Feedback: Because I have nothing really witty to say.
scootergirl-- He appreciates your sympathy. ::pats Fulton on the head:: ^_~
kellyerielf-- Gracias y de nada. Cheeky girl...I'm sorry for making you miserable, but I'll have to keep doing it for a while. ::sigh:: Yes indeed, W00t to Lollapalooza.
QteCuttlfish-- Yes, this fic is extremely painful. Hope this next part doesn't disappoint.
LB-- Thank you for your kind words.
lycanthrope-- I figured that I should break away from tradition and make Dean's coming out the horrible one. (You can tell that I have plans for Ellie because I TOLD you the plan....) And yes, Cade + angry Dean = happy readers? Anyway, to answer your question, Fulton was in contact with them, usually at the family reunions only, but this is basically the first time he's spent a significant amount of time with them. I try to make my people...peopley and not stereotypical, so it's nice of you to notice. Hell, it's nice to hear most anything from you, Wolfie.
Cake Eater-- ^^;;; I knew that the orange jumpsuits came from somewhere...and of course it would be you, you Zigzag-fangirl, who would catch it as "Holes"-originated. Actually, go right ahead and think Uncle Bobby = Mr. Sir sans hat. It works. Connecting with Fulton is FUN! Qumiby, you're the best...I love your random reviews, so don't change a thing!
Xixie-- Well, in this chapter you'll see. Yes, Fulton has "skills." He is skilled in many things...ask Dean. ^__^
****
"Combat Boots and Clover, Chapter Four"
[DEAN AARON PORTMAN]
Despite Fulton's phone call last night, I went to bed miserable and woke up this morning equally miserable; maybe even more, because sometimes he'll crawl into bed with me in the middle of the night and I wake up pressed to the wall with his arms around me. And this morning I woke up to 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' music from my brand-new alarm clock and remembered that he wasn't at Eden Hall anymore.
I swear, if Dean Buckley tries to force another roommate on me this late in the school year, /I'm/ gonna be the one on the run from a murder charge.
****
If anyone ever asks, I'll tell them I wasn't in my right mind that Monday. I was so desperate to stop thinking about Fulton that I threw myself into my schoolwork. I think that I almost gave the algebra teacher a heart attack when I raised my hand in class and asked for help.
Actually, the work they were giving us wasn't as horrible as usual. Either the universe was trying to make it up to me for moving my boyfriend a million miles away from me, or someone had tainted the coffee in the teachers' lounge with some kind of sedative, making the demonic teaching staff act almost human. Mr. Slattery, the American Lit teacher, assigned us each a writer from the Beat Generation--Allen Ginsberg for me--which matched up pretty well with the fact that we're moving from the 1950s to the 1960s in History class. And I also got a non-speaking part--it mostly involves dancing--for the school's production of 'Grease.' Averman got cast as Putzie, which had /him/ bouncing off the walls at lunch.
After school, I picked up 'Howl and Other Poems' from the school library, and a six-pack from the Circle K down the street with my fake ID. Then I went to the park and sat under a tree, drinking and slogging through the first part of 'Howl' with only a little success. It wasn't that I didn't like the poem; it's just that the thing is so damned long!
'I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,/
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,/
angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,/
who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,/
who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,/
who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucination Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war,/
who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,'
That's the first seven lines, and it takes up the whole small page. When I finished that and the page after, I flipped ahead to the end of part one. Did you know that the entire 78 lines of that is a single sentence? It also gets pretty risqué, and some book that I read said Ginsberg had to defend his poem against a charge of obscenity. Which I think is kinda funny, looking at the seventh line.
Besides the fact that 'Howl' is huge, I was missing Fulton. Every so often, a line would confuse me and I'd look up, ready to ask Fulton for help, but he wasn't there. It was getting dark by the time I gathered up my empty cans and dumped them in the trash, bookmarked my spot with the receipt, and got up to head back to the dorm.
****
That night, I stole one of the pillows from Fulton's bed and slept with it next to me, simply because it still smelled like him.
****
On Tuesday, I got my first letter from him. I added it to the stack of letters from earlier in the school year.
"Dear Dean,
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you."
I hate it here. All Uncle Bobby talks about is my cousin, Cade. Cade is this big dumb jock. He plays Varsity football for Istrouma High, which is where I'm going, too. Istrouma is a parish school, and even worse than Eden Hall. No, there aren't any crazy nuns running around beating kids with rulers, but the kids are horrible. They make the people at Eden Hall seem almost human."
My mom is just like I remember: that is, she pretty much ignores me and everything else. She sits around the house and stares off into space, or she watches TV, or she listens to Uncle Bobby's vinyls--most of which are really old country albums that I remember from when I was little."
How am I supposed to help her when she barely even talks to me? Another weird thing, no one is saying what happened to my dad. Not that I care; he could fall off the planet and get turned inside out and compressed into a piece of space trash, I wouldn't feel a bit sad for him. But I think it has something to do with my mom. Either they got divorced or...something else."
Just for your information: Cade is a complete bastard. I told my mom and Uncle Bobby about you and me, and neither of them cared. Aunt Louise is ecstatic; she even wants me to help her redecorate the house...but I think she's buying into the stereotypes a little too much. Anyway, Cade. He's going on about the whole thing, talking with a lisp and flapping his hands around all limp-wristed making fun of me. He keeps this up and he's gonna have a pair of shiners to scare his brainless preppy girlfriend off. Then I'm going to break his legs and dump him in the bayou and watch the alligators rip him to pieces."
I miss you so badly. I keep dreaming of you, missing you, wanting you here with me. If I could even just...hold you...for a little while, I'd feel better. I never thought that I could love someone as much as I love you, but I do. I do, I love you so much that it hurts like I'm being torn apart."
Yours always,
Fulton"
****
"Fulton,
I love you. I miss you. I need you."
I really don't think that it could get worse than Eden Hall outside of military academy, but I'll take your word for it, honey. What exactly is so bad about the kids there? Let me know, because if it's really awful, I'll come down and help you get rid of them."
Don't throw your cousin to the alligators. I want to be the one to rip him to pieces. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, will get away with teasing you like that while I have a mode of transportation to get down there and slaughter them with you. Just say the word."
Fulton, don't be too shocked, but I'm actually doing some schoolwork and I need your help. Well, the last bit shouldn't surprise you. But still, I have to read books by and about Allen Ginsberg for American Lit and write a report. Could you read "Howl and Other Poems" and tell me what these mean?"
'Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus,' 'Moloch,' 'Golgotha,' the significance of Denver, and why the line that begins 'when mother finally ******' has those asterisks there."
Also, read "Song" and know that I thought of you."
Missing you just as much,"
Dean"
~~End Part Four~~
scootergirl-- He appreciates your sympathy. ::pats Fulton on the head:: ^_~
kellyerielf-- Gracias y de nada. Cheeky girl...I'm sorry for making you miserable, but I'll have to keep doing it for a while. ::sigh:: Yes indeed, W00t to Lollapalooza.
QteCuttlfish-- Yes, this fic is extremely painful. Hope this next part doesn't disappoint.
LB-- Thank you for your kind words.
lycanthrope-- I figured that I should break away from tradition and make Dean's coming out the horrible one. (You can tell that I have plans for Ellie because I TOLD you the plan....) And yes, Cade + angry Dean = happy readers? Anyway, to answer your question, Fulton was in contact with them, usually at the family reunions only, but this is basically the first time he's spent a significant amount of time with them. I try to make my people...peopley and not stereotypical, so it's nice of you to notice. Hell, it's nice to hear most anything from you, Wolfie.
Cake Eater-- ^^;;; I knew that the orange jumpsuits came from somewhere...and of course it would be you, you Zigzag-fangirl, who would catch it as "Holes"-originated. Actually, go right ahead and think Uncle Bobby = Mr. Sir sans hat. It works. Connecting with Fulton is FUN! Qumiby, you're the best...I love your random reviews, so don't change a thing!
Xixie-- Well, in this chapter you'll see. Yes, Fulton has "skills." He is skilled in many things...ask Dean. ^__^
****
"Combat Boots and Clover, Chapter Four"
[DEAN AARON PORTMAN]
Despite Fulton's phone call last night, I went to bed miserable and woke up this morning equally miserable; maybe even more, because sometimes he'll crawl into bed with me in the middle of the night and I wake up pressed to the wall with his arms around me. And this morning I woke up to 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' music from my brand-new alarm clock and remembered that he wasn't at Eden Hall anymore.
I swear, if Dean Buckley tries to force another roommate on me this late in the school year, /I'm/ gonna be the one on the run from a murder charge.
****
If anyone ever asks, I'll tell them I wasn't in my right mind that Monday. I was so desperate to stop thinking about Fulton that I threw myself into my schoolwork. I think that I almost gave the algebra teacher a heart attack when I raised my hand in class and asked for help.
Actually, the work they were giving us wasn't as horrible as usual. Either the universe was trying to make it up to me for moving my boyfriend a million miles away from me, or someone had tainted the coffee in the teachers' lounge with some kind of sedative, making the demonic teaching staff act almost human. Mr. Slattery, the American Lit teacher, assigned us each a writer from the Beat Generation--Allen Ginsberg for me--which matched up pretty well with the fact that we're moving from the 1950s to the 1960s in History class. And I also got a non-speaking part--it mostly involves dancing--for the school's production of 'Grease.' Averman got cast as Putzie, which had /him/ bouncing off the walls at lunch.
After school, I picked up 'Howl and Other Poems' from the school library, and a six-pack from the Circle K down the street with my fake ID. Then I went to the park and sat under a tree, drinking and slogging through the first part of 'Howl' with only a little success. It wasn't that I didn't like the poem; it's just that the thing is so damned long!
'I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,/
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,/
angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,/
who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,/
who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,/
who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucination Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war,/
who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,'
That's the first seven lines, and it takes up the whole small page. When I finished that and the page after, I flipped ahead to the end of part one. Did you know that the entire 78 lines of that is a single sentence? It also gets pretty risqué, and some book that I read said Ginsberg had to defend his poem against a charge of obscenity. Which I think is kinda funny, looking at the seventh line.
Besides the fact that 'Howl' is huge, I was missing Fulton. Every so often, a line would confuse me and I'd look up, ready to ask Fulton for help, but he wasn't there. It was getting dark by the time I gathered up my empty cans and dumped them in the trash, bookmarked my spot with the receipt, and got up to head back to the dorm.
****
That night, I stole one of the pillows from Fulton's bed and slept with it next to me, simply because it still smelled like him.
****
On Tuesday, I got my first letter from him. I added it to the stack of letters from earlier in the school year.
"Dear Dean,
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you."
I hate it here. All Uncle Bobby talks about is my cousin, Cade. Cade is this big dumb jock. He plays Varsity football for Istrouma High, which is where I'm going, too. Istrouma is a parish school, and even worse than Eden Hall. No, there aren't any crazy nuns running around beating kids with rulers, but the kids are horrible. They make the people at Eden Hall seem almost human."
My mom is just like I remember: that is, she pretty much ignores me and everything else. She sits around the house and stares off into space, or she watches TV, or she listens to Uncle Bobby's vinyls--most of which are really old country albums that I remember from when I was little."
How am I supposed to help her when she barely even talks to me? Another weird thing, no one is saying what happened to my dad. Not that I care; he could fall off the planet and get turned inside out and compressed into a piece of space trash, I wouldn't feel a bit sad for him. But I think it has something to do with my mom. Either they got divorced or...something else."
Just for your information: Cade is a complete bastard. I told my mom and Uncle Bobby about you and me, and neither of them cared. Aunt Louise is ecstatic; she even wants me to help her redecorate the house...but I think she's buying into the stereotypes a little too much. Anyway, Cade. He's going on about the whole thing, talking with a lisp and flapping his hands around all limp-wristed making fun of me. He keeps this up and he's gonna have a pair of shiners to scare his brainless preppy girlfriend off. Then I'm going to break his legs and dump him in the bayou and watch the alligators rip him to pieces."
I miss you so badly. I keep dreaming of you, missing you, wanting you here with me. If I could even just...hold you...for a little while, I'd feel better. I never thought that I could love someone as much as I love you, but I do. I do, I love you so much that it hurts like I'm being torn apart."
Yours always,
Fulton"
****
"Fulton,
I love you. I miss you. I need you."
I really don't think that it could get worse than Eden Hall outside of military academy, but I'll take your word for it, honey. What exactly is so bad about the kids there? Let me know, because if it's really awful, I'll come down and help you get rid of them."
Don't throw your cousin to the alligators. I want to be the one to rip him to pieces. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, will get away with teasing you like that while I have a mode of transportation to get down there and slaughter them with you. Just say the word."
Fulton, don't be too shocked, but I'm actually doing some schoolwork and I need your help. Well, the last bit shouldn't surprise you. But still, I have to read books by and about Allen Ginsberg for American Lit and write a report. Could you read "Howl and Other Poems" and tell me what these mean?"
'Pater Omnipotens Aeterna Deus,' 'Moloch,' 'Golgotha,' the significance of Denver, and why the line that begins 'when mother finally ******' has those asterisks there."
Also, read "Song" and know that I thought of you."
Missing you just as much,"
Dean"
~~End Part Four~~