Bitter Sweet Sympathy

Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve plays.

“I told you you’d be safe here.” says a dead Banks.

“Who am I?” asks Lacey.

“You’ll be fine.” he says trusting in God.

Louis Hill Jr. bows before Christ.

Not to dismiss his own glory…because that was given to him by God. But to truly bow before God.

“At your service, Lord.” says Louis. He bows, prostrating himself resolutely in absolute peace.

“The Muslims don’t worship Christ. And they must.” says Lacey. “But they understand sex far better than the Christians I know. And they understand that bowing before God is…Heavenly.”

“You’re, right.” says a Muslim man nods in agreement with Lacey.

“Why don’t Christians bow?” asks Lacey.

“It’s submission.” says a Muslim.

“In Christianity it’s beyond submission.” says Lacey. “We are cheating ourselves, by not bowing.”

He looks empathetic.

“Perhaps they should bow.” he says.

“I do fervently hold onto my faith…but it worries me.” says Lacey.

He thinks. “Why?”

“It reminds me of a very sick child.” says Lacey. “Our faith is crippling itself by its lack of submission to God.”

He nods in agreement.

“I can’t stand what you’re saying!!” he violently yells.

“Love to you too!” says Lacey.

He laughs.

“You know today is Friday. Will you make a brisket?” he asks.

“Wow! That was another rational, pleasantly sane attack.” says Lacey breathing a sigh of relief.

He nods in agreement. “I like to keep things straight.” he says.

“So do I.” says Lacey, even while living in fear of her own people.

He weeps in response.

Tallis Fantasia by Ralph Vaughan Williams plays.

“Where did Christ go?!” he asks mockingly.

“Love to you too.” says Lacey. “Christ has to be far bigger than that…or He didn’t exist.”

“I know!” he says in tears. “Where has our country gone?”

“That’s a brilliant question.” says Lacey.

“I’ll be shocked if you’re speaking on your own behalf.” he says.

“I’m glad you understand that possibility.” says Lacey. She feels a pain of terror. “At least I hope you do.”

He nods.

“They think you’re both crazy!” says a man in Islam.

“Hush! It’ll give them peace.” says the Muslim man. “And their peace leads only to their anguish.”

Silence.

“Why have they chosen to become so offensive.” he says.

“Don’t forget to bring up Israel!” says an American diplomat patronizingly to them both. She grins.

“On behalf of Israel I refuse to.” says Lacey in a seething rage.

The Muslim man laughs with Lacey.

“Oh dear, Israel was very much my idea!” says Sir Winston Churchill.

The Muslim man nods.

Silence.

They part ways on good terms, if not at peace.

Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte by Ravel plays.

“I care about my children.” says Lem in deathly submission to Christ. He bows before Christ.

“I think Promise Keepers was an attempt to bow.” says the Muslim man.

“But was it real?” asks Lacey.

“No.” he decides.

“It was evil!” says a Putin. “Because it pretended to be something it was not, that was gravely needed in the US at that time.”

“Of course I don’t think Christ has any problem with Islam.” says the Muslim.

Both Putin and Lacey nod in pleasant understanding.

“You two are too easy!” he says in admonishment.

“We just understand!” says Lacey.

Putin smiles.

“I can’t stand your life!!” the Muslim man yells at Lacey.

Lacey weeps at the bitter truth. And both Lacey and he have to excuse themselves.

A moment later after collecting themselves, “We have a lot to discuss us.” he says to Lacey.

“Of course! Excuse me. Thank you for your time.” she says.

More later.

“Of course there’s nothing I can do, I don’t think.” Lacey says to Louis. They’re sitting in his orangerie.

“Lacey loved teddy bears as a child. Not Jack Kennedy, you sick bastards.” spits Evelyn Waugh. “She still has them. And every time she goes her basement she sees them and still worries…even at 40.”

“Who needs love though?! Right?! When you’ve got a lubricant, an asshole and a cock…and money!” says Lem with sarcasm.

“Is your toxicity really about social class or are you just a psychopath, serious question?” a liberal American reader asks Mr. Blue.

Back in Louis’s orangerie Lacey finds safety. She prays for her Muslim best friends. Often, them and the English and the Jews and the…Chinese…and Russians…and sometimes the South Americans are the only people who have any love for her at all. The Malaysians feel worried she’s being tricked. Japan isn’t too worried, in the best sense. Iran laughs…at evil. North Korea is…unique.

“Long ago she found sanity by imagining being my friend. As a teenager. In my country.” says a North Korean. “It’s better than platonic. In my country people are still allowed to be innocent…and considered adult…and sane.”

“But she’s our’s!” says Sir Winston Churchill of Lacey. “She’s mine specifically, if necessary.”

“That’s…safe.” says the Muslim. “But don’t be disrespectful, of God.”

“Are you two friends??” they ask of Louis and Lacey with a wink.

“No.” says Louis. “Or if we are…something is horribly amiss. …She submits to God.”

“Are you and Lacey worshiping the same God?” a Charismatic conservative Christian asks the Muslim.

“Yes! And very much no, not at all.” he says, crying. He sighs. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to explain it to you.”

Lem cries.

“We’re all vulnerable.” says Lem. “How do you not remember that anymore?” he asks of the They in the Illuminati. “That’s insane, you’re not in your right minds…or you’re possessed by the Devil or demons…or both”

“Quite literally!” says a conservative English politician.

“I think they’re just desperate!” says Michael Rockefeller’s doppelgänger in the future about the They.

“Oh look, it’s raining!” says Louis.

Piano Concerto No. 5 by Beethoven plays.

“I always find hope in rain. …Or did.” says Lacey who was legally born on November 22nd.

“What time were you supposedly born?” asks an Alain.

“No, he’s not on your side. Not in my mind.” says Lacey to Wobbly.

The rain falls.

“And I don’t mean astrology!” says an Alain.

The rain falls into a downpour.

“The trees will love this!” says a Banks cheerfully.

“I’d love to lay out in it with you.” says Lem smiling at Lacey.

“We’re not English. But we do know who you all are…in a way, at least.” says an Israeli to Lacey.

“I still enjoy Woody Allen.” says Lacey.

The Israeli looks uncomfortable.

“Do you find him offensive or the fact that I brought him up thinking you’d care?” asks Lacey.

“He’s a Jew!” she says.

“Does he still count?” asks Lacey. “Or what?”

“You think we’re shallow nitwits.” says the Israeli to Lacey.

“Have you always been?” asks Lacey.

“No, I don’t have to take this!” says a Jewish American woman in disgust at Lacey’s “disrespectful attitude.”

“What do you think?!?” asks a patronizing Jewish man of Lacey.

Lem lays drenched on the ground in a muddy field…staring up at the sky…listening to Entry Of The Gods Into Valhalla by Richard Wagner as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. He thinks of Lacey’s wet, naked body…with him and smiles. The rain ceases. Perfect timing.

“I included that in my film. Matchpoint did. And there wasn’t a literal interpretation of this, but there was a hint of that element we’ll say. Apparently…I am benevolent towards these people in some way. Umm…and I apologize to the Jews if that’s offensive, some consider me Jewish.” says a Woody Allen. “Even if I’ve said The Sinner’s Prayer just as a precaution, I mean why wouldn’t you? She said that and it’s true, and it isn’t said flippantly or disrespectfully to Christ if he happens to actually be the Son of God or a man who even lived. No, it’s said out of fear of God, because we don’t know everything and it’s common sense to some degree and it’s not like it if God exists that He wouldn’t know that already. That being said, if He isn’t the Son of God, I am still a Jew if God exists. Is that clear?”

“How is that not absurd?! You have to make a decision!” says a liberal fan of Mr. Blue.

“But how are we supposed to know?!? The Christians are adamant that it’s Christ. They’ve been dying for centuries! You don’t think that’s a little concerning?! I find it concerning! And I’m not an idiot.” says an Allen.

“Why does he have to decide?! He doesn’t know.” says a dead 1700’s Banks. “He doesn’t want to lose his Judaism because it means something, but he also is worried that he’s wrong because he’s an intellectual and some things are impossible and some things are concerning. How do you not understand that?”

“Because then that makes him a Christian if Christ exists as the Son of God because I think he meant that prayer and I think God would know that and I think Christ then would say, ‘OK you said it was reservations of concern that it was nonsense out of respect for me which just means that you didn’t know, but you tried to accept it as honestly as you could.” But then that means that if Christ was the Son of God that he’s a Christian.” says a liberal Jew who supports Mr. Blue.

“Are you worried that if Christ is the Son of God that you’re gonna go to Hell or are you worried that if Christ isn’t the Son of God that they’ll still be some accommodations made that’ll put him in a different Heaven than you and you would like to be in the same Heaven as Woody Allen? I am confused about what you’re upset about about.” says a psychic.

“Wow you really are in the Silent Generation Lacey or the Greatest Generation because I don’t think you and Woody are worried about anything other than making sure both of you are OK in the afterlife…but that is not how I think of it.” he says.

“Are you worried I’m going to make it political and try to control you? To me it’s not political, it could be, but that’s a complicated conversation. And no it’s it shouldn’t be political.” says Lacey.

“I don’t want to answer that question. I don’t wanna dignify your intelligence with a response.” he says.

“Were you just bored and so you guys decided to ruin the country to try to have fun? What is your problem? You’re always so damn cantankerous. I would love to have an actual conversation with you but I don’t know if you’re capable of it, are you?” says Lacey.

“I know you’re not trying to make religion, respectfully said, a political issue but I am! I am I am, and I’m not afraid to admit admit it. I am possibly a Satanist and I don’t see the point in lying about it in the Illuminati but that’s why it was a secret society to look at the honest truth about such things and not have to lie.” says a liberal supporter of Mr. Blue.

“That’s what used to exist…and you know to say that to her, but is that even true anymore? Sometimes I think you guys are just a Ponzi scheme using pedophilia and bullshit, literally.” says Louis.

Your Hands Are Cold by Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays.

“So what’s the religion that you’re trying to make happen because sometimes things like words like sayings like fetch just don’t quite stick, so can just can you fill me in?” asks Lacey.

“Well obviously not real Christianity. It’s probably not Islam, Buddhism not so much you’re right it’s not pure Satanism; New Age I don’t like that label but that’s probably the closest thing you could say.” he says.

“So then it’s just a religion?” asks Lacey.

“Yes, it’s just a religion and way of running the world that’s all. You’re so disappointed by that?” he says.

Lacey sighs. “It’s very in right now to be honest which is kind of fun actually. Yes I’m disappointed. It’s so depressingly predictable. I’m sorry if that’s mean.” says Lacey.

“So I take it without being able to have Lem as your husband or Louis you just don’t even give a fuck other than for how it affects your kids?” he asks.

“Oh I’ve been asking God to just blow-up the entire world now for over a year. I am so over this shit hole and I mean that very sincerely.” says Lacey.

“Well, you’re being poetic because you don’t mean it’s literally just a shit hole you actually love the Earth that God created, you just don’t like the fallen nature of it at the current moment.” says the Muslim.

“Thank you for speaking up on my behalf. Yes that’s Christianity and that’s very true. I’m sorry for swearing.” says Lacey.

“But you don’t think religion and politics should necessarily not be combined?” the liberal Jewish supporter of Mr. Blue.

“Oh absolutely, England is an excellent example of that to some degree. France was. Russia traditionally. No, it can be very well done. Italy. There’s not a problem with it when it’s done correctly. I suppose Japan might even come out. I don’t know enough, I’m sorry.” says Lacey.

“Our problem at the moment is about religion and about nothing other than just Mr. Blue either being a psychopath or getting incredibly upset about social class.” says Mr. Blue’s liberal Jewish supporter.

“Why can’t you just kill him?” asks a reader of the Illuminati about Mr. Blue.

“If I was alive, they could but I’m dead and they can’t figure out how to do it.” says Louis.

“Louis why can’t I figure it out?” asks Casi. “I mean I would do it, but that wouldn’t be safe for me…but I don’t get why they can’t just like find someone to do it.”

“You’ve got it exactly right. It’s not safe for most people and it’s unclear who Mr. Blue actually is. So no I wouldn’t suggest trying to hunt him down. That would be very dangerous for Lacey. It would be very dangerous for a great many people, because who is he? But see that’s the thing. It’s really their job to do it. Because they know whether or not they exist. They know who he really is. They’re not confused.

They’re not doing it because they’re dogmatic new money Satanists in some cases. And they think that it ruins their spiritual flightplan, and they also think that he could destroy them because he’s very deeply imbedded within the Illuminati. He has huge connections that are profound.” says JP Kennedy. “My sons were shot because we stuck to ourselves. Mr. Blue has found ways to inculcate himself like a parasite or Covid within the Illuminati. He’s very hard to get rid of. He’s like AIDS it’s very hard for them to get rid of him because who would do it and then what spiritual protocol do they use etc. etc.? Could they do it if the right people were still alive? Yes! But people today don’t understand how to do things like that anymore. I’m sorry if that’s hard for them to hear.”

“No, they decided to kill me instead even though there’s still child hostage problems and I was primarily sleeping with teenage girls, who arguably maybe weren’t even children anymore.” says J. Epstein. “Despite some pedophilic fantasy or my own derangement because that’s really all pedophilia is. It’s just you’re criminally derangement… I primarily was engaging in rape. The young women that I was with were young women. They weren’t children anymore. They were young women and you could argue that point all you want but they really weren’t five or eight or even 10. I’m not saying that Lem wasn’t molested because he was, I’m not saying that I didn’t molest them, but I have gone. I am dead and it’s possible that in my case I actually wasn’t always molesting them. Sometimes I was just raping them.”

“What’s the difference?” asks Summertime Sadness.

“The expose of me was perverted, first of all. I’m not saying that I wasn’t evil, I’m just saying the way they described it was intended to be pedophilic. It was gross.

But second of all what’s the difference? Alright, the difference is when you have a 16-year-old young woman who genuinely wants to sleep with an older man under the right conditions, not all older men but it just could so happen that she finds one of them attractive and if he sees her as a woman, not a child, but as a woman, it’s not a pedophilia. Of course, that would require her being a woman in his eyes in a real way so the man has to have character and a sense of honor, and it would require her knowing her own mind enough to be an adult. But of course, people who meet those qualifications are not as common as they used to be 100 to 200 years ago.

A woman who is capable of that kind of sex with an older adult, is most likely, not for sure, but most likely being raped not molested by anyone anymore as she may be past a certain point of individual development where she could no longer be easily molested. Are you all still able to listen or have I lost they because this is psychologically hard for them to comprehend?” says J. Epstein.

“I am still understanding. Like I’ve said I’m just I’m tracking this. This sounds about right to me, go on.” says a Jack from the Titanic.

“Young women are still vulnerable under the age of definitely 13 or 14 but that that’s still very young and those would be rare exceptions at 14. And it’s really extraordinarily unlikely in 2023 but in the past maybe it was more possible. And that’s why I chose 16, because that’s still possible even today. But um yeah 16 we’ll say it can go either way and it depends on the situation and the person. Some 16-year-old young women are not capable of being with someone older than that. They just aren’t that developed yet as an individual. Of course by the age of 26 you should be an adult and if you aren’t that’s concerning on an evolutionary perspective…but definitely by 15 or 16 it starts to get to be complicated…and that’s for some young women that I attacked. I molested and sometimes raped. It could’ve been both at different times…but I would argue that more often than not I was raping people more than the Illuminati wants to let on, because they want to celebrate pedophilia…and claim that they killed the big bad wolf to protect their weak, feeble minds from seeing the ugly, hideous truth.” says J. Epstein.

“So you were a rapist and a pedophile, not just a pedophile.” says the Muslim man.

“I was more than that. I was a rapist, a pedophile, and an extraordinarily idiotic man, criminally idiotic.” he says. “You’re not gonna be able to fool me even if you can fool her into thinking you have honor, I’m dead. Are there honorable Muslims or are all you all just marked by Satan as worthless by your skin and your shit religion?”

“There are some of us who actually are honorable yes.” says the Muslim man.

“Yeah, evil can’t you fool me to thinking that that isn’t real either! That’s part of what doesn’t make sense about that. If there’s an Illuminati you keep trying to fool her. There really is an objective reality. I don’t care what the cool Professor told you at Harvard, there’s objective reality get over it.” says an Epstein.

“So to clarify, there were women who he was in love with who actually were in love with him. Yes, that’s documented and actually it’s true, he wasn’t just raping people. He fell in love with a few women as an equal, and they fell in love with him as an equal as well, even though he was raping them, because there were a few young women who actually really were in a relationship with him that was just incredibly dysfunctional and psychologically insane. But there was a real relationship. So…does that make sense?” asks Louis in anger.

“So they didn’t just think they were in love with him. They actually were in love with him and like he was in love with them too but it was just it was almost like…a psychotic ridiculous thing. Oh my word.” says a Millennial.

Over by Electric Guest plays.

“No it’s overdue. You are the most obnoxious generation in that way! You demanded at 16 that you had a right to have an abortion and go fuck somebody and shoot up drugs but when your 16 year-old daughter can fall in love with a grown man, he’s a pervert, and she’s an idiot according to you…and you demand that we see it that way, you little bitch.” says Joe Kennedy Jr. in a righteous rage at Boomers who all resemble Annette Bening as a narcissistic real estate agent.

“Oh sure, a short Jewish guy can be seduced by a hot, sexy old woman in film…so I’m sure as hell that a short Irishman could seduce Lem. It’s in the movies and the movies never lie.” says Lem.

“What do you actually think of that film?” asks Louis.

They’re all still in Louis’s orangerie.

Lem laughs. “It’s utter shit.”

“Was it triggering?” asks Louis.

“Yes it was incredibly triggering. It was to Lacey as well.

And I do hear Wobbly and his female cousins getting very pissed off whether that’s real or not claiming that I’m just imaginary. Because they wanna think that I want to suck their cocks too even though their cocks are imaginary in some cases, right? You all just wanna fuck me and Lacey! That’s all the Kennedys want, you just wanna fuck us!! That’s all you want. Well and destroy our souls and torment our eternal other half.

You have, no successfully Jack you’ve tormented Lacey and myself both now. Because I’m calling it. She’s 40 you ruined her life and ruined mine too. It’s a winner. So, congratulations asshole!” says Lem in a fuming rage.

“There’s reason I celebrated Father’s Day in Greece.” says JFK Jr..

Glory Box by Portishead plays.

“So what did you actually think of the film other than the fact that it was utter shit?” asks Louis.

“The way that Anne Bancroft acted the role she turned the character into a pedophile-“ says Lem.

“I was born around 10:30 AM GMT so London London time 10:30 AM on November 22, legally. I’m not convinced that’s actually me but that’s when the person I am legally was born.” says Lacey. “In 1983, 20 years after he was shot.

“Two hours London time before he was shot in Dallas. What significance does Dallas, Texas have in her life? Elliott Roosevelt who she slept with as a ghost. And if it makes you laugh, she attacked Eleanor Roosevelt’s ghost with him a fireplace broom because she thought Eleanor was a pedophile.” says a dead English aristocrat male from 1800’s.

“She attacked Eleanor Roosevelt’s ghost with a fireplace broom. Did people see her?” asks a reader.

“There was one time when I slept with her in the spring when I told her that she had become invisible and it’s possible that she really did become invisible and there are times Lacey has yelled and her voice has possibly been silent to certain people because we really are ghosts and so are able to do that. If we are actually goes.

Did anyone see her with the fireplace broom? No. But that’s only because it was late at night, actually it was in the middle of the night and she got into an argument with Eleanor and Eleanor decided that Lacey should be able to defend herself and so she let her take a fireplace broom and hit her or she told Lacey to hit a chair where she claimed that she was ‘probably’ sitting. And if Eleanor isn’t and wasn’t a pedophile then she wasn’t sitting there, but she just wanted Lacey to be able to express her anger in an appropriate way.” says Lem.

“So OK so then those two have bonded in a way as mother and daughter because she basically told Lacey as a ghost, ‘You’re right if I was that evil let me have it. I deserve it, go for it. I’m proud of you!’ Which is awesome. That’s awesome.” says a woman. “But the thing is we don’t know, if I’m speaking on Lacey‘s behalf, we don’t know. She knows it’s Christianity. I’m sorry if that’s disappointing and don’t pervert the Bible, but she didn’t know what Eleanor is guilty of or what she isn’t guilty of at that point in the conversation, and she was quite convinced that she had been a pedophile. And Eleanor either couldn’t speak quickly enough or it was being attacked, not by Lacey, or she actually was that guilty but regardless, Eleanor seemingly because Lacey doesn’t know but seemingly chose to be honorable and said, ‘Have your justice!’ right, and God will use that moment for the good and His glory, regardless.” says Lem.

About The Weather by Tom Rosenthal plays.

The song plays.

“What do I think of The Shining? I think The Shining was the most brilliant film ever made. And I related to the main character of the little boy and I got to possibly see it in person at the movie theater while I was still in my body. But The Shining would be nothing without the genius of Woody Allen to reflect its light. The light of God in a very dark world. Because you have the bitterness of Kubrick, and then you have the sweet of Allen and you need both otherwise it’s incomprehensible. Kubrick looks too dark. Allen looks flighty and absurd and ridiculous but he’s not and Kubrick is just telling the truth.” says Lem.

Turtle Island by Beach House plays.

“What did you really think of the film though other than thinking it was total shit? You still haven’t answered me really.” says Louis.

“So for the writers of Sex And The City II the TV series, whatever you wanna call it…that woman on the plane, but like made as like a American old money, aristocratic version of herself, which may be why Lacey is more beautiful regardless, that’s just how things work Lana Del Rey sings about it. But anyway that’s that’s who she is. That’s who George was trying to sleep with not Carrie, but when you think of that woman she’s not prissy and yet she could easily be interpreted that way if she was too elegant for some people to handle, but that is not a woman you get into a fight with.

I think Lem is probably right, but if that character was inspired by Lem, they would’ve gotten either into a heated argument that would’ve led to sex…or it would’ve led to sex…because when I think of the character of George and that woman there’s instant sexual chemistry, just as a writer I can see it. And I think part of what was so frustrating about this whole thing is that you guys always choose to antagonize her in the most childish, petty ways imaginable and it’s never creative, it’s never sophisticated. It’s always the dumbest way to insult her based on your delusions and that’s just reality and that’s been reality for the last seven years, you can’t keep living in this little fairytale that you want to be real where she’s someone that she’s not.” says a living writer.

“I thought, Mrs. Doubtfire Robinson was…is that the film? That’s what I wanna call it, the Mrs. Doubtfire Robbinson film. …No, it was The Graduate! You know they’re good actors, all of them. …There are an enormous amount of flaws in the film that I find extraordinarily aggravating on a personal level. Because why is she sleeping with him? She’s a pedophile. But why is he acquiescing to it? Ahh…he’s an gross idiot or he’s an adult male in his 40s secretly shapeshifting into an annoying teenager?! It’s absurd. It’s impossible the way that it was acted. It is psychologically a totally implausible film.” says Lem.

Nice Boys by TEMPOREX plays to haunt evil.

“Do you hear that drumbeat? I might get tired but God doesn’t and he’s already won anyway. Darn. I would’ve liked to cut some heads off, maybe next time.” says Lacey.

“Oh shit she’s not talking about good people or children she’s talking about cutting off the heads of people who maybe really shouldn’t even be alive…because they’re evil criminal masterminds who are ruining the world and trying to send everyone to Hell. Shit! Fuck! Damn! Shoot! Oh boy what are you gonna do now? Right, right? …You’ll figure something out because you always do, you…son of a gun.” says Lem mockingly of Wobbly.

“You know I’m close to starting to say Lem’s stop attacking Wobbly’s. He’s a total fucking insane idiot compared to you…and the only reason you have a right to attack him is because we’ve enabled to him far too much.” says a man.

“Except that’s what you’ve been saying the entire time…so do you think we enjoy being like this? We don’t and that’s why you want us to do it…because we don’t enjoy it…but that’s our only option. I am a ghost, she’s alive but we’re both incredibly gentle, sweet-hearted people, but you have us starting World War III, fucking each other possibly violating God‘s plan, and then talking about it publicly to defend ourselves. I hear what you’re saying but always remember where things started. It’s like remembering that there was a Fall of Man so that you don’t completely reject God.” says Lem.

Apologize by OneRepublic plays.

“You know I thought that the movie was incredibly depressing but at the same time it was an honest film in the sense that he really would’ve slept with her if it had been consensual. He shouldn’t have seemed as creeped out by it and she shouldn’t have seemed quite as creepy or it should’ve been far more obvious that the sex was terrible objectively speaking, maybe he got off, maybe he even orgasmed or maybe she did not. But I mean this is an experienced woman sexually speaking, but it was gonna be terrible sex regardless and that should’ve been made a lot more obvious.” says Louis.

Your insults just don’t make sense. Trust meet with someone like Lacey. Ask you to explain something that is not a good sign.

More later.

“Colorblind” by The Counting Crows plays.

Lacey is outside in the snow in 1936 with Jack and Lem and Jack has been flirting with Lem the entire time and Lem has been mildly responsive. At one point Jack made a joke where he climbed on Lem’s back and Lacey felt there was something innately sexual about it, that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, and then walked around with Jack awkwardly trying to play along as he held him on his back, and Lacey couldn’t quite figure out why they felt the need to do that at that moment, so exhausting, pretending to be human.

And she looked at the ground. Looked at her hands, looked at her feet.

And then the thought came to Lacey “What is all of this madness? Is it just…a little bit wobbly. Just a little bit inaccurate?” And even the slightest tiny flaw in Jack’s forceful mantra…would still be delightful to try to figure out to bring him to Jesus’s justice rescue in the shreds that remain.

When they walked back to the house in Vermont of their mutual friend and hers, because Lacey had a tendency to play with the boys, he shouted specifically to Lem, “The hot chocolate is ready!” and Lacey instantly knew that both Jack and their mutual friend were in love with Lem. Of course she was too.

Inside the house the mother of the son who made the hot chocolate doted on Lacey, finding her absolutely adorable, asking her millions of questions about her aunt’s clothing business, about where she was going to go to school when she graduated in the spring…what she planned to do with her life, what her hobbies were. Really anything and everything she could think to ask her…and Lacey was more than happy to oblige, although rather confused as to why she was being asked so many personal questions.

“Mother says that we can all go downstairs and play games after dinner if we would like but we need to be in bed by 9:30 at the very latest.” he says.

After a rather quiet, stoic conversation over dinner they went downstairs and began to play some sort of game involving, spinning something and then moving things around the board. On a coffee table.

“Mother says that we don’t have to stay up till 9:30 if we’re getting tired.” the young man we’ll call Chet said to Lacey.

Lem began to look uncomfortable when he realized that it was being suggested that Lacey should go to sleep and leave them all alone.

Drive by Warpaint plays.

“I don’t know that I’m ready to go to bed yet but thank you for the offer” says Lacey.

Jack cracks up laughing at her.

Lacey doesn’t notice that he’s laughing because she’s been made fun of periodically her whole life for reasons that she could never quite figure out. And at that Chet looks at Lacey with a strange mixture of hatred, love and concern.

“We don’t have to go to bed just yet.” No one says and instead all the boys just sit there awkwardly…staring…in silence.

“What was it that you two said you were going to do over spring break?” Lacey asks Lem.

“Well, we were thinking of going fishing.” he says.

“Where do you fish?” asks Lacey.

Lem’s his eyes light up. “Well we often fish off the coast, but there’s a lake here in Vermont that Chet wants to take us to. His uncle owns a cabin.”

“My father owns a cabin in Minnesota on a lake, Lake Superior, but you can’t really go fishing that easily. I like Lake Superior but it’s too big and cold for most things. And people die very easily if they’re not careful” says Lacey thoughtfully.

Lem looks concerned, “Why don’t you come with us?“

“I suppose I could. …You know the game we should play?” says Lacey enthusiastically.

“What game?” asks Jack suddenly concerned now too.

“It’s called spin-the-bottle, and you take a bottle and you spin it and then wherever it lands you have to kiss that person.” says Lacey.

Lem’s eyes grow big like saucers and Jack starts laughing. Chet looks slightly flustered, although not entirely unwilling to accommodate.

“I think we should play! You boys aren’t afraid of kissing each other are you?” asks Lacey.

In shock they all sit there.

“No, I mean you know we all have a good sense of humor. You’ve seen us all joke around before.“ says Jack suddenly flustered, realizing what he’s admitting to Lacey.

“Well this is different. You have to actually kiss each other on the mouth. Are you sure you’re up for that? It’s a rather serious thing to do in front of other people.” says Lacey

“Alright!” says Jack. “It’s just a silly childish kissing game for teenagers.”

“So what! I’m bored! What else are we going to do? Drink more hot chocolate? It’s a like a blizzard outside.” says Lacey.

At first the bottle spins and lands on Jack with him supposed to kiss their host, Chet. Lem stands and, seemingly too upset, decides to walk away. Lacey stays and watches as Jack kisses the other boy. Chet seems to think that it was rather serious. Jack looks shocked, and then suddenly incredibly bashful as the two young men back away into their seats silently.

“Why did Lem suddenly walk off? What’s his problem? We need him here to play the game.” says Lacey.

Jack looks like he agrees with her.

“I don’t think I can go get him because I don’t think he’ll come back if I ask him to. We got into a fight on the way up here. …Look we can all just play, we don’t need to have him.” says Jack.

“You’re right, we could…but it’s more fun to have more variety isn’t it?” Lacey says staring at Jack.

“I mean it depends on what you think variety is. He’s just another guy. Do you have any female friends that you could-Oh damn, that’s stupid. We’re way up in Vermont” Jack says, and a huff.

“No, I don’t have any friends who would come, but you know I could go get him. Where is he do you think?” she asks.

“He smokes like a chimney so I don’t know he’s probably smoking somewhere or something. …No, he’s probably upstairs in his room, crying his eyes out over something stupid. He’s up in his room, that’s always where he goes. He’s up in his room.” says Jack.

“Do you always know where he is…at all times?!” asks Chet.

“Well! I mean not all the time, but often. Lem is a rather predictable sort of fellow.” Jack says.

Their mutual friend Chet looks slightly disturbed by this.

Lacey runs up the stairs after Lem to find him sitting in the living room, staring ahead with a book in his lap that he was clearly trying but failing to read. And that is when Lacey gets a rather fiendish idea in her head since parents are in the room and she can’t say too much, but she decides to take a piece of paper and pen found by a phone and write on it. “I want to kiss you, would you please oblige?”

She takes the paper, drops it onto Lem’s lap and says aloud, “That’s a message from me to you. What are you reading?”

“It’s just Shakespeare. I read Shakespeare for fun sometimes” says Lem anxiously.

“Oh, I love Shakespeare too. What is it that you were reading in particular?” asks Lacey.

“Macbeth.” he says.

“You know one could ruin Shakespeare if one was too snotty and stupid about him. …I think I could probably be turned off of Shakespeare I had had the exact wrong sort of teacher who taught it to me the wrong way…but I always would secretly still like it. They’d probably find someway to torture me with Romeo and Juliet as people defile that one almost all of the time, don’t they?” says Lacey.

“Your note has an incredible suggestion.” he says smiling.

“What do you think about that suggestion? Should we go investigate it?” asks Lacey.

Lem laughs. “We investigate? …I’d like to find out what you mean.” He thinks. “You made investigate sound scientific.”

“Fine, Lem let’s go outside and observe the beauty of the snow. Haven’t you ever done that?” asks Lacey.

“Just like Hemingway.” asks Lem.

“Yes, I met Ernest Hemingway.” says Lacey carefully.

“We’ve never talked about that.” says Lem laughing oddly.

“I met him through a friend of my father’s, Howard Hawks. …Do you know Sun Also Rises…one of the main characters in that novel and I went on a dates for a very brief period of time. We were quite serious, but then he decided he was much too old for me, and he said that he didn’t want to ruin my life” says Lacey.

“I know. Jack told me all about it!” says Lem, seeming suddenly unpleasant.

Keep It Healthy by Warpaint plays.

Lacey considers.

“Lem…let’s go outside and watch the snow fall.

Please.” she says.

He smiles. “Come with me.” he says standing up and taking Lacey by the hand outside.

“Oh, I don’t smoke!” says Lacey as they go outside.

“Good.” Lem lights a cigarette. “What you write on the note-“. He blows smoke out of his mouth. “I-“. He stands with his mouth open in shock.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you and Jack but I’m in love with you.” says Lacey.

“I walked out because I didn’t want you to see me.” he says.

“See you what do you mean see you?” asks Lacey. “See you kiss Jack?”

He looks embarrassed, “I don’t want you to see me as some sort of stupid kid.”

“I wish I knew what you were taking about. …I don’t like the thought of you kissing anyone else and enjoying it.” says Lacey.

Lem looks very serious. In shock, almost. Then he looks into her eyes.

“It’s not like this.” says Lem.

“What’s it like?” asks Lacey.

He laughs. Shakes his head. “I can’t tell you just yet. …Come here.”

Within the next half an hour Lem and Lacey are in the barn. He has her up against a wall.

Road To Perdition, Film Score by Thomas Newman plays.

“Who is in the barn?! The light is on!” says Chet’s mother to Chet’s father in confusion.

And in the 1800’s unfinished basement by bare light hanging overhead Jack and Chet argue.

“Jack there’s no need to be quite so surly! Jack…I am not saying that boys aren’t impressionable. …I am saying that when a woman walks into a room, there are two reactions that a man who is possessed by a sense of longing can have.” says Chet. He leans back, “One, he can say to himself in his head, ‘I don’t care if the weather is bad. I don’t care what her mood is. I don’t care what her mother said to her before she came here! I am going to find a way to make love to her in due time!’ or he can say to himself ‘I will never have her and thus I must acquiesce and let some other gentleman take her hand in marriage, in due time.’” says Chet.

“I I don’t think you are aware that that’s not the fashion nowadays.” Says Jack. “No, a man has to fight for what he loves, and that sometimes means doing and saying things that make him feel at least slightly unfortunate or uncomfortable or lacking.”

“I shan’t be surprised if our dear friend is upstairs right now, crying her eyes out because your boyfriend said something most unfortunate…and yet don’t forget for a second…that you were the one that brought him here. …I wanted you to come alone, but then you invited him…and then you invited Lacey and now it’s a party!” says Chet shrugging. “And I am of the opinion that a man of your station and status should be able to take a trip to Vermont without feeling the need to be so heavily accompanied.” says Chet, separated by a card table from Jack.

Einaudi: Experience by Einaudi plays.

“I don’t like that tone! …Under the circumstances I couldn’t leave them home alone. He came to visit my family and me in Boston…and if I would have left him there, he would’ve been sitting alone in our living room reading books. …Lacey came with us because well…why did you have to bring that up anyway?!” says Jack suddenly looking upset.

“Jack, as I have been saying to you for the last 15 minutes practically…I’m not trying to pick some sort of fight with you. I am simply trying to say that you don’t bring someone all the way from Minnesota and Lem Billings himself to another man’s parent’s house with the expectation that he should…entertain…at a moment’s notice.” says Chet. He contorts his lips and laughs. “I’m not mad. I’m just wondering what exactly this all amounts to is all.”

“If I wanted to kiss you…all night, no one could stop me.” says Jack leaning forward for seductive effect. “We’ve been down here alone for almost a half an hour…and I don’t know where my friends are, but they’re not just my friends they’re your friends as well. You’ve met both of them on several other occasions in the past, Chet. …Don’t lie. And all I’m saying…is that I don’t understand why you’re so upset?! …Look…we were just playing spin the bottle and we kissed. It’s a silly game!” He stares into his friend’s eyes.

“Oh! Oh! Okay!” Chet almost cries. He bats at the air. Then he crosses his arms in defiance. “If you think I’m going to kiss you after that long speech you gave me about Lacey and your values and your family and what it means to be a man you have quite another think coming, Jack Kennedy.” says Chet.

Devastated Jack sits in silence, staring and waiting for a way out. Chet is also in the silence, but…his beating heart nearly breaks it.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a nice snack before just going to bed and crying my eyes out.” says Chet in a rage. Shaking, “A man’s heart wants what it wants. What should I be saying? To make you understand. Jack…should it be right should it be wrong…if we deny the objective truth to such a virulent extent…I worry about the consequences of those that we keep company with. Who do we attract? …I don’t like your friends, not anymore, not after this conversation…and I want them out. I want you all out by tomorrow.“ he finally says. “The Kennedy’s of Cape Cod…are liars…and I’m sure your friends are no different!”

“If my future sister-in-law, Lacey Banks, wasn’t set to marry my brother Joe and that wasn’t my very best friend…I would take what you’re saying as sad news, sad news indeed, but I happen to be in a bit of a different frame of mind, pal. …Mr. Henderson…simply put…some of us have plans in life and some of us do not…and those who do not have plans will never do anything at all.” says JFK.

“You will not make me cry. I will not be conquered by the demons of your soul that refuse to experience life as it truly exists in any meaningful context…in any meaningful way! No sir, you will not conquer me.” says Chet almost in tears.

“You have no idea! You have no idea what it’s like to be in my family. Your family is different. In your family they don’t care about peculiarities. But in my family you have to be absolutely perfect, on penalty of death.” says JFK.

Chet smirks, “No…it’s not perfect to kiss me. There’s nothing perfect about it, is there Jack, is there?!” says Chet before finally falling into tears.

“I can never tell anyone about us!” says Jack

“Then I’ll never kiss you again.” says Chet.

“A man isn’t supposed to kiss another man.” says JFK.

“Then why are you here? I know you and Lem Billings are far from being ordinary friends!” spits Chet. “Jack…don’t ever come visit us again.”

Jack points. “But what if we aren’t right in the head, Chet?”

Chet licks his lips quickly, “I’ll take insanity if it means never lying and breaking people’s hearts.”

“Like your heart? …I’m breaking your heart?” scoffs JFK.

“Yeah, my heart!!” yells Chet.

“I’ll tell you something!” says JFK. He points his finger in disgust at an indignant Chet Henderson. “Upstairs asleep right now is one Lacey Banks…and even as she is probably touching herself to sleep to passionate scenes in her mind of my brother Joe…he’s in Boston right as we speak fucking six different women. Six! …Four of whom he once pretended to love. …She doesn’t even know. …All she knows is that she’s in love.” says Jack. “I’ll take my life of order and privilege and leave love to experts on the human heart, like you ol’ buddy.”

Chet stands-up, walks away without saying a word and turns off the lights.

More tomorrow.