Poor Man's Son

[methodwriter85]

Yeah, but, Stefan doesn't seem like a tennis person, and this family in general seems to prefer big metro cities(usually Europe) when it comes to vacations, or the beach. Wouldn't they be more likely to have a vacation home not just in Colorado for sking, but a place in Australia and or some other place that doesn't have winter at the same time California does? My guess would be St. Bart's, because that's Mark's favorite vacation spot. What's the point in being warm and dry in some otherwise unappealing place(remember, Mark doesn't like Palm Springs therefore Stefan doesn't like it) in Southern California if you've got the ability to jet off to other places to escape the rainy Los Angeles winters? Clothing optional resorts seem like about the only thing there that I can see appealing to Stefan. I still think Mark, and likely Stefan, would take jetting off to St. Barts in January over taking a drive out to Palm Springs.

 

Just pretend that that Stefan and Greg used to have a spot in Palm Springs and Stefan sold it after he died.

 

The first one would have been at Lake Tahoe and while they would have kept that one, they would have gotten an Aspen place in the late 70's, sold that one and upgraded to to Vail in the 80's, Bachelor Gulch by the 90's and eventually wind up in the Yellowstone Club, but Stef would probably hang onto the Bachelor Gulch pad and buy a large place in Deer Valley so they'll have some place to stay in 2002 for the SLC games.

 

I wonder if Harvard-Westlake is relaxed enough that they'd be willing to let JJ take a three-week leave of absence from 10th grade to attend the Salt Lake City Games with Stefan and JP.

 

I could just see JJ there on the sidelines, looking at Sara Hughes and fuming inwardly about how if he had only started skating a few years earlier than at 12, he might have had a shot at the '02 Olympics. I think not getting in the Olympics for '02 will be a nice hard reality check and a much-needed bitchslap for JJ. LOL.

 

Although, I don't know- I think 2002 will be a generally good year for Mark and the CAP saga to skip over. We don't have to cover every year of the 2000's, and I think 2003 will be a better year to start with after Mark gets done with 9/11. Plus it'd be good to let the family have a "quiet" year in which nothing really happens, which they haven't had since 1997. I nominate 2002 for that, and picking up with the family again in 2003. Lots more interesting things that year, including the music. *looks at Mark with a pleading, puppy dog face*

Edited August 8, 2011 by methodwriter85

[B1ue]

So, I suppose it'd be irrellevant to mention that my family vacationed in Palm Springs a lot when I was growing up, since the lot of us enjoyed being out in the desert and it was relatively inexpensive. The Living Desert is pretty cool, and spending an entire week next to a pool in a place that at 2 AM is still over 80 is my idea of a good time.

 

I was not aware of the gay parts of the city until much later, of course.

 

I agree that Palm Springs doens't sound like it'd have appealed too much to the Cramptons, but enjoyment is where you find it. I always enjoyed the trips out there.

 

Edit: *pats Jeremy* I know it seems like we gang up on you a lot, but we're really quite attached to our areas down here. Just think of all the ways you've positively contributed to the stories so far, and keep trying to do so. We're really just here to make sure no one steps on themselves.

[methodwriter85]

It's fine. Let's just take another moment to drool over Colton Haynes aka John Hobart.

 

 

 

 

It really is funny that Colton is actually playing a lacrosse player on Teen Wolf now. Man, talk about an appropriate pick. LOL.

 

 

I guess just imagine the jersey saying "Menlo" instead. LOL. What are the school colors there anyway, Tommy?

[Canuk]

It's fine. Let's just take another moment to drool over Colton Haynes aka John Hobart.

 

 

 

 

It really is funny that Colton is actually playing a lacrosse player on Teen Wolf now. Man, talk about an appropriate pick. LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

never thought of John Hobart shaving.....

[Tommy_B]

It's fine. Let's just take another moment to drool over Colton Haynes aka John Hobart.

 

 

 

 

 

It really is funny that Colton is actually playing a lacrosse player on Teen Wolf now. Man, talk about an appropriate pick. LOL.

 

 

I guess just imagine the jersey saying "Menlo" instead. LOL. What are the school colors there anyway, Tommy?

 

Blue n Gold.

 

[Canuk]

why are their costumes so bloody unsexy......

[methodwriter85]

Blue and gold. Nice. That should set off John's blue-green eyes perfectly.

 

Canuck, I do agree the uniforms could be sexier, but I think lacrosse players have bangin' bodies. Mixes the best of soccer players and football players, I think.

Edited August 10, 2011 by methodwriter85

[Hermetically Sealed]

Liked seeing Gathan's take charge attitude on getting everyone together to head out to California. Still not feeling the whole Kristin thing, but loved Gathan's talk with her father. It'll be interesting to see how that develops in the future.

[PrivateTim]

Liked seeing Gathan's take charge attitude on getting everyone together to head out to California. Still not feeling the whole Kristin thing, but loved Gathan's talk with her father. It'll be interesting to see how that develops in the future.

 

I thought Gathan handled the talk with her father badly. If I really loved someone and I knew their parents loved them too and weren't bad or abusive to them, I'd want them to like me too.

 

I would have been more sympathetic with the father and I would have addressed what I knew his concerns were, I am not good enough for his daughter, I come from a bad family, etc. I would point out I am going to the second most prestigious university in California, that my extended family of the Hayes-Schluters is going to help me find my way in the world and that I really love his daughter and I will what ever I can to convince them I am going to be good for their daughter. Even if I wanted to call the father a miserable son of a bitch for thinking I am not good enough, I would still try to schoomze him and the father did apologize.

[PrivateTim]

Blue n Gold.

 

 

Hey Nick, what happened against St. Ignatius???

[Hermetically Sealed]

It's hard to be sympathetic with a snob who has continuously shown that he places "breeding" over ability. The fact that both of Kristin's parents seem to have placed a higher regard for a drunk who failed a state school over someone who is of a lower station and attending one of the premiere schools seems to bear out that nothing Gathan does will be good enough. And lets be honest, considering that her father had him arrested, then starts their conversation in a derogatory manner, there was no smoothing things or winning him over. Personally, he was a lot more civil than I probably would have been.

[methodwriter85]

I have to agree with you on this one, Hermectically Seal. No amount of manners was going to change the Hendrickson's mind.

 

I like Kristin a whole lot. She's one of the more interesting female characters we've had in awhile. I never really warmed up all that much to Tiffany or Ella, honestly. It helps a lot that I keep picturing Kristin as Ashley Benson/Hannah from Pretty Little Liars, who I enjoy very much as an actress/character.

 

 

I just have Kristin pictured as the Rich Bitch with a heart of Gold, and I'm generally always enjoyed Poor Little Rich Girls, going all the way back to Kelly Taylor on the original 90210.

[Matthew k]

Liked seeing Gathan's take charge attitude on getting everyone together to head out to California. Still not feeling the whole Kristin thing, but loved Gathan's talk with her father. It'll be interesting to see how that develops in the future.

 

I have to agree with you on this one, Hermectically Seal. No amount of manners was going to change the Hendrickson's mind.

 

I dunno, maybe Tim and I read a different story??

 

He led me to his study where he made our drinks, then directed me to sit down. The only thing that made me even remotely less nervous was the fact that he was clearly uptight as well. “I wanted to talk to you alone.”

 

“So talk,” I said, unwilling to cut him any slack.

 

“I want to apologize to you for having you arrested.” I hadn’t really expected that from him. I figured they’d just have us over and pretend as if nothing ever happened.

 

“I’m kind of surprised to hear you say that, since a couple of days ago you were ready to run me out of town.”

 

He sighed. “It’s hard to explain this to you.”

 

“Explain what?”

 

“How I, how we feel about all of this. It’s hard to explain because we don’t really have a common frame of reference.”

 

I took that as a slam. “I’m not a stupid person. I can understand things. Try me.”

 

“No, I’m not saying you’re a stupid person,” he said. “But you aren’t a father, and you don’t have a daughter.”

 

“That’s true,” I said, getting where he was going with this, and how he was going to try to play it off.

 

“I have all of these ideas about the life I’m going to create for my daughter, about how we’re going to guide her through school, about the kind of person we’ll help her become, and about the kind of guy that we want her to end up with. Slowly but surely, all of those ideas have been blasted out of the water.”

 

“And that’s all me?”

 

“No, it’s not all you,” he sort of snapped. It was funny that I’d eroded some of his patient and calm demeanor.

It sounds to me like Mr. Hendricksson was very conciliatory and was being open, honest and sincere with Gathan. Gathan had a bad attitude from the get go, didn't seem to hear a word the father was saying or take the opportunity to take the olive branch. He in fact acted like a smart assed 18 year old who thinks he knows a whole lot more than he does and took pleasure at tweaking Mr. Hendrickson instead of listening and trying to get off on a new foot with his theoretical future father-in-law. It was very immature.

 

 

[Mark Arbour]

I dunno, maybe Tim and I read a different story??

 

 

 

It sounds to me like Mr. Hendricksson was very conciliatory and was being open, honest and sincere with Gathan. Gathan had a bad attitude from the get go, didn't seem to hear a word the father was saying or take the opportunity to take the olive branch. He in fact acted like a smart assed 18 year old who thinks he knows a whole lot more than he does and took pleasure at tweaking Mr. Hendrickson instead of listening and trying to get off on a new foot with his theoretical future father-in-law. It was very immature.

 

 

 

You guys are always in the rich guy's corner.

 

I think that it's hard to fault Gathan, based on what's transpired, but when Hendrickson apologized, the polite thing to do would have been for Gathan to be more civil. I'm still not convinced that Gathan's all that out of line. Maybe a little bit. Maybe.

[Matthew k]

You guys are always in the rich guy's corner.

 

I think that it's hard to fault Gathan, based on what's transpired, but when Hendrickson apologized, the polite thing to do would have been for Gathan to be more civil. I'm still not convinced that Gathan's all that out of line. Maybe a little bit. Maybe.

 

It is more like breeding.

 

I would never have addressed an adult like that (except my parents) when I was 18. Even at 32, I wouldn't address an older adult like that in a situation like this.

[centexhairysub]

I really enjoyed the latest chapter of Poor Man's Son. I am finally getting into the Gathan side of the story as much as I have been into the Will side. I think that Mark is finally making Gathan a more fully realized persona.

 

I personally thought that Gathan handled his side of the conversation about as well as could be expected when faced with a total bigot like Chris Hendrickson. It is obvious that despite all his supposed breeding and manners he cares more about his family's social position and money than he does his own daughter. I grew up in a family very much in the mold of the Hendrickson family. An impressive pedigree and a lot of land but only so much money. I was raised to believe that manners and breeding was very important but not as important as being true to oneself. You can never allow someone to treat you like a doormat, even if they are older and believe it is their right to do so. I guess growing up in Texas might be different then in some places but as much as we value breeding and manners nothing is more important than being true to onself; and Gathan is nothing if not true to himself.

 

Now, I know that it can be a fine line; but if you don't respect and take yourself seriously, then why should anyone else???

[B1ue]

It is more like breeding.

 

I would never have addressed an adult like that (except my parents) when I was 18. Even at 32, I wouldn't address an older adult like that in a situation like this.

 

Gathan could have been more polite, or could have been less defensive from the get go, but I too am unconvinced that would helped anything in the long run. He'd never be good enough for Kristen in Chris Hendricksen's eyes, and there was no way Hendricksen was going to treat Gathan as if he had any opinion of his own that was worth mattering. Doesn't even necessarily have anything to do with class, I run into that phenomenon all the time with people that have children when they are talking to people that do not. You're just not considered an equal until the condomn breaks, whatever life history or experience you may or may not have.

[Matthew k]

“So talk,” I said, unwilling to cut him any slack.

 

 

Okay, so far so good, Gathan has his defenses up.

 

“I want to apologize to you for having you arrested.” I hadn’t really expected that from him. I figured they’d just have us over and pretend as if nothing ever happened.

 

“I’m kind of surprised to hear you say that, since a couple of days ago you were ready to run me out of town.”

 

He sighed. “It’s hard to explain this to you.”

So Mr. Hendrickson has apologized, Gathan is still suspicious, but the sigh from Mr. Hendrickson says to me, this isn’t an easy conversation for him. It is an emotional topic and he is trying to take a first step.

 

“Explain what?”

 

“How I, how we feel about all of this. It’s hard to explain because we don’t really have a common frame of reference.”

 

I took that as a slam. “I’m not a stupid person. I can understand things. Try me.”

 

“No, I’m not saying you’re a stupid person,” he said. “But you aren’t a father, and you don’t have a daughter.”

Mr. Hendrickson is right. Gathan doesn’t have a daughter. Unless you have kids it might be hard to understand. Unless you have raised a child from birth and realized this tiny human being comes from me and how immediately all you want is the best for them, you don’t want anything to hurt them. You want to protect them and lash out at anything that is threatening. I think it is even worse for fathers with daughters, the world just looks dangerous. Gathan thinks because he is protective of his sister, it is the same feeling a parent has. It isn’t even close.

 

Why does Gathan take “we don’t a common frame” as a slam? Mr. Hendrickson is right, Gathan isn’t a father and doesn’t have a daughter. Has Brad tried to be any less protective of Will? Can you imagine Brad if Will was a girl and not a boy?<br style="mso-special-character:line-break">

 

“That’s true,” I said, getting where he was going with this, and how he was going to try to play it off.

 

“I have all of these ideas about the life I’m going to create for my daughter, about how we’re going to guide her through school, about the kind of person we’ll help her become, and about the kind of guy that we want her to end up with. Slowly but surely, all of those ideas have been blasted out of the water.”

 

“And that’s all me?”

 

“No, it’s not all you,” he sort of snapped. It was funny that I’d eroded some of his patient and calm demeanor.

Mr. Hendrickson isn’t trying to play off anything, he is trying to apologize. When Mr. Hendrickson said, “I wanted to apologize”, if Gathan had said, “thank you, I appreciate that”, this would have been a very different scene. Even if Gathan had said “thank you, I appreciate that, but it might take a while to get over being arrested”, it would have set a different tone.

 

But Gathan takes pleasure in goading Mr. Hendrickson, not very mature. Not someone who is ready for a serious adult relationship. He hasn’t even been to college yet, he is still just a high school kid. I am sure Matt (TetRefine) could tell you how much he matured his first year in college. I know how much I matured in college. Until a few months ago Gathan had never been outside of Claremont really, he is still very immature and unworldly.

 

If the Hendricksons had really wanted to cut off their daughters “Gathan Hayes thing”, they would have said ‘no, you can’t go to Paris’ and at 17 there isn’t much Kristin could have done about it, she is still a minor. But they didn’t do that. They let her go. Surely her mother understood the implications of that, going to Europe with a boy. She knew they would be playing hide the pickle the whole, even if Mr. Hendrickson didn’t know, even if because he didn’t want to know. Thinking about your baby girl being sexually active is not something a father wants to think about.

 

As the scene goes on we see that it the fact that Kristin could have died that shook up the Hendricksons. Instead of acknowledging that and apologizing, Gathan goes on the attack. Again, the actions of someone immature, who needs to grow up a whole lot more before he gets in a serious relationship.

 

I welcome anyone (except Mark who has a different view since the sub-texts are in his head) to show me based on the text, where Gathan "handled it as well as he could have", where Mr. Hendrickson is a "bigot", or where Mr. Hendrickson wasn't going to listen to anything Gathan had to say, since he was pretty contrite.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2011 by Matthew k

[Matthew k]

Okay, I couldn't get the formatting the way I wanted exactly, but muddle through it.

[methodwriter85]

Will moping around about another love interest. Again. Not that I fault him. God, being in 9th grade sucked. I remember I used to sit around and moon over this online friend I had a crush on from Utah. LMAO. Thank god JJ isn't moony over love interests- he's nicely focused with his eyes on the prize and little interest in the wonders of dating. I like that a lot. The contrast works well.

 

 

 

[B1ue]

Mr. Hendrickson is right. Gathan doesn’t have a daughter. Unless you have kids it might be hard to understand. Unless you have raised a child from birth and realized this tiny human being comes from me and how immediately all you want is the best for them, you don’t want anything to hurt them. You want to protect them and lash out at anything that is threatening. I think it is even worse for fathers with daughters, the world just looks dangerous. Gathan thinks because he is protective of his sister, it is the same feeling a parent has. It isn’t even close.

 

This is exactly what I'm talking about. How do you know, without being inside of Gathan's head, that it isn't close? How do you even know what exactly he feels? Do you know, truly, how he feels or sees the world of his sister? Or are you just assuming because you cannot imagine anyone else being different from yourself, who did not have such protective feelings until you had a child of your own?

 

Bet that bitch that dumped her kid in the dumpster would have totally understood Chris Hendricksen's point of view. Those jackasses that abort their daughters simply because they aren't sons, or that rape their daughters simply because they can, would completely concur that the world is a dangerous place for their children. You're right, there is some universal truth that gets revealed when you become a parent. My mistake.

[PrivateTim]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. How do you know, without being inside of Gathan's head, that it isn't close? How do you even know what exactly he feels? Do you know, truly, how he feels or sees the world of his sister? Or are you just assuming because you cannot imagine anyone else being different from yourself, who did not have such protective feelings until you had a child of your own?

 

Bet that bitch that dumped her kid in the dumpster would have totally understood Chris Hendricksen's point of view. Those jackasses that abort their daughters simply because they aren't sons, or that rape their daughters simply because they can, would completely concur that the world is a dangerous place for their children. You're right, there is some universal truth that gets revealed when you become a parent. My mistake.

 

You can hardly take the extremes for the norm. There are all kinds of sociopaths in the world, some even have kids. There is no indication of the Hendricksons ever having been bad or abusive parents.

 

The psychology of being a parent is way different from the psychology of being a sibling. Maybe if Gathan had raised a two year old Ella from the time he was 14, there could some feeble comparison, but two siblings a year apart it doesn't wash.

 

Everyone else here seems to have no problem getting into Mr. Hendrickson's head and what he was thinking during the apology, etc, but finds it inconceivable for anyone else to get into Gathan's head or think Gathan behaved badly at a time he could have exhibited some growth and maturity.

[methodwriter85]

Bet that bitch that dumped her kid in the dumpster would have totally understood Chris Hendricksen's point of view.

Coincidentally, that happened at University of Delaware in 1996, with Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson.

Keep in mind that it's only early August in the story so far. Are we really expecting a massive amount of growth and maturity from Gathan when only a month has passed from the start of the story?

Edited August 14, 2011 by methodwriter85

[mmike1969]

It's fine. Let's just take another moment to drool over Colton Haynes aka John Hobart.

I guess just imagine the jersey saying "Menlo" instead. LOL. What are the school colors there anyway, Tommy?

 

Ick, John is 12 at this point of the story remember? :wacko:

 

As for Gathan's attitude towards his future father-in-law, let's review from a different perspective:

 

1) July 4 Gathan was put down by high-society Mrs. Finch because she thought he was not good enough.

 

2) July 11 Gathan was shot by someone who thought Brad and Stef was not good enough for Texas.

 

3) July 18 Loser Josh Grover attempts to put down Gathan.

 

4) July 19 Gathan was un-adopted by Wally and Clara (mostly Clara)

 

5) July 23 Brad and Will gets kidnapped in France

 

6) July 25 Kristen almost gets herself killed on a doomed Concord Flight.

 

7) July 28 Gathan gets arrested under trumped up charges of rape.

 

8) Aug 2 --> Dinner with Mr. H and his "Let me explain it to you as if you are a moron" attitude....

 

Of course, this brief time line does not include moving out of Wally and Clara's house, giving up his old truck, putting up with closet case Zach, outing himself towards Kristin, and finding out Kristin is telling everyone they are getting married.

 

And you want to know why Gathan was not more respectful towards Mr. H??? :wacko:

[methodwriter85]

Ick, John is 12 at this point of the story remember? :wacko:

 

Actually, John had his 13th birthday on July 21st. See, my mind is already in 2003, so I think of John as being sixteen. In any event, both he and Will are supposed to look older than they are anyway. It's been repeatedly said that Will looks like a seventeen-year old. The only one who still looks like a little kid is JJ:

 

 

What Mark's been getting right is the way in which the younger-looking guys tend to get ignored while the guys who got hit by puberty and look hot at 13/14 get hit on pretty hard.