All in order...

Kelly Boesch

The parts I've written are now placed about where I think they should go, and this has 53,800 words. There are still some gaps -- like the trial's final arguments and the verdict, Simon in jail, ReShawn taking over Simon's case for appeal -- and I'm already thinking of moving one section to later in the story. But it's got a basic shape, now.

I'm still fighting with the characters as to what the story is about. Is the ending hopeless? Hopeful? Meaningless? Simon is never heroic. He's just stubborn, that's all. ReShawn doesn't save the day. He does as much as he can then moves on with his life. No one is officially punished.

I can't connect it with the ICE murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Goode because those happened in the open and a massive swathe of America is laughing about them. Applauding them. Like they do when ICE murders an immigrant, be they legal or not. The MAGAt Cult comes out to mock the dead and defend the killers.

This story has nothing to do with that. Simon's body was not supposed to be found. Paley wanted it to seem like he jumped bail in the face of accusations of molesting a child. An accusation that falls apart the moment it's examined by the State's Attorney General. It's only a fluke that he is found.

I've already shown the callousness of the system of justice and society at large when dealing with victims of rape, in Bobby Carapisi. Doesn't matter that it was men raped in that story; the attitudes and actions of American society in response to the women and children listed in the Epstein Files and E Jean Carroll only emphasize how cruel and uncaring too damn many people are to everyone in that situation.

I have this nasty feeling I'm going to do a lot of work getting the events in order then finally understand the meaning of it all and have to rearrange everything.