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- 08/29/2017
- 1,114 Words
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- 19 Comments
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
So Weeps the Willow - Prologue. Prologue
So Weeps the Willow – Prologue
For those reading this for the first time, this may be a bit odd. For others, I give you the next paragraph.
Are you surprised? Jake’s blog was recounting his journey toward sobriety. He was trying to improve his life, and then suddenly, he died. Out of nowhere, he is gone. Most mysteries start with a person’s life and character recounted in retrospect. I’m doing something quite different for a reason.
A person lives their life, does their thing, and unfortunately, someone takes it all from them. I’ve always been bothered by stories that present this is “in the making.” They suggest a victim could have known had they been more aware. However, that’s simply not true in most situations. A victim is usually the last to know. That’s one reason for the blog, the main reason. Another reason for the blog is also important.
The blog is evidence. This makes it some of the best evidence law enforcement and the legal community can find. We live in a world where lawyers, paralegals, and researchers glean the factual information from the Internet postings of plaintiffs, defendants, witnesses, and jurors. Social media gives us a treasure trove of information about the most intimate parts of our personalities and history.
We expose our lives and others can use the information to ‘know’ us. Let’s face it, we all check people out, ask our friends, and try to understand others. That’s not terribly different. We seek information about others in all kinds of settings, even long before any social media venues existed. But, social media sites also affect the world, and that’s my next rationale for using Jake’s blog to get to know him, and to explore the world as we know it today.
This is a mystery, but not a conventional one. Most conventional mysteries start with a death, and then we learn about the victim through the multiple lenses of their loved ones. In the process, these loved ones recount the deceased using a kind of obituary and commentary, reflecting their life events. Yet, in real life, we see people die out of turn, without advanced notice, and it hurts. They are killed and we don’t see what led up to their demise. Death comes and truly interrupts a life being played out.
Technology is changing that. We are now watching people using social media to express themselves. They are on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Goodreads, and countless sites expressing themselves and talking about their lives. What they say speaks to their everyday events, and sometimes it tells the story of them. The facts are out there. Facts about what is happening are revealed. Yet, we are still struggling to understand how people reveal themselves publicly, and the law pretends it’s still secret… private. And not.
During the course of this story, the reader will find clues and reports, news articles and messages. The blog is one of those pieces of evidence. These are all parts of the case file the detectives, both private and public, have collected during the course of the investigation. Some will be public records. Others are pieces of evidence sought by the competing parties in a lawsuit.
Let’s consider more of what this story is about.
This is a story about families and about how families negotiate their roles. We like to believe families have parts which are organically configured. Moms nurture their children. Dads are protective and provide sustenance to children who need both structure and support. Siblings have interesting and complicated dynamics with one another. These interactions are cohesive because of an idea we call ‘love’, a feeling of affinity which binds these people together. However, not all families know how to deal with the elements. Sometimes, and even more so in recent years, families must figure how to make these affinities work. They need to negotiate the roles that make the group work.
There are two families in this story and they face different issues. One family isn’t really a family, according to ordinary definitions. They are three men who need each other, for different reasons, and they are exploring what each of them should contribute and expect from the others. In spite of their personal issues, they do care for each other. This caring has become the social glue which is otherwise known as a family.
The other family is more conventional. They also face issues, perhaps ones more daunting in the end, but are stressed due to the loss of a loved one. This stress, accompanied by that which exists in the everyday world, becomes prevalent in a few ways. Let’s leave it at that.
I’ve tried to remain true to the form and substance of this evidence. As a paralegal who has seen many such reports, statements, affidavits, and like communications, I’ve only presented the salient parts of these items. Usually police and fire reports contain endless amounts of information, which are not helpful and need to be skimmed over. The same is true of legal depositions and affidavits. Much of the identifying and authenticating information is important, but doesn’t inform the reader of the actual story. I’ve ‘slimmed’ down the file to aid the reader.
Think of this case as a matter subjected to cross-training and Weight Watchers. It’s got all the essential nutrients, yet contains none of the extraneous fat a reader will not need. That’s not all. I want the record to be complete.
I’ve always been a fan of ‘fair’ stories. When I read a work, give me all the necessary elements and let me consider the facts and ideas on my own. I’ve done so here. You will be ‘fairly’ treated and the final conclusions will be a winnowing of the relevant information leading to a conclusion.
That being said, let’s finish my little explanation.
I hope you enjoy this story. I mean it to entertain you. When we tell stories, they must make your skin redden, and your lips curl. I hope to make you ponder, scream, cry, and yowl. However, that’s not all.
There are issues which are even more important to explore. What is family? What are their roles? Are there tendencies which drive our behavior? Why do people expect others to act in a certain way? How does our system of justice behave? In what ways do civil suits and criminal suits bring justice to victims? Who are the victims? Can we say these questions are easily answered, or are there tangled webs within tangled webs?
I hope this tale causes people to wonder and question. Good stories do that. I hope this is one of those.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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