A Second Chance -- Chapter 11

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A Second Chance

By Dawn Natelle

I started off thinking this would just be a short episode. But the characters took over, and made it about average length. Sleepover tomorrow! Dawn.

THURSDAY, May 5, 2016

It was another nice day, and Rachael wondered how long the streak of nice weather could go on. Eventually it would rain, and they would not be able to make the walk home. But her plan seemed to be succeeding, with Bobby showing more energy, and her own clothes didn’t feel so tight. Except perhaps her bra. She seemed to be growing up there a little. Not enough to need a larger size, but there just seemed to be more there up there.

On the bus to school she sat with Larissa while Mikki went to sit with the girls at the back. She seemed to be fitting in well in their little group, and Rachael thought that the other girls were now being nicer to others. Carly especially, was less of a ‘mean girl’ although Layla was still occasional sniped at others.

Larissa said she had gotten permission from her mother to walk home with the girls, not that she needed to get into shape like Mikki and Rachael did. The day went rather mundanely, although Mikki did say that she agreed to let Lucy come to the sleep over if she would bring her makeup kit. Michaela wouldn’t tell the others what Mrs. Stoner had planned for grab bags for the girls, but said that they would be awesome. Lucy actually hugged Rachael in thanks for getting her into the party at school later that day.

Rachael went to each of the seven other girls and got a list of ingredients that the girls wanted on their pizza. Then she used most of her math class to work out her formula for how to make three pizzas satisfy eight different people. She worked out a list of ingredients that she would need for making pizzas and baking both chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies for the gang. Mrs. Stoner would buy the ingredients tonight, or tomorrow morning.

It wasn’t like she was missing anything in math class by working on her own project: Grade 8 math is not all that challenging when you have already completed two years of university calculus.

By lunch she had a plan on another tack. She sent the girls to the table, then approached Mark Russett as he stood in line for mystery meals. “Hey Mark, are you dating anyone these days?”

He looked down at her, and shyly said “No, why?”

“Well, I know someone who would like to meet you. She is tall, gorgeous, and speaks perfect French.”

“You mean the new student? The one everyone is calling a freak?”

“She is not a freak. She is just tall. You are tall, you shouldn’t mind.”

“I think she is taller than me. And girls are supposed to be shorter.”

“You probably still have a growth spurt to go,” Rachael argued. “You will probably grow another four or five inches. Girls have their growth spurts younger, so she is probably not going to get any taller.”

“I dunno. She is pretty cute though,” the boy wavered.

“Cute? She is drop dead gorgeous. She used to be a model. Look at it this way: when you are old and retired, do you want to tell your grandchildren that you had a chance to date a supermodel in middle school, and you let the chance slip away.”

“Do you think she is going to be a supermodel?”

“Duh. She has a lot better chance of it than me, or any other girl in this school.”

“What should I do?”

“Come with me at lunch and I will introduce you. The gym is free today during lunch isn’t it?” Mark was on the school basketball team, and would know.

“Yeah, unless there are a few guys practicing shots.”

“Well she is trying to learn basketball. You volunteer to take her down and give her some pointers for the last half of the lunch hour.”

“Okay, where is she?” Mark had passed through the food line, and accompanied Rachael back to the table, who sat him down next to Larissa, and squeezed herself in next to Robert (nothing like getting a personal advantage out of helping a friend, is there?)

“Gang, this is Mark. Most of you know him, but Larissa doesn’t. Larissa meet Mark, Mark, this is Larissa.”

Rachael knew that conversation would be stilted with people new to each other, so she told Mark about the movie night she had planned next week. He said that he would like to come.

“Have you decided on what movie to show?” Mikki asked.

“I was thinking about Casablanca. It is an old one, but good, with a good plot and a mixture of war and romance.”

“Why not get Fast and Furious?” Neal, the chess nerd, suggested.

“Can’t. The library only has old movies. I don’t even think they have Star Wars,” Rachael explained. “But there are enough good old ones that we can go to at least the end of this term. I’m hoping we can start up again in September when we will all be in Grade 9. A lot of us will be allowed to date then, but it still will be hard getting into the good shows at the cinema until we are 14. Dates are no fun if you have to take an adult along.”

“How much will it cost?” Neal asked.

“I don’t know. I think maybe we will all chip in a dollar, and use the money to buy snacks. We can get a few big bags of popcorn at the dollar store, and then use paper plate bowls to share with our friends. But we will have to work a bit. We have to leave the place spotless at the end, so that means vacuuming and putting the chairs all back neatly. I think you guys will like the big vacuum cleaner. It is an industrial model.”

By now most of them were finished eating, and the chess boys pulled out their Euchre deck. Rachael turned to Larissa: “Mark was telling me the gym is free during lunch today, and he said he would give you some tips on basketball. Would you like that?”

“Yes, please,” she said, showing gratitude in her eyes.

“Come on then, let’s go shoot some hoops,” Mark said as he got up and led Larissa away.

“Okay,” they could hear her say as she followed him out. “What are hoops?”

At the end of the day, Larissa caught up with Rachael and gushed her appreciation. Apparently the hoops shooting had gone well.

“A couple times he would put his arms around me, to show me how to hold and shoot the ball,” she said. “I think he liked holding me. I really, really liked him holding me. He asked me to be his date for that movie thing you are doing. I think he really likes me. I really like him.”

“Mark?” Mikki said, coming by for the end of the conversation. “He is a really nice guy. Some guys who are good in sports let it go to their heads, and just want to be the star. Mark will pass the ball to an open teammate when he gets the chance. He likes to win, but he is a real team player.”

“Plus he is dreamy looking,” Larissa added.

“We wouldn’t know that down here on our level,” Mikki said. “We can’t see that high.”

You could see Larissa mentally translating that statement, trying to figure it out, and finally coming to the conclusion that it was a joke. She laughed.

“You are so cool,” Larissa. “We are going to have so much fun over the next few years. I worried a lot about making friends in Canada, but now that I have I think you guys are even better than my friends in France were.”

“Do you still keep in touch?” Rachael asked.

“I email them every now and then,” Larissa said. “At first I think my emails must have been real downers, because I was depressed and missing them. But now I must send new ones telling them all about you guys. And Mark.”

By that time they had picked up Bobby and Danni, who Mikki said had begged their mother to let him walk home with the gang. “Such a pretty girl,” Larissa said, and Mikki had to explain that Danni was a boy: a boy who ran and crashed into Rachael with a huge hug.

“Hi Danni,” she said, winking as she said her name so he would know she said it with the i. Danni then took her hand and refused to let it go as they walked.

When they got to the stores, Danni and Bobby each got an apple at DaSilva’s and then they walked to the end of the strip of stores, where they saw that two of the vacant stores looked to have action happening inside. The door was open at one, and they peeked in, seeing the place was full of paintings, with two men working on arranging things.

“Hello, come in,” a short jolly and chubby looking fellow said. “Look John, we have customers already. Are you interested in buying art for your home or business. We are Lenin and Macarthur, Art Dealers. John Macarthur at your service.

The other man was tall and lanky, towering over even Larissa. “Don’t tease the girls, John,” he said. “And do make sure that the little ones don’t touch anything with sticky fingers.”

“Bobby is very good about not touching things,” Rachael said. “And I’m sure Danni will be the same. Is this your first day open?”

“D-Day minus two,” John laughed. “We will officially open on Saturday, and then there will be a gala Grand Opening in September, when everyone is back from vacation. It is a bit late in the year to start a business, but we hope to be making money before Christmas.”

“Where do you get all the art from?” Mikki asked.

“Well, John is an artist, and a pretty good one if I do say so,” Paul said. “A lot of these are his works. The rest are from our friends in Toronto. We made a trip through Ingersoll a few years back, trying to find gas on a visit to London. We kinda loved the place, and when we found a beautiful cottage just out of town we sold our condo in Toronto and moved. Then we found the city was giving a great deal on rent to new businesses, and we decided to see if a studio would go.”

“London?” Larissa said questioningly.

“Not the one you are thinking of,” Rachael laughed. “There is another London just a few miles down the road. They have the university and all the big malls, if you don’t want to go to Toronto. Larissa just moved here from Paris, France,” she explained to the men.

“Paris? Be still my beating heart,” John said flamboyantly. “I love Paris. I wish I could afford to live there, and paint on the banks of the Seine. I think I have a painting of Notre Dame. It was from my Impressionist phase. Ah yes, here it is.”

He showed them a 20x30 inch canvas that was definitely impressionist, but still clearly the famous cathedral in early morning. Larissa’s eyes misted up looking at it, and Rachael could tell that she fell in love with the painting. Rachael gulped when she saw the price tag on it. It was $3000.

“That is beautiful,” Larissa said softly, mesmerized by the image. “I love it. I wonder if my father will buy it for my room. No, for the living room. The whole family will love it. I will have to tell my parents to come down here soon after you open. They are coming down to check out the other shops here anyway.”

“See, I told you that leaving the door open was a good idea,” John teased Paul. “Get a red sticker.” As he affixed it to the price tag, he said: “This means it is a conditional sale. If anyone else wants it, we will call you and you get first chance. But you will have to get papa down with his credit card if you want to take it home.”

“I will,” Larissa vowed, and Rachael just gulped. It would take her mother at least three years to save $3000, and even then it would be hard. But to Larissa this was an amount she felt comfortable in asking her father to pay. She was traveling with a totally different crowd with Mikki and Larissa.

“You mentioned the other shops. I have been in the library, checking out what art books they have,” John said. “What are the other places like?”

“DaSilva’s is like a vegetable market stall in Paris,” Larissa said. “They have a bit more, cheese, cold cuts, and a few groceries. “That is where the apples come from.”

“And the Bread Baron is the best bakery,” Rachael added. “We get the seven-grain bread from there. It tastes like cake, but is really healthy. And they carry a lot of other goodies as well.”

“I looked in their window and put on five pounds,” John laughed, rubbing his large belly. “But if they have healthy bread, maybe I should stop in.”

“Or I could stop in,” Paul said with a smile. “I will buy the bread, and maybe one treat. If you go in, you will clear their stock out.”

“Oh, what is that?” Rachael noted a huge painting at the back of the store. It was so large that the suspended ceiling had to be removed to let it stand up, and the store ceilings were 10-foot high.

“I am still working on it,” John said. “I haven’t had much time this last month, but there are a few hours for me to get the robes just right down at the bottom. We decided to put it out, even though it really is too large. I guess 10-foot is going to be my new maximum for large canvasses.

“It is stunning,” Rachael said. It was a painting of Christ. The pose was somewhat hackneyed, with his arms outstretched as if to invite you into his arms. But the painting, in a realism style, completely drew you in. The face seemed to radiate peace and love. Rachael immediately fell in love with it, and then saw the price tag on it said $30,000.”

“I think we might need another red sticker,” John said as he smiled at the reaction his work was having on the girl.

“I wish,” Rachael said. “Do you think you could let it go for $10 a week for 3000 weeks?”

John laughed. Paul did the calculations. “That is about 60 years, my dearest. You might be around at the end, but I doubt we will be.”

“That’s okay,” Rachael said. “It wouldn’t fit anywhere in my house anyway. But it is beautiful. You didn’t paint this,” she accused John. “God painted this through you. It is truly magnificent.”

John beamed at the compliment. “Well, if you can’t buy it, tell others about it. If it gets people into the shop, then they may buy something more affordable. I’ve been working on that for three years, off and on, which is why it is so expensive.”

The group left the shop and headed to the next one, which had a closed door. There was a sign on it that read: “Xcuts Hair Styling, Opening Soon.”

“Cool, we will have a hair place near the schools,” Mikki said. “Most of the places in town seem to cater to old ladies with blue hair. The name Xcuts makes me think that this place will focus on a younger crowd. I can’t wait till they open.”

As they walked on from the stores, Mikki asked “Did those two art guys seem a little funny to you?”

“Well, they were gay, if that is what you mean?” Larissa said.

“What? Really?”

“Oh sure. There were all kinds of gay people in the modeling world in Paris,” the tall girl said. “You learn to tell which ones.”

Rachael had to agree. She had not noticed it at all while in the store, but in retrospect it was pretty clear that the two were partners in more than just business.

The group found Grandpa sitting on his porch, with a big smile. “Another jeune fille,” he said. Rachael did the introductions, and then spent some time with the old man before going in to check the sandwich supply. He still had two remaining, so she decided to restock him on the weekend.

Only then did she go next door, with little Danni following like a puppy. Bobby came over to walk Rudolph, but Danni chose to stay with Rachael. He did pet Goldie, who was coming along wonderfully, and was trying to lick both Rachael and Danni’s faces. The little tyke giggled when the dog succeeded.

Goldie got a few licks in with Rachel as well as she investigated inside his leg, and found the bone completely healed. The cast could come off on the weekend, but it would have to be Sunday, she told Miss Lajoie.

They went to the door, although Danni stayed for a few more seconds by Goldie’s crate to get more attention from the beautiful animal. “I have to get someone to do M. Verdun’s lawn,” Rachael said. It was growing like crazy in the spring weather. If he didn’t have someone cut it, the city would, and add the considerable cost to his taxes.

“I need to get mine done too,” Miss Lajoie said. “But the cost is just so high.”

“Do you think you could trade guitar lessons for cutting the grass?” Rachael asked.

“But Bobby is too little,” she said.

“Yes, but I was thinking about one of the boys from my grade at school. Piano lessons would not impress them, but guitar would.”

“If you could find someone, that would be wonderful,” the teacher said.

“I’ll let you know. Maybe tomorrow, although that is going to be a busy day for me.”

This time when they got to the Cartright house there were three who continued on, with Danni finally letting go of Rachael’s hand. Inside it was a normal evening, with Maria at work again. Bobby had his carrot and celery soldiers, and Rachael prepped and roasted a small chicken she had bought at the big store on the weekend. She wanted to make Chicken Noodle soup for Grandpa on the weekend, once the family had gotten a meal or two from the carcass.

Bobby made his salad, and when Maria came home it was to a delicious aroma again.

“You spoil me, Rachael,” her mother said. “I had all day off yesterday and you guys only got spaghetti and warmed-over pizza. You are in school all day and still manage to cook a feast for us.”

“You deserve to be spoiled,” Rachael said. “You do so much for us. We are a team, and you are the captain. I’m just cook and chief bottle washer.”

“And I make the sallid,” Bobby chirped in.

Over dinner Rachael casually mentioned that she nearly bought a painting today. When she told the asking price, her mother nearly choked. “I offered $10 a week, but they turned me down,” Rachael said with a smile. “We have no place to show it here anyway. It is almost 12 feet high. But Momma, it is so beautiful. It is Christ, and he looks so welcoming and peaceful. You have to come down and look at it before they sell it.”

“Well, I suspect they won’t sell it quickly in Ingersoll at that price. You can buy a house with that kind of money. Or at least put a down payment on one. But I will come see it when you have time. Will that be this month, or next month?”

“Yeah, it is busy right now,” Rachael admitted. “Once the sleepover is done we should be back to normal. Are you good with picking up Bobby at the Stoner’s?”

“Yes, I can get off the bus near their home, and then we can walk back. I’ll probably have to get some “greasy spoon” food from the café for supper. As I said, I am spoiled now.”

“You won’t need treats for him. I plan to bake my cookies first, so he will get one or two of those to tide him over until you get home. Try to get him something healthy, if you can.”

“Okay. And there is no reason why the two of us can’t make a salad too.”

“Good.”

That night Bobby got a good long read of Harry Potter, and Rachael cleared up all her homework. She now had finished assignments for all her teachers, and was hopeful of getting mostly Bs and Cs, unlike the Ds and Fs that the old Rachael had been looking towards.

That night her prayer for the evening was that tomorrow’s sleepover would go well. Mikki had so much invested into it that any kind of disaster would really hurt the poor girl.

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Comments

Rachel and Danni

My5InchFMHeels's picture

Hopefully Rachel can find a way to help Danni without the little one getting a heavy dose of bullying, both at school and at home. Sounds like Dad may be a battle for a bit, but Danni has support, even if it's not from Family at this point. Ron's experiences should help find a resolution, since Rachel has Ron's memories.

*

Rachael's nightly prayer:
That night her prayer for the evening was that tomorrow’s sleepover would go well. Mikki had so much invested into it that any kind of disaster would really hurt the poor girl.

We are all hoping for this, I'm sure. And of course looking forward to the Sleepover Chapter.

I suspect that these kids are not quite old enough to have been corrupted by the dark side of religion and politics. If problems do develop it will likely come from older siblings, parents and other family members. Sigh.

***

It does not matter that I or others do not believe in her God. She does, and Rachael does, and that will help them help themselves.

I'm not sure why I've never needed something outside of myself to be good or to do good. It has always just seemed like the only way to live. But others do (need outside help) and I am OK with this. It is the way the world is. This outside help does not work for all of them, unfortunately, but for many it does.

***

I am disgusted by the behavior of many so-called Atheists. They are no better than, and in some cases worse than, many so-called Christians and Muslims. (Legal disclaimer - if your religion is not mentioned here, consider it included by reference. I seek to spread both my smiles and my frowns UNequally, to wherever they belong.)

The so-called whatevers think of and treat others badly simply because they are different in some way or because they believe things that are different. And they claim to be doing Whatever's Will in the process of turning their internal venom into physical action.

The dark side is truly powerful. Thanks, kudos, smiles, etc. to all of you who manage to resist it, by any and all methods that work for you.

T

Had you ever met an actual live atheist?

What you attribute to atheists I only ever seen in the people who claim to be devoted god's servants. And never in actual real atheists...
And yes, there is atheism and Atheism.
The simple atheism is not a religion or belief system. It is an impossible concept for religious people. But atheists do not "don't believe in God". We just know that there is no God as in omniscient omnipowerful bearded guy in white robes with nimb over the head. There could be powers that we don't understand. There could be physical laws that we are not yet able to understand or use consistently. But just look around! We print body parts! We can directly and instantly communicate with almost anyone in the world at any time wherever we or them are. There are "omniscient" guys who can deduce our political learnings from our grocery shopping bill. We can "pray" to Siri or Alexa and we will get pizza delivered by the "seraphim"! (I mean delivery by drone, not yet available for pizza delivery AFAIK, but soon...). Demostrate it to anybody from 100 years ago and they will call it a miracle!
Another thing about atheists is that we can't understand fully a concept of "believe in God". If there is God, then there is God. Would you believe in Carpet on your living room floor? Will you believe in Taxi Cab? Why believe in something you know is there for you whenever you need it? Believe in God means you know that there is no God, but you still hope that he will answer your prayers somehow somewhen...
This particular story, BTW, is quite OK with me, as we know from the start that in that universe there is God. We "met" his emissaries. His presence and doings are percieved by the people and can be clearly attributed.
Then there are Atheists. Some of them claim to be agnostic... Main difference is that they don't believe in any of the known gods. But still, they believe. I see a lot of those around, but know nothing about their mind workings.
BTW, If there is actually God as in omniscient guy with beard, religions, with their requirement for multiple prayers every day, are actually carefully planned DDOS attack on God to ensure that God will miss really important prayers...

Hi Manic,

You sound like the kind of atheist I would like to spread some smiles upon - you seem to have managed to resist the dark side of the farce. Thank you.

Actually, I have met a few real world atheists. I found some groups on the net and went to a couple of meetings about ten years ago.

Like most groups that self-create and depend on voluntary association to survive and grow, they tend to hold their meetings at a restaurant. They were very typical in most ways. Ordinary. Most meetings had about twenty or so attendees. Singles, and families, with and without kiddos.

Since this is in Dallas, I was not surprised to find that almost all of them tended toward the liberal side of the political spectrum. If I found a group of atheists in one of the smaller cities of Texas I would expect them to be mostly of the conservative political persuasion. If I ever get around to doing that experiment I'll let you know how my theory pans out.

My disgust is aimed (as I stated) at "so-called" "Atheists". (Madeline O'Hair comes to mind.)

Like the so-called Christians (the Westboro Baptists come to mind) and the so-called Muslims (the Taliban come to mind) and the so-called Wiccans (does anyone have an example they could suggest here?) and ... they do not really understand the philosophy they espouse.

Would it be risky for me to claim that many of the individuals recently attacking Christians are atheists? Perhaps I would be on firmer ground if I claim they are Atheists? (I also distinguish between lower case and upper case labels, but it is discouraging how few people understand what you mean.)

It is likely of course that some of these attackers are actually Muslim. A few might even be Christian (Baptists attacking Methodists, for example).

Real world atheists should have no problem "believing in God", as long as you define what that means.

My philosophy separates reality into three kinds of things
-- Things with physical existence, like a ping pong ball
-- Things with conceptual existence, like the equation of a sphere, which if rendered on a computer screen would look a lot like a ping pong ball but would not be one (NOTE that the rendered image of the equation does in fact have physical existence, as does the monitor)
-- And things that have the ability to conceive, like people and most other animals, but probably not plants

Gods obviously exist as concepts.
Conceptual things can not have any direct influence on physical things. But they can influence physical things indirectly, via the intervention of a conceiving thing.

An example: God hates queers, but being a concept He can not smite any physical queers. A conceiver who worships the God that hates, however, can stuff a queer into his locker and thus the physical queer has been indirectly smited by the conceptual God that hates.

***

Most conceivers who believe in a God or Gods reject those that hate.

A real world atheist (or even an Atheist) can safely "believe" in any god or God that has ever existed. Or in all of them - that is what I do.

But I do not worship any of them.

That is where the dark side gets its power.

T

One small thing I noticed...

If people are atheists, they tend to not have a desire to meet other atheists just to be in a company of another atheist. What you describe will be a meeting of the Church of Atheism. As soon as they will get enough money to aquire a building.
Small difference in god as a concept and equation as a concept is that we can use equation to describe actual physical object or process and if equation you have is good enough - you can use it to calculate properties of the object or results of the process (in quantum physics - probabilities of the outcomes of the process). Like periodic table of elements. That is in itself a concept, but concept that allowed to predict new elements and their properties, and many of those elements were found or created when technology became good enough. (but I am quite inclined to think, tnat those elements became available after Matrix coders created corresponding patches for the Matrix we live in ;-) .)
God as concept lacks this major feature of the good concept.

Premumble

from your post above
Small difference in god as a concept and equation as a concept is that we can use equation to describe actual physical object or process ...

and
God as concept lacks this major feature of the good concept.

This is an interesting observation. I would generalize it a little by observing that concepts, like people, are not created equal. Conceivers (this most often means people, but in general other kinds of conceivers are a possibility) use the various concepts they create for various purposes. Exploration is one of the major uses. Entertainment is another biggie.

But deception and control must be considered as a contender for the number one purpose.

Your observation is not just interesting - it is also important. As a result, my reply this time is longer than I would like it to be. I will divide it into two parts. I hope this will make it easier for you to stay with me.

T

Part 1

repeated from my premumble above
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from your post above
Small difference in god as a concept and equation as a concept is that we can use equation to describe actual physical object or process ...

and
God as concept lacks this major feature of the good concept.

This is an interesting observation. I would generalize it a little by observing that concepts, like people, are not created equal. Conceivers (this most often means people, but in general other kinds of conceivers are a possibility) use the various concepts they create for various purposes. Exploration is one of the major uses. Entertainment is another biggie.

But deception and control must be considered as a contender for the number one purpose.

Your observation is not just interesting - it is also important. As a result, my reply this time is longer than I would like it to be. I will divide it into two parts. I hope this will make it easier for you to stay with me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Math is a (non-linguistic) language (this is not the oxymoron it seems, unless you insist on a very narrow definition of 'language'), and like all languages it can be used for different purposes by different users. Math is not, however, the only non-linguistic language. Art - images and music and sculpture and perhaps some other things - is also a language. Logic is yet another. Each allows us to communicate with other conceivers in different ways.

The equations we have conceived so far are more flexible than the Gods we have conceived (so far). Some equations, as you say, can be used to describe limited portions of physical reality. The best of these do such a good job that we are able to use them to help us manipulate physical reality and build many wonderful (as well as some horrible) tools and toys.

But most equations (and I emphasize I am talking about mathematically valid equations) describe realities that are referred to as "unphysical" in the mathematical world. The conceptual reality they describe is different from the physical reality we presently occupy.

Some conceivers will, on occasion, deliberately break the rules of one or more of the languages they use as they attempt to communicate with other conceivers.

This is one of the very coolest things about conceptual reality. A concept can be LITERALLY anything, including (what appears to others to be) total nonsense.

Communicating a nonsense concept to another mind, of course, might be difficult. But creating the nonsense concept does not violate any rules about concepts, because there are no such rules.

We can, however, conceive of such rules. In which case there are such rules. Do you see what I mean when I say that a concept can be literally anything?

Sometimes a thing created by breaking the rules of one or more languages turns out to be interesting or even useful to the creator and/or to other people.

Language rules are intended to create "internal consistency". These rules govern things such as grammar and spelling and syntax and meaning. The purpose of these rules is to make it possible for person A to create something that person B can understand. Or at least appreciate, or enjoy.

If a language like English is used according to its rules, the product of that use will be "internally consistent" and therefore "linguistically valid". Anyone who understands the rules of English can read it and understand it.

If a language like Mathematics is used according to its rules, the product of that use will be "internally consistent" and therefore "mathematically valid". Anyone who understands the rules of Mathematics can read it and understand it.

Imperfect comprehension of the rules of any given language is common, of course, and leads to imperfect communication to person B of the concepts created by person A. To the extent this happens in a particular situation, both the creater and the customer lose value.

Some language examples:

The language of English can be used to create a documentary (such as A History of the Inca) or a work of fiction (such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone). The former uses common words to make a good but not perfect description of certain portions of physical reality. The latter uses similar words to describe some token aspects of physical reality to help describe, using more words, an otherwise entirely conceptual reality described by the those additional words.

The language of Mathematics can also be used to do both documentaries and fantasies. The former uses common equations (such as the equations used to produce a multiplication table, and that table) to make a good but not perfect description of certain portions of physical reality. The latter uses similar equations to describe some token aspects of physical reality to help describe, using more equations (based, for example, on a space with other than three mutually perpendicular dimensions and a time with one dimension) an otherwise entirely conceptual reality described by the those additional equations.

Note that it is sometimes (but not always) possible to take the conceptual results from a mathematically fictitious (but still mathematically valid) effort and transform them into their physical three plus one dimensional equivalents and use these to describe some aspect of physical reality. This is how we know that Einstein's theories of relativity actually work. No one has ever figured out how to build a sensor (or anything else) in the four dimensional space-time of his theories, in order to take measurements in that four dimensional space-time. So we build our devices in three dimensional space and one dimensional time, then take our measurements, then transform those mathematically into their four dimensional space-time equivalents, and then observe that the results do in fact match Al's predictions. The transformation process can be adjusted as needed to allow us to increase the precision of our calculations as our measurements get more precise, so the accuracy of the match is breathtaking. The word beautiful is often used in this regard.

Will anyone ever conceive of a God that can actually do something? I don't know. (In practice what would really happen is that someone would discover this God. Probably.)

Do not forget - absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

And do not forget - as long as some of us believe, the existing Gods really can do physical things - but they must do them indirectly, through the physical actions of a physical believer. Does it matter if Ron actually met an angle who turned him into Rachael - or if instead, Rachael almost died in her suicide attempt and had some sort of dream/out of body experience/whatever and became a changed person?

The evidence, such as it is, supports both - the results seem to be the same either way.

Those results are marvelous. And they make a wonderful story.

(Thanks again Dawn.)

T

Part 2

repeated from my premumble above
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from your post above
Small difference in god as a concept and equation as a concept is that we can use equation to describe actual physical object or process ...

and
God as concept lacks this major feature of the good concept.

This is an interesting observation. I would generalize it a little by observing that concepts, like people, are not created equal. Conceivers (this most often means people, but in general other kinds of conceivers are a possibility) use the various concepts they create for various purposes. Exploration is one of the major uses. Entertainment is another biggie.

But deception and control must be considered as a contender for the number one purpose.

Your observation is not just interesting - it is also important. As a result, my reply this time is longer than I would like it to be. I will divide it into two parts. I hope this will make it easier for you to stay with me.
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Our concept that all people are created equal does not describe actual physical reality as it relates to people. In a few places, in recent times, a few of us have attempted to organize a few societies in a noble attempt to create such a physical reality, for people in general, by making those of us in those few places behave as if equality is physically real.

And to our ever lasting credit, we have had some success - in those few places.

But in the rest of physical reality people have always been not equal and still are to this day. This is one of the reasons I have zero interest in worshiping any of the Gods we have conceived so far. They have been conceived at least in part to address this issue of inequality. To the extent that inequality has actually been reduced in physical reality, it has been through our efforts - not the efforts of any of the Gods. (At least not the direct efforts of any God, but rather indirectly through believers acting on their behalf).

Note also, to our ever lasting shame, that a significant effort is underway by some people to kill these experiments - to eliminate, or at least seriously cripple, these societies that seek to take power from the traditionally powerful (political and religious leaders), and then to un-concentrate this power and divide it among the traditionally powerless (workers, housewives, craftsmen and small businessmen) where it belongs in an actually moral society. Power to the people, as it were.

Some of these powerful people are sabotaging our good efforts in the name of this God or that God. Other members of the powerful-groups are doing it in the name of ... what you called "The Church of Atheism". These particular powerful individuals (profess to) have no God, but they are still working to achieve the same end as those (mis)using God.

I claim they actually do have a "God", and that God is otherwise known as Big Government. It is not the kind of God that Christians typically envision when the discussion turns to God, but their opinion was not sought. Back in the day, Government and God were the same thing. To the contemporary believers in Big Government, they still are the same.

The slogan "united we stand, divided we fall" is the creation of these powerful people, not of the powerless masses.

But it is none-the-less a useful concept for the powerless, if it is understood by the powerless to exclude the powerful when the powerless coopt it. We cannnot compromise with the powerful. We must try to eliminate them. If we do not, they will enslave us again.

Note that the powerful already understand this, and recognize the vulnerability it represents.

When some group of the powerless tries to organize other members of the powerless, some groups of the powerful attempt (most often successfully) to coopt the attempt and turn it around so that people joining the movement later discover that it is now working to concentrate power rather than distribute it.

BTW, these evil powerful people exist in both major parties in the USA. Because of this I claim that there is only one major political party here.

I call it the Demopublican Party on even numbered days.

And on odd numbered days I call it the Republicratic party.

T

Thanks for your reply!

As for parties... We were taught in school that American two parties are actually controlled by the same people. So single Communist party in the USSR is more honest and works better.
It does not work better, but it was honest.

Lucy

WillowD's picture

I'm glad Lucy is coming to the sleepover. And I'm even gladder that we are closer to the sleepover.

The new businesses are a nice touch. Cool.

I hope

Samantha Heart's picture

All does go well tomorrow. I think the other girls well be in for a HUGE suprise to find out the tall new girl from Paris is a REAL model it will come out at the photo shoot during the sleep over. Her experience will be shown in her moves & looks at the camera.

Love Samantha Renée Heart.

Someone with Racheals adult experience

will not be cowed and intimidated as a child would be. especially if it concerning a subject she knows is important. Danni has a powerful ally whether she knows it or not.

Still enjoying the story. a lot.

Wonderful daughter

Danni is an interesting addition. Rachel is too good to be true, her mother must be wondering what changed her.

Karen

Match maker?

Jamie Lee's picture

Could it be that Rachael is killing two birds with one stone by introducing Lyrissa to Mark? Not only is he helping her learn basketball but making her become dreamy eyed.

Two artists can be added to Rachael's friends lists. And by her spreading the word because of what she's seen in their shop, they might do quite well in that location.

Planning for the sleepover seems to be progressing nicely. The real test will be during the sleepover. Also, her idea to use one of the rooms at the library for movie night is a nice idea; it introduces the kids to some real nice movies which make a person think as they watch.

Others have feelings too.