Endtown by Aaron Neathery for November 08, 2012

Maude, so we have a name for our landlady!

Hey I was looking forward for some more unusual and interesting tenets. Please? You do it so well…. HHMMMMBlessed Be

I like the weeping Buddha.

That must be uncomfortable for Linda, being surrounded by the belongings of someone who had recently died and whose fiance recently committed suicide. That puts a damper in a new move-in situation.

“maude”, eh? as in “and then there’s…”?

The Buddha, Indonesian styleWill not see “happy” for a whileHow long ’till Linda can beginTo find release, and settle in?(Those Endtown chairs are like our FlaskThey must be built, to do the task)=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

“The best you can do is to just not contribute to it.”Well, THAT’s a no-brainer.

Linda: “Yeah, I know. The colony was like that, too. Every few days, one of us folks would get dusted by you mu… I mean, yeah, life sucks.”

Too late.

Wow.

But… no more puns today. This is lightly-written, powerfully tragic stuff.It is the stuff of life. Endtown is a comic that transcends the ordinary, even transcends the excellent. I feel honoured to be able to read this modern-day masterpiece as it is produced, freshly nailed to the wall every day.

Maw… short for Maude.

Nice storyline.

“Perhaps the previous tenant is not dead (at least not completely).”Depends on your definition of “got”.

Buddha? Look’s more like one of Rodin’s sculptures, similar to “The Thinker”. Only, in this case, “The Mourner”. It would make an excellent grave stone topper.

How many story “arcs” so far? Al and Gustine…Wally…Flask…. Along with the trials of the principals in each, each one shows a bit more detail of Endtown world. We’ve followed one character (Wally) through his introduction to Endtown. Here we have another being introduced to their town. Yet Linda’s experience is not the same as Wally’s and we see more of what their town is like. Wonderful storytelling!

Obviously Maude does not know about Linda’s past. That was a slap in the face without Maude even knowing it. Dont contribute to it. Wow!!!!! That was strong on so many levels.

There are your choices in Endtown.Live and perform community service to advance.Death is a real possibility.Suicide if you so desire.Or join the dogs and play poker!!!!My choice has always been live for the moment. The next one may not happen. But that is my choice. I do respect others.That statue is soo meaning full. I wonder if he made it?

Those hoof-hands…

Maude, Huh? Terrific, now I hear Bea Arthurs’ voice coming out of the Cows mouth.☺

I think Linda field experience as a Topsider was very limited if any. She was a receptionist for APEX. She was not a “grunt” persay. She observed from a position of relative safety. Reports, numbers probably crossed her desk all day. She just never looked at them as persons. Just numbers. “Field Team Six reporting 1 mutant eliminated and assimililated.” would be the report she would see. That one mutant (is not the one she is with now) but now that “1 Mutant” report has a face, an identitiy she was unaware of up till now.She sees her enemy as people not targets or numbers on a report. As an ex-soldier I remember being reminded of that by others. They are our enemy and will kill us but they are people so dont be disrespectful just kill them first. It keeps your perspective in line. Keeps you on the right side of the Morality line. Quit thinking of them as people? That is when the atrosities and masssacres occure. Lt. Calley Viet Nam best modern example.In the story Topsiders are the best example. They no longer think of mutants as people. Mutants are just things needing to be killed or harvested. So they amuse themselves in killing using methods that encourage suffering and torture. And I use the word AMUSE as that is what they are doing. Read their conversations between each other. It is contest to them to see who can be the baddess assed killer. Linda knew that side from her past now her eyes are open to the other side she never considered.

To JusSayinWhen I went through back in 81 they did mention that case. It kind of solidified us Troops. The DPS reputation is that we arrest everybody, invent laws to fit, have the ability to marry and grant divorces when needed (my partner did that back in East Texas when he was Troop back there), if you ran you better keep running because if we caught you you would get a beating for running, if you stayed you were going to get a beating because. That was old school layed down by men that gave their all including their lives for about 300 dollars a month. I was part of the newer generation who rode those tales to our advantage. It kept us from getting hurt. But I was prepared to do what was necessary. If you fought me there would only be one winner. We may both end up in the hospital but one way or the other I was going to bring you in. Most times it just takes good verbal conversations to get the respect and give respect. I have never treated someone with disrespect that is not my creedo. I am as respectful as you allow but dont think of it as weakness. I am still prepared to take you out if needed. I dont want to but prepared to.

I found the name of a card game that could be the one shown yesterday. We called it “Spit in the Ocean”. It was very popular with those who want to teach toddlers how to count cards.

No warrants out for me, I just did a few hours in the Newton County jail. I may have made my mistake telling them my uncle was Sheriff and he would straighten them out. At which point they put me in jail, where I learned Newton was not in Jasper county, and my uncle was Sheriff one county over.

If I were Linda, I just pray they’re now in a better place and hope the same dosen’t happen to her. Hey, she’s already a koala, how worse can it get?

That’s what I like about this storyline, Linda trying to adjust to her new life. Looking at things from the other folks’ perspective. I have no idea if she was the kind of person who would want someone to confide in, but if she were she knows she can’t now. This is the kind of thing that keeps me coming back. Oh, that and pinup girls like Flask & Holly. ;^)>

EndTown continues to astonish me with its poignancy and depth. Please Aaron, keep doing what you do—continue the magic.

What is that in her hand she is soooo staring at?A heart on a chain?Ohhhhhhh.

I was doing some viewing of Endtown merchandize. It was said once Endtown universe has no guns. I refer you to Shameless Pandering. If that aint a gun picked up from the surface by the flying boat what is it?This proves they have guns on the surface. Big ones from the looks of it. Probably some topside mutant settlement had it. But like anything else Topsiders would be able to counter. You can have all the guns but missiles from a thousand miles away render them just guns.

I would imagine it was an order. They were definitely not regulars. All Topsiders are probably given a “basic” induction training then assigned to whatever jobs they are qualified for. Military does that now. Basic gives the “basics” but then you get assigned to cook, clerical, combat infantry, judge advocate but all are still basically soldiers. The problem would be when you take a clerical soldier and put him into a live combat senario. They have no “advanced” training so could only rely on the “basic” they were given. This makes them more cannon fodder than a well trained warfighter with experience. As I have said they were expendable so well suited to the assignment. I do not believe Topsider superiors care one way or the other for a single individual. Their care and duty is to the survivial of the Topsiders to repopulate the planet as the rightful ones. Its One for ALL and None for ONE. Rush 2112 said it. A volunteer could be suspicious to the Topsider higher ups. They might think what are they up to? I imagine they are a very suspicious paranoid bunch. Any one can be trained to be a receptionist. Doug may have had issues at being a soldier or doing a good job. He seemed very immature and some what goofy. Not admirable traits as a soldier so useless to them in the long run. Linda is just plain expendable. Also she may have had access to insider info in the Topsider command such as mistakes by a leader. In Nam that is why we would take out chain of command individuals. If a general was real popular he was a target. You would be surprized at the struggles that went on in his absence. Others under his command did not work well with each other. It seriously weaken a large unit. It was learned with German units to get them dispersed before they could reform. Early units were from specific areas and did not like others. Like Munich and Berlin. Cologne and Frankfurt. A Berlin commander had heck trying to get Munich soldiers to follow him. They did not like Berliners. I imagine it is the same with the Topsider hierarchy. Suspicious. Mistrust. Inside fighting for control. Linda could have had access to sensitive info. So send her to the front. Get someone new in who knows nothing.Linda feels guilt by association not actions. She read the reports. Heard the rhetoric from the leaders. All gungho and for the cause. Germans were like that. Till they were dragged to the Holocaust. The ones who showed the least concern was shown on the History Channel. The Hitler Youth. They were shown all that and laughed. Blaming it on Hollywood theatrics. They even when taken directly to the camps refused to believe that was done by their leaders. That was the legacy of all that. Probably the greatest case of Child Abuse ever. Topsiders are running that same game just not the camps. It would explain the bravado they have towards killing mutants, the distain they have for mutants period. Instead they collect parts for usage.

Here is one for you. Linda is listed as Miss. Has a child. Father in question. She was a receptionist. What if the father was the one she was working for? Agreements were made to keep it quiet. The child is now coming into age maybe asking about mama being raised by dada. What better way to get rid of mama. That child is probably being raised as some one important. The truth would not be acceptable. “Oh I am the high lord commander of the Topsider elite Section Six. Your mother was my second in command. No wait she was an affair I had with a receptionist so you are no one important.” That is just a thought not fact but it can fit. That could be the reason to not allow her child to see her at all. Linda did say I believe something to the fact it was “owed” to her after she got mutated. This indicates she took somekind of deal to be out there. I believe the response was that was not going to happen especially now. I am going to have to research that.

I did research into. It goes back to Jan area.After Linda is mutated and in the PT she says“They said it couldn’t happen” several times. She later says they owe to her to let her child see her after putting her out there to guard a fake ship in a flawed suit.It was some kind of deal she had taken and the results occured.I did run across and interesting factoid.Two things.The Topsider said Flask was not trusted even when she was human. I thought they were suspicious of her in her early career. He says she was arrogant about how they could not get along without her help. Not a team player.The other was “hundreds of communities” were attacking to stop the rocket. This tells me there are more mutant settlements that just Endtown and probably surfaced base which would make the satellite very important.

It was nice to go back and review. I never noticed the look on her face when that Topsider was talking on her pad. She was terrified of him. That was a look of fear of something terrible. Sure the torture in her past unnerved her but imagine her fear at recapture.I got a feeling we were witness to what I could call Topsider Number 1.