Secondhand Life - Part 50

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The Philippines gig was cut short. We did some press interviews but no live events. It seems the movie was less of a cult hit and more of a lightening rod. Conservative Catholic groups were quite upset about the story of a priest who fathers an illegitimate child. But still, Eoin wasn't the one getting the death threats. It seemed there was a much bigger furor over the 'harlet' who tempts the priest to break his holy vows.

“These people DO understand, don't they, that we're actors playing roles?” I asked one of the interviewers, who just replied with a noncommital shrug.

“I didn't grow up on a sheep ranch. Eoin is not really a priest.” I said directly to the TV Camera.

“And Katherine is not really a virgin.” Eoin grinned.

I turned to him. “Not helping here.” I said, fighting mightily to retain Katherine's stone-face.

“It's all pretend. It's a story written almost a hundred years ago. We just retold it. With music. And dance numbers.” I said, still looking directly into the camera.

“And sheep.” Eoin added. Not as helpfully as he intended.

“Well, there were always sheep. Ours were just more ….choreographed.” I smiled to the hosts.

“Eat your heart out Bollywood!” Eoin crowed.

The interviewers finally interjected.

“Have you had incidents like this before on your tour?” she asked.

Eoin and I looked at each other. Was she talking about the death threats or the protests outside the theatre?

“Could you be more specific? What incidents?” Eoin asked our host.

“The death threats.... and the threats against the public appearance. Were there any previous concerns about a bomb at the theatre?”

“Not since the night of the premiere.” I deadpanned. Eoin snorked.

Shaking his head and struggling to regain his composure, he said “This is the first I've heard of any threat. Anywhere.”

I gave our hosts Katherine's polite smile. “We came here to work. And to share our little extravaganza with the lovely people of the Philippines. I must admit, it hurts to find we're not wanted.”

“Not by everyone.” Our host quickly cut in. Her co host jumped in as well.

“It just seems to be a few troublemakers who are making the idle threats.” He seemed almost apologetic.

I smiled politely. “I understand. But are the threats idle? The people handling security don't seem so sure, so we're locked down at our hotel until we leave. I haven't had this little freedom of movement since I was grounded as a child.” I said sadly. That was true. My dad grounded me over something silly. I think it was missing school. Uncle Kevin picked me up on my way to school and said my folks got me out of school for the day to help him. I sat and 'minded' the car while he and his mates did an errand. Before he dropped me home, he told me that I had in fact skipped school, and that if I knew what was good for me, I wouldn't tell my parents or anyone where I had been or what I had been doing.

That was the last time I had been grounded. And this very much reminded me of it. We were all essentially trapped in our hotel, but it seemed I ….Katherine.... was singled out.

“The ultra conservative Catholics are up in arms over the so called 'blasphemy'” Dez explained. “But it's gone beyond that. Certain ultra conservative Imams have decried you as a whore hell bent to despoil and destroy pious men of God.” He smiled wearily.

“You mean my ….Katherine's.... character in Thornbirds.” I corrected. He shook his head sadly.

“I don't think they know the difference. Or care.” he sighed.

“Well that's not fair! Eoins the 'victim' of my seductive charms?” I shook my head in disbelief.

“Temptation, thy name is woman.” Dez chuckled cynically. “Don't blame me. Blame Eve.” he laughed.

“Eve was framed.” I muttered.

“That's beyond my ability to fix” Dez laughed. “What I CAN do is make sure you're safe. And that means staying in your suite, hosting press who come to visit us within our secure hotel, and keeping a low profile until we jet out of here.”

“No problem.” I snorted. “Low profile is Katherine's middle name.”

Dez laughed, patted my knee, and left to mollify Eoin, Colleen, Cyril and the rest of the crew – none of whom had personal prices put on their heads.

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Comments

Nowhere NEAR enough.... but....

the rest needs a LOT more polish, and I have this compulsion to prove that I haven't completely given up on this story.

I hope to have enough soon to get us to the parts I'm excited to share. - Far later in the story (cursed, asynchronous muse!)

Thanks for sticking with the story. Sincerest apologies for my ....creative constipation. :-(

sigh

K@

As long as you didn't go off

As long as you didn't go off and die on us... I think we're willing to wait (as best as we're able) for your muse to show off the wiley escapades of LC.

(Thank you for your work.)

Secondhand life

This story brings a smile to my face but I know nobody wants you to feel so rushed that it's no fun for you. I know I'll be happy to see anything you want to write about.

Katherine2 is back

Podracer's picture

Kat's back, both are good things. We are cheered :)

"Reach for the sun."

“Low profile is Katherine's middle name.”

Right. Uh-huh. Something tells me there is going to be some unusual high jinks at the hotel, soon. So glad to see another chapter of this wonderfully entertaining story.

I was very happy to see this......

D. Eden's picture

This was always such a great story. It's fantastic that you still plan to finish the tale.

I have missed your wonderfully quirky sense of humor. It's so great to see it again.

D

D. Eden

Dum Vivimus, Vivamus

Thank you ...

Sara Selvig's picture

for another episode of this delightful insanity!

Hugs,

Sara


Between the wrinkles, the orthopedic shoes, and nine decades of gravity, it is really hard to be alluring. My icon, you ask? It is the last picture I allowed to escape the camera ... back before most BC authors were born.

Thank you

Kat,
Sarah S says it all. Thankyou for another episode of this delightful insanity. While its short and for you it may be a partial episode, it gives us hope that the story continues. I know I need my fix of Katherine every so often and my world will be a smaller place without her.

Will

So glad it's back

Various system resets meant that its tab was no longer on my browser, and I had to do quite a bit of re-reading to get back into the swing of things. 5 months was too long to wait. But I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed the story -- so far!
Please keep it going

This is one

that I'm going to have to wait for it to be finished, then binge read. Is there any way to get it into one giant PDF file?

One file for off-line reading

If you insist on a PDF file for reading, go to the title page of the story. That is the one where all the parts are linked to. Clic on the "Printer-friendly version" link at the top right, or just to the left of the "Story Stats" box. Then print to a PDF-printer. And, BINGO, you have your PDF file for off-line reading.

As a better alternative for reading off-line and on the go, I prefer the ePub format. For that I installed the "GrabMyBooks" extension in FireFox. Then, again, go to the title page of the story. Select the links to be saved. In "GrabMyBooks" select option "Grab selected links", and it will download the corresponding pages. In the corresponding tab opened by the extension you can either directly save the downloaded pages as is, or add some metadata and/or do some basic editing before saving to ePub. Then I copy the file over to my tablet (or mobile device) to read with my favorite reading app.

Both formats (PDF and ePub) have advantages and disadvantages:

PDF is geared towards print media (a.k.a. dead tree editions) where you have a clear page structure. But if you need to scale up the font size for reading, you have to start scrolling left-right.

ePub is geared towards electronic media where the text reflows within the screen boundaries when you change the font size for your personal needs and/or preferences. But if you want to print to paper, it is missing the distinct structure associated with print media.

I hope this answers your question.

You SAID it!

By the time this is finished it will be a GIANT .PDF file! :-D

I have so many dissociated pieces I'm trying frantically to join... did I mention that my muse it utterly non-linear? [scowl]

Yeah, it's far from done, and by the time we finally get to the (already written) ending, it will no doubt be sprawling. Maybe an ebook file might be more manageable.

.....We'll, cross that bridge when we come to it.... and hopefully cross it keeping any future Porsches out of pools.... but no promises. ;-)

When I finally connect ALL the dots of this tale, it will be available as a gluttonous whole - for anyone intrepid enough to want it!

Thanks for reading.

....or for waiting to read... ;-)

K@

Take all the

time you need Kat. But not one second longer!

>>> Kay

Binge Reading

Elsbeth's picture

Well, missed this one and its a gem. Did a little Binge reading and am enjoying it quite a bit.

-Elsbeth

Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste.

Broken Irish is better than clever English.

Secondhand Life

Thanks heaps Kat
You posted this update on my birthday and it has turned out to be my best present yet.
The reason being the hours of pleasure I have had by going to the first chapter and reading the whole story ( to date!)
This would be one of the most fun filled and crazy stories I have ever read.
You have a wonderful gift for expression and outright zaniness that I have just loved
Thanks heaps and I hope the writing gods of creativity keep you inspired.
Love
alexi

Alexinu

Totally hooked please do not

Totally hooked please do not leave us hanging here. Love the story and the cast of thousands. Will certainly be checking for more in the future. You do good work Kat Walker.