The Myth of Deconstruction

The Quality of Mercy plays.

“I’m sick of being told to be an equal to my lover by some strong jawed woman who hates me.” says Lacey to Lem. Lacey just got off Tik Tok.

“Oh, the one where a woman with a very masculine jaw claims some Boomer male refuses to do business with men who have submissive wives because the man assumes the men lack masculinity and mental health?” asks Michael Rockefeller.

“Yes! It’s sick and insulting.” says Lacey. “Do I just not exist? Do you not exist?”

“Well, maybe she’s just so-called biphobic and he was too?” asks Michael. “And no! Of course I didn’t exist! And if I did I’d want her likely masculine ass not yours, I guess.” He shrugs.

“Better her then some perverted bitch who grabs her crotch in front of millions of children.” says another dead man.

“While wailing obnoxiously about being pregnant?” asks another dead man.

Another laughs. “These women are hideous.”

“Do you feel like they’re men in drag?” asks a living gay man.

“Gay, violent, conceited men.” says a dead Englishman. “Like Jack at his worst, but with no dick.”

The gay man laughs. He can’t help it.

“So Michael is insulted?” he asks.

“I’m very masculine. And my ability to luridly dominate Lacey requires brilliance on our parts. And we resent the narcissistic attack.” says Michael. “If you lack the ability you lack the ability. But don’t knock it just because you’re too much of a idiotic, pushy, crass and jealous peasant-bred whore to understand.”

“Okay. Yeah. You’re angry.” says the gay man.

“So you think we use pedophilia to compensate for our innate lack of a sexuality we just…can’t possess?” asks a pregnant singer. “I wanna say, elite sexuality.”

“Yes! Obviously. Yes!” says Louis who was also dominant by nature.

“So we’re cheats? Who lack the biological ability to make love the way you and Lacey do, for instance?” asks a pedophile in the Illuminati.

Louis refuses to acknowledge that man.

“I’ll respond, buddy. Yup. Yup. That’s it. Very…good!” says Michael, seething.

“But there was pedophilia in the upper class!” protests an actor who notoriously dates young women.

“There was. But…at its best that’s not who we were.” says Michael.

“It’s a cheap trick to seem terrible and terrifying.” says Louis. “It’s a cheap way to cover-up for incredible weakness.” He thinks. “Incompetence.”

“And you and Michael were just too…far beyond what we understand to appreciate?” asks the pedophilic Illuminati man. “Currently.”

“Yes. And now what will you do with that information?” Michael asks him.

“Where?” he asks. “Where did it happen?”

Michael smiles.

“Did we obliterate such love?” asks an Englishwoman.

“Between a man such as I was and a woman like Lacey?” he asks.

She nods.

“Yes! It’s in our perfume though. …That’s why Lacey finds perfume so comforting. …It’s soft, tender and delicate.” he says. “But…it still exists in bottles.”

“Or is it?” asks Louis, suggestively.

He refuses to answer.

“Everyone is the same now. We’re all strong jawed, miserable bitches and losers.” says a suicidal person.

“Do you understand why she’s submissive?” asks Lem.

“Why?” asks a black male singer.

“Because that’s just who she is. It’s not an act. …And it’s so we can enjoy sex.” says Lem.

Love Lockdown plays.

“What if Rihanna is too owned to escape?” asks a white woman of Louis.

“And she’s actually feminine?” he asks.

“Yes!” says a gay man.

“Then we should deconstruct her world to save her! Deconstructing is good!!” he says sarcastically, with a huge fake smile.

Chemtrails Over The Country Club plays.

“Why is deconstruction good?” asks a Gen Z hater.

“Why? Because she’s black?” asks Mr. Blue.

“Because it’s owned by the people.” says Louis. “And the masses know best…always. Right? Self-righteous pedophiles? That’s your dream? To be loved?”

Mr. Blue pauses. “Are you saying she’s useless?”

“I don’t want to fuck you!” Louis yells at him. “I don’t want to fuck everything and everyone!”

“Actually, come to think of it…Michael, Lem, all of us are picky.” says Michael. “We are a bunch of desperate whores trying to fuck around to make our asses better off.”

“You use your sexuality to get money. It’s the way poor immigrants who lacked or lacked ability made it in this country.” says Louis.

“But what if she’s in debt like Jack?” asks a woman.

“Then she’s in debt. Do you want me to pay for it? …I tried. My whole life I tried. …That’s part of the reason we’re so enraged.” says Louis.

“She made a mockery of herself, Liberals, the media, most women and black people.” says Lacey. “I feel empathy for her. I hope she doesn’t kill herself. Seriously. …But it was horrific.” says Lacey. “I like to think she had no choice, for her sake.”

Alien Blues plays. He sings along.

“Why can’t women submit anymore? Why don’t men chase well for good intentions?” asks a pregnant singer.

“Because it’s lost.” says Michael on an anthropological level. “Making men like Lem and I so certainly gay…destroys society.”

Louis laughs. “I was straight. But today…I don’t exist. I’d be too supportive of beauty and elegance and goodness to be accepted as straight. …And could I exist anyway?”

Washing Machine Heart plays.

“But you seem equal?” a man asks Lacey.

Transgender by Crystal Castles plays.

“With Lem and Louis and Michael I just…relax. And maybe in that I find equality? But I don’t set out to find it.” says Lacey.

“Because they just love you.” says The Charismatic.

“Yes. I don’t feel dead in loneliness and with no hope.” says Lacey.

“So it’s a given? There’s no war?” asks Harold.

“Exactly.” says Lacey.

“It’s like…organic, real romance.” says The Charismatic sadly and thoughtfully. He looks disturbed. “Do you think our parents had it?”

“Barely. I think it started dying in the early 20th Century.” says Lacey.

“Do you we would be able to live without directors?” The Charismatic asks.

“Yes and no.” says Lacey. She thinks. “The thing is…we’re so conceited. And have been for centuries now.” She thinks. “But I think we might be at the height of our conceit.”

“Why?” asks Michael.

“Being merely rational is enough. And you can delineate into more complexities from there. But…we aren’t satisfied. Because Western Society can’t stand its Christianity. It wants to supersede pain and grief without acknowledging the reality of death.” says Lacey. “It fights against death, rightfully…but…to what end?”

“And the need to normalize stupidity to create so-called equality has ruined Western Society.” says Louis. “That kind of alchemy is impossible.”

“Meritocracy isn’t equality.” says Michael.

“And the ugly truth is that it may just evolve into monarchy anyway.” says Lacey.

“You don’t think socialism works?” asks a Liberal.

“Not unless everyone is actually like me in reality.” says Lacey. “Submissive-“

“Dumb!?” interrupts a hater who’s convinced their joke works. Flies off the shelves to national acclaim.

“Oh yeah? Your great Granduncle wasn’t popular like us!” say the They.

“Do you all realize…how dumb you sound?” asks a famous Jewish writer of film.

“I hate the Norwegians!” says Mr. Blue without irony, high on some drug.

“What are you? A mutt wannabe?” asks Lacey.

“You don’t hate me because I partially rejected you. Do you?” he asks. “You it’s-“

“You’re a vile person by choice. I doubt I’m bitter.” says Lacey.

A gay artist rolls his eyes.

“No!!! Stop!! She isn’t bitter. Really! That’s…gross!” says Michael.

“Then why does she care?” asks Mr. Blue, trying to sound demonic.

“Because you really seem that vile. And homicidal.” says Louis to Mr. Blue.

“Can I just backtrack for a second?” asks a pregnant singer.

They listen.

“Fine.” says Mr. Blue, acting very hurt.

This enrages Lacey.

“Why? You’re like a cold that won’t go away. That’s such trite nonsense.” says Louis to Mr. Blue.

“Do you think…Joe treated you like an equal?” asks the pregnant singer.

“No! Of course not. Because he was a filthy rich peasant.” says Lacey, in increasing irritation.

“When do I win with you?” asks Mr. Blue of Lacey.

“Possibly never?” asks Lacey. Then to the singer, “Listen, he was…toxic. At times loving, but essentially toxic. …And it’s impossible to submit to men like that.” She thinks. “At first maybe. But over time it’s increasingly impossible.” She thinks. “Because they don’t even want submission. Somehow, somewhere they just hate.”

“Does our government want submission?” asks a lesbian.

“No. It’s suicidal. It has been since…the beginning practically?” responds Lacey. “It’s all Newland Archer.” She thinks. “It’s all secretly in love with bullshit and always has been? But…we’re losing our chance to see it?”

“So you think America is on the brink of oblivion?” asks a hater.

“It’s based on our old way of seeing ourselves. Deconstructing without a regard for truth to find true lies is dangerous. …And…deconstructing itself is foolish on a certain level if not done with humility. …Science isn’t everything. It’s an attempt to explain everything. And it eventually fails. …After truly succeeding marvelously. …If we die off as Americans in our heads…what’s left? Nothing but rage. …And ambivalence. …And then we cease to exist mentally as a country before it happens physically?” She thinks. “Russia might win or lose? But it doesn’t end our internal death as a nation that we refuse to acknowledge.”

“Oh boy!” patronizingly says a Gen X woman patronizingly thinking that American zeal and nationalism is…huge.

“It’s not like it used to be. Nationalism worldwide isn’t, I don’t think

Mushaboom plays.

“I got a man to stick it out! Woohoo!!” says Lacey sarcastically. “Held ‘em at gunpoint. Stupid bastard!”

“Shaboom!” says Joe Jr..

“And look at that annoying cover? …Do they really even know what that sex is?” asks Lacey.

I barely do. I only vaguely experienced it with Pat.” he says.

“Well, and I suppose she did get you to stick around.” says Lacey.

He nods. “True.”

“But you claim to have loved me?” she wonders.

“And I didn’t want to leave. At all.” he says.

Clocks plays.

“But you wanted to leave Pat?” asks Lacey.

“Yes.” he says.

“And yet…she got you. Your soul.” says Lacey. “Right?”

“Possibly.” says a witch.

“Isn’t that funny?” asks Lacey.

“I loved him.” says Pat.

“And now I get Lem, Michael and Louis.” Lacey says to Pat.

She nods sadly to Lacey. But it’s more empathy than condescension or denial of the truth?

“Are you and Joe capable of being happy?” asks Lacey.

“I’m viciously trying to work out my evil, if there’s Purgatory, you see.” says Pat. “Yes!”

“Then you protected me.” says Lacey.

And at that Pat weeps. But then controls herself.

“I wanted-“ Pat starts. “You meant well.” she says to Lacey.

“Oh yes, she did.” says a dead nun about Lacey.

“But you weren’t trying to attack me just now?” asks Lacey.

“No. I knew it was a bad idea.” she says and Lacey understands. “At least I’m working towards meaning no.” She thinks. “Openly.”

“Would Pat have enjoyed your life?” asks a Millennial woman.

“Yes.” says Michael.

“Would you even have known Joe? Or just Kick?” asks a witch.

“Mostly just Kick?” says Lacey.

“Why does Joe like you so much?” asks The Charismatic.

“She was my ideal.” says Joe, sadly.

“I wish I knew what that meant.” says Lacey.

American by Lana Del Rey plays.

Today Lacey saw a post on Tik Tok about how JFK supposedly was suspicious of the Federal Reserve and wanted to return to the Gold Standard? …She recalls hearing that once before but it didn’t stick in her mind.

The creepy thing is…she had a weird dream once. Lately she’s been praying for proof of the supernatural from God. This may be it.

What was her dream? …In her dream she was herself. She had the dream at around age…17 or so? But in the dream she was an adult. Who had lived in the time of JFK.

And she was some sort of actress??? …Who visited him when he was secretly stored away in some sort of underground hospital. Hidden away. To protect the public from knowing how sick he was…

Later she heard that Grace Kelly actually did that. And that’s always been weird to Lacey…. And that’s always been weirder to Lacey because she was very much herself in the dream. Not Grace Kelly.

Were she in love with Jack? …Maybe? But it seemed more like she was being paid to like him? Like…she was a decrepit, addled prostitute but not. She felt…like a…darker, confused, but also strangely more at peace and calmer version of herself? …And she pretended to genuinely love him? Or did she actually love him? …He was weak, vulnerable and sad around her either way. And she was very much in the know either way. As in, he secretly never died until the 1980’s. …And what killed him? It was unclear. It’s almost like he just disappeared?

*Louis laughs*

The dream left her…baffled, deeply disturbed and shaken.

Female Robbery by The Neighbourhood plays.

And where was this place?

Was it under the Greenbrier? It felt like it.

Was it Fort Knox? *Lacey laughs* Maybe? It’s never felt like it was under the White House, as logical as that seems.

“Were you a spy?” asks a Perfume Hater.

“No. But I knew people’s secrets. Almost like I was hired to know people’s secrets.” says Lacey. “Like I was into something illegal but I was so cool headed about it.” She thinks. “Nobody could ever catch me. It was all too hidden.”

I Walk The Line by Halsey plays.

“Were you jaded?” asks a Perfume Hater.

“I was almost impossible to find.” says Lacey. “And Jack thought he could. …But I doubt he did.” She thinks. “I was me. But…so lost. Ick.”

“Did you hate yourself?” asks a Boomer actor.

“I didn’t like myself. But…it’s like I was trapped intellectually in this…stupid view of life?” says Lacey.

“Did you smoke?” asks a hater.

“Yes. And I dressed like they did. …But it wasn’t really me. As in, it was me…but…me without my mind. Or myself?” says Lacey.

“Did he love you?” asks Louis.

“Yes and it was bizarre to me.” says Lacey. “Like…why do you like me so much?!”

“But he was decrepit.” says a hater.

“He seemed so anxious. So…flustered. So controlled.” says Lacey. “As if he had almost no freedom.”

Skyfall by Adele plays.

“Did you hate him?” asks Louis.

“No. But…I think I thought of running off with him and breaking him out of that place.” says Lacey.

“Wait…it was creepy to you that he liked you romantically?” clarifies a perfume hater.

“Yes. Like…why?!” asks Lacey.

Flashing Lights by Kanye West plays.

“Lacey could you have been married to someone else?” asks Louis.

“Did I have a life? Or was I just…low-key dead inside?” asks Lacey.

“So you’re wilder than that version of you?” asks a perfume hater.

“I’m more internally vivid.” says Lacey. “And stronger.”

“And yet it was you?” asks an English singer.

“Yes. I was so gullible though.” says Lacey. “And I was less…of a fighter.” She thinks again. “I might have been more cool headed and cooler in general though. People liked me more. …Not that I respected that at all.”

“Would you have been better at math?” asks a hater.

“Yes?” says Lacey. “But…why did he like me so much?” she scoffs, cringes.

“Were you still pretty?” asks a perfume hater.

“Yes. I looked like me. But…so…grey. And brown. And blasé.” says Lacey.

“Did you just think he was being short-changed?” asks a hater.

“I thought he was an idiot for it and I felt sorry for him. And embarrassed for him too. But…I got his appreciation for my? What was it? My power?” asks Lacey.

“You knew things he didn’t.” says Louis.

“Yes. He depended on me?” wonders Lacey.

“And so they acted like what? Like he was dead? But he wasn’t?” asks Lem.

“Yes. He lived in secrecy. …Maybe his fake death was less traumatic somehow too?” she wonders.

“I would still have loved you.” says Lem.

“And if that was some hateful approximation of you…I love you.” says Lacey.

“Why isn’t it bad if Lem loved that version of you?” asks a hater.

“Because he would have seen my heart. Hopefully not more easily.” says Lacey. “Jack was…mistaken. Poor dear.”

“Why?” asks a hater.

“Because he…thought I was being genuine when I wasn’t. And then I felt bad for him the way you would for a less intelligent or weak wife or a child? …And it ruined my ability to respect him as a husband.” says. “It felt embarrassing.”

“Well…he was happy though?” asks Thirsten.

Lacey thinks. “He was…lonely and dependent and desperate.”

“You genuinely felt sorry for him.” says a man.

“I despised his desperate vulnerability and lack of perspective.” says Lacey. “I thought the US Presidency had ruined him?”

“And you wondered if he was better off dead?” asks a hater.

“Yes? Because it seemed so overwhelming and draining to him.” says Lacey.

Shake Me Down plays.

“Did you think you might be better off dead?” asks Louis.

“Yes? But of course only correctly. …I was very alone.” says Lacey.

Silver Soul plays.

“Where was that hole?” asks Lacey.

“Where did it feel like?” asks Bernie Madoff.

“Somewhere in Virginia?” she says. “Or North Carolina? Or…West Virginia?” says Lacey.

“Not Fort Knox?” asks a hater.

“No. But it felt military. Like…a combination of Greenbrier and Fort Knox.” She thinks. “I was too insouciant and…in the know and powerful to be Marilyn Monroe. Or anyone famous. …I was so repulsed.” says Lacey.

“What was Jack like that vulnerable?” asks a hater.

“Sad. If he’s capable of being more…sturdy and benevolent and all around good? It was pathetic.” says Lacey. “But of course, I empathized with his humanity as a human.”

“I think he loved you and you patronized him.” says a perfume hater.

“Hmm. I didn’t love him? At all? Maybe not as a lover but as a person? Just someone watching him objectively?” asks Lacey. “Since when is lying to someone truly loving them in that situation?”

Beautiful by Snoop Dogg plays.

“Did Jack want the gold standard out of subconscious suspicion of Lem?” asks a hater.

“Like he was faking his love?” asks Lacey.

“Yes. Of course.” says a Democrat hater.

“Can I really respond?” asks Lacey. “Is that allowed?”

Awkward Evil

Summertime Sadness plays.

Once when Lacey was wondering if she was just imagining things or if she was actually talking to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ghost…she asked God for a sign. And that night she went driving in Saint Paul thorough Scott’s old neighborhood and she saw a bright shooting star fly directly overhead. It flew like a firefly perfectly above. …Of course, it wasn’t unequivocal proof but it seemed eerie nonetheless, given the rarity of such an event, the timing, location, and his famous line in The Great Gatsby.

Tonight Lacey is feeling gloomy. Why? Because she has to let go of some man. Focus on one of them…

“Karrie, you’re my aunt.” says David.

“It’s Lem.” says Scott.

“We’re not assuming anything.” says Louis.

Lacey wonders if she’s a lost child…or a very unusual member of her family. It is weird though how much her kids look like her when she looks very little, relatively speaking, like her parents. Well…somewhat like her dad…but…

“I did love you.” Joe Jr. says to Lacey.

“Is it confusing or comforting to your nieces and nephew if I’m with Lem in Heaven?” asks Lacey.

“I wondered that too.” says Louis.

“They’d love Louis.” says Joe sadly.

“If reincarnation is a thing…I have a feeling they’ll see you and Jack as the original best friends.” says a Freemason.

“Unless he wrote himself into the story. I’m not convinced he didn’t.” says an English witch.

“So if you and Lem were married…not Michael…then?” asks a Lana.

“I know. They’ve both claimed to be that man. Actually, Joe thought it was him. So did Elliott.” says Lacey.

“Do they not know? Or are they saying that they’d be more likely to be him than the others?” asks the English witch.

“It seems like both. Michael seemed the most certain it’d be him.” says Lacey.

“It was Michael.” says an English actor. “If reincarnation is in Christianity. But I think you might have been married to Lem at some point too.”

“But let’s be honest, reincarnation as fascinating as it is…doesn’t seem theologically solid. At all.” Scott says.

“Dang!!” says a rapper to Lacey.

Old Money by Lana Del Rey plays.

“Having to chose between two husbands?” asks Lacey.

He nods in agreement.

“Yeah. If that’s possible in Christianity…it’s been awful.” B” says Lacey.

“Who do you chose?!” a black woman says in in possible empathy.

“Exactly. Especially not really knowing so many things.” says Lacey.

Chasing Pavements plays.

“Okay…so even if Lem was bi. Who’s to say he wouldn’t have chosen you anyway?” asks a British singer. “Maybe without you it was hopeless…but…I think you’re hearing from an actual ghost at least slightly and think…he’s into you a lot. Like…it’s just some people are our everything.”

“See…people say he felt that way about Jack. But then I think about how he would have reacted if I’d died. …He wouldn’t have been so desperate.” says Lacey.

“I wouldn’t have remarried. Or likely dated. But…no. I’d have spent hours talking to her grave.” says Lem.

“Would that have comforted you?” asks a Freemason.

“Yes! Very much so. I would have been waiting to die…but I’d have felt hopeful.” He tears up. “And I’d have been happy to live for the sake of our children and grandchildren.” he says. “It would have meant everything to her for me to be strong. And I would have been. …And we’d have had our faith in God.” says Lem.

“Oof.” says a Boomer reading that.

“So…what would you make of the life you led? If you’d led that life instead?” asks another Boomer.

Laying next her imaginary grave he laughs. “I see it from her perspective. It seems despicably foolish.”

A Boomer actress smiles. She nods her head.

“I’m not smitten. I think you’re in suffering. That should have been your life, Lem.” says the first Boomer.

Cornfield Chase starts to play.

“Am I lucky that she’s unhappy or not?” asks Lem.

“Lucky!” says the English witch smiling triumphantly. Michael agrees that it’s lucky.

“Look, if I hadn’t died-If I had lived we’d have been incredibly happy, Lem. No matter our age difference. We’d have felt…fortunate to know each other at all. To love. At all. …But I died. And frankly…if it wasn’t me…I like her being free to realize how ugly the world is instead of pretending to be happy. Or worse yet, believing she’s happy and that life is as dull and shapeless and meaningless as you said you believed it was.” says Michael.

“Michael did she kill herself over you?!” asks an Englishwoman into witchcraft.

“If he was that man…and that’s something that God would have to answer for you…then yes.” says Scott. “Ask for her about it.”

“Why would you have?” asks the English witch.

“I think I had failed pregnancies. And he was…my whole life. I couldn’t imagine life without him. I just wanted to join him. …My death wasn’t planned if it happened though. It was through negligence.” says Lacey. “Also…I have a feeling I was an orphan.” She thinks. “That’s the thing…it happened quickly. I didn’t wait until I was 65 and then kill myself on his birthday. Or the day before. It happened months after he died. Because I literally couldn’t stand it…should it be what happened. …That’s the sense I get.”

“So you just feel like waiting is weird?” asks a widow.

“If you’re going to die…by suicide or something close to it? …Perhaps it might shorten your life. But…when old people die close together it’s not for no reason. Right?” she says. “I may have intended to drink myself to death.”

“So-“ a Lana laughs. “You and Michael came back if reincarnation exists? And it didn’t go so well.”

“No. And our timing is…bizarre.” says Lacey.

“Well…you could have been trying to prove your love to each other?” says a Boomer.

“I think it’s important to realize and recognize I’m demanding this be a part of Christianity. ..And…as it has nothing to do with salvation…perhaps it’s not often if ever God’s will. …Should it even be a thing, so to speak.” says Lacey. “But…maybe a good question is: Would I have killed myself if it was Lem?”

“Would you have?” asks the Englishwoman into witchcraft.

“I’d have prayed to die or prayed for grace. It would have been hard to live. But…not as deathly?” wonders Lacey. “Somehow I wonder… And I may have this backwards. But…does Michael alter my brain more?”

“Alter your brain?!” asks a Boomer.

“Yes. Like…how did he derail this conversation?” asks Lacey. “It’s like…if he loves me…he controls me. Brilliantly. And I think I’d get lost in that.”

“How so?” asks Joe Sr..

“I think I would have lived each day like it belonged to him.” says Lacey. “Like…everything was his where we lived. And his every thought mattered an enormous amount.” She thinks. “And yet he would have been chipper and good and…strong. And wise.” She thinks more. “He would have been a very good man.” More thinking…

MATA LIFE plays.

“If it’s a part of Christianity…my dear faith I’ll stake my life on…it’s like he would have had this insidious amount of power.” says Lacey. “And it was a blessing if it’s true. He would have brought nothing but peace and stability and happiness.” She thinks. “And yet…I wonder if when he died it would have been like…nothing made sense.”

“Like…what?” asks a Charles.

“Like…how did the Earth still orbit?” says Lacey. “Almost as if my brain ceased to work. Or as if I died too. …And maybe I went insane?” wonders Lacey. “Should it have happened? Even theoretically.”

“So you just didn’t know what to do with yourself?” asks a Lana.

“I wonder if it would have had to be worse than that.” says Lacey. “Almost as if…I was totally distanced from reality?” She thinks. “And maybe drinking would have been my way to feel numb but also less…scared of the weirdness?”

Eleanor Rigby plays. 

“I wouldn’t have been just lonely. …I’d have been horrifically disassociated.” says Lacey. “Not even feeling pain so much as intense shock.”

“Would you or him have cheated?” asks a Gen Z member.

“No!! Never.” says Lacey. “Marrying him would have been like…living in Heaven slightly… And our only pain would possibly have come from my lost pregnancies. …But…we probably would have thought we had time.” She thinks. “I think I would have been very happy. Almost like you see in movies.”

“And so when he died…should this be true…you would have been?” asks a Gen Z woman.

“I would have felt as if nothing was real. Nothing made sense. That…my brain was actually in another place. Sort of like…how am I breathing? Why does almost anything I see around me exist?” She laughs. “For some reason I’m walking around Blenheim Palace as I say this.” She thinks. “In my head. And only otherwise if God allows it.”

“Was he very domineering?” asks a Gen Z woman.

“If. …That’s nothing. He…was…-It would have been inconceivable to think of him having any serious trouble. Tragedy? Yes. But trouble? No. Not really. He got what he wanted, I guess you could say.” says Lacey.

A Boomer woman laughs. “And that’s who poor Lem is up against. A man who would have kept British Kings and Queens on their toes at the height of the British Empire.” She thinks.

“And should this be true…poor Jack may have sensed Lem was your husband once and somehow mistaken their identities.” says a gay man trying to be humble.

The Charismatic laughs.

“So…if Michael had been Lem…would Jack have been killed?” asks a Gen X woman of Lacey.

“No. People wouldn’t have dared.” says Lacey.

“Like if they knew somehow who Lem really was?” asks a woman.

“Exactly.” says Lacey. “I suppose the idea would be spiritually that Lem had some…secret sway over almost everyone.”

“Who actually was Lem?” asks a Boomer.

“A slightly shy, sweet, vicious man when he wanted to be…calm, even tempered yet paradoxically passionate…deep but jolly…unspeakably difficult man.” says Lacey. She thinks. “I’d bet Michael could be taken up in flights of fancy at times and it was his goodness and logical ability that brought him back to Earth, so to speak. But…Lem might have been confused but…I doubt he really was that free and fanciful almost ever.”

“So…he was…stubborn?” asks a man.

“Impossible.” says Lacey. “Virtually impossible.” She thinks. “Very warm maybe. But…essentially like granite.”

“Did he seriously convince himself he was gay?” asks a Boomer of Lem.

“It seems so.” says Lacey.

“That’s so strange.” says a hater.

“Mmm…not really.” says Lacey.

“I think it’s funny if it’s true. …But let’s be careful not to judge Jack.” says a gay man.

“They’re so different though.” says Lacey in wonder.

He laughs. “But Michael wasn’t there. And-Are they anything alike?”

“They’re both sweet. And I would have been married to them. And Jack would have, if he was there, somehow have thought Michael was gay before. Even though I have a feeling he was actually straight.” says Lacey.

“And then there comes Lem thinking he is gay!” laughs a woman. “Should this be true.”

“Actually, the fact that Michael died in 1961 is creepy.” says a hater. “And if it is Christianity…wow. Jack was…accidentally hilarious. It’s like when Regina eats those bars.”

“Don’t underestimate Louis. …But…let Lem keep proving himself. And if he can’t then you’re all better off.” says a Boomer.

“I refuse to ever quit trying to have her as mine. God alone can change my mind.” says Lem.