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Poor Mrs. Shoemaker isn't even expecting it and neither is her faithful
steed Jim. The Ford Escort is at full gallop down Main Street passing
the mall in the direction of Jackson's high school, when all of a sudden
Jim notices an unusual feeling in his front right wheel axle.
Not long after, Lois too realizes that her car is under the influence
of an impending accident. A bad roll of the dice has her in an elliptical
swing heading straight for the mall. Her instincts sedate the shallow
waters of her conscience with a single stab and quickly grab the wheel
with ten precise fingers wrinkled with one hundred and sixty five million
years of experience. Three thousand times a second, they send messengers
galloping to and from her optical cortex to bring back details of any
serious enemy troop movements.
The reports are all the same.
– –
* - Limington Mall advances - *
– –
* - Limington Mall advances - *
– –
* - Limington mall advances - *
– –
Having received no orders, her right foot unilatterly decides to apply
the brake with all its might.
The car charges into the mall parking lot and hurls itself toward the
final target.
– –
* - Sears Department Store approaching – starboard and fast - *
– –
When Lois focuses her eyes on the inevitable advance of the Sears Department
Store, her instincts retreat from their controls to hide in the pit of
her stomach.
She regains her love of the open road the single instant she gives back
into her own ego. The ego can be selectively nostalgic, and the last moments
of a person's life rarely waver from that proclivity. This time is no
exception.
There are three occasions that swim to the surface within the consciousness
of Mrs. Shoemaker to spit for a final gasp before the storm.
The first is the stormy night she awoke to a terrible sound.
The second memory is the day she first discovers she is pregnant. Holding
the pregnancy test in her left hand, she watches a hawk make a lonely
circle in the back yard. It makes her feel like a mother.
The third moment is watching the Apollo Moon landing with her Mom while
they fold laundry.
With the smell of dryer sheets on the brain, the Escort Wagon punches
quite a hole in the department store and plunges through the sporting
goods department. Over the sound of brakes and glass, the ammunition aisles
celebrate like a gang of drunk Irish cops at a Mexican wedding.
Jackson Shoemaker hides underneath the long reach of his umbrella like
a cartoon character warding off an anvil. Smoke and ash pass between his
legs and he can feel the heat of the accident press on his face. Unable
to move, he watches the Sears employees dig through the rubble and unearth
his mother’s car. He can recognize the Free Tibet bumper sticker.
The incident is covered on every local news station highlighting the sins
of faulty automobile designs and the executives who ignore the warnings
of safety records. The very same executives that hang from the ceiling
by their crooked toes to drink the blood of under-aged virgins.
Jackson has no idea that the scepter in his hands is destined to send
for a crown to make it official. He is the new king sworn, and his castle
will be built from the fruits of a historic out-of-court settlement that
will change the shape of the entire planet.
Maybe it's a bit dramatic in a World War II movie sort of way, but sometimes
that's warranted.
I'm almost positive that in this case it is.
[B]
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Dedication
Chapter 1 - Two Bookends
On A Couch
Chapter 2 - Battery Fluid
Chapter 3 - Whose Fuse Is The Muse
Chapter 4 - Why Widows Sing The Blues
Chapter 5 - Welcome to Sears
Chapter 6 - Fortress of Solitude
Chapter 7 - Rite of Passage
Chapter 8 - Letters of Arrival
Chapter 9 - Keeping Busy
Chapter 10 - You Can’t Teach a Gorilla
to Golf
Chapter 11 - Satellite
of Love
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