Shifting...

Well, what started out as a simple shift of this paragraph there and this page down here became a complete expansion and intensification of Brendan's reaction to the waitress' death at the hands of her abusive husband. Brendan withdraws completely from everyone, thinking himself a curse. Blaming himself for her murder. I had a bit where Todd, the bartender where Brendan worked, drops by to talk...but I think I'm combining that with Everett's visit.

The setup is simple -- the husband shows up at the bar, attacks his wife and Brendan, remembering how Paidrig was kneecapped by their mutual friend, Colm, grabs a baseball bat and smacks it against the man's knees. Breaks one, crippling the guy. Which is bad because the husband is a cop and Brendan is not legal.

Brendan sets her up at Everett's till she can convince her mother to move out of the city with her. But the husband uses police resources to track her down, rams her car head-on, and pumps five bullets into her before killing himself. And the whole city wonders why a fine, upstanding young cop went berserk while tacitly blaming the waitress for it all.

I'm using an infamous occasion in Asbury Park, NJ, about 7 or 8 years ago, where a cop was in a divorce, accused of abuse and pissed off over child support, so chased down his soon-to-be ex and killed her in her car while their daughter sat in the passenger seat. What made it horrific was, some fellow officers saw what he was doing and didn't even try to stop him. Then comforted him before they arrested him. All on video.

This mess crashes Brendan back to memories of his father's abuse of his mother, himself and his older brother, Eamonn, and sends him careening into despair. He sees himself as a curse, now that two women he knew are dead thanks to him. How I get Everett in to talk him back to humanity is something I'll deal with tomorrow.

Ophthalmologist blew me off about my stye. Just use hot packs on your eye and come in for your normal visit, next week. I so love being cared about...