LitBlogs Update

# The latest entry at LumpenBlog, 'Mickey Snaketail', has Nefertiti Snorkjutt in Maui attempting to rescue Lola from the clutches of Bruce--who Lola rescued Nef from after Nef rescued Lola from... You know, this could go on forever. Cut to the chase: Bruce wins.

At last I have a chance to report on my search for the misogynist Bruce and the, well, intrepid Lola. Lola rescued me from Bruce's clutches, only to be taken by him to Maui, where I tracked them to a popular nude beach called Baby Makena.

I decided to perform what I believe the, well, gendarmes call a "stake-out." I thought that I had come rather well-prepared to look inconspicuous, but on the very first day a presumptuous woman with nipples that point straight up walked past me and said, "Can you sweat through leather?" So I decided to sacrifice my last, well, what you might call shred of modesty and remove all of my clothes, save for the plastic strap holding my binoculars.

And if you can resist reading the rest of that, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

# At The Mermaid Tavern, the philosofairy encounters creatures in the shower drain and gets a best-selling book idea out of it. Would that it were that easy for me.

Early this morning, as she stepped into the sparkling freshness of her shower, the philosofairy came up with a surefire bestseller Book Concept.

But before she tells you about this surefire bestseller Book Concept, you need to know something. The philosofairy is a lover of nature. She has immense respect for all creatures big and small, including those alligators that live in underground New York City sewers and that take their breakfast straight from the homeless person's box. She is an advocate to the animals, and does not endorse harming any living thing (note: an exception would be made for Ashton Kutcher).

I won't give it away but it includes references to hairy eight-legged things and The Da Vinci Code, not necessarily in that order.

# Emmett at Maine Line has written a rather unsettling post called 'Father's Day'. It was hard for me to read, not because it's badly written--in fact it may be the best writing he's done so far--but because it details the kind of horrific family nightmare we all dread: skeletons escaping from their closets. The day starts well and ends...badly. Here's a piece of it from just before the shit hits the fan. After a decent day when 'Nobody started a fight or picked on anybody else or went off and sulked in a corner or called anybody else vile names or gave them the finger', they go in the house to play cribbage.

As [the game] went on dad kept getting up and leaving the room for a minute and then coming back, and he was doing this every couple minutes and I was starting to get worried, thinking he was out in the kitchen nipping off his stash on the sly. Which is just what he was doing, it turns out. Howie and me were just about to slam them with double when I put down a card that let dad hit 21 for extra points. "That was a bonehead move," he says. I didn't say anything but I must have looked it because Cyn jumped in and started telling a funny story about one time when she got Ma to play poker (which she didn't know how to play) and this one hand she leaned over to Cyn and showed her her cards and whispered, "Is this any good?" and Cyn said, "Ma, you got a full house!" and Ma said, "Don't be silly. We've had twice this many people over. There's plenty of room." Even Gary laughed at that one but then dad said, out of nowhere, "She was one stupid bitch, that woman. Don't know why I put up with her all those years."

I froze.

What comes next is the recounting of a previous incident that left me a bit shaken, and a more or less predictable end to the day. I have never, thank god or whatever, been in that position but I know way too many people who have, and they didn't handle it any better than Emmett. There is no good way to handle an alcoholic parent, and Emmett is honest enough to admit his wasn't the best. If you have an alcoholic parent or are close to someone who does, read it. It won't be easy but you'll be glad you did. I think.

# Finally, there is a new story at Snake Tales, 'belinda c and fergus the leprechaun plan an uprising', the title of which pretty much says it all.

she was prepared for a rat. she was prepared for a kid swiping her tomatoes, dry, shriveled things that they were. she was even prepared for a burglar, though what he might have hoped to steal in a neighborhood like this would bear explaining. of all the things belinda c was not prepared for, at the top of the list was what she actually saw--a leprechaun perched on her chickenwire fence, munching on a lettuce leaf and talking to himself. or maybe that was singing.

"shoo", she said. "shoo. shoo."

the leprechaun--if that's what it was and what else could it have been?--looked up at her with mild amusement in his tiny hazel eyes. "i'm not a housefly," he said. "or a timid field mouse with his racing shoes on at the slightest crack of twig. i'm not that easy to get rid of, if that's what you're hoping. why don't you sit down in that old stuffed chair you threw out last year, and we'll have a talk."

Fergus has a favor to ask that involves pixies, a city construction project, and--he promises solemnly--no dragons at all. (They all moved to Cleveland.)

Enjoy.

(cross-posted at Omnium)