The Box

[mmike1969]

Here's a good conspiracy theory!:

 

I read in an earlier post that Mark loves a happy ending and loves a good cliffhanger...

 

Brad spoke of his new home in Oahu.

 

Robbie did not know about his uncle Aaron (although we still don't know why he just doesn't pick up a phone, call his dad and ask him...)

 

Tonto's letter to Steven (don't you think it's odd writing a letter to a dead person?) does not actually STATE that he is dead, only implies that he's 'gone'.

 

If you think about it for a second, if Steven and Aaron did run off, they are going to have to change their ID's and have no contact with their families. That's why Tonto hid his diary and letters.

 

Steven wrote in his diary that Aaron spoke about running off to an island in the Pacific.

 

So my theory is:

 

1) Tonto and Frank was/is aware of Steven and Aaron.

2) They might still be alive (in Hawaii now)

3) Kind of too much of a soap opera (even for me) but it would give a happy ending that Mark loves so much () while giving us the cliffhanger that will move us into the next story.

 

Three more Chapters left and so many more questions that needs to be answered!

[rjo]

I think, I hope you are right. Mark did not write about Tonto's funeral. Could Arron and Steve have returned for it. Maybe placed the box back in the house later. Stefan was so surprised that it was in the attic. It would be wonderful if they were still alive. I'd almost forgive him for killing off Jeff. Only two more chapters. It's summer in 1999 a lot of time to search for them.

[mmike1969]

...

 

Travel much to the Philippines much Mark?

 

And no, I have not finished reading Ch 18...

 

--

 

Okay, I have finished reading the chapter. Very nice and yes, you captured exactly how 2nd Lt's are treated by experienced combat troops .

 

Hell, most people (including jr enlisted) treat 2nd Lt's pretty poorly! Most take it in stride though.

 

I can hardly wait until the end of this story and then the real drama starts with the next Story on who is trying to screw over Stef!

Edited June 13, 2010 by mmike1969

[Mark Arbour]

You guys think of wackier plots than even I do!

 

Philippines? Why do you ask?

[buba]

Tonto's letter was in the box, so I suppose that she has read the diary. Now, she new about the kid, so why didn't she try to find Stefan?

[rjo]

Mark what do you have planned for this last chapter? Did they have a preplaned escape? Was the Last part of the diary written in code? Will the guys find both of them there on the island? Tomorrow is JP's birthday 74. Happy Birthday JP! Thanks again Mark for making these guys so real and loveable. Do we know Stephs birthday yet?

[methodwriter85]

No. Stefan's non-birthday has been a running gag throughout the whole series. For a guy who loves a goood party and for someone who has been the protagonist a record-setting three times, its pretty amazing that we have never seen Stefan celebrate a birthday. Anyways, you raise a good point- why DIDN'T Tonto search for Stefan since she knew?

[mmike1969]

You guys think of wackier plots than even I do!

 

Philippines? Why do you ask?

Sorry, I read your stories when I am high on caffeine while wearing the tin-foil hat.

 

And I said Philippines because of "Negros" is the 3rd largest Island in the Philippines.

 

"I don't know much about my dad's brothers," Robbie said. "I think he moved to Detroit after the war."

Pick up a damn phone and ASK him Robbie!

 

Anyways, you raise a good point- why DIDN'T Tonto search for Stefan since she knew?

Maybe she stopped reading the diary after she got to the part where Steven caught his mom having sex with another woman?

 

BTW Mark, what is the "1." at the end of Ch 19 supposed to mean?

Edited June 20, 2010 by mmike1969

[ricky]

Sorry, I read your stories when I am high on caffeine while wearing the tin-foil hat.

 

 

Wait! You mean that you're supposed to take the tin foil hat off when you drink caffeine? Does that make a difference?

 

Oh shit !

[Mark Arbour]

No. Stefan's non-birthday has been a running gag throughout the whole series. For a guy who loves a goood party and for someone who has been the protagonist a record-setting three times, its pretty amazing that we have never seen Stefan celebrate a birthday. Anyways, you raise a good point- why DIDN'T Tonto search for Stefan since she knew?

 

It's really not a big surprise. Someone like Stefan, who hates the idea of aging, would prefer not to even acknowledge them.

 

 

Sorry, I read your stories when I am high on caffeine while wearing the tin-foil hat.

 

And I said Philippines because of "Negros" is the 3rd largest Island in the Philippines.

 

 

Pick up a damn phone and ASK him Robbie!

 

 

Maybe she stopped reading the diary after she got to the part where Steven caught his mom having sex with another woman?

 

BTW Mark, what is the "1." at the end of Ch 19 supposed to mean?

 

The "1" is simply an error. It shouldn't be there.

[methodwriter85]

It's really not a big surprise. Someone like Stefan, who hates the idea of aging, would prefer not to even acknowledge them.

 

Still, it's kinda crazy that someone who loves to throw a party wouldn't throw one in honor for himself. He could do what someone I met once did, who always put 32 candles on her birthday cake. LOL. And even back in the Land Whore, when Stefan was still in his 20's, he didn't ever acknowledge his birthday. Although I guess you could say that Annette Bordet, being as poor as she was, just never really did the birthday thing for Stefan, and that's why Stefan never really got into the habit of celebrating them. Maybe that's the reason why Stefan treats other people's birthdays as a big deal- i.e. him flying people around for Will's 13th birthday, getting Alejandro and Casey matching cars for their 16th birthday, etc. Stefan's not comfortable celebrating his birthday, so he overcompensates and gives the real "Super-Sweet 16" to everyone else.

'

But anyway, let's just go ahead and make July 1, 1945 Stefan's birthday. It's been bugging the hell out of me that Stefan doesn't have one, so let's make that his!

Edited June 20, 2010 by methodwriter85

[Canuk]

Actaully if you were going to hide out at the end of WWII, Manila in particular or the Philippines in general would not have been a bad place; the Japanese had slaughtered a huge number of the inhabitants and the Americans had flattened the city infrastructure, so it would have been "simple" to blend into the chaos..... The attraction would have been it's pre-war reputation (Pearl of the Orient, much better developed than Singapore or HongKong)..... I wouldn't mind hiding out there except there'd be no Grainger:wub: , and that really says it all......

[Canuk]

As far as Stefan's birthday: what about October 7.... "Feast" day of Saints Sergius and Bacchus in the Catholic Church - an openly gay/secretly Christian couple of the 4th century.....

 

sounds better than Canada Day (1 July)

 

 

[methodwriter85]

The date of conception takes place October 1st, so Stefan's birthday can't possibly be October 7th- humans don't have 53-week gestation periods.

[Hoskins]

Stefan took longer to cook than most.

[Tiger]

Well, it looks as though I was half right! Aaron is alive (at least he probably is). I so called it too.

[Mark M]

i do not dare read what i've missed. But i'll say one thing.

 

Your really giving us the hope Arron is alive?!?!?! Can't you imagine the emotions that would go through this group of people you so humbly sat together in a story........i wonder if you even know your own characters at all anymore. This whole box story was ok, i didn't like the fact it went backward, but forward would be much more nice, even if you start making it day to day events in these characters lives and change your writing style a little bit, to make the story last.

 

With out a doubt they will search for arron, my only hope is they find him dead. whether he did live out his life or he didn't. just find him dead. i couldn't even think how you would make arron probably in his....(JP is 60ish so steven would probably be around 75) 70's deal with the oncoming disaster of refacing his old life....it's just disastourous to the Hayes family....and i can't imagin robbie keeping this a secret, this whole reading of this thing as already put him on edge.

 

either way i'm currious to read on, finaly something has spiked my interest and now it's true the Box is an okay read, i admit it. It took a while for me to latch on to it, it could be the possibility that you paused HMS to concentrat on one story thus forcing reading to enjoy it for what it is.

 

I do need to re-read the CAP saga again as now we are bringing events into place i totaly forgot about, i thought stef was just on the streets right away as a kid in paris whoreing out to every man or women he found, not living with his mother till she died.....the thing is i guess is that i havent read the books of cap since i started them.....pretty much when i joined up to G.A and gave you my Virgin post.

 

Either way i like the box for what it is, not a story of present characters but a storytelling of characters that made the characters at present to be. (I think that was almost wise....almost)

 

I hope arron is dead so i don't have to feel what he would feel if he saw this crew of...characters (funny cuz there all homosexuals to boot, which in new Negros (los negros?)probably wouldn't have much of a Gay pride culture...in 1999....or maybe even now in 2010? the world is changing but slowly)

Edited June 21, 2010 by Mark M

[Tiger]

I'm not giving up hope that Aaron is alive. it sounds like he is or at least that he was. We'll find out soon.

[methodwriter85]

Mark M, I hope Aaron is dead as well.

[ricky]

 

With out a doubt they will search for arron, my only hope is they find him dead. whether he did live out his life or he didn't. just find him dead.

 

I hope arron is dead

 

Mark M, I hope Aaron is dead as well.

 

Nice folks. I'm sure Arron would feel the same way about you.

 

I'd like to see that they are both alive and hiding. Let's not forget that they had a lot of money and influence even back then and often identification was made simply by dog tags. It was also common practice to put your dog tags on a body that was too messed up to be identified and then to slip away. At this age, neither would come back into the lives of the others nor would they pay any price for their desertion if it got out.

 

It would be nice to get a new Diary of the missing years and also to find out that Tonto arranged it, complete with money and new ID's. She didn't split hairs, she hated the war and worried for the two boys. In her mind she could justify it, they did their parts and she probably figured enough was enough. As long as they stayed there and had no contact then it would work. Better that than dead.

[B1ue]

I think Aaron is, one way or another, almost certainly dead. The Hayes family, however, has a rather extreme tendency to look like one another, so there may be readily identifiable descendents.

 

About Stefan's birthday phobia, if his birthday is in early to mid-July, he's probably just managed to hide it in the background of Bastille Day/Fourth of July Celebrations.

[Rabble_Rouser]

I decided after seeing all the postings over the last few months to take a peek at Bloodlines once Mark posted the final chapter. Needless to say that I've gotten sucked into the CAP series and finished reading all the parts of the series except If It Fits as I can't seem to get into this one.

 

I actually like the use of the diary as a way to explore the past. I especially agree with the sentiment of "why doesn't Robbie get off his ass and call Frank". It may be because (at least until the end of the current chapter) knowledge about the diary was being kept secret. If Robbie called Frank about Nathan and Aaron, the logical question for Frank to pose, especially if he does have knowledge, is where did these questions come from.

 

I'm in the camp of Aaron actually being alive somewhere in the Pacific but what I can't figure out is how would Steven pull off the great escape since I didn't get the impression that he was unrecognizable after his death and it also leads to asking whose body did the Schluter's bury in the family plot and why didn't his squad notice it wasn't him who died?

 

I'm thinking that Aaron lived alone in the Pacific somewhere... can't wait to find out how this turns out. As for where to go from here, there are enough illegitimate children born by the gay characters in CAP there is no end to options. I especially liked Bitty's comment about the only good Hayes are the one who like to get #$@.

 

Thanks for a great read Mark!

 

Steve

[ricky]

 

. . .

 

I'm in the camp of Aaron actually being alive somewhere in the Pacific but what I can't figure out is how would Steven pull off the great escape since I didn't get the impression that he was unrecognizable after his death and it also leads to asking whose body did the Schluter's bury in the family plot and why didn't his squad notice it wasn't him who died?

 

. . .

Steve

 

Schluter could certainly be a German name. You see one blond German . . .you've seen them all. And perhaps there was no one left in his squad. Or perhaps one other that ran away with him or one he slipped a few bucks to say it was him. It was an easy fix back then. I was under the impression he was at sea when he died. So recovery was not always an option so then an empty box would have been displayed at the funeral. It only said they identified him, not that his body was fit for viewing at a funeral many days after his death.

 

It was a military death so no autopsy would have been performed and there was no reason for the mortician to do anything but bury the box. No muss no fuss.

 

Easy as pie.

[B1ue]

I was under the impression he was at sea when he died.

 

It'd be a neat trick for an Army officer to die commanding a platoon in a naval battle. I'm not certain enough to say it's impossible, but I don't see how. The newspaper article seems to imply he died in combat during the push towards the Rhine. You may be thinking of Steven's brother Billy, Brad's father, who died while part of a submarine crew.

[Mark M]

Yeah i still hope he's dead, to bring him back is like the movies you can predict straight to the end. Like "Good always wins". It gets annoying and sure so far mark always brings a good end out of a bad situation, i hope though that this isn't one of them.