd want to witness one of her miracles, and if cathy wouldn't produce one they'd change the story from lady of mercy to fake in an instant. some paper would even try to prove it's all fake just to have a story.
but nonetheless, some desperate people would still camp out in her driveway. and no matter what, cathy can't heal everybody.
I think you've answered
your own question.
Angharad
Angharad
Bike pt 880.
Cathy simplt needs to explain that for her to confirm her healing others, that would mean that no one would have any peace and quiet.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
No matter whether or not
Cathy speak's to the press,You can be sure that the walking snowman outside will not let that stand in the way of a story, The fact that he has no proof of Cathy's involvement will not worry him one jot, If past experience is anything to go by, Expect to read something along the lines of Grimm's Fairy Tale's in tomorrow's Echo.
Kirri
The Echo's Motto
I believe the Echo has two alternating mottos, "All the news that fits, we print" and "Why let the facts get in the way of a good story".
Michelle B
Headache?
You **should** have one. You should have handled that one better, Ang, I mean, Cathy!
Oh, and, yes, I'm caught up again and, no, just because we disagree on a minor point doesn't mean I'm going to stop reading (or commenting from time to time) -- you can't get rid of me **that** easy, eh?
Yours from the Great White North,
Jenny Grier (Mrs.)
x
Yours from the Great White North,
Jenny Grier (Mrs.)
IMO doesn't matter
Since I am almost two years behind. But...
I would ignore them. If a real reporter shows up all she has to do is show her happy home, and he'll go away bemused or feeling sorry for her. If she does in full site of everyone she has problems, but as is, not so much.
If a newspaper is sold at a supermarket, The only morals
Filter they have is, how many will we sell. Not, is it harmful, incorrect, or even slightly true.
Cathy went down this street before, with Des involving the legitimate press, who handled a delicate subject professionally.
Aren't children a blessing ? How to get across a concept of white lies to 5yr olds, when it's hard to explain it to adults sometimes.
We all have that headache Cathy.
Cefin