Tuesday, April 26, 2016


South Side:
WILLIAM K.
BORN
Mar. 7, 1830
KILLED IN THE
ARMY 1862.
------
WASHINGTON D.
SEP. 5, 1840
KILLED IN THE
ARMY 1863
------

West Side:
DAVID
BORN
MAR. 31, 1810

MARGARET A.
BORN
SEP. 11, 1809
DIED
MAR. 29, 1879

North Side:
HARVEY A.
BORN
OCT. 15, 1842
DIED
1870
------
SARAH J.
BORN
JUN. 15, 1854
DIED
APR. 20, 1865




Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Monday, April 25, 2016


Left Side:
SACRED TO THE

MEMORY

OF

LITTLE
------
LEWIS
------

Right Side:
DIED

MAR.

31,

1882

AGED
2Yrs. 1Mo.
& 16 ds.

Front:
SON OF
J.C. & E.D. CARRIGER

Short was thy stay in this
valley of tears, Bright was
thy mission sweet child of
my tears. Turning thy little
self round my heart, Soon
may I meet thee never to part


Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Sunday Comics #20: Superman Special

Full Disclosure: I didn't start out reading comic books as a Walt Simonson fan. My first experience with Simsonson--other than through his wife, Louise, who wrote the series Superman: The Man of Steel--was the Auron story in The Legacy of Superman, a comic published when the Superman titles went on hiatus after Superman was killed by Doomsday. But over the years, as I have seen and read more and more of his stuff from Thor to X-Men to things in between, his art has really grown on me. It's bold, dynamic, and simplistic all at once. Simonson is one of the last genuine comic book artists in my opinion. There are many still out there but Simonson is one of the more prolific.







The Superman Special from 1992 is an odd beast. It's a retelling of the Sand Superman story from 1971 that began in Superman (vol. 1) #233. The story was originally scheduled to be published as Superman Annual #3 in 1990, but Simonson took too long to finish the book. The story was eventually released in 1992 just weeks before "The Death of Superman" began so the book was buried and forgotten. In 2011, a theory was posited that the Special was written to be a major plot point saying that it had been the Sand Superman running around Metropolis since 1988 and that was going to be revealed in 1995's storyline "Dead Again" but DC backed down when Marvel's Clone Saga got so many negative reviews. That theory doesn't hold water but you can read on that over at the Fortress of Baileytude.

A product of its time, 1990, the story takes place before Clark and Lois got engaged and Lex Luthor "died" and came back as Lex Luthor II so we get scenes of a fat, bald Luthor and Clark and Lois not exactly getting along which makes this even stranger considering its placement in 1992.


The cover is one of my favorite from this era. It took a while to grow on me but it really comes at you and the color scheme is an interesting choice. I like the look of the sandman morphing into Superman--or is he? Anyway, onto the story. We open on Superman flying to the Fortress of Solitude and breaking and smashing some rocks into the image of General Zod, Zaora, and Quex-Ul, the three Kryptonian criminals that Superman killed back in Superman #22, as a remember to himself that he shall never take another life for as long as he lives.
Superman took extra care carving Zaora's hindquarters.
Back in Metropolis, we get a Lois and Clark scene where Lois exposits to Clark that she is going Cosmography Industries on a lead. They are apparently working on stealth-fighter technology but no one seems to know who owns them. But Lois has an idea because she is smarter than your average bear. As if Cosmography knew Lois and Clark were talking about them, problems arise and something explodes so Clark runs off so he can get to the site as Superman. As Superman dives into the building to rescue some scientists still trapped in the rubble, the building explodes again.

Elsewhere, not far from Metropolis, the Newsboy Legion is picking up seismic activity which they feel is their business so they hop in the Whiz Wagon, stop to pick up Jimmy--with Lois hitching a ride--and head off toward Cosmography Industries where Superman has been thrown into some rocks. Luckily, Supes is already recovering and those scientists even survived the second explosion so Superman has some work to do. As Superman is rescuing employees of Cosmography, Lex Luthor arrives and immediately tells Superman to get off his land. Superman tells Luthor to shove it and that Luthor is clearly up to no-good. "Stealth technology? Ha! You're covering something up!" Luthor then throws out a giant chunk of kyptonite and says that he has been trying to synthesize it, but Superman instead takes the kryptonite from Luthor and, well, just see for yourself.

Luthor's last kryptonite chunk is now just ordinary lead. As Superman flies away, he wavers just a bit--a dizzy spell he waves it off as--but Luthor notices it before ordering everyone off of his property.

As night arrives, the sand around where the explosion threw Superman begins to swirl and move while the narration box yammers about nightfall, jaws of Hell and the witching hour. A skeleton-like sandman that bears kind of a passing resemblance to Superman is born and the first thing it does is scare and kill a security guard at the site.

Back at Clark's apartment, Clark is doing dishes when his super breath disappears, concerned and knowing that it has something to do with what happened at Luthor's facility so he heads out there to investigate where he begins losing his powers but some of his powers transfers to the sandman who hiding out nearby. Luthor and a tracker named Stacky arrive and Luthor is using Stacky to figure out what is going on. The Sandman has followed Superman to his apartment. Flight is one power that the sandman hasn't gotten yet so he falls to the ground, smashing himself back into normal sand.

But only for a minute or so, the Sand Superman returns and begins wreaking havoc in the garment district. Luthor sends Team Luthor to fight and capture the creature. Once captured, Luthor offers the Sand Superman a deal. Superman is off trying to figure what's going on when bank robbers strike but it is all just a ruse from Luthor to get the Sand Superman closer to Superman. Superman and the Sand Superman duke it out a bit before Jimmy and the Newsboy Legion come to the rescue to stop the bank robbers while Superman deals with the Sand Superman. Unable to get the upper hand, Superman steals the Whiz Wagon and flies to the Fortress of Solitude with the Sand Superman close behind.

One by one, each of Superman's power is painfully transferred to the Sand Superman and the Sand Superman is starting to look more and more like Superman, even getting color into his costume. The Sand Superman finds the real Superman unconscious on the ground and tries to shake him awake so that he can see it coming but Superman plants a kiss on the Sand Superman painfully transferring more power and memory to him.

The Sand Superman is then startled by the statues of Zod, Quex-Ul and Zaora, destroying them but remembering the promise that Superman, and ergo, he, made earlier of not killing. The Sand Superman cradles Superman's lifeless body in his arms and then he...explodes. I'll be honest, I'm confused here.

Back in Metropolis, Luthor arrives at work to find Superman sitting in his office. Superman gives Luthor a big speech about where the Sand Superman's pain came from (becoming Superman, not destroying Superman) and that this was a job for Superman and that Luthor made it happen. Luthor is less than thrilled about the outcome of this story.

This is such an odd story and most of the weirdness comes from the ending where the Sand Superman explodes and Superman is revived. I can see how someone would walk away from this story now believing the Sand Superman has just become Superman after the original's death. The story is followed by seven of the most unremarkable pieces of Superman artwork I've ever seen. But that's it for this issue. Let's read some of Simonson's Thor.


Friday, April 22, 2016


JOHN C.
CARRIGER
DIED
NOV. 9, 1886
AGED 39Ys.
18 Ms.17Ds.

Lone are the paths
and sad the bowers,
Whence thy sweet
smile is gone.
But oh a brighter
home than ours
in Heaven is now
thine own.


Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Thursday, April 21, 2016


South Side:
OUR MOTHER

LOUISA M.
Wife Of
W.P. ROBERTS
APR. 21, 1830
AUG. 21, 1897

Blessed are the dead
Who die in His love

North Side:
SARAH G.

Wife Of
W.T. ROBERTS
APR. 26, 1854
DEC. 14, 1883



Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Wednesday, April 20, 2016


THOMAS K. STEPHENS

DIED
Apr. 21, 1873
AGED
61 Ys.1Mo.11Ds.
------



Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Tuesday, April 19, 2016


West Side:
F.M. LEWIS

BORN AUG. 23 1854

DIED MAY 28 1947

South Side:
MARIA E.
Wife Of
F.M. LEWIS
Born in Pickaway
Co. Ohio, March
24, 1864, Died In
Shawnee Co. Kansas
Jan. 18, 1888

The Lord Hath Given And The
Lord Hath Taken Away.


Signature (North Side):
WESTERN WHITE BRONZE CO.
DES MOINES IOWA.







Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Monday, April 18, 2016


IN MEMORY OF OUR ONLY DAUGHTER
AND HER CHILDREN

RUTH HARRIS FOX
1878 - 1909

IRENE FOX
1900 - 1901


Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Friday, April 15, 2016


EDWARD MARTIN KOCI
KANSAS
PVT 70 INFANTRY 10 DIV
WORLD WAR I
OCT 1 1895     DEC 30 1956


Auburn Cemetery, Auburn, Auburn Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Liberty #58: Riley & Tyler, Part 1

August
“He didn’t keep a clean house,” Jean muttered as she, Linda and Tyler went into the townhouse once occupied by Jean’s son, Codie. Movie and superhero posters adorned the walls, a massive video game setup dominated one of the walls of the front room. The kitchen was nearly bare and the bedroom had an entertainment center set up with a massive TV, several DVD players, stereo and speakers along with a bed and couch. “What are we supposed to do with all of this garbage?” Jean asked.

“We sell it, Mom,” Linda said.

Tyler opened the door to the other bedroom to reveal more than three dozen comic book longboxes and bookshelves full of graphic novels, trade paperbacks and statues. “Holy crap,” Tyler exclaimed.

Jean and Linda followed him into the room. “Oh, Goddamn it,” Jean said. “How do we sell these?”

“I’ll take them,” Tyler said.

“We don’t have room for them, Tyler,” Linda replied. “Look at all of this. There must be 40 or so boxes and four bookcases.”

“I’m just going to call that comic book store downtown and see if they will give me a thousand dollars for the boxes,” Jean said.

“Grandma, there is no way that all of these comics are just worth a thousand dollars,” he pulled a lid off a box and grabbed a random comic. “This is Fantastic Four number 45. It’s got to be worth about a hundred bucks.” He showed the comic to his mom and grandma. The Fantastic Four were prominently on the cover with four other costumed people sneaking up behind them, the caption ‘Among us hide…the Inhumans’ ominously hovered between the two groups of superpowered beings.

“These comics are why Codie killed himself. He spent more time with them than with people,” Jean said.

Tyler sighed with an annoyed tone. “Mom, please?”

“If it’s okay with your grandma then it’s fine with me,” Linda gave in.

“Fine. Take them,” Jean waved her hand. “We’ll hold a garage sale for all this other crap.”




Tyler moved the boxes of comics and shelves of graphic novels into his bedroom, which displaced much of his room. He spent the next two weeks before school started reading his new comic collection by just pulling a comic out at random.

When school started, he decided to take graphic novels or trade paperbacks to read during downtime. The first one he took was Batman: The Killing Joke. When he arrived in his Earth Space Science class for third hour, he sat down at one of the lab tables and pulled it out and started reading.

Riley Saxberg came into the room, walking past Tyler and sitting down one row behind and one row over from him. Riley stood up and glanced at the graphic novel. “The Killing Joke?”

Tyler turned to look at Riley, her short, brown, curly hair with a white, lace bow in her hair. Riley had a round boyish face but feminine features in the lips and eyes. Riley’s hair was short, only down to the start of her neck. Tyler eyed the small breasts and the round stomach through the black shirt Riley was wearing. The shirt had some band Tyler had never heard of—Thousand Foot Krutch.

“Yeah,” Tyler nodded.

“I own that one. Have you read Arkham Asylum?” Riley asked.

“Not yet. I just got a bunch of books from my uncle so I am slowly getting through them,” Tyler said.

“Cool,” Riley sat back down.

The classroom had filled up and one seat was left behind Tyler and to the left of Riley. Jarret came in and groaned. “I got to sit next to the shemale?”

“Shut up,” Riley rolled her eyes.

Jarret sat down. “I don’t know why someone would want to quit being a man. I mean, we’re awesome!” Jarret exclaimed and a couple of male students agreed loudly.

“You’re really proving how awesome you are right now,” Riley turned to Jarret.

“Whatever,” Jarret shrugged and laughed with the other guys while pointing at Riley.

The school bell rang indicating the end of passing period. The teacher stood up from his desk, walked over to the door and closed it. “Welcome back. I hope you all had a good summer. This is third hour Earth Space Science just to confirm that you are in the right class.”

Tyler closed his book and slipped it into his notebook. He looked back at Riley who was sitting with her head on her hand and doodling in a notebook. Tyler then turned back to the teacher.




Riley Saxberg and her family moved here last spring but Riley and her sister Hannah finished out the school year at their old schools. Riley had wandered around town for most of the summer where she met Sydney who would end up becoming her best friend.

“If Jarret called you a shemale then you need to tell someone,” Sydney said as they went through the lunch line.

“Mr. Hartman was right there and didn’t seem to care. Besides, this school won’t even let me
use the girls restroom so all Jarret would get is probably a good talking to. Give it a month or so and I’ll stop being an oddity,” Riley said.

Riley and Sydney walked by the table Tyler and his friend Jackson were at. Tyler looked up at Riley and watched her walk by. “Do you know anything about that new girl Riley?” Tyler asked.

“She’s in three of my classes but I don’t know anything about her. Rumor has it that she’s really a he,” Jackson said.

“Yeah,” Tyler sighed. “Jarret called her a shemale in Earth Space Science and she basically admitted it. I don’t know. She tried to talk to me about the comic I was reading and I was kind of jerky toward her.”

“People are probably mean to her all the time. She’s probably used to it,” Jackson shoved a giant spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. “They need to give us more food for lunch,” he complained.

Over at the table where Riley and Sydney sat, Riley had just finished the breaded chicken sandwich. “Do you know Tyler Bray?”

“Pretty well. We’re not friends or anything but we’ve grown up together. He’s nice. Kind of quiet and can be weird sometimes. He used to try too hard to get people to like him and laugh. I don’t really see that anymore,” Sydney explained. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Riley shrugged. Riley looked around the lunchroom and into the commons area. “I thought Hannah had second lunch as well. I wonder where she is.”




In one of the restroom stalls in the girl’s locker room in the basement of the school, Hannah had her arms resting on Matt’s shoulders as she sat on his lap and had sex. When they were finished, they readjusted their clothes, flushed the condom down the toilet and started making out. “I told you that no one would come down here,” Hannah smiled deviously.

“It was a good idea,” Matt said and they kissed again.

“I noticed during freshman gym that when everyone is at gym, no one comes down so we’d have the place all to ourselves.”

Hannah had the same hair as Riley only hers went down past her shoulders and was in a ponytail. Hannah also had her dad’s features of wide eyes, small mouth and sturdy chin. She was also a couple inches shorter and her breasts a little bigger. Matt had floppy dark hair that covered his ears and forehead. He was tall and lanky with short, curly hairs above his lip and poking out from his chin. Matt looked at his watch. “We should head upstairs and eat some lunch. We have ten minutes left.” They walked through the locker room and went back upstairs holding hands. “Is it true that your sister used to be a guy?” Matt asked as they walked into the cafeteria and going to get their trays.

“My brother is a guy who thinks he’s a girl. No amount of drugs or surgery is going to change that,” Hannah said angrily as they went through the lunch line.




The next day, Riley was already in Earth Space Science when Tyler came in. “Hey, Riley,” Tyler approached her. “I thought you might like to read these,” he handed her three graphic novels, all very similar in style and artwork. They were titled Superman’s Metropolis, Batman: Nosferatu and Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon. “The Superman one is first. They’re based on the German Expressionist films of the 1920s. The story and art are both amazing.”

“Thanks,” Riley smiled at him as she took the books.

He smiled back.




September
“No,” Tyler slammed his hand down on the lunch table. A couple of students from other tables turned to look at him. “There is no way it’s a good story.”

“When you are actually able to read them all together, it’s a decent story. Yes, it gets confusing and it’s clear they were just stretching it out but I liked it,” Riley shrugged.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Jackson asked.

“The Spider-Man Clone Saga,” Tyler replied.

“All those words make sense but I don’t know what that is,” Jackson said.

Tyler and Riley had started hanging out more and spending time at Tyler’s house reading and talking. They would talk about their favorite characters, titles, stories, and artists. Riley had read comic books in her late childhood from six to nine so she knew more about them than Tyler thought. Their arguments over who was actually the best could last hours.

“Get a room you two,” Jackson finally said one day a couple weeks ago. “I honestly thought I would make it through my school years without being part of a childish ‘will they, won’t they’ scenario and you two are ruining that.”

“Are you still coming to dinner tonight?” Riley asked.

“If I’m still invited. I wouldn’t miss it,” Tyler smiled.

“And I’ve already apologized for my dad, right?”

“Numerous time, yes,” Tyler nodded.

“I’m sorry. He’s just not as open-minded as my mom is. My sister is the same way. She refuses to acknowledge me as her sister or use female pronouns.”

“I know. You’ve told me,” Tyler said. “It’s just dinner. It’s not like I’m going to say anything controversial and from what you’ve told me, no matter what your dad thinks of you, he’s not one to ask things like ‘you know she has a penis, right?’ and ‘are you queer?’”

Riley laughed. “True. Although Hannah may ask you those questions,” Riley warned.

“Well, I got my answers ready just in case. ‘Yes’ and ‘no.’”




After school, Hannah and Matt were laying on the hood of his car at Spring Lake Park passing a joint between them while Ashli and her boyfriend were in the backseat having sex. “Are you coming to Nick Darnell’s bonfire tonight?” Matt asked.

“No. My brother invited a friend over so we have to eat together like a family. I’d rather have a snake crawl inside my butt.”

“I could make that happen,” Matt rolled on top of Hannah and they started making out. They stopped when the back door opened and Ashli and her boyfriend got out. Ashli adjusted her clothes as her boyfriend—no one could remember his name—snapped off the condom and threw it into the lake. “Ew! Don’t throw your used birth control in the lake,” Hannah said, she eyed what’s-his-name’s penis as he tucked into his jeans. Matt’s was bigger but he was two years older.

“Some poor female fish is going to have his mutated babies now,” Ashli giggled.

“Come on, I need to get home,” Hannah sighed.

“Okay. If you change your mind about the bonfire let me know,” Matt said as he slid off of Hannah and the hood.

At dinner, the Saxberg family sat around the table with Tyler sitting next to Riley and across from Hannah. They were having beef tips with mashed potatoes and bread and a side of green beans with bacon and ham pieces stirred in.

“So who are your parents?” Renee, Riley’s mom, asked.

“My mom is Linda Bray. You probably don’t know her,” Tyler answered.

“Can’t say that I do,” Renee shook her head. “How did you and Riley meet?”

“At school, Mom, where else?” Hannah answered rudely.

“In Earth Space Science class specifically,” Tyler said. “We sit kind of catty-cornered from each other.”

“That’s nice. I’m glad Riley is making friends. I wasn’t sure how she would handle the move. This high school is significantly smaller than her last one,” Renee said. “We moved here during spring break at her old school but this school was still in session. She met one friend…”

“Sydney,” Riley interrupted.

“Yes, Sydney. She met Sydney this summer so I’m glad she’s met another friend at school.”

“I’m glad we’re friends, too. We have a lot in common,” Tyler smiled at Riley.

“Yeah, like having a dick,” Hannah said under her breath.

Tyler glared at Hannah but didn’t react. Hannah had been noticeably silent during dinner as had Riley’s dad Brent. Tyler probably would’ve been nervous but he liked being with Riley and her mom’s friendliness overrode Hannah and Mr. Saxberg’s surliness.

After dinner, Riley and Tyler went up to her room. Riley’s room was pretty messy with clothes in random piles on the floor. Tyler was drawn to Riley’s stereo system which included a record player. He began flipping through the records propped up next to it.

“Sorry, I probably should have cleaned,” Riley said as she picked up some shirts, socks and a sports bra. She threw the clothes into an overflowing laundry basket in the closet.

“It’s fine,” Tyler shrugged off. “Nice record collection.”

“They’re my parents,” Riley said. “They let me have them when I got this stereo. And there’s just some music that needs pops and static to sound good.”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you that you look very beautiful today,” Tyler said casually while still looking at the records.

Riley blushed. She was wearing a brown top with a white dress. The dress had a brown stripe at the bottom. Her hair also had volume and was accented with a white headband that had brown accents on it. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“You look good in a dress. I like girls in a dress—it’s unique. These days they’re in jeans or shorts or sweats or yoga pants. You rarely see dresses.”

“It was a special occasion so I thought I’d dress up,” Riley sat down on the bed.

Tyler moved a few feet away from the stereo to Riley’s desk where there were stacks of drawing paper, all with something drawn on them. “What are these?” he picked up the stack and began looking through them.

“You don’t need to look through those,” Riley got up and tried to grab the papers from Tyler.

“Wait a minute, these are very good,” they weren’t fleshed out, mostly sketches done in an almost Japanese style. “Of course I can’t even draw a squiggly line so a baby could be a better drawer than me.”

“They’re just doodles,” Riley said quietly.

“I’ve been thinking of creating my own comic book character. Would you like to draw it?”

“Uh, sure,” she shrugged.

“I’m really just thinking out loud. With all the comics I’ve been reading I’ve been thinking about starting my own or a big graphic novel. My mom thinks I’m getting a little obsessive.”

“I can see that,” Riley said. “You do talk about them an awful lot. But I don’t mind it. What did you talk about before comics?”

“I honestly can’t remember. Now, back to my comic book. I was thinking of trying to combine the best things from each popular superhero and combining them,” Tyler continued talking as Riley stood and listened.




October
Hannah, Matt and Ashli sat on the bleachers but they really weren’t paying attention to the football game. It was chilly so Hannah was bundled up in an oversized hoodie she had taken from Matt a couple weeks ago. She also snuggled close to Matt, his arm around her. “What are we doing here?” Hannah asked as she shivered and got closer to Matt.

“I don’t know. There was nothing else to do. I hate cold weather because you can’t really do anything.”

The opposing team scored and the opposing crowd cheered despite being significantly smaller. Someone near Matt and Hannah screamed really loud then turned toward them. “Yeah! Your school sucks,” he screamed. “We’re kicking your asses.”

“We don’t care. It’s just a game,” Matt said.

“You’re gonna lose,” the guy yelled.

“We don’t care,” Hannah yelled back. “We don’t have a dog in this fight.”

“We don’t even know what’s going on,” Ashli said.

“Go Bulldogs!” Matt shouted as he stood up. “Go Bulldogs!” He continued chanting which riled up the other students and fans on the bleachers. He began applauding and Hannah and Ashli followed his lead and soon the other students did too. Matt, Hannah and Ashli continued screaming and chanting until it was clear that the Bulldogs were going to win 27 to 10.

“Who’s gonna lose now?” Hannah sneered at the guy who started it. “Yeah, Bulldogs,” she screamed in his face.

“You should control your woman,” the guy scoffed at Matt. “It’s only a game.”

“You started it, ass,” Matt said and used his foot to kick the guy off the bleachers. He landed with a thud on the hard ground.

“That was so cool,” Ashli laughed.

“That was so hot,” Hannah kissed Matt.

“He’s getting up,” Ashli pointed.

“We should go,” Matt said and grabbed Hannah’s hand. “Come on.”

The three of them ran down the bleachers and to the parking lot. They got in Matt’s car and they locked the doors. They didn’t see the guy chasing after them. “What got into us? We cheered for
a sports team,” Hannah said.




Tyler and Riley were both laying on the floor of Riley’s bedroom. Tyler was writing in a spiral notebook with a pencil while Riley was drawing in a sketchbook. Tyler had changed his mind about doing a comic book and moved to writing a whole book. He got the idea from George Lowther’s 1942 book The Adventures of Superman.

The Adventures of Superman was the first Superman publication in that media. It provided the first detailed origin for Superman, spent more time showing Clark growing up on a farm and gave his parents’ names—Eben and Sarah Kent. In the book were six paintings depicting a scene from the book by Superman co-creator Joe Shuster. Each chapter heading also had a small Superman sketch also by Shuster.

The character they had created was named Savior but neither of them liked that name. In fact, the more they wrote and drew the character, the less they liked him but changing the name later on seemed easier than rewriting and redrawing everything.

“Are you going to the Halloween Dance?” Riley asked as she added shading to Savior’s legs in the sketch book. The dance was in a week and a half and was the second dance of the school year after Homecoming.

“Probably not. I don’t go to dances if I have no one to go with.”

“What about going with Jackson?”

“I just don’t think he’s into me in that way,” Tyler joked but not looking up from his notebook. “He probably has to work,” Tyler said, noting Jackson’s recent employment with a local fast food restaurant.

“You could ask out Sydney,” Riley said.

Tyler laughed. “Sydney doesn’t like me that much. She only tolerates me because we’re such
good friends.”

“No,” Riley commented, not believing that her two best friends didn’t get along. “Really?”

“The only thing we have in common is you. Sydney and I grew up together but we never really got along.”

“I never even noticed,” Riley said. “Is there another girl you could ask out? It’s just one dance and you’ll both be in costume.”

“Not really,” Tyler shook his head.

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?”

“I had one for most of my sophomore year,” Tyler began. “Her name was Courtney and she was kind of a bitch.”

“A lot of reasons. She was mean and hateful. I’m pretty sure she cheated on me several times and she wanted me to stop being friends with Jackson.”

“Why?”

“Well, we were joking about Courtney and Jackson said that she stuffed her bra with Jell-O and she overheard him.”

“Jell-O? Really?”

“It wasn’t helped when I joked that it could be true since she had such saggy breasts,” Tyler said, he turned slightly red as he told Riley.

“You are terrible,” Riley said but she was chuckling.

“To be fair, she did tell me that I had a small penis,” Tyler laughed.

Riley was laughing too. “Do you?” she asked and then blushed brightly when she realized what she had said. “What happened to Courtney?”

“She broke up with me at the spring dance and moved away during the summer,” Tyler said and went back to writing. “And I think it’s a decent size,” he shrugged.

Riley looked at him then snorted laughed. “So was Courtney the first girl you…?”

“Yeah but it’s not something I talk about and I’m sure she never talks about me,” Tyler said as he continued writing. “What about you? You have any exes or anything?”

“No and I will probably never date anyone during high school just because of the stigma dating me may cause,” Riley said.

“That’s too bad,” Tyler said. “Have you ever been on a date?”

“At my old school, I asked out this guy and he agreed. I think he only did it because he was a really nice guy and didn’t want to say no,” Riley said. “We had been friends and going out that one time kind of hurt our friendship.”

Without warning, Tyler leaned over and kissed Riley on the lips. His eyes were closed and his puckered lips were planted firmly on her unmoving ones. Her eyes widened with confusion then began to close. Riley’s lips started kissing back and she soon scooted closer to Tyler and placed her hand on his cheek. When they parted, they stared at each other for several seconds until Tyler spoke. “Do you want to go to the Halloween Dance with me?”

Riley smiled. “Yes.”

“Great. Maybe we can come up with a theme costume or something,” Tyler smiled back and went back to writing, his smile getting bigger and still feeling Riley’s lips on his.




November
“You don’t have to watch me do this,” Hannah said to Matt as she sat on the toilet and peed on the pregnancy test. When she was finished, she put the test on the sink counter, wiped and stood up, pulling up her pants. “Five minutes.”

Hannah washed her hands and picked up the test and they walked into Matt’s bedroom. “Aren’t there ones that are instant?” he asked.

“We don’t have the money to spend on those,” Hannah sighed as she put the test on the dresser. “What are we going to do if it’s positive?”

Matt shrugged.

“Do you love me?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Yeah. As much as you can love someone you’ve only been with for five months,” he said.

“Do you see us together after Christmas?”

“Yeah…”

“What about after May? Or the summer? A year from now?”

“What are you getting at, Hannah? Do you not see us together?”

“No…I don’t know. I love you—I care for you but I don’t see us…together,” she moved her arms back and forth between them. “Do you get what I’m saying?”

“What are we going to do? We may be having a baby.”

“You don’t seem like the type of guy who’ll stick around,” Hannah said.

“Then why are you with me? Why’d you let me sleep with you?”

“You’re fun. You were something to do.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”

“Don’t tell me that you actually saw us falling in love and being together all through high school.”

“I know that I’m not the best guy in the world but I give every relationship a chance. I’m treating you very good.”

“Yeah, you treated me good when you got me drunk or high. You treated me good when you took my virginity. You treated me good when you made me try cocaine for the first time.”

“I didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do,” Matt yelled.

“You also didn’t try to stop me,” Hannah said.

Matt threw his hands in the air. “I’m not your babysitter, Hannah. When you started hanging out with me, you wanted to be treated as one of my friends. Now that you are in trouble, you want to blame everyone but yourself. I’ll take partial blame for this but you didn’t seem too pressured to find a condom either,” Matt explained.

By the time he finished, Hannah was sobbing then collapsed onto Matt and hugged him tight. He hugged her back and rested his chin on her head as she cried into his hoodie.

“Look, I know I don’t seem like a guy who would stay but I would and I would love you and our child no matter what,” Matt said quietly.

Hannah pulled away, still sniffling and wiped her eyes and nose with her hands. “Has it been five minutes yet?”

“I think it’s been close enough,” Matt smiled and reached for the pregnancy test. “What does two plus signs mean?” he said, looking at it.

“Pregnant,” Hannah’s leg was trembling.

“I know. It’s a plus and a minus,” he showed her the test that had a pale blue plus and minus sign on it.

“Oh, thank God,” Hannah squealed and ran over to Matt. He dropped the test as they started making out. Hannah began undoing Matt’s pants and forcibly removed his hoodie and the shirt underneath. By the time she pushed away from Matt and laid down on his bed, she was naked.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Matt asked as he got naked.

“Yes. I’m frazzled and I need something to calm down.”

Matt got on top of Hannah and they continued making out. Matt reached over to the night stand drawer and pulled out a condom.




Riley looked so beautiful to Tyler tonight. Riley’s hair was styled and she was wearing just a little makeup. She had a thin gold chain around her neck and the dress she wore was a pinkish-peach with a white belt around the waist to break up the color. White lacy accents adorned the collar.

“You look amazing,” Tyler croaked out as he took Riley’s hands. They kissed quickly, Riley’s dad, who was sitting on the couch, grunted disapprovingly. “Are you ready to go?”

“I just need to grab the jacket that goes with this,” Riley smiled and ran back upstairs.

“Where are you going tonight?” Renee asked.

“Dinner somewhere, a play at the local theater and some live music at Jazz,” Tyler said.

“Jazz? Isn’t that a bar?” Brent asked gruffly.

“They serve alcohol but it’s mostly a music venue,” Tyler said.

Brent grunted again.

Riley came downstairs with a white jacket over her dress. “Ready,” she collided with Tyler and they hugged.

“You kids have fun,” Renee said as Tyler and Riley headed out the door.

“We will, Mom. Bye, Dad,” Riley said.

At the restaurant, Tyler kept looking at Riley from her hair to her eyes to her mouth to the bare skin between the gold necklace and dress and her breasts. “You really look beautiful, Riley,” Tyler said.

“You’ve said,” Riley chuckled. “Thank you.”

“How come you don’t wear more dresses or skirts to school?”

“I would like to because I’m more comfortable in them but I also don’t want to cause anyone’s brain to explode,” Riley explained.

“Did you wear girls’ clothes at your old school?”

“All the time but they were used to me and had known me since Kindergarten. As far as they
were concerned, I’d been a girl since third grade,” Riley said.

“Was third grade when you realized that you were really a girl?”

Riley chuckled. “No, it was way before that—almost right after birth. Third grade was when I wanted to start being treated like a girl. My Mom was very supportive because she could see that I was happier but my Dad didn’t like it. I always thought it was because he didn’t want to lose his son but he doesn’t even use any pronouns when talking to or about me. At least Hannah still uses male pronouns,” Riley explained. “I wish I knew why he’s so distant to me. I figure he just considers me a disappointment,” Riley shrugged and faked a chuckle.

Tyler took her hand. “You are not a disappointment.”

“I know I’m not but it’s been eight years.”

“I wish I could make all of this better for you but you have it better than a lot of other kids in your situation. I Googled ‘transgender teens’ and some of the stories I read were horrifying and depressing,” Tyler said. “Also, I think I’m on an FBI watchlist now.”

Riley laughed.




December
“What should I get Tyler for Christmas?” Riley asked Sydney as she looked through clothes on a rack at Kohl’s.

“Oral,” Sydney said.

Riley gave Sydney a look. “We’ve barely been dating for a month. Besides, why would I get him the same thing I got him for Thanksgiving?”

Sydney became wide-eyed and smiled. “What? You…?” she made a loose fist with her hand, put it up to her mouth and gently shook it as she pushed her cheek out with her tongue. “So it’s pretty serious with Tyler then?”

“I think so. I’ve fallen for him and he seems to have fallen for me. This is cute,” she pulled a shirt out and held it against her. Sydney nodded. “I haven’t dated much or at all but unlike every other guy who has been interested in me, he’s not obsessed with my…” she hesitated finishing her sentence in the middle of the store.

“Penis?” Sydney said for her.

“Yes,” Riley said annoyed. “He also isn’t questioning his sexuality and he’s asking questions and learning and listening to me.”

“Do you think she’ll like this?” Tyler asked, showing Jackson a low-cut white shirt with a pink Superman symbol and ‘Supergirl’ on the left side written from bottom to top.

“I don’t know. She’s not my girlfriend,” Jackson said. “She doesn’t have a Superman shirt already?”

“She doesn’t. And I don’t want to get her something Superman but Supergirl,” Tyler explained. Tyler had bought Riley a pair of Superman briefs a couple weeks ago. They were bright blue with a red sunburst on them and ‘Superman’ written from the leg over the crotch. Riley really liked them but they were really tight on her. When she modeled them for Tyler, they both noticed her bulge but neither tried to bring attention to it.

“You really like her,” Jackson said, noting Tyler’s distant look and dumb smile.

“Should I get her this?” Tyler asked again.

“I don’t know. Maybe you should get her something from the heart. Or jewelry.”

“Jewelry? I don’t know. That might be saying too much,” Tyler put the shirt back on the rack.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Jackson began, “have you come out to your mom?”

“Come out? Why?”

“Because you are dating someone with a…penis,” Jackson said, whispering loudly on ‘penis.’

“I’m not gay. Riley’s a girl.”

“But when you…” he started to tap the ends of his pointer fingers together but changed his mind, “and they…intertwine, isn’t that gay?”

“Intertwine? Look, we haven’t had sex yet but we’ll figure it out. It doesn’t concern you,” Tyler explained.

“Sorry. I’ve never been in this situation before.”

“You? Neither have I,” Tyler argued.

They walked around the girls’ clothes section for a bit in silence. “Are you sure?” Jackson asked. “Because Courtney really acted like the man in your relationship.”

“Do you think he’d like a watch?” Riley asked Sydney as she eyed the watches in the jewelry case.

“Has he ever worn a watch?”

“I don’t know but he doesn’t carry a phone with him so maybe he needs some kind of timekeeping device,” Riley smiled. “Yeah, I think I’ll get him a watch.”

“And what will your kids get him? A necktie?”

“Are you saying that watches are boring?”

“No, I mean look at this one with its highly accurate second hand and gear handcrafted in…” Sydney to fake snore and rested her head on the glass case with her eyes closed.

“All right, I get it but if we can’t figure out something else, I’m getting him a watch.”




Hannah didn’t like hanging out at Ashli’s but Ashli wasn’t allowed to hang out at her house. Ashli lived in a trailer that changed its degree of dilapidation every time she saw it. It was December but there were still flies inexplicably buzzing around the covered patio they had built over the spring and summer. Hannah knocked on the door and a voice from inside said “come in.”

Hannah pushed the door open and stepped in. A wave of heat hit her. She could hear the
furnace running and it had to be eighty degrees in the trailer. Ashli came in from the living room in her underwear—a black bra and black panties. “Hey, Ash,” Hannah said as she took off her coat. “How’s it going?”

“It’s fine. You chose a good time to come over. Everybody is gone for once.” Usually there was no less than six people in this trailer at one time. Hannah was loving the silence and the lack of screaming babies and toddlers. “Do you want to get high?”

“Sure. Why is it so hot in here?”

“Nick always keeps the heat at 78 and being a small space, it’s like being in hell,” Ashli said. “Feel free to shed some clothing if it’s too much.”

“I think I’ll be fine,” Hannah said but could feel the moisture welling up in her armpits.

They went into Ashli’s room and closed the door. Ashli slid a chain lock to keep people from walking in if they came home. Ashli pulled a box off of a shelf and sat it on her bed. Inside were three baggies of marijuana, two small ceramic pipes, a couple of lighters, rolling papers and a vibrator.

“Three bags? Not smoking as much?” Hannah asked.

“Oh, no. Smoking more if anything. I was running out all of the time so I made a deal with Nick that he’d give me a bag whenever I’d blow him,” Ashli explained.

“Ugh,” Hannah said, disgusted. Hannah didn’t like Nick. Hannah knew that Nick had molested most, if not all, of Ashli’s sisters and nieces and cousins because Ashli told her. Ashli also revealed that Nick had had sex with her on a couple of occasions. It bothered her more that everyone in Ashli’s family knew this happened but never did anything about it. “Why don’t you turn him into the police?”

“It’s our family business, we don’t need to get anyone involved. We’re not police people anyway. They always harass us.”

“Probably because you keep doing things that are illegal,” Hannah admitted but laughed and smiled when she spoke.

“Shut up,” Ashli mumbled.

Hannah and Ashli packed some marijuana into the pipes and grabbed a lighter. After a few minutes, each girl was relaxed and a soft haze roiled in the bedroom. Ashli reached over and turned on her stereo and some music began to play. Hannah was laying on Ashli’s bed, her shirt pulled up and she was messing with her belly button.

“How’s your sister-brother doing?” Ashli asked, sitting up from the floor and resting her head on the bed.

“He’s fine.”

“Him and that other guy are still together, right?”

“Yeah. I little over a month. I caught them making out the other day. I hate to admit but they do seem to make each other happy.”

“I don’t have a problem with gay people,” Ashli said. “I figure that if I get to do something that makes me happy then I can’t deny the ability of someone else to do it.”

“I don’t know,” Hannah shook her head. “I want Riley to be happy but I wish she would’ve waited until after school to make her transition.”

Several seconds passed before Ashli laughed, “You referred to Riley as a ‘she,’” she pointed out.

Hannah chuckled. “Damn, I did. This shit must be good,” she laughed gutturally.




January
The smell of pizza rolls, popcorn and queso flowed through the kitchen and front room of the Saxberg house. Riley, Tyler, Jackson and Sydney were all getting ready to sit down and watch a couple of scary movies. Tyler and Riley commandeered the couch but as soon as Riley sat down, she stood back up. “Would anyone mind if I invited Hannah and Ashli to join us?” Everyone shook their head and Riley headed upstairs to Hannah’s room. She knocked a couple times on the door and opened it. Hannah and Ashli were sitting on the bed, a box between them, each holding a joint.

Hannah huffed angrily. “Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?” she asked.

“Do you want to come downstairs and watch a couple of scary movies with us? We can share our junk food if you share your weed,” Riley smiled.

Hannah smiled back. “Are you serious? Since when do you smoke?”

“About once or twice a year since eighth grade,” Riley responded. “You don’t mind sharing, do you Ashli?”

“No.”

Ashli took her box and the three girls went downstairs. “Hannah and Ashli are joining us and Ashli has a little something to share,” Riley said.

As everyone began rolling their own joints, Hannah asked “What are we watching?”

“First it’s Jeepers Creepers, one of my favorite horror movies from the early 2000s reboot of the horror genre and then we’re going to watch The Blair Witch Project, the precursor to all the crappy found-footage horror movies we see now,” Tyler said.

The only lights on was the light from the kitchen and the two lamps in the front room as Jeepers Creepers started playing. Tyler and Riley were on the couch, Riley in Tyler’s arms between his legs, sharing a joint.

As the first movie played, everybody got more comfortable around each other and on the furniture. After Jeepers Creepers, there was a snack, bathroom and weed break before starting The Blair Witch Project. Tyler and Riley laid down on the couch under a blanket, Tyler’s arm hugging Riley and their fingers interlocked. By the time the characters in the movie entered their tenth minute of being lost in the woods, Riley had rolled over and they were covered by the blanket, making out.

“Mmm, I love you,” Tyler whispered as they parted lips.

Riley snuggled in against Tyler. “I love you, too. I’ve wanted to tell you but I wanted to wait for you to say it. I was thinking I would never have a high school love,” Riley said. “Hey, how quiet can you be while I jerk you off?” she smiled and pressed her hand against his crotch.

“I was thinking we could go to your room and celebrate right,” Tyler said and kissed Riley.

“People will know what we’re doing. I want our first time to be special…and just us.”

“I get that. I just don’t think anyone will care. Everyone in this room has had sex,” Tyler said.

“Except me,” Riley reminded. “My little sister is here. I need to set a good example for her.”

“She’s probably had more sex than anyone here,” Tyler pointed out. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to push you into it. Laying here and being close to you is perfect,” Tyler hugged Riley harder and the two started kissing again.




About half an hour after The Blair Witch Project ended, everyone began parting ways and gathering at the door putting on their coats and shoes. Jackson gave Sydney a ride home and Tyler was hanging around, hoping Riley would ask him to stay.

“I should get going,” Ashli said. “It’s a long walk in this cold.”

“You’re walking? Do you want a ride?” Tyler asked.

“I would love one,” Ashli laughed.

“Okay, I will drop Ashli off at her place,” Tyler looked at Riley, trying to communicate with her to invite him back “then I will go home.”

“See you tomorrow,” Riley kissed Tyler and they hugged. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Let’s go, Ashli.”

As Tyler and Ashli left, Ashli started talking to him. “You wanted Riley to ask you to stay, didn’t you?”

“So it was obvious to you,” Tyler sighed.

“You want to have sex with her.”

“A little bit, yes.”

“What would you have sex with?” Ashli asked off-handedly.

“I’m sure we’d figure it out,” Tyler said. It only took a couple of minutes to arrive at Ashli’s trailer. “Here you are.”

“Thanks. Do you want to come inside?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. We could smoke some more, talk about life, get naked,” Ashli smiled.

“What? We just got done talking about my girlfriend who I love,” Tyler tried treating this as some sort of joke.

“You need a real woman with real working parts. Nobody has to know,” Ashli bit her bottom lip.

“Please get out of my car,” Tyler said.

“Okay but you’re missing out,” Ashli opened the door and slid out of the car. She shut the door and walked up to the trailer porch, “Hannah will be glad to know that he’s faithful.”

Back at the Saxberg house, Matt had started throwing small rocks at Hannah’s bedroom window. Riley was debating whether or not to call Tyler and ask him to come back. She was looking out the window and saw Matt in the backyard then heard Hannah run downstairs to let him in. Riley could hear them talking for a few minutes then heard the soft sounds of them making love. Riley listened to them for a bit before turning on some music and falling asleep.




Continued Next Month...

Thursday, April 14, 2016


West Side:
WILLIAM H.
MAR. 26, 1831
FEB. 6, 1897

HESTER A.
WIFE OF
W.H. HEWINS
MAY 26, 1832
DEC. 18, 1886

North Side:
OPAL
1904 - 1907


Dover Cemetery, Dover, Dover Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Wednesday, April 13, 2016


GONE TO THE HARVEST ABOVE

Front Left Side:
MOTHER
MARIA E. TILLMAN
MAR.27,1847-MAY4,1908
------
FATHER
JOHN W. TILLMAN
NOV. 1843-JAN.1927
G.A.R.

Front Right Side:
ERNEST TILLMAN
OCT 14,1875-FEB 6,1891
------
JOHN A. TILLMAN
APR 29,1869-DEC 12,1890
------
ESTHER TILLMAN
SEP 18,1871-JULY 28,1889

South Side:
JOHN SEARS
AUG. 4, 1810
DEC. 8, 1885


John William Tillman. Photo from Find A Grave.

Maria Elizabeth (Sears) Tillman. Photo from Find A Grave.



Dover Cemetery, Dover, Dover Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Tuesday, April 12, 2016


The Clan Lindsay is a Lowland Scottish clan and the name possibly derives from the Lindsay region of England or the village of Limesy in Normandy.

LINDSAY
ELIZABETH WYLLIE
BORN MAY 9, 1838
OUTHLAW, ANGUS, SCOTLAND

DIED NOV. 7, 1921
DOVER, KANSAS

Endure Fort, translated, means Suffer bravely.



Dover Cemetery, Dover, Dover Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Zoe Bleak #3

Zoe opened the store about half an hour after Vanessa went upstairs. Only a few customers came in so Zoe spent the next couple of hours behind the counter reading. Even though she was turning pages and looking at the words, she wasn’t really reading. She used her magic to turn the pages and kept chastising herself for it.

When one o’clock came around, Zoe’s stomach gurgled but she didn’t know if she should go upstairs. She hadn’t even heard Vanessa walk around.

“Zoe?” She suddenly heard from the stairs.

Zoe quickly answered. “Yeah?”

“Can you come up here? We need to talk,” Vanessa said solemnly.

Zoe quickly walked upstairs and saw that Vanessa was in the bedroom. “Vanessa, I…” Zoe began talking but Vanessa stopped her.

“Wait. I’ve been thinking about what I learned about you but I’ve also been thinking about you and me and us. I was nervous about dating someone with powers because you can never be sure about how they will use them. Even without powers, you never think that someone could essentially drug and rape another person,” Vanessa sighed. The words cut into Zoe and she started to cry again. “The Zoe that I know never uses her powers maliciously. You could’ve continued misusing your powers, been a criminal, created an army of sex slaves but you didn’t. You settled down, started a business and became a mediocre nightclub magician. Why did you do that?”

Zoe hesitated. There were so many probable answers and Zoe didn’t know which one Vanessa wanted to hear. “I don’t…” Zoe began but Vanessa, again, interrupted.

“You’re a good person,” Vanessa took Zoe’s hands. “You’ve grown so much since you were a teenager and I fell in love with you because you are a good person. Despite your detours, you are just as good as your father and grandfather and you are also loving and caring and I am so happy that you are my girlfriend.”

The two of them kissed then got into bed together. They went back downstairs nearly thirty minutes later and saw a tall, Middle Eastern-looking woman and brown, curly-haired, freckled teenage girl browsing the store. Both Zoe and Vanessa blushed as they walked from the stairs to the counter.

“I must have left the front door unlocked,” Zoe whispered.

Vanessa smiled. “Do you need any help, ma’am?”

“No, thank you,” the woman smiled back. “We’re just looking.”

“Now that we’re back together, what about this adoption thing?” Zoe asked.

“I don’t know. I kind of want to do it but why after 14 years? Why not as a baby or a kindergartner?”

“Grandpa wasn’t clear on that. I don’t even know where we’d pick her up if we wanted her or even how to get ahold of Grandpa again,” Zoe sighed. “We don’t have to do this. He said it was no big deal.”

“Eh, people always say that it’s no big deal even though it is really a big deal,” Vanessa said and turned toward the teenager sitting on one of the couches. “Where’s the woman?”

Zoe looked around the store but only saw the girl. “I don’t know. She’s got to be here, why can’t we see her? She was eight feet tall,” Zoe exagerrated. Zoe walked over to the girl. She was reading one of the Harry Potter book, a beat-up old paperback edition. “Excuse me, little girl? Where’d your mother go?”

“She wasn’t my mom,” the girl answered. “She was Rhona and she told me that I live here now.”

Zoe looked back at Vanessa then back to the girl. “Winnette?”

“Winnie,” she smiled. Her face lit up with her closed-mouth smile, her eyebrows raised and the whites around her dark brown eyes disappeared as they partly closed.

“Winnie,” Zoe became nervous. “We weren’t expecting you so soon.”

Winnie put the book on the couch and stood up. “Rhona and Silas said that you were my parents or foster parents or adoptive parents,” she chuckled. “This is weird.”

Winnie was short, only coming up to just under Zoe’s breasts, her hair was brown but highlighted blonde, parted just off center of her scalp. She was wearing a green shirt, a dark blue bra strap was poking out from underneath. Freckles dotted Winnie’s forehead, nose and chest. Zoe thought she was the cutest and was relieved that Winnie seemed well-adjusted and that she didn’t resemble Candice at all.

“Uh, I guess foster parents for right now. I’m Zoe and behind the counter is Vanessa.”

Winnie giggled. “So cool that I have gay moms,” she said.

Zoe turned to Vanessa and mouthed ‘Mom’ to her. Vanessa nodded. “Let’s go upstairs and we can talk about what’s going on. Vanessa, can you lock the door?”




The three of them talked for a couple of hours in order to get to know each other. Zoe told Winnie that she was a magician and did a couple of tricks for her but Winnie was more embarrassed than anything. Zoe and Vanessa talked about their relationship and learned that Winnie was a huge Michael Jackson fan and a fan of an a cappela group that neither of them had heard of.

“I love music,” Winnie said. “Music is life. I want to audition for one of those TV shows and be a singer.”
“Sounds like we’re getting a little diva,” Vanessa said while her and Zoe were making dinner--an easy chicken, broccoli, and rice thing that just simmers. Winnie was attempting to find something to watch on TV but Zoe and Vanessa only had an antenna so the selection was limited. She was also laying on the floor, drawing on a piece of paper while sucking on a lollipop.

“I like her,” Zoe smiled and looked up at her from the kitchen. “She kind of looks like you.”

“What?” Vanessa sneered.

“I’m serious. Same hair, almost the same color. Your noses even look similar,” Zoe lovingly flicked Vanessa’s nose.

“Stop it,” Vanessa slapped at her hand. “I guess. It’s like she’s the daughter I never knew I had and she killed her father so she could hunt me down.”

“I’d pay to see that movie,” Zoe said. “We need to find out when enrollment is for Hyde Park and get her enrolled.”

“Should we enroll her into public school? Maybe we could look into private or Catholic schools,” Vanessa pointed out. “It might be safer.”

“I think being in a public school with 800 students from the south side of Chicago is also safe,” Zoe said.

From the front room, Winnie belched loudly and giggled like an idiot.

“And somehow I don’t think she’d fit in at a private or Catholic school.”

Monday, April 11, 2016


CLARISA HALL KNOLES
Aug. 5, 1817. Dec. 10, 1903
------
Jesus can make a dying bed
feel as soft as downy pillows are.
While on his breast I lean my head
And breathe my life out sweetly there


Dover Cemetery, Dover, Dover Township, Shawnee County, Kansas

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Sunday Comics #19: New Beginning, Part 2

Almost exactly six years ago, I published a Thursday Comics detailing and mocking the first issue of Unicorn Comics' "New Beginning", a comic book featuring a guy named Terry who saves his high school classmates when a nuclear holocaust breaks out during their 10-year reunion. If you haven't read it yet, go right ahead. I'll wait.

For years, I've been searching for a hint of the other issues. I came to the conclusion that there were four issues spanning from 1988 to 1992. I could never find them which was a huge letdown for me. But then, I found them. Or at least, three issues of them. And they were only four dollars!!

I was right! The back cover on issue #1 was the cover to issue #2.
We open issue two where we left off in issue one. The survivors have emerged from their bunker only to find a pack of probably rabid dogs chowing down on their dead friends and classmates. Debbie tells Terry to go back inside the bunker and wait until the dogs leave but Terry takes another tack.
Issue two is also signed.
The dogs clearly don't listen to Terry and he begins plugging the dogs full of holes. Since there are too many dogs (at least a dozen of them!), the others grab guns and begin shooting. Steve is attacked by one of the dogs, who tears a huge chunk out of his arm. While he cries like a little bitch, Terry finishes off the dogs,
If this page were in color, it might be
pretty beautiful.
commenting "Man's best friend? Yeah, right!" I take it that Terry is not a dog person. Really, Terry isn't even a person person. Terry doesn't trust anyone as far as he can throw them. And all because someone pushed him into a pool in high school. The survivors pump Steve full of morphine because this comic takes place in an alternate universe where morphine is sold over the counter. The other survivors want to stay in the bunker until Steve is all better but "we [don't have the] luxury of time down here" and "it's beginning to stink" so Terry forces his classmates to climb the stairs back into the
world above. What's hilarious is that all of them climb the stairs, find the door blocked by rubble so Terry sends them all back down the stairs in order to blow up the rubble. I am also getting more and more disturbed by the porn-stache on Bruce's face. It's really bothering me for some reason.

Now that the survivors are back on the surface, Terry has more surprises up his sleeve. From an underground garage, he reveals that he has tricked out a couple of armored vehicles. Curtis, a floppy-haired blond guy, comments that Terry's insane. I agree.
Despite me making fun of him spending 8 million of an 11 million dollar settlement and Terry being right, I concur with
Curtis' astute assessment of Terry.
See? I told you so.
The survivors take to the road for several days in order to look for other survivors. The search doesn't go well but they do stumble onto a small town where the guys siphon gas out of abandoned cars for their giant vehicles while the women go shopping. Terry decides that they will never find anyone out in the boonies so they head off to Chicago where just minutes in, they run into a reject gang from A Clockwork Orange. The reject droogs, one whose name is Marvin, begin firing on our survivors, shooting Rob in the arm, side, and hip. Porn-stache, er, Bruce, opens fire with the M-60 on the roof of the truck blasting the reject droogs into Kingdom Come. Marvin, ever the stereotypical
Same.
villain, runs away so he can "kill and mutilate some other day". During Marvin's escape, he runs into Terry and the two attempt to kill each other. Unfortunately, Terry is out of ammo and Marvin underestimates Terry dodging ability. The gang the droogs were harassing integrate themselves into Terry's gang. One of the members of this gang is Jim Nosirrom who was the leader of the rock band The End. We then segue into Jim's origin story which involves being trapped for seven months in a recording studio after the bombing and now only communicating through song lyrics. Terry immediately becomes annoyed by this turn of events because all traces of humor and empathy on him were washed off when he was pushed in that pool ten years ago.

Marvin returns to his base to meet with the Colonel. The Colonel tells Marvin to take his five best guys to hunt down these "renegade soldiers" and then he tells muscular behemoth Tank to keep an eye on Marvin. Marvin and his baddies attack the factory Terry and everybody else is staying at but, like the insane moron he is, fails in his mission and later, while camping on his way back to the Colonel's, Marvin is killed by Tank for failing the mission. When Terry stumbles upon the dangling corpse of Marvin, we learn that the Colonel is really Terry's brother Gerry. To be continued.

Gerry's order falls on deaf ears and two shots are fired at Terry. Tank extends an olive branch to Terry's gang and after a passionate kiss from Debbie, Terry goes to meet the Colonel and is delighted to see that it is his brother. Terry apparently doesn't notice or care that the collar on Gerry's coat has "S.S." embroidered on
"Gerry! You're looking very Reich-ous
these days!" Get it?
it. Gerry invites Terry's gang back to his compound and while Terry agrees to go, he doesn't trust Gerry so he tells everyone to keep on their toes. Terry and Gerry make a convoy to Gerry's compound where they are pulled over by a sheriff still enforcing the laws of his county. That's dedication right there. They also pass a group of robed strangers heading off to "the valley".
"What are you doing speeding?"

"Uh, there's been a nuclear holocaust. Why
are you still enforcing these laws?"

*sniff* "Move along, sir."

They all arrive at the compound where Gerry warns Terry and the others about the robed strangers and Pat reveals that he and several other people want to leave because they are sick of the killing. Terry both chastises and allows Pat and the others to leave and even sends a couple others with them to help them get back to the main road. Terry's such a swell guy. Shortly after dropping off the deserters, their tire is flattened by a board with a nail in it and they are run off the road. Back at the compound, it's going on lock down because tonight is apparently the night where the robed strangers do their annual "purge". How convenient.

When the others don't come back, Terry attempts to leave to find them but Tank won't let anyone past the gates. Terry demands that Tank open the gate and Tank responds with "Make me" so Terry hits him and a fight ensues. While Terry holds his own, Tank gets the better of him and is about to kill Terry when Debbie pulls a gun on Tank. Gerry stops the fight and, while arguing against it, lets Terry and his gang leave the compound to look for the others. They find the wrecked van and discover that they were taken by the hooded strangers to be used in their sacrifices tonight. We end issue three on a massive battle scene featuring Terry and his gang fighting the robed strangers while Gerry's minions enter the fray.

To be continued.

And that's it for "New Beginning" until I am able to get issue four. I've seen a panel from it but haven't found an actual copy yet. I will keep looking or if you have one, let me know.