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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff

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Speaker 1: I've never told you Protection by Hurt Radio.

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Speaker 2: And welcome to part two of our book club. I

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Speaker 2: guess it's a good thing we did do it, like

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Speaker 2: we skipped the month, having two episodes dedicated to this

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Speaker 2: one book. Worth it, by the way, worth it? And

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Speaker 2: what are we talking about if you have missed this

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Speaker 2: previous recording. We're talking about our feminist book club pick,

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Speaker 2: which is called Ghosts Summer. Bye. Tanana Reeved. Ghost Summer

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Speaker 2: is her first collection of short stories that she published

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Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen, and it is a beauty. It has

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Speaker 2: won many awards, deservedly. So a couple of these tales

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Speaker 2: have turned into productions. Yeah, we need to go check

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Speaker 2: that out. I think actually it should be all our

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Speaker 2: horror lists. Why not come on? But yeah, so we

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Speaker 2: have made it. I don't know if it's halfway through

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Speaker 2: on the act in the actual book, but in our

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Speaker 2: halfway through point. And we are back with part two,

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Speaker 2: and just again with the content warning. We are talking

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Speaker 2: about some dark stuff. It is some dark historical horror

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Speaker 2: with enslavement, death, murder, disease, apocalypse. I'm trying to think

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Speaker 2: anything else that I should add to that list. Dystopian hopelessness, existentialism,

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Speaker 2: no brief mentions of sexual assault, but we're not going

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Speaker 2: to talk about it.

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Speaker 1: But if you get the book, you'll yes.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, So we are back and we're picking back

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Speaker 2: up in the middle of it with Aftermoon. And interestingly,

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Speaker 2: so we ended last one with the cloning one called

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Speaker 2: Like Daughter, and this one also felt like it was

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Speaker 2: completely separate because a lot of this is interlinked, a

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Speaker 2: lot of her stories are interlinked, but these two were

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Speaker 2: like kind of on its own. Because it did I

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Speaker 2: was say, oh, wait, what are we talking about? Because

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Speaker 2: it took me a minute to adjust to what we

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Speaker 2: were listening to. And this story After Moon is one

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Speaker 2: of those stories. So in this story, we meet Kenya

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Speaker 2: who discovers a dermatologist who advertises to be an expert

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Speaker 2: in licanthropy. So were wolves And it took me a

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Speaker 2: minute to figure that out. I'm not gonna lie. I

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Speaker 2: was like, wait, are we talking about? Where wolves? Here?

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Speaker 1: We are? We are?

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Speaker 2: We are? Essentially, she's talking about her experience after the moon,

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Speaker 2: the full moon that's called After Moon, where she kind

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Speaker 2: of has a relief to being her normal, normal form

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Speaker 2: even though she still needs her bloody raw steak and

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Speaker 2: was craving one for the night. But she did see

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Speaker 2: this side was a little bit angry. I was like,

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Speaker 2: this is not funny, and I'm gonna go tell him so.

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Speaker 2: So she walks into this office, but because again she

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Speaker 2: was offended. But all of a sudden, as she walks in,

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Speaker 2: she becomes somewhat hypnotized by the music and the atmosphere.

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Speaker 2: She talks about the sense and how she didn't know

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Speaker 2: what to do, and it all calmed her and she

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Speaker 2: really liked it and she was drawn to it there.

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Speaker 2: Soon after, she was greeted by doctor Jack, who throws

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Speaker 2: her a thing of rowney here and she gobbles it up.

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Speaker 1: It is very excited.

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Speaker 2: He immediately knew what and who she was. It turns

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Speaker 2: out he was not joking when he put that on

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Speaker 2: the sign. He understood her conditions so much so that

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Speaker 2: she did come back. She realized he may be actually helpful.

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Speaker 2: At first, she was just like, Eh, I don't know

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Speaker 2: if you can do anything for me. Are you one

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Speaker 2: of those people who are trying to find your people? Like?

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Speaker 2: Are you trying to wife me? Because I don't want

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Speaker 2: to be with you? Or are you actually trying to help?

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Speaker 2: He talks about how he does groups. They do outings

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Speaker 2: together where they go and do their thing as crew,

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Speaker 2: their wolf thing. He talks about people coming to see

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Speaker 2: him to treat different symptoms, as he says, including hairiness.

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Speaker 2: Talks about a person who comes from DC to see him,

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Speaker 2: travels on the train to come and see him, and

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Speaker 2: that really fascinates her because she's like, who is this

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Speaker 2: person that would travel calmly to come here and get treatment.

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Speaker 2: So she kind of has this both hope and kind

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Speaker 2: of doubt about what he can do, especially with her

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Speaker 2: grandfather who has taught her to really fully embrace the

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Speaker 2: wolf in her, like that is a shame to buy

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Speaker 2: me instead of hunting for it, that to be hairy

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Speaker 2: is to be glorious type of conversation, and she hates this,

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Speaker 2: especially because her parents are not like this, and they've

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Speaker 2: done so much try to hide that to the point

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Speaker 2: I don't think the father even knows. Her father even knows.

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Speaker 1: About this condestion.

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Speaker 2: She just kind of her mother hit her away by

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Speaker 2: sending her to the grandfather's house because she was too

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Speaker 2: ashamed of this condition, which came out at her childhood

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Speaker 2: in her childhood actually after a dog bit her, yes, which,

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Speaker 2: by the way, the doctor was like, that's not a thing,

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Speaker 2: that's a She's like, well that happened to me, and

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Speaker 2: it's like, eh, someone's lying here, but okay, I'll take

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Speaker 2: your ward for it. Like it's somewhat condescending, yeah, but

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Speaker 2: at the same time also very like empathetic, also trying

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Speaker 2: to make some money, so all those things are happening here.

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Speaker 2: But she does return and she talks about what she wanted,

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Speaker 2: which is to help with her hairiness. So she has

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Speaker 2: spots off her chest, to the point that she got

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Speaker 2: humiliated as a young girl when making out with a

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Speaker 2: boy and found her patch of hairy chest and she

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Speaker 2: was so upset she didn't ever want to think about

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Speaker 2: it again. She's currently engaged to a person who doesn't

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Speaker 2: have that condition, so doesn't understand what that is. And

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Speaker 2: when the doctor asks what she does when she does

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Speaker 2: see him, she shaves or he's never seen her or

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Speaker 2: like that. So yeah, two of those options. And he's boring,

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Speaker 2: but she's okay with boring because he at least likes

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Speaker 2: her kind of conversation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, she made him sound like he's very sweet, very

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Speaker 1: very nice. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So while they were talking about the conditions and her

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Speaker 2: grandfather and all these things and the family members, she

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Speaker 2: talks about why she wants to lead a normal life,

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Speaker 2: including trying to you know, stay away from the phases,

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Speaker 2: and why she needs to scream. He offers the scream

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Speaker 2: that she has to put on this time is the day,

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Speaker 2: and how it will get rid of it. It is

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Speaker 2: very expensive, but it works. He also is trying to

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Speaker 2: get her to come to these retreats and meet some

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Speaker 2: of the others and very surprised when she says she doesn't.

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Speaker 2: She's not interested, and he pretty much.

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Speaker 1: Says good luck, good luck with your your life.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, normal life, Good luck with that. And that's how

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Speaker 2: we end. Like it was such an interesting like you

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Speaker 2: have a monster what we would understand as a monster,

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Speaker 2: just being like, eh, trying to be normal.

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Speaker 1: Like talking about getting hair waxed.

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Speaker 2: He's like, oh my god, stop doing that. That's going

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Speaker 2: to be painful and it's not going to help you.

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Speaker 2: You're going to have a condition. Well the doctor was

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Speaker 2: quite funny to be yeah, and I was like I

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Speaker 2: thought maybe he was a predator at first, Well like,

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Speaker 2: oh no, he's not. Okay, Yeah, he's just I was.

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Speaker 1: I was giving him the side I at first, but

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Speaker 1: I was like, okay, she was.

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Speaker 2: Going to go to the side eye, So what was

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Speaker 2: with her? I was like, all right, what was this?

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Speaker 2: So essentially this is about trying to live through her

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Speaker 2: heartshes but hoping to ignore the problem, as well as

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Speaker 2: the fact that it's just a part of who she

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Speaker 2: is and her not want to accept that because no

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Speaker 2: one around her would.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and if you haven't listened to part one, So

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Speaker 1: at the end of these short stories, do you gives

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Speaker 1: her like what prompt caused her to write this? Where

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Speaker 1: it was included I usually had another publication or something

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Speaker 1: and she talked about this one. I thought this was

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Speaker 1: really interesting because you can apply it in a lot

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Speaker 1: of ways in terms of, you know, just being a

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Speaker 1: woman and being told you to get rid of hair,

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Speaker 1: unwanted hair, right, heating certain things or stuff like that,

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Speaker 1: and the fact that it ends there where it's that

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Speaker 1: you don't know if she's gonna have this happy, normal

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Speaker 1: life or if she might kind of embrace what her

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Speaker 1: grandfather kept telling her, right and go meet up with

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Speaker 1: that guy from DC. She was so interested in.

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Speaker 2: That DC moment. I was like she really I want

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Speaker 2: them to meet too, because she has this envisioning of

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Speaker 2: him living this normal life, being honest, and that's that conversation,

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Speaker 2: like what is this normal life? Commuting on a train

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Speaker 2: to come see a doctor, a specialist, that's normal, But

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Speaker 2: the trying to gather and go have retreats, that's not

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Speaker 2: normal for her.

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Speaker 1: Right, And she was just really interested because she hadn't

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Speaker 1: really had a connection outside of her grandfather with anybody else. Right,

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Speaker 1: So you know, you got this group, and you've got

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Speaker 1: somebody who's willing to travel because it was taking place

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Speaker 1: in New York, so willing to travel from DC to

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Speaker 1: New York to find this doctor and to find this group.

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Speaker 1: It was really it was an interesting story. It kind

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Speaker 1: of reminded me of that game we played that we

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Speaker 1: talked about coffee talk.

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Speaker 2: You know, just come in and just like chilling.

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Speaker 1: So wearabole. Oh yeah that's cool. That's a vampire. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I just want coffee. It's okay as.

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Speaker 2: An alien the whole time? Okay, alert, But it was

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Speaker 2: I think, and it was not your typical horror. It

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Speaker 2: was just like a huh with horror characters.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that one was much more of kind of a.

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Speaker 1: I think the only heart to me that was like

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Speaker 1: a horror was like, oh god, this doctor, I don't

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Speaker 1: know what's up, so it's like anticipatory horror.

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Speaker 2: It was.

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Speaker 1: It was actually very kind of cute, interesting.

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Speaker 2: Story actually, like cute for like just the normal conversation

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Speaker 2: but for monsters. And they're not monsters. Yeah, if were

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Speaker 2: wolves exist, and I'm going to offend them, but yeah,

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Speaker 2: yeah a monster unless you kill people, don't don't kill people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and just like how he throws like raw

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Speaker 1: meat at her and.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was a nice little interest like oh okay, okay, okay.

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Speaker 2: But with that we come back to more of her

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Speaker 2: themes that we have seen throughout in this one called

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Speaker 2: Trial Day, and that we have Letitia, who is a

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Speaker 2: young girl living with her father and stepmother, but she

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Speaker 2: also talks about her half brother, Wallace, who lives a

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Speaker 2: day's drive away, is what it says, and she called

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Speaker 2: him brother because of his love and kindness towards her,

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Speaker 2: like brother so and so, but like just brother. Her stepmother, however,

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Speaker 2: did not like her, did like Wallace the same she

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Speaker 2: did like brothers. She like he can make her laugh.

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Speaker 2: But you know, we don't know too much. But she

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Speaker 2: also stepmother doesn't seem to like the father, like the

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Speaker 2: person she's married to either. She just kind of looked

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Speaker 2: at all of them with disdain essentially. And one of

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Speaker 2: the things that I forgot to add in while I

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Speaker 2: was writing this is that Letitia can see truth essentially,

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Speaker 2: she can see fear, she can see how you're feeling. Like,

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Speaker 2: so she knew her stepmother hated her, even if her

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Speaker 2: stepmother never said it, she can see it. Kind of

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Speaker 2: a gift she has. But for Letitia, she missed her brother,

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Speaker 2: who was always loving and kind to her, and he

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Speaker 2: was gone for a while, to the point she started

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Speaker 2: wondering why he wasn't coming back. She soon learned that

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Speaker 2: he was in jail, like reports were showing that he

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Speaker 2: had gone to jail, but she learned more detail through

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Speaker 2: a letter that the NAACP sent to her father, and

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Speaker 2: she finds out that brother was arrested for armed robbery

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Speaker 2: of a white man's shop who hates him. Apparently they

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Speaker 2: had a whole thing previously. Of course, there is racism,

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Speaker 2: as the testimonies were different, so different people said different

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Speaker 2: things about whether or not he had a gun. The

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Speaker 2: NAACP requested that his father, her father come to the

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Speaker 2: trial to help his son's case as an upstanding businessman,

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Speaker 2: or that maybe brother maybe executed as several other young

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Speaker 2: black men had been recently under false preceenses like saying

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Speaker 2: that they did these things and we know this falsely

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Speaker 2: accused of crimes in order to put a death sentence

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Speaker 2: or them in jail longer, or sometimes just to lynch them.

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Speaker 2: When Letitia asked her father at dinner if he was going,

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Speaker 2: he said he wasn't and try to make her be quiet.

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Speaker 2: Like everything got very upsetting because she wasn't supposed to know. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: she went and read a letter she wasn't supposed to,

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Speaker 2: so everything kind of got into up people stepmother. She

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Speaker 2: becomes very upset, reminding him he promised he wouldn't, making

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Speaker 2: Letitia get more upset about it, and him swearing he wouldn't.

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Speaker 2: He wouldn't, he wouldn't. So this goes back and forth,

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Speaker 2: and Letitia is upset and they he forces her into

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Speaker 2: her room because he's trying to get her to be quiet. Later,

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Speaker 2: Letitia goes to see her own mother, who I think

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Speaker 2: they essentially call her a voodoo woman in the actual story,

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Speaker 2: and she has no teeth, but it's still beautiful and

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Speaker 2: does a lot of spells. But so she Letitia goes

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Speaker 2: to see her mother at this time, who her mother

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Speaker 2: says that the stepmother had a strong hold on the

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Speaker 2: father and that her powers and magic was more powerful

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Speaker 2: than her own, and that Letitia was the only one

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Speaker 2: who could break that hold and she had to do

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Speaker 2: it by sacrificing her cat named Midnight at Midnight yep.

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Speaker 1: The mother was like that you knew when you named her. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And by the way, it's at this point just side

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Speaker 2: note that I'm like, do I fast forward past this

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Speaker 2: because oh my god? What. So she's saying that she

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Speaker 2: has to take something she loves and sacrifice it and

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Speaker 2: bleed it in order to free this curse, like no

255
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Speaker 2: chickens will do it. All these things, and Latitia loves

256
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Speaker 2: her cat. She loves her cat. Latitia was sad about

257
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Speaker 2: it and went back and forth about why she should

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Speaker 2: or if she shouldn't, and she finally like had to say,

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Speaker 2: I have to do this for my brother. I have

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Speaker 2: to save my brother. And while she was trying, she

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Speaker 2: does get a poke in there, but her father actually

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Speaker 2: stops her. There is blood, but the cat is okay. Yes,

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Speaker 2: the cat is okay, and the father stops angry and

264
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Speaker 2: like gets upset and takes her back to the room.

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Speaker 2: And but it is that same night he packs his

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Speaker 2: bags and hes to the trial against step mothers begging

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Speaker 2: and pleading and forcing him trying to stay, and she

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Speaker 2: finally and he finally goes, and Letitia is able to

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Speaker 2: break that hold, and that's how the story ends.

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Speaker 1: Yep, it's a lot. It was a lot. That also

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Speaker 1: was another one that went places I wasn't expecting. But okay,

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Speaker 1: du said about this one quote, I wanted to fix

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Speaker 1: a broken piece of my family history. My grandmother, the

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Speaker 1: late Lottie Powell Sears Houston, clearly remembered her half brother

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Speaker 1: being on trial for his life and her father was

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Speaker 1: too intimidated to testify on his behalf, which she considered

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Speaker 1: cowardly for the rest of her life, though I can

278
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Speaker 1: only imagine that institutional racism standing in his way. Her

279
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Speaker 1: brother died on death row. Did brother die in this story?

280
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Speaker 1: Maybe maybe not, but at least Letitia gave her father's

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Speaker 1: strength enough to try right.

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Speaker 2: For When I read that that, my heart like even now,

283
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Speaker 2: my heart just like feels like it's being squeezed because

284
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Speaker 2: she understanding like generational trauma and like wanting to fix

285
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Speaker 2: that and what could you do if you fix that?

286
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Speaker 2: There's so much in that conversation because exactly as she's saying,

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Speaker 2: institutional racism, because the father goes back and forth and

288
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Speaker 2: talking about how his testimony won't do anything because in

289
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Speaker 2: the end it will just ruin his reputation and not

290
00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:38,880
Speaker 2: help his son's reputation. So this back and forth about

291
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Speaker 2: like they will use it against him to take his

292
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Speaker 2: stuff away or accuse him of being on the same

293
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Speaker 2: level as an armed robber, and that is that is

294
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Speaker 2: that conversation of like what really happens? Does this help

295
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Speaker 2: or does this hurt? And who does it help? And

296
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Speaker 2: who does it hurt? And him talking about the NAACP

297
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Speaker 2: being corrupt and just trying to make money and that

298
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Speaker 2: if they can't help, then how can he help? Like

299
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Speaker 2: that there was this hole back and forth which is

300
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Speaker 2: too real, Like there's so many in this conversation, especially

301
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Speaker 2: those who are like marginalized and intersectionally marginalized, like what

302
00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:15,280
Speaker 2: is the helpful part and what is putting me at

303
00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:20,160
Speaker 2: harm's risk? And that level of understanding, how do I

304
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Speaker 2: keep my family safe. What if this causes more harm

305
00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,920
Speaker 2: for my family. There's so many things, and not that

306
00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:28,720
Speaker 2: he's not family, but like in this level of family,

307
00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,800
Speaker 2: and like there's so much in that depth. And Letitia

308
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Speaker 2: talking about sacrificing her something that she loves for her

309
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Speaker 2: brother and like how she can do this and doesn't

310
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Speaker 2: really help, but what if it doesn't help, And then

311
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Speaker 2: her praying that this is like about the story of

312
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Speaker 2: Abraham and Isaac, about like him being told he has

313
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Speaker 2: to sacrifice his son, but to him being stopped and

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Speaker 2: they just need to see the willingness and hoping for

315
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Speaker 2: that as well, in which it did turn out that way. Yeah,

316
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Speaker 2: So there's that it was such a depth of story

317
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Speaker 2: and the fact that it was based on something that

318
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Speaker 2: did occur. Because even today we know people, especially people

319
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Speaker 2: of colored men, of black men, women of color, black

320
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Speaker 2: women are unjustly punished. So they may have done something, sure,

321
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Speaker 2: but the amount of sentencing and the persecution level is

322
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Speaker 2: so disjointed and unjust, and it's happening today. We've seen it.

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Speaker 2: We've seen so many things and how society really does

324
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Speaker 2: look down on people of different economic places. So it's

325
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Speaker 2: just it's heartbreaking. So this one got me. I was like,

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Speaker 2: oh god, oh Latitia, don't kill the cat. No, I know, y'all,

327
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Speaker 2: it was too much. I was like, no, why do.

328
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Speaker 2: By the way, apparently do really loves cats. She does

329
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Speaker 2: say that she has her own cats, themes of cats throughout.

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Speaker 1: Also the cat Midnight, and the story was like, no fakes,

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Speaker 1: it's like come back.

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Speaker 2: At first she was like no, he said, yeah, go ahead,

333
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Speaker 2: I understand, and then was like hell no, was like,

334
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Speaker 2: don't touch me. Ever again, what did you do rightly?

335
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Speaker 1: So that's fair enough.

336
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Speaker 2: So there's that one, and we're coming back to another one.

337
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Speaker 2: Maybe it was just the placement of the back to

338
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Speaker 2: back of these stories, because this one's another one that

339
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,359
Speaker 2: was like ripping at my heart, like I had to.

340
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Speaker 2: I think I was listening to it in the car

341
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Speaker 2: and I had to sit in the car after apart

342
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Speaker 2: for a good minute because I was like what yeah.

343
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Speaker 1: And just a note about this one before we get

344
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Speaker 1: into it. It's written as like journal entries from a

345
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Speaker 1: little boy, which I have a story like that. Oh okay,

346
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Speaker 1: maybe we.

347
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Speaker 2: Shall No, it's a very short story.

348
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Speaker 1: Short stories. These are short story it is.

349
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Speaker 2: I don't know if I have a collection, okay, but

350
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Speaker 2: here we go. So Patient zero is the title of

351
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,600
Speaker 2: this one is we meet a young boy Jay, who

352
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,720
Speaker 2: is in isolation. He was considered patient zero though, as

353
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,119
Speaker 2: he says, his father is the one that passed the

354
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,040
Speaker 2: virus to him and his entire family. But he got

355
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,080
Speaker 2: that from a job he was on while traveling on

356
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,800
Speaker 2: I believe a ship. But Jay was alive and he

357
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,679
Speaker 2: seemed okay. His whole family was not okay. All of

358
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,159
Speaker 2: them died one by one by one. He had his doctor,

359
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,800
Speaker 2: doctor Ben, his favorite nurse Veronica, and his tutor, Missus Mannigot,

360
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,520
Speaker 2: who often came to see him. Yes, the story is

361
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,160
Speaker 2: in journal form. Jay was given in order to pass

362
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Speaker 2: his days and keep a record. We learned that the

363
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,919
Speaker 2: staff actually stopped him from watching TV as he had

364
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,679
Speaker 2: seen something disturbing and upsetting reports about him. Yeah, so

365
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:58,479
Speaker 2: they took all that away and gave him like tapes,

366
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,040
Speaker 2: and then slowly they just started taking all the away.

367
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,920
Speaker 2: He received an autograph picture of Dan Marino and even

368
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,080
Speaker 2: received a call from the President saying that they were

369
00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:09,960
Speaker 2: rooting for him. He later thinks that Dan Marino's autograph

370
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,440
Speaker 2: looks similar to doctor Ben. But you know. He tries

371
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,320
Speaker 2: not to think about it that too hard. His family,

372
00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,680
Speaker 2: like we said, have all died due to this disease,

373
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Speaker 2: even his aunt who had come to help before knowing

374
00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,040
Speaker 2: what was making them sick, and he talks about how

375
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Speaker 2: he wished she never came.

376
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:26,920
Speaker 1: Yeah.

377
00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:32,879
Speaker 2: Soon after the incident of Veronica accidentally pokes herself with

378
00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,159
Speaker 2: a needle, causing a tear in her suit, and we

379
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,480
Speaker 2: find out that she has died from the same illness,

380
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,760
Speaker 2: and we slowly see people disappearing from his life. The

381
00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:48,000
Speaker 2: last person he interacts with is miss Mannegatt, who gives

382
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:50,480
Speaker 2: him the code to the doors, because all the codes

383
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,760
Speaker 2: and all the things in the hospital are secured with

384
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 2: codes to leave if he's alone and is getting hungry,

385
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,400
Speaker 2: so she sees. She brings him a cold oatmeal. That's

386
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,000
Speaker 2: the last thing he gets if he tells him this code.

387
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,800
Speaker 2: Throughout this time, the powers flickering off and on in

388
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:08,600
Speaker 2: the building. He can't figure out what's going on. People

389
00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,280
Speaker 2: have slowly disappeared, people are kind of being mean to him,

390
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,160
Speaker 2: like all these different things, and that day comes where

391
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 2: he is all alone and hungry. At one point, the

392
00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:19,840
Speaker 2: power is out and he doesn't know what to do

393
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,040
Speaker 2: because he can't get out because all these secure doors

394
00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,160
Speaker 2: are operated through the electricity. Finally, the power does come

395
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,520
Speaker 2: out and he leaves the hospital. He goes downstairs with

396
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,119
Speaker 2: the kitchen first, because he knows he can. He doesn't

397
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 2: want to get anybody sick, and by the way, that's

398
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,920
Speaker 2: a big thing. He doesn't want to get anybody sick,

399
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,639
Speaker 2: and he knows that he is getting people sick, so

400
00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,720
Speaker 2: he's trying to stay behind. But he goes to the

401
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,399
Speaker 2: kitchen and there's no food left, and so he moves

402
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,919
Speaker 2: on and leaves a note in his journal that says,

403
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 2: I am going to get food, but I promise I

404
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:55,760
Speaker 2: will come right back and stay in isolation. Please just

405
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,240
Speaker 2: I'll be back. I'm so sorry. But he comes out

406
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,680
Speaker 2: into the parking lot and sees that it is desolate.

407
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 2: There's nobody around and everybody is gone, and he goes

408
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:13,560
Speaker 2: out to go find food. Yep, y'all, I'm upset about

409
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,159
Speaker 2: it right now. I'm thinking about this, essentially, she writes.

410
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,280
Speaker 2: Do writes that this was about isolation and loneliness and innocence,

411
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:24,120
Speaker 2: and it is. He is upbeat throughout. He talks about

412
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,080
Speaker 2: how he doesn't write when he's sad, and so he

413
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,800
Speaker 2: comes back and like and each date is each day

414
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,919
Speaker 2: is dated or what day was, and with these and

415
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,879
Speaker 2: the slow and how like miss Manna got even to

416
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 2: the end, was fighting for him because she volunteered to

417
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:40,720
Speaker 2: come and see him to begin with, to tutor him.

418
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 2: And then she fought against the doctor. After doctor Ben

419
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,199
Speaker 2: dies or disappears, another doctor comes and she has to

420
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 2: fight with him to come and see him. Comes. Yeah, yeah,

421
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,240
Speaker 2: and she tells him the truth. She's the one person

422
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,160
Speaker 2: no matter what, even if it's not great. If it's

423
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 2: not great, then she doesn't want to share. She says,

424
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,520
Speaker 2: we're not talking about this right now, or you don't

425
00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,400
Speaker 2: need to know this right now, but she doesn't lie

426
00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:05,760
Speaker 2: to him.

427
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:12,920
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. And they were taking like a lot of

428
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 1: blood from him and trying to study him. So I

429
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,359
Speaker 1: could see that throughout. But it was really heartbreaking because

430
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 1: he was so upbeat and he did like hearing him

431
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: write as a child and knowing like you see, you

432
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 1: see these adults come in, but you can't entirely get

433
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 1: the full picture of what's going on, but you know

434
00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:39,199
Speaker 1: it's bad, it is not good, right, And so that

435
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:44,159
Speaker 1: juxtaposition of having kind of this innocence and this hopefulness

436
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:50,400
Speaker 1: and these connections to Veroniga who died and then mismana

437
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 1: god and then kind of finding out at the end. Yeah,

438
00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 1: it's just as bad as I ought it the rest.

439
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:06,440
Speaker 2: So this actually starts the apocalypse portion of the book.

440
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,400
Speaker 2: So the next four more stories will be about essentially

441
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:16,600
Speaker 2: the end apocalypse. So it is that theme throughout. So

442
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:17,199
Speaker 2: buckle in.

443
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like, ooh, zombies, which alert they are

444
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:25,879
Speaker 1: going to be zombies later.

445
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 2: Actually right now, I think, so, yeah, let's jump into

446
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:35,639
Speaker 2: this into the next one called danger Word. We have

447
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,159
Speaker 2: Kendrick who is currently staying with Grandpa, So this is

448
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:43,000
Speaker 2: where we're at during the time of infection, maybe the apocalypse.

449
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 2: Kendrick had escaped his home and was now living with

450
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 2: his grandpa, who had rescued him. Things had been bleak

451
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,399
Speaker 2: and scary, but he was learning to survive with his

452
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:56,199
Speaker 2: rough and tough grandfather. So this grandfather's kind of like a.

453
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: End of time survive survival is a prepper.

454
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 2: A prepper not intense, but like he was ready, like

455
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 2: at this point he had the things ready to go.

456
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 2: The day that they we read the story, they decided

457
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,879
Speaker 2: to head to a gas station to get supplies and

458
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,760
Speaker 2: maybe even a coke for Kendrick, who had requested it,

459
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 2: which was the first time he's spoken to his grandfather

460
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:22,200
Speaker 2: since arriving at his Grandpa Joe's and his Grandpa Joe

461
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 2: Uh he had hidden previously, right before he was rescued.

462
00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,119
Speaker 2: He had hidden in the safe room and was waiting

463
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,119
Speaker 2: for his grandpa to come out. And they had a

464
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 2: danger word, and this danger word was the only way

465
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:37,199
Speaker 2: he would come out. And his mom was like, do

466
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 2: not let anybody in unless it's your grandpa saying the

467
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,800
Speaker 2: danger word. And not even his mom or dad knew

468
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 2: this word. It was just between Kendrick and Grandpa Joe.

469
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,360
Speaker 2: So they're back. And as they were making their way

470
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,640
Speaker 2: to the store, Grandpa Joe was hyper vigilant of the surroundings,

471
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 2: like wouldn't let it, wouldn't slow down for anybody, kept moving,

472
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,919
Speaker 2: reminding Kendrick how to use the gun he had given

473
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 2: and how to be careful. So like every step of

474
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 2: the way is teaching Kendrick to survive and what to

475
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,679
Speaker 2: look out for and how to survive. Arriving at the

476
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,040
Speaker 2: gas station, they see the owner, Mike. So in between

477
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:16,440
Speaker 2: all this, I will say Kendrick was given an option

478
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 2: to stay with a neighbor who is called the dog Lady,

479
00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,360
Speaker 2: or to come with her grandpa. And because he actually

480
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 2: said words, Grandpa was so excited and had to fulfill

481
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,119
Speaker 2: his wish, which was to get a coke. So he

482
00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 2: was like, come on, and this was kind of that

483
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,119
Speaker 2: driving force of why they were going to the grocery store. Yes,

484
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,719
Speaker 2: they needed supplies, but now the grand Grandpa Joe had

485
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,159
Speaker 2: even more motivation. He had to get him this drink.

486
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,880
Speaker 2: So arriving at the gas station, they see the owner, Mike,

487
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 2: who has been enough friend of Grandpa Joe's for a

488
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 2: long while, who seems a bit weird, but he's coherent.

489
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 2: And from what Grandpa Joe understood, if you're a zombie,

490
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:53,880
Speaker 2: you can't speak words, you can't communicate. So but he's,

491
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 2: you know, so coherent, all right, cool cool. Mike tells

492
00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 2: them he has hot dogs come in. During this time,

493
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,200
Speaker 2: Grandpa Joe's kind of looking around, still suspicious because Mike

494
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,640
Speaker 2: has sons, and where are they usually there with him

495
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 2: helping him, and he doesn't see them, and he asks,

496
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,960
Speaker 2: where's your sons? Mike doesn't answer, He just says, come

497
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,399
Speaker 2: and get get hot dogs, and he's like, no, but

498
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:17,680
Speaker 2: where's his son. He's like, eh, they're around, come get

499
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,639
Speaker 2: hot dogs, very jovially. I guess. As they walk in,

500
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,280
Speaker 2: they see the TV is on with Archie Bunker shows taped,

501
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 2: and then Mike is having a good old time watching

502
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 2: this show. They look for supplies, but soon again Mike

503
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 2: is carrying on laughing about hot dogs. Again, something is

504
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:40,680
Speaker 2: still odd, but it's too late. At this point, Mike

505
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 2: attacks Grandpa Joe, biting him and during this time they

506
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 2: have a whole like scuffle and Kendrick shoots Mike and

507
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 2: he's able to stop him. However, Grandpa Joe has been

508
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 2: bitten during this time. Grandpa John knows it's too late,

509
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 2: but they needed to get out for Kendrick's sake because

510
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 2: his Mike's son's around here somewhere. So they rushed quickly

511
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,240
Speaker 2: to get into the car and start driving slowly. Grandball

512
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 2: Joe knows he's turning, and when he asked Kendrick what

513
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 2: happened to his parents, he said they got sleepy. They

514
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 2: got sleepy, and they didn't know what was going on.

515
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 2: They didn't know what was going on, but they just

516
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,160
Speaker 2: kept saying they were tired, and he was like, okay,

517
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,360
Speaker 2: he felt that he felt the numbness of his leg

518
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,400
Speaker 2: who's bitten, and he was getting sleepy as well. In

519
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 2: his mind, he's cursing himself and trying to think about

520
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 2: the fact that that Mike spoke to him. And then

521
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,119
Speaker 2: he realized when he had arrived at Kendrick's home to

522
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,199
Speaker 2: get him, he thought he had imagined his daughter saying daddy,

523
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 2: which is something he hadn't heard until she called him

524
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 2: to come get Kendrick, and realizing that he did say that,

525
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 2: so she was talking to him when he shot her

526
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 2: and Kendrick's dad. So during this time, he's realizing, Okay,

527
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 2: they are essentially evolving, is what he is figuring out,

528
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 2: Like they are aware and all these things. He tells

529
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 2: Kendrick that they can't drive for long. When they stop,

530
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 2: he needs to run, go towards rescue centers, which is

531
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 2: what they heard on the radio when they were driving,

532
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,600
Speaker 2: and to keep going and no matter what if he

533
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 2: heard something approaching, yell and shoot, and that's essentially what

534
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,160
Speaker 2: he says. So Kendrick is trying to do all these things,

535
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 2: saying grandpa or grandpa know, But then he gets it together,

536
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:24,479
Speaker 2: gets his coat, gets his gun, and runs as Grandpa

537
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 2: tells him to go. Grandpa is trying to turn the

538
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 2: gun on himself, but he's slowly turning too much, and

539
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 2: in his mind we can see and we can read

540
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:34,280
Speaker 2: what's set of going through his mind, which is like

541
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 2: he wants to be alive, this new zombie speaking in

542
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 2: his mind essentially and talking about how he needs to

543
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 2: go get Kendrick. He needs to go get Kendrick. And

544
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 2: we see Kendrick hiding in the forest because he's too

545
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 2: tired to run and it's getting dark. So Kendrick sits

546
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 2: with his gun. He hears something approaching, and he hears

547
00:29:55,120 --> 00:30:00,120
Speaker 2: his grandpa saying the danger word. Breakfast yep.

548
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 1: End yep.

549
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 2: This was the story thatdu wrote with her husband, Stephen Barnes.

550
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 2: She writes after years of collaborating on film and TV

551
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 2: pitches and projects, Danger Word was my first prose collaboration

552
00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,560
Speaker 2: with my husband's science fiction writer, Stephen Barnes, and it's

553
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 2: kind of the beginning of a few of their projects together.

554
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 2: Messing with me with these kids.

555
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she's so great at the open ending.

556
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, everything is that like you don't quite know.

557
00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,880
Speaker 1: It leaves your imagination is where the worst things are

558
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 1: going to happen. And she knows that.

559
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 2: I can't remember did this one happen? Did this one's

560
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:54,440
Speaker 2: stray zombies? The other ones that were about to hit

561
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 2: has like a disease that just wipes people out, but

562
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:01,200
Speaker 2: this one had. This was the only one that I

563
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 2: think I read with zombies.

564
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 1: Yes, I believe so, But I loved it. And it's

565
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 1: funny because at the end, her husband has kind of

566
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: an afterward and he talks about difficulty of like being

567
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 1: with someone and writing with them and working with them

568
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 1: and how they worked it out through this, and so

569
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,480
Speaker 1: it's interesting to read it knowing kind of right that

570
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,560
Speaker 1: this was their first time doing it, but I mean,

571
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: it was so creepy. And then when Kendrick finds out

572
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 1: the truth about about how his grandpa shot his parents

573
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,840
Speaker 1: because he didn't know that at first, right, No, that

574
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 1: was a really emot.

575
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 2: Yeah conversation that they were still there. Yeah, but they

576
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 2: might be still there, Like it was an odd like

577
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 2: it was weird as Grandpa was like Grandpa Jay was

578
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 2: so serious and like down to earth. You need to

579
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:57,959
Speaker 2: grow up, you need to do these things, you need

580
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,040
Speaker 2: to do these things. But he still was trying to

581
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 2: protect him as a child, like giving him, like promising

582
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:05,560
Speaker 2: him a coke, which he shouldn't have tried, Like he

583
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,600
Speaker 2: should have immediately realized something was wrong, but like all

584
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 2: these things because he needed to fulfill something that would

585
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 2: make Kendrick happy. There are so many things so that,

586
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 2: and had Kendrick stayed with the dog woman, maybe he

587
00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 2: would have maybe he would have figured out quicker, but

588
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 2: like he was so like focused on both the child

589
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,280
Speaker 2: and this, or maybe he wouldn't have and he would

590
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 2: have just died there and Kendrick wouldn't have never known

591
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,000
Speaker 2: what happened, but he would have been safe.

592
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:53,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, we're jumping into the second apocalyptic one or

593
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,920
Speaker 1: the third one, I guess really, and it's removal, order.

594
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,320
Speaker 2: This this and got my gut to gome. Do we

595
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 2: need words? You're making me angry now that I'm thinking

596
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,640
Speaker 2: about it. As good as these stories are. So we

597
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,320
Speaker 2: have the seventy two. Our flu has brought havoc among

598
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 2: the population, and we meet Naima Nama, who is currently

599
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,600
Speaker 2: taking care of her cancer ridden grandmother, who essentially is

600
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 2: just living on pay meds. She decides to move her

601
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 2: and her grandmother to her neighbor's house, who has already

602
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:28,840
Speaker 2: fled to go to the high desert away from the

603
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 2: fires close by, which was caused by people in order

604
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:37,040
Speaker 2: to eradicate the seventy too our flu. Her grandmother's home

605
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 2: is covered in fleas due to all the animals in

606
00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 2: the house, including two of her grandma's beloved cat and

607
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 2: Tango being the one that she loved the most. But

608
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,080
Speaker 2: they she like let them out because she was like,

609
00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 2: we can't feed you and you don't want to be

610
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 2: in here anyway, but the house is covered in fleas,

611
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 2: and because there's no way to get him out, name

612
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:59,240
Speaker 2: is like, we're gonna move. So after a painful move

613
00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:03,120
Speaker 2: like that whole h envisioning that move because our grandmother

614
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,960
Speaker 2: has in so much pain from bed sores, from cancer

615
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:11,959
Speaker 2: for all the things. And as as she is moving

616
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:17,239
Speaker 2: to the other area, the cop arrives and letting her

617
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:19,080
Speaker 2: know that she would have to leave in forty eight hours.

618
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,959
Speaker 2: So everybody's being told leave because they're essentially gonna sends

619
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,359
Speaker 2: a place on fire. Yeah, and it didn't matter who

620
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:28,720
Speaker 2: was there, They're gonna you're gonna get caught in that fire.

621
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 2: As he advised her to go no matter what. He

622
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 2: leaves some frozen chicken with her that they had found,

623
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:38,719
Speaker 2: letting her know again that she has to leave. But

624
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:40,800
Speaker 2: you know, here's this. You can cook this for today

625
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,479
Speaker 2: and cook me some too, essentially like while you're here.

626
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 2: It's the first time she had meat in quite some

627
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:49,880
Speaker 2: time or anything like that, because I think she's been

628
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 2: living off of like insure and whatever food she could find.

629
00:34:56,840 --> 00:34:58,799
Speaker 2: She says he'll be back the following day to eat some,

630
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:01,160
Speaker 2: and she gets it ready for him, like the whole

631
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 2: like food scenes like this during this time, get me.

632
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,759
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm gonna need I'm gonna need chicken now.

633
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,760
Speaker 2: The next day he comes back and after she's already

634
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:12,520
Speaker 2: eating some, but like she shares it with him, and

635
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 2: they're eating and he's talking to her. He talks about

636
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 2: she needs to go. He say. He seems stand offish

637
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 2: but nice, so she's kind of dealing with it. Soon

638
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:25,760
Speaker 2: he's like, I need to go inside, and she's like, okay,

639
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:27,360
Speaker 2: go in there, And the next thing she hears is

640
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:32,240
Speaker 2: a gunshot and he comes back out and she figures

641
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 2: out what's happening and she and then as he leaves,

642
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 2: he tells her to go to Santa Cruz, which is

643
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 2: where his family is, gives her like card information and

644
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,279
Speaker 2: just walks away and tells her to leave and tells

645
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,320
Speaker 2: her to not take anything, just take what's in the

646
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,560
Speaker 2: car and go. Grieving and in pain, not looking at

647
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:53,439
Speaker 2: her grandmother but covering her up. An Naema loads the car,

648
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,719
Speaker 2: Tango comes out of nowhere. She puts Tango in the car,

649
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 2: and then Tango's like, no, let me out. She's like okay,

650
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 2: So like that happens, and she sets off with her supplies.

651
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:13,759
Speaker 2: I honestly I will say this, and just to add this,

652
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 2: like this weekend we had an issue with my neighbor's

653
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,040
Speaker 2: dog and like talking about him suffering and all these things.

654
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,120
Speaker 2: So this one felt like, I know, humans and dogs different,

655
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 2: but still like just having kind of some experience of

656
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 2: like loss and grief and doing what's best. That was painful,

657
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,320
Speaker 2: Like I was like, oh, the suffering, But at the

658
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:36,799
Speaker 2: same time, that's so it feels inhumane as well. During

659
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 2: apocalypse and then going back to the back and forth

660
00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 2: and band like but what do you do in this situation? Yeah,

661
00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:46,520
Speaker 2: and like it feels so cold and cruel, but at

662
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:49,879
Speaker 2: the same time, like wood name had stayed and been

663
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,440
Speaker 2: set on fire, but to sacrifice to be with her grandma.

664
00:36:53,239 --> 00:37:01,959
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a that's a tough like because

665
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,399
Speaker 1: you want to be so angry at the cop because

666
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,320
Speaker 1: he took the choice from her right, but at the

667
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:10,359
Speaker 1: same time he kind of spared her from having to

668
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:19,959
Speaker 1: make the choice. It's complicated. Yeah, well, okay, do said

669
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,760
Speaker 1: about this. The caretaking imagery in the story comes from

670
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,719
Speaker 1: the experience of watching my late mother, Patricia Stevens do

671
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 1: stefphat the effects of bed source late in her life.

672
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,280
Speaker 1: The horror of losing a loved one feels as terrible

673
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 1: as watching the world fall apart, which we've talked about

674
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 1: a lot. Is a big part of horror.

675
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:43,719
Speaker 2: And it makes you want to cry.

676
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:50,880
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Well, the interesting thing about this one was,

677
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 1: you know, you hear about the seventy two hour flu.

678
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 1: You don't know too much about it, but you know

679
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,319
Speaker 1: it's bad because they are setting whole things. The whole

680
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:06,319
Speaker 1: place is on fire, and I didn't know it was

681
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:10,360
Speaker 1: going to continue into multiple stories.

682
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,400
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I don't think we know about that until

683
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:20,400
Speaker 2: the end the last one and they're like, oh, She's like,

684
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,720
Speaker 2: this is a trilogy. I was like, oh, yeah, okay,

685
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 2: it's good to know because we do find because I

686
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 2: was like, does she keep using the same name just.

687
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 1: Because yeah, I was confused at first, Teo, but I

688
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,480
Speaker 1: was like, no, this seems the same.

689
00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:35,840
Speaker 2: Well there's some like Nima was previously, and I was

690
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 2: like that sounds familiar. And the way that Graceland and

691
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:39,440
Speaker 2: the like mccormicks keep coming into.

692
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 1: Play, it like that right.

693
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 2: No. So, speaking of which, yes, we're jumping into the

694
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 2: part two with Naima and it's called herd Immunity. So

695
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 2: Naama's back once again, but this time she is traveling.

696
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 2: I think she's been in California, but she is traveling

697
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,600
Speaker 2: again in California on foot. We don't know what has happened.

698
00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:02,439
Speaker 2: She's got some uh, primate feed is what it's called.

699
00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:06,880
Speaker 2: So I'm assuming like animal food, like pet food. I

700
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:08,279
Speaker 2: don't know. Maybe I don't know if there was like

701
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:10,680
Speaker 2: testing on monkeys, that might be an implication, which is

702
00:39:10,719 --> 00:39:14,160
Speaker 2: really sad and gross, but you know that happens, so

703
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 2: we don't know. But she found that and that's what

704
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,200
Speaker 2: she's using eating to survive. And she's had a little

705
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,680
Speaker 2: bit of water, but there she's gonna need to find things.

706
00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,600
Speaker 2: So she is traveling through she spots a man ahead

707
00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:26,040
Speaker 2: of her with a guitar and decides to follow him

708
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:30,040
Speaker 2: because she's like the first person she's seen he's here, Like, again,

709
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,160
Speaker 2: this one doesn't really have zombies. I thought maybe they

710
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,439
Speaker 2: had zombies. Yeah, but I don't like because I thought

711
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:39,319
Speaker 2: maybe he was one. No, but we have looters and

712
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:41,880
Speaker 2: of course all of that. But she is prepped with

713
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 2: her gun. But she sees him and she tries to

714
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 2: talk to him, but she slowly starts following him. She's like,

715
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 2: he seems like good stock, and she's imagining herself with him,

716
00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 2: Like there's this level of like desperation and saving the

717
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 2: world like through her and this man. And she's like,

718
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:05,400
Speaker 2: he plays guitar good enough. So after following him around,

719
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:10,080
Speaker 2: finding his trail of candy wrappers he leaves behind twizzlers,

720
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 2: finds out that he's a Red Vines dude, which is

721
00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:17,440
Speaker 2: dumb Twizzlers all the way. Yes, I'm just kidding. They

722
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,400
Speaker 2: soon meet up at the County Line Road Fair or

723
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 2: Rescue Center as it's turned into, and she yells out

724
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,759
Speaker 2: to him, She's like, hey, what's up all these things?

725
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,239
Speaker 2: And they start having conversations, and there they talk and

726
00:40:29,239 --> 00:40:32,120
Speaker 2: she tries to convince him they are immune, and he

727
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:34,600
Speaker 2: has his mask on and like all this protection on,

728
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 2: and she's like, dude, you're not alive because you're so

729
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 2: good at protecting yourself. We are immune. And she's trying

730
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:43,279
Speaker 2: to talk to them and being like, hey, we need

731
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 2: to stick together. We're alive, we're immune. We can help population,

732
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,680
Speaker 2: you know, we need to help each other. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah,

733
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:54,000
Speaker 2: you stay there. You can stay there for the night,

734
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 2: but we're not together. I'm here for a reason. I

735
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,600
Speaker 2: got my gun. You stay over there. You could take

736
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,239
Speaker 2: whatever you want, just leave my guitar, like all these

737
00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:02,919
Speaker 2: things in order to be like you say, are there.

738
00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:05,200
Speaker 2: So they argue back and forth. Then he was like

739
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:09,440
Speaker 2: are you Murray Curry, like who are you? Like all

740
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:10,960
Speaker 2: these things? How do you know for sure? How have

741
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,200
Speaker 2: you tested it? Do you have a theory? All these things?

742
00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 2: And she's like, no, come on, man, you're alive. He's like,

743
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:17,840
Speaker 2: you're alive. It's almost been a here. It's like, is

744
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 2: that long enough? And she's like, well, it's wiped out

745
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:21,719
Speaker 2: with a lot of people, so it seems like it.

746
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:26,120
Speaker 2: They argue and the man is saying he has to

747
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 2: completely believe her and just tells her to stay your distance.

748
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 2: She goes on to discover what's around them and look

749
00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:36,560
Speaker 2: at the rescue center, finding anything she could, including finding

750
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:40,560
Speaker 2: a running car with a full take of gas. She

751
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:43,880
Speaker 2: finds food and water and stocks up her Petee Cruiser,

752
00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,200
Speaker 2: her purple Petea Cruiser.

753
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:46,200
Speaker 1: Yeah.

754
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:51,239
Speaker 2: She also finds the center where dark liquid still remains,

755
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:53,920
Speaker 2: wondering what it is, but then she sees rows of

756
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 2: shoes from families neatly placed, and then finds the closed

757
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:02,000
Speaker 2: barn with the smell of death. That's how she puts it,

758
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,240
Speaker 2: and there she's like, you know, I'm gonna take these shoes,

759
00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:07,680
Speaker 2: thank you for that, Like trying to pay homage, but

760
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 2: also understanding the darkness here. She returns talking to the man,

761
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:18,040
Speaker 2: who finally introduces himself as Kyle, still persisting she stays away,

762
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:20,920
Speaker 2: but they could hang out from afar and she can

763
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,160
Speaker 2: move on. The next day, when he falls asleep, she

764
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:27,120
Speaker 2: sneaks over, stares at him, and kisses him because I

765
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:32,919
Speaker 2: was like, what the hell girl? No. The next day,

766
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:38,960
Speaker 2: Kyle is sick and vomiting as she realizes what has happened.

767
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:41,200
Speaker 2: And she's like, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

768
00:42:41,239 --> 00:42:43,040
Speaker 2: Of course he can't hear her because he's in so

769
00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:47,560
Speaker 2: much pain and sickness. Naama apologizes, gets in the car

770
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 2: and leaves. YEP. I was like, oh no, due wrote

771
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:56,919
Speaker 2: I decided to imagine what the end of the world

772
00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 2: would feel like to one character. My answer isolation, So

773
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:05,760
Speaker 2: like Nayma's desperation and trying to find someone really thinking

774
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 2: she has understood this disease and really understood it, and

775
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:12,879
Speaker 2: it truly was. This man was careful and yeah, one

776
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:14,919
Speaker 2: fell swoop. She killed him.

777
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, because he was like he had gloves, he had

778
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:22,759
Speaker 1: like he was saying, no, I literally have not come

779
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: in contact with anything.

780
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:25,480
Speaker 2: He's like, not even glass.

781
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:31,479
Speaker 1: Nope. Yeah, but she did not buy it and kissed

782
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:35,799
Speaker 1: him arrogance and yes forcibly kissing him because she wanted

783
00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:38,600
Speaker 1: to prove to him you're immune. She was like, I'm

784
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,840
Speaker 1: going to tell him I kissed you and you're fine.

785
00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:45,360
Speaker 2: And her desperation, Yeah, and this like her desperation to

786
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 2: find someone else, to find some companionship, to be like

787
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,479
Speaker 2: away from this isolation and find someone who could help

788
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:59,000
Speaker 2: start the world anew Essentially that she really thought this

789
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 2: would be the solve and it wasn't. No, that was

790
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:10,000
Speaker 2: arow while it was at all like, well, the head

791
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:11,960
Speaker 2: end of the story is awful.

792
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she kept I mean, ultimately she was right,

793
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 1: but she kept trying to like yell at him as

794
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 1: she was falling behind him, like that's not a rescue center,

795
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:22,560
Speaker 1: Like they don't do that there.

796
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 2: Right, that doesn't work.

797
00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:25,839
Speaker 1: But he just wanted to go because he had these

798
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:29,120
Speaker 1: memories and he was he was kind of in the

799
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:32,520
Speaker 1: like this might be the last. Let me have these

800
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:33,719
Speaker 1: good memories.

801
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 2: And if all those supplies are there, it would it'd

802
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:39,000
Speaker 2: have been a good place for him to hold up.

803
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:42,040
Speaker 1: That was a rough one. I feel like everyone we're like,

804
00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 1: oh that one, Oh why why? Oh?

805
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 2: So we're moving on to the third one, which is

806
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 2: Carriers And yeah, the story again is with Naima, but

807
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,480
Speaker 2: it takes place in twenty fifty five. At this point,

808
00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:00,319
Speaker 2: Nayama is Jaden and has been through some things. She

809
00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 2: was isolating herself to what she called Naima land, which

810
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,160
Speaker 2: is like hundreds of acres of dead farmland that she

811
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:09,360
Speaker 2: was like, I'll take it here, stay away from me,

812
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:12,359
Speaker 2: to all humanity, and she lived there with her two

813
00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:15,839
Speaker 2: pet cats, one of them being named Tango, and her

814
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 2: chickens where she got her eggs, and like some of

815
00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:23,000
Speaker 2: her freshed chicken except the giant cats, feral cats came

816
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:27,680
Speaker 2: to kill one of her priz Sunday chickens, damn Cat.

817
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,600
Speaker 2: She had been there for some time after being released

818
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:35,120
Speaker 2: from captivity by the government who had been experimenting with

819
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:38,719
Speaker 2: on her and other carriers as they were called, or

820
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 2: those who survived with no symptoms, like they obviously carried

821
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:47,279
Speaker 2: the disease but had no symptoms and are healthy. They

822
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,200
Speaker 2: were used for treatment and vaccines from their antibodies and

823
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:54,920
Speaker 2: their bloods. They were tortured essentially, and after a release

824
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 2: they were allotted land as repayment, and some of those

825
00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:01,520
Speaker 2: carriers actually created community together. It was she was saying

826
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:04,319
Speaker 2: that she and we're about to talk about Raoul were

827
00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:08,279
Speaker 2: the youngest in these encampments, and so they knew they

828
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:11,880
Speaker 2: kind of like grew up together essentially. But Naima did

829
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:14,200
Speaker 2: not go to be a part of these communities. She

830
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 2: just wanted to speaks far away from everyone. Her one

831
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:21,600
Speaker 2: of friend and that in quotes, this is Raoul who

832
00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:24,560
Speaker 2: was a bit younger than her. She came. He came

833
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:27,920
Speaker 2: to give her her share of supplies and water the

834
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:32,240
Speaker 2: credits that she earned, and it was then that Raoul

835
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,359
Speaker 2: told her that they had a child. That she had

836
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:38,080
Speaker 2: a child, and with him, she and Raoul were forced

837
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:41,359
Speaker 2: to reproduce through most though most of the specimens did

838
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:45,279
Speaker 2: not survive. He told her that there had been one

839
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,600
Speaker 2: that survived, and it was a young girl, not even

840
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:49,400
Speaker 2: with a name. She had just given a number and

841
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:54,880
Speaker 2: she'd been raised there uh and the marshals as they

842
00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:57,319
Speaker 2: were called had made an agreement with him that if

843
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:00,560
Speaker 2: he and nam Naima could take this child and she

844
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:05,239
Speaker 2: could live with them if they agreed to terms, and

845
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:08,480
Speaker 2: we don't know quite what those terms are, but they

846
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:12,440
Speaker 2: just had to agree together and consent. But Naima didn't

847
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:14,680
Speaker 2: believe him and thought this was only a trick by

848
00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:16,480
Speaker 2: the government because she's been tricks several times and they've

849
00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 2: come to her hand and taken her and robbed her

850
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:21,759
Speaker 2: essentially a lot. And she told him if he came

851
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:24,279
Speaker 2: with the marshals that she would shoot them rightly. So

852
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:27,360
Speaker 2: later that day, Naima was forced to go to the

853
00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:31,279
Speaker 2: schools to talk about her experience, and there the reality

854
00:47:31,560 --> 00:47:33,880
Speaker 2: kind of hit home that she may have a child

855
00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:36,480
Speaker 2: that's aged or that's around the same age as some

856
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:40,160
Speaker 2: of these children, and it kind of overwhelmed her. But

857
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:43,200
Speaker 2: with this thought, she waited up all night for what

858
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:46,920
Speaker 2: she assumed was a trap by the marshals. But the

859
00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 2: following day she was visited by Raoul and two smiling

860
00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 2: unprotected they didn't wear any protection marshals, and with them

861
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:01,279
Speaker 2: four year old young brunette girl came up on the

862
00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:04,120
Speaker 2: porch and to her surprise, the little girl had Graham's

863
00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:08,960
Speaker 2: nose and plump, cheerful cheeks, and she knew and she

864
00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:09,840
Speaker 2: opened the door.

865
00:48:11,840 --> 00:48:14,319
Speaker 1: Yop, it felt like.

866
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:15,040
Speaker 2: A happy ending.

867
00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 1: Kind of okay, yeah, her and so this is the

868
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 1: end of the trilogy, and it's sort of like it

869
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:29,279
Speaker 1: began with her grandmother dying and ends with this young

870
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:36,640
Speaker 1: girl who has some of her grandmother's features. Again, no,

871
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:39,319
Speaker 1: she leaves so much open to the imagination. Hopefully it

872
00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:43,160
Speaker 1: was only it was a happy ending. Here's what Tu

873
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 1: said about it about this trilogy in particular, each story

874
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:49,360
Speaker 1: in its own way is about seeking or trying to

875
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:52,439
Speaker 1: hold onto family. Naima has resigned herself to be without

876
00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:56,440
Speaker 1: human contact or human experience as a mother. After all

877
00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 1: she had been through. I wanted her to experience the

878
00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:01,960
Speaker 1: kind of change we see unfolding daily, even in the

879
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:11,479
Speaker 1: face of fear and pain that has lasted for generations. Yeah. Yeah,

880
00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:14,919
Speaker 1: because it's so fascinating to see this play out as

881
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,160
Speaker 1: the trilogy of like where it goes h because it

882
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:24,200
Speaker 1: changes so drastically. She changes so drastically. Oh oh my goodness.

883
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:25,840
Speaker 1: And that part where she was talking to the kids,

884
00:49:25,840 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 1: and you know, she has like these rules where she

885
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:31,200
Speaker 1: can't say like negative things about.

886
00:49:31,520 --> 00:49:33,200
Speaker 2: She can't say why she lost her teeth, which she

887
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 2: had been beaten and raped. My marshall, she pushed back. Yeah,

888
00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:43,719
Speaker 2: but that's how she earns her credits, to be an

889
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:44,880
Speaker 2: experiment and on display.

890
00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:46,960
Speaker 1: Yep, and to talk about it.

891
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:01,279
Speaker 2: And we go come upon a few more. It's kind

892
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,919
Speaker 2: of a standalone as well, so but it's a little

893
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:07,000
Speaker 2: more themed. And this the next one is Signora Suerte

894
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,600
Speaker 2: and we meet Giebreto, who is a resident of a

895
00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:14,440
Speaker 2: nursing home. After he suffered a few strokes here, he

896
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:16,760
Speaker 2: watched the people around him and he hated this place.

897
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:20,360
Speaker 2: This place is awful. One thing he did enjoy was

898
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,400
Speaker 2: going to bingo, but not necessarily to play or to

899
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:27,239
Speaker 2: even watch the bingo happen, but to watch for a

900
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:31,120
Speaker 2: certain someone. So there he spots his angel, who he

901
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:34,120
Speaker 2: says he can see beyond human form. One he can

902
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:37,040
Speaker 2: he can only see one that is disguise as a

903
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:42,920
Speaker 2: nurse named Rosaria. He witnesses her touching a fellow resident, Pedro,

904
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:46,239
Speaker 2: seemingly healing his cough who's been coughing throughout and having

905
00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,319
Speaker 2: hard time breathing, and giving him luck to win some

906
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:54,200
Speaker 2: bingo games. And that night, Pedro dies peacefully in his sleep.

907
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:57,600
Speaker 2: So we just know that this and to him, this

908
00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:00,600
Speaker 2: is something he wants. He desperately wants this. He that

909
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:04,840
Speaker 2: definitely wants this luck because he is mala stde is

910
00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:07,719
Speaker 2: what he says, well, bad luck. He is drenched in it.

911
00:51:08,440 --> 00:51:12,719
Speaker 2: And that Rosario arrives again to another bingo game, and

912
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:16,360
Speaker 2: this time she chooses Stella, another resident, one who is

913
00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:19,319
Speaker 2: hard of hearing, but one who ends up winning a

914
00:51:19,360 --> 00:51:21,359
Speaker 2: couple of rounds of bingo as well, and she can

915
00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:23,600
Speaker 2: hear better towards like so you can actually hear the

916
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:28,560
Speaker 2: numbers this time. That night, as Gabeto expected, Stella dies

917
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:31,680
Speaker 2: in her sleep. And no one really suspects anything because

918
00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:33,520
Speaker 2: she was older, so they're like, yeah, maybe. He goes

919
00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:36,120
Speaker 2: back and forth of maybe, like thinking he like Rosaria

920
00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:41,160
Speaker 2: is actually killing them, don't know or unplugging machines. Who knows.

921
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 2: He doesn't see her at any point in time other

922
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:49,080
Speaker 2: than bingo Rosaria. At the end of the story, Gilberto

923
00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:51,880
Speaker 2: has decided to participate in a round of bingo, and

924
00:51:51,960 --> 00:51:55,600
Speaker 2: as Rosario walks in, he's silently begging as she is

925
00:51:55,600 --> 00:52:03,160
Speaker 2: staring at him, bless me, save me, choose me. End

926
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:08,640
Speaker 2: the story, and and the do rights. This was the

927
00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:12,359
Speaker 2: prompt for the story what if the unluckiest man met

928
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:18,560
Speaker 2: Lady Luck? And what does luck mean in a nursing home.

929
00:52:20,680 --> 00:52:24,200
Speaker 1: That's a good prompt. That is a good problem.

930
00:52:24,320 --> 00:52:26,799
Speaker 2: I'm gonna write a story about this after we're done.

931
00:52:27,160 --> 00:52:29,799
Speaker 1: My fan fiction. Oh be so mad. They're so mad

932
00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:32,400
Speaker 1: at me already, Like you're writing too much, update your

933
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:33,120
Speaker 1: other stories.

934
00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:37,279
Speaker 2: Don't you love when people think they have ownership of

935
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:39,360
Speaker 2: something they just enjoy?

936
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:40,160
Speaker 1: All right?

937
00:52:40,400 --> 00:52:43,720
Speaker 2: So the last story we have is Vanishing and we

938
00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:48,000
Speaker 2: meet Nidra whose husband has vanished and even after almost

939
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:51,320
Speaker 2: a year, he is nowhere to be found. Everybody presumed

940
00:52:51,400 --> 00:52:55,000
Speaker 2: him dead, except for Nidra. Nedra swears he ran away,

941
00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:58,200
Speaker 2: ran away because their youngest daughter, Asia was sick. People

942
00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:00,480
Speaker 2: stared and made fun of Asia, saying she looked like

943
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:04,240
Speaker 2: a ghost due to her illness. People have been trying

944
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:07,880
Speaker 2: to help, even a coworker of Carl's who is the husband,

945
00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:10,720
Speaker 2: who is trying to make sure Nidra gets the insurance

946
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:13,719
Speaker 2: payout that Carl had bought. So with this, She's like, oh,

947
00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:15,960
Speaker 2: you planned this, you know where he is? Where is he?

948
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:19,440
Speaker 2: And the little coworker's like, no, we just want you

949
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:24,000
Speaker 2: to be taken care of. She goes to visit. Niedra

950
00:53:24,080 --> 00:53:26,600
Speaker 2: ghest to visit where Carl had disappeared, wondering what happened,

951
00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:28,560
Speaker 2: And this is the one that happened in Atlanta off

952
00:53:29,120 --> 00:53:31,120
Speaker 2: n so I was like, I wonder if I know

953
00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:34,799
Speaker 2: where this is. A year later, again, this is the

954
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:38,120
Speaker 2: same year later, Nidra has started something with her oldest

955
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:43,560
Speaker 2: daughter's geometry teacher named Devin. The oldest Charlene does not

956
00:53:43,719 --> 00:53:46,920
Speaker 2: like the situation, and there had been many fights between

957
00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:50,360
Speaker 2: her her and Nidra, but including the fact that Nidra

958
00:53:50,480 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 2: cannot admit that Carl might be dead, and carl is gone,

959
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:58,600
Speaker 2: but Charlene loves her sister and has been there to

960
00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:02,360
Speaker 2: help take care of her age. We find Devon coming

961
00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:06,760
Speaker 2: over this night to have mac and cheese with the family.

962
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:09,160
Speaker 2: Charlene seems to relent a little bit, although she makes

963
00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:13,440
Speaker 2: sure she knows this is her territory and you're the

964
00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:19,040
Speaker 2: she said, my nemesis. But he seems to be very

965
00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:22,279
Speaker 2: kind and very open with the girls, and like ant

966
00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:25,160
Speaker 2: Ninra and wanting to make sure that they're okay and safe.

967
00:54:26,280 --> 00:54:32,040
Speaker 2: After dinner, Devin leaves, but Charlene helps Asia get a bath.

968
00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:36,120
Speaker 2: She obviously really takes care of Asia like the second mother.

969
00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:40,799
Speaker 2: As they get ready for bed, Ninitra notices how sick

970
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:41,640
Speaker 2: Asia looks.

971
00:54:42,120 --> 00:54:42,760
Speaker 1: She writes.

972
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:47,200
Speaker 2: A splash echoed behind Nidra from the bathtub. SuDS parted

973
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:49,480
Speaker 2: at the foot of the pub as Asia sat up,

974
00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:53,200
Speaker 2: a watery shadow against bathwater, the color of the ocean.

975
00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:56,640
Speaker 2: The bubbles cling to Asia's hair and face framed her features.

976
00:54:57,120 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 2: Nitra couldn't believe how pale Asia was since her life

977
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:04,200
Speaker 2: bath her bare skin was nearly invisible. So this is

978
00:55:04,239 --> 00:55:08,280
Speaker 2: all in realization that she hadn't been aware of how

979
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:12,440
Speaker 2: sick Asia really was until she saw her in this

980
00:55:12,600 --> 00:55:14,880
Speaker 2: form and talks about her slowly vanishing.

981
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:22,600
Speaker 1: Yes, yep, and this is the last one. Here's what

982
00:55:22,640 --> 00:55:25,160
Speaker 1: du said about it. Throughout my writing career, I have

983
00:55:25,239 --> 00:55:27,800
Speaker 1: sought ways to convey the feelings and images of death

984
00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:31,360
Speaker 1: and dying as my own coping mechanism. This story, first

985
00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:33,600
Speaker 1: written in the wake of my mother's death in twenty twelve,

986
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:36,480
Speaker 1: has never before been published. I am still trying to

987
00:55:36,560 --> 00:55:39,360
Speaker 1: understand how our loved ones can simply disappear.

988
00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:43,880
Speaker 2: This hits too hard because there are too many times

989
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:49,160
Speaker 2: because again when you especially maybe when you're not around

990
00:55:49,160 --> 00:55:53,040
Speaker 2: them constantly, and so when they die, it might not

991
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:56,359
Speaker 2: feel real and you come back to see them in

992
00:55:56,360 --> 00:55:59,080
Speaker 2: that same place that they're just not there, and that

993
00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:03,440
Speaker 2: level of like trying to figure that out and what

994
00:56:03,560 --> 00:56:09,760
Speaker 2: to do with that emptiness like they're just gone. Yeah.

995
00:56:09,880 --> 00:56:15,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I you know, my dad was sick. I

996
00:56:15,719 --> 00:56:18,160
Speaker 1: didn't see him all that often, and when I would,

997
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:24,359
Speaker 1: he like shrink, you know, like he was vanishing, like disappearing,

998
00:56:26,040 --> 00:56:32,000
Speaker 1: And it is bizarre. It's hard to square with, well,

999
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:32,799
Speaker 1: where did they go?

1000
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:37,879
Speaker 2: Yeah? And how do you deal with that? Yeah? How

1001
00:56:37,880 --> 00:56:38,640
Speaker 2: do you deal with that?

1002
00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:44,480
Speaker 1: Once again, grief, grief, and horror, Oh my goodness. And

1003
00:56:44,520 --> 00:56:47,360
Speaker 1: I would also say one of the main themes in

1004
00:56:47,400 --> 00:56:49,839
Speaker 1: a lot of these stories is parentification, and this story,

1005
00:56:49,880 --> 00:56:51,120
Speaker 1: I was thinking about that one a lot.

1006
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:57,120
Speaker 2: Well. The fact that she, like Charlene, tells Nidra towards

1007
00:56:57,160 --> 00:56:59,400
Speaker 2: the beginning that she's the queen of denial.

1008
00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:08,960
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah ooff. Well, clearly there's so much to talk

1009
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:15,160
Speaker 1: about with these and they were they were all really powerful. Obviously.

1010
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:18,920
Speaker 2: When I say haunting like lingering, when I have stories

1011
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:22,440
Speaker 2: that linger, Yeah, I can't read stories like this often

1012
00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:24,200
Speaker 2: because they linger into too long.

1013
00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:27,000
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, I'm going to be thinking out some of

1014
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:29,040
Speaker 1: these for a long time.

1015
00:57:29,040 --> 00:57:32,280
Speaker 2: But obviously that's the mark of a good writer. And yeah,

1016
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:33,120
Speaker 2: an amazing writer.

1017
00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:37,479
Speaker 1: Oh yes, And I, like I said in the part one,

1018
00:57:38,320 --> 00:57:44,000
Speaker 1: I love how she just showcased all those genres. All

1019
00:57:44,040 --> 00:57:46,520
Speaker 1: these genres hard can be, it can look all kinds

1020
00:57:46,560 --> 00:57:49,480
Speaker 1: of ways. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to read

1021
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:53,920
Speaker 1: more from her. But yes, listeners, please let us know

1022
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:56,880
Speaker 1: if you have any thoughts about any of these, any

1023
00:57:56,960 --> 00:58:01,200
Speaker 1: other recommendations for books or anything else. Yes, please let

1024
00:58:01,280 --> 00:58:04,000
Speaker 1: us know. You can email us at Hello at stuffwenevertold

1025
00:58:04,000 --> 00:58:06,240
Speaker 1: you dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky

1026
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:09,480
Speaker 1: at mom Stuff Podcast. We're on Instagram and TikTok at

1027
00:58:09,480 --> 00:58:12,000
Speaker 1: stuff One Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We

1028
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:13,400
Speaker 1: have a tea public story, and we have a book

1029
00:58:13,440 --> 00:58:15,400
Speaker 1: you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as

1030
00:58:15,400 --> 00:58:17,920
Speaker 1: always to our super producer Christine or executive producer and

1031
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:20,960
Speaker 1: a contruter Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening.

1032
00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:22,760
Speaker 1: Stuff Will Never Told You is production of I Heart Radio.

1033
00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:24,320
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you can check

1034
00:58:24,320 --> 00:58:26,120
Speaker 1: out the heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or if you

1035
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:27,520
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows