Quo Vadis?
Characters – everyone and no one
rating scene – General
spoilers – None for the show
Not mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul
Feedback and criticism always welcomed
Quo Vadis? ("Where are you going"? or "Whither Goest Thou?" for my "separated brethren" who use the King James Version) -- with apologies to Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916, Nobel Laureate 1905) for stealing his title
There is an old "Beetle Bailey" comic strip set in the bar on base that I really love:
Sarge: "I'm Sgt. Orville Snorkel and I'm staying right here watching TV and drinking beer!"
Bartender: "What was that all about?"
Sarge: "Every so often I like to ask myself who I am, where I'm going, and what I should do with the rest of my life."
Hi, it's me, the author of this work in progress.
With the last chapter ("The Summer of our Son"), I've come to the end of the known canon. I intend to go on, but I would like to stop here and do two things.
The shorter thing is ask if I should stop "Holding Hands on the Way Down" and begin a sequel. If I should, this would be a good place to do so. The number of chapters may be getting unwieldy for you readers. However, I don't know what I would call a new story – "Still Holding Hands on the Way Down?" Also, I still get emails from people who have just discovered the story and I'm afraid that if I break off, the first story will get lost as it falls further and further off the first page of "West Wing" stories. Any suggestions or opinions (even if it's 'stop writing this, it's a waste of time') are welcome (if not followed.)
The longer thing is explain what I am writing, why, and how I see it continuing.
"Genesis 1:27" through "Nicest Saturday in a Really Long Time" were written to fill in what I considered gaps left by Wells et.al. In writing those chapters, I became ensorcelled by the CJ/Danny story and as people began to talk wistfully about a "spin-off", I think I started to nurture the "dramedy" that has developed into "Holding Hands on the Way Down".
While trying to stay true to the canon, I've also put some of my own thoughts and wishes about life and society into CJ and Danny and their new environment. I see what I've written as influenced by "Northern Exposure", "Brooklyn Bridge", and "The Wonder Years", as far as television goes. In terms of fiction, I see my influences, in no particular order, as Kathleen Gilles Seidel, LaVyrle Spencer, Andrew Greeley, and Diana Gabaldon. I freely admit that I have imbued them with my own sense of spirituality, but the path I have followed has been followed by many "cradle Catholics" (a period of non-involvement followed by one of returning to the church with a more mature attitude toward religion, usually around the time of marriage or birth of first child), so I don't consider it to be out of the ordinary for CJ and Danny to follow that same path.
As I pursue the CJ/Danny story through the first half of the twenty-first century, I see myself concentrating on their life in California, with occasional references to their interaction with their friends from the Bartlet administration days and to their families.
I really want to develop the "neighborhood" idea because I think that it (the "neighborhood") worked for so many of us in the past, whether the "neighborhood" was Mayberry, Cicely, the suburb of Kevin and Winnie, or an apartment building in Brooklyn. I still see it working today to some extent. On my own block, we don't "party", but we are often on each other's porches and in a pinch, everyone pitches in to help. The incident in "Scenes from a Solstice", where CJ and Danny take care of Mei-Ling, is based on something that happened to us. I often joke, as a single woman, that there are usually 3 or 4 times a year that I really wish I had a husband to fix things, but that "celticfemalegoodfriend" and "celticgayguynextdoor" are willing to lend me theirs when I need one .
CJ and Danny's "neighborhood" consists of twelve houses, six on each side of the street, bounded by cross streets.
The street is one street back and up a small rise from the highway that runs next to the beach and the ocean. I'm not sure if such a block exists in Santa Monica, but looking at Mapquest, I seems feasible.
On the ocean side of the street, we have
Pietro and Sonya Dieliczko, (plus kids) whom we have yet to meet (permanent residents who are on their way to citizenship)
Hank and Steve, the interracial gay couple
CJ and Danny
Jessica, the Kazakhstan war widow and her daughter Cindy
Frank and Diana Muñoz, plus Carmen, Mike, Stevie, and Maggie
Billy and Sally Rogers (he's on the city council)
On the other side of the street, we have
Dick Jenkins, who was mentioned briefly, wife Angela and kids
Ken and Laura Robbins, (plus kids) who have been mentioned briefly. (this family is African-American)
Li and Yan Wei, plus Mei-Ling
Clara Pagoulatos, whom we have yet to meet (she is a 60-something widow)
Wally (Wahib) and Aviva Hammash (plus kids), whom we have yet to meet. Wally's parents are from Lebanon (father was Muslim, mom is Christian); Aviva's family is non-practicing Jewish. (This family satisfies my starry-eyed idealistic "can't we all just get along?" persona)
Joel and Hannah Feldman (plus kids), whom we met briefly (this family is reform Jewish)
Danny's sister, Erin, met her husband, Robin MacDonald (a pilot for Aer Lingus) while on a weekend trip to Europe (she was a flight attendant). Although Robin is a Scot (and 36th in line to be head of clan MacDonald), they live in Ireland near Shannon airport. They have two daughters, Fiona ("Fee") and Aisling ("Ash"). Aisling will play a prominent role in future episodes.
CJ has two brothers. The elder one is Hogan's father and we don't know much about him and his family. The younger one has five sons, no daughters, and lives in Napa.
As for the Washington connection:
This is my presidential timeline:
Matthew Vicente Santos2007-2014
Haffley2015-2018 (defeated in bid for 2nd term)
Samuel Norman Seaborn2019-2026
Moderate African-American Republican (possibly Edward William Brooke IV)2027-2034
Donnatella Moss Lyman2035-2038(did not seek 2nd term)
Clifford Calley2039-2046
Josh and Donna marry in September 2008; they will have at least two children, at least one girl and at least one boy. Some of you have asked for "more Josh and Donna". They will appear from time to time, but I'm waiting for Donna to tell my muse more about how she grows into the woman who will become President.
Sam eventually marries the woman to whom he was engaged; by a series of dei ex machina events, he becomes governor of California, which prepares him to seek and win the presidency in 2019. he will appear from time to time.
John Hoynes will continue to figure in these stories; I haven't decided if he will win the heart, hand (and other parts ) of fair Margaret, whose executive skills have been recognized by Matt Santos.
Zoey and Charlie are finally engaged to be married.
Ginger is married to a widowed NJ Congressman who had three kids from his first marriage. He is from "old money" (modeled on the Dupont's of Delaware).
Bonnie is working with "Road to a Better World" in San Luis Obispo as liaison for CJ; she is married to Jean-Luc, a Canadian national who heads the French Department at Cal Poly.
Nancy is CJ's assistant in Santa Monica. We really need to get Nancy a guy.
Carol is Josh's assistant; she is "keeping company" with a State Department career employee. By the way, she caught the bouquet at Bonnie's wedding.
Glenallen Walken is working for "Road to a Better World" as Chief Fundraiser.
Jed and Abbey continue to live on the farm. I have decided that Jed, being the all-talented nerd that he is, will write his book by himself and will not ask for Danny's help.
I see Toby and Andy as not remarrying but remaining close, perhaps "with privileges", (if that's still what the kids are calling it these days).
I'm finding it very hard to write in a timeline. I have all these ideas about what is going to happen and some of them are clearer than others. I may write some things and put them in "Time out of Joint"; I may write some things and keep them on my hard drive until they are ready to be published in the timeline; of I may do as some other authors do and post things as I write them with dates to let you know what happens when. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to suggest.
One problem that this (writing all over time) causes is that sometimes things that I have brewing in my head for the future are similar to things that others post after the "brewing" but before time for me to post. I want to let the other writers know that I am not trying to steal anyone's ideas and if I should find that a concept might work in one of my stories, I would ask first and cite the inspiration, as I did with "Small Talk".
Last but not least, if you find any errors in grammar, spelling, or fact, please let me know. I know that I have problems when I read things that contain errors about, for example, life in the 60's or 70's, my religion, geography, etc. and I would prefer not to make them myself, so don't worry about hurting my feelings.
Thank you for reading so far. My next chapter, "Life's a Beach", is in the works.
Now, for those of you who like to read the last chapter of a book first, here are some major spoilers concerning what I have planned:
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Some major "spoilers" I have planned so far:
CJ will win the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with "Road to a Better World"
CJ and Danny will have a daughter, Caitlin Delores. She will be a somewhat troublesome child, for reasons that will be revealed later; this will cause her parents some torment, especially Danny
Caitlin has a very unique relationship with Huck Ziegler, whom she will marry at age 18
Both Danny and CJ eventually get PhD degrees