KISS...

AKA: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I got so lost in trying to find a workable way to get Brendan snuck into the US and to live with his Aunt Mari, in Houston, I lost sight of the simplest way. His sister and his aunt. When everything happens, they hear about it and put a hold on the rush to judgement. Aunt Mari is able to do that because Uncle Sean gives money to NORAID. Mairead gets Eamonn to work with the guys in PIRA to give Brendan time to physically heal. Then one day they simply take him away.

And keep him in the attic. Because he's still in a virtually catatonic state thanks to the trauma and the drugs he's being fed, and he doesn't come out of it for months. By which time, things have moved on from the bombing. Later, he thinks his rucksack with his passport were found at the bombing site, but that will turn out not to be the case. The only connection he has to the bombing is he was injured by it. People in PIRA know he was seeing Joanna, but her family, while suspecting she was being sneaky about a boyfriend, don't know.

So it was by removing all the dancing I had going on around getting Brendan to Houston and just kicking it back to minimal that helped me get past the meltdown. He still vanishes from Derry in a way that could lead people to thinking he was killed and buried, but it's only ever supposition. Not even Eamonn knows it all, because he cannot keep a secret.

I've gone back through the first chapter of Book Two and changed it to reflect that, and somehow it's become more emotionally complex. It's also given me a simple explanation for why he needs to remain underground -- he's overstayed his visa and is subject to arrest.

Jesus, Kyle, sometimes you can overcomplicate things to the point of absurdity. 

And now it'll be a very Merry Christmas...