On writing

fiction

memoir->fiction

my younger brother

"So tell me something interesting from work, some puzzle you have solved". My brother sat back and thought for a minute. "Gotta roof that just blew off. Kinda like the roof in the family room there". Ours was shed roof, high on the south side, sloping back to normal ceiling height. Exposed rafters, not really rafters, more like beams 3x10 maybe, 4 feet apart. "1-1/2 inch tounge and groove?" I asked? "Was it insulated?". He explained how the the roof decking which spanned the beams was insulated on the exterior with a cheap product, installed poorly. "Faulty workmanship is never covered by homeowners insurance" he said.

Now this wasn't a particularly interesting tale of construction foibles but that was OK. For years we would talk over these construction related puzzles and we kind of pooled and expanded our knowledge base. Sometimes it was failed buildings, sometimes it was tracking an oil tank plume and how to stop it before reached the water table. He had a degree in environmental science and was assiduous in learning all there was to know about these things. I had a lot of respect for his knowledge and integrity and was proud of my brother.

I didn't really mind that he was conservative Catholic Trump supporter. I mean, it was upsetting but not really surprising considering his background.

I left home when he was 8 years old. I couldn't wait to leave. My dad would get drunk and rail on about how if some hypothetical black guy somehow came into our lilly white surburban Jesus-loving neighborhood and raped my sister that he would shoot him dead in the yard and that's why it was a stupid idea to repeal the death penalty. He wanted to drop the 'big one' on the Vietnamese. My mom and dad were part of that special group of Irish Catholics who voted for Nixon over JFK. My dad worked for 19 years, 8 months as a commercial artist but was let go so the company could get out of the 20 year vesting of his retirement benefits. My mom was of that strange group, a teacher in a district with a strong union and good benefits who nevertheless was a firm believer in free market, right to work anti-union republican ideas. There was no reasoning with them. Once they wouldn't chip in for my second semester UVM tuition unless I cut my hair I knew I was gone.

I left behind six siblings, my future environmental scientist brother was the youngest. I didn't see that much of my siblings; things were toxic when I was around and when my siblings started to smoke pot and act out it just added fuel to my parents antipathy toward me as a bad example. Besides, my parents had my moms younger brother, a good right wing catholic football star marine to serve as a good example.

We did stay in touch and after he finished college, my younger brother settled in a nearby suburb. I helped him out when I could; when he bought his first house we knocked down walls together, laminated countertops and rebuilt the kitchen. We found this professional idea space that ws kind of cool.

Our conversation in front of the cabin overlooking the pond continued. Somehow he got to talking about a methane release. "So what do you think of the EPA lifting the requirement for fossil fuel companies to collect data on their methane emmissions", I asked. He answered with a short "That's bad". It reminded me of my mom, who recently had started putting short phrases in her emails like "So sad!," or "that's huge". He continued after a moment. "But what about landfills, or grass clipping, can you prove they are not just as bad" I was taken aback. Oh my god, my own brother who had an education and every reason to know better was acting the part of Trump soldier even to the extent of being a climate denier. He was trying to intimidate me with tricks of argument. This brother trained in environmental science with these few words had lost years of credibility and trust. I would no longer respect him. I was no longer proud of him.

It is scary what is happening in the world and in our country and there is no scarier part then climate change. I have lived through Reagan and the Bushes, been conned by Clinton and disappointed by Obama. You can always tell yourself the the damage is short term, hopefully in 4 years things will be different. But 4 years of not even measuring the amount of methane released means we won't even know. One of the planets top producing countries will be able to claim ignorance as they flaunt planetary accords and accelerate irreversible damage to the planet.

Around me was my family, lots of neices and nephews. One of them is starting to show, a baby will be here by Thanksgiving. I'll have my second grandchild in a few weeks. I was feeling really glum, more scared about the future than I have ever been.

On the way home I talked about it with my own family. I heard of how he pulled his top-down convertible sports car into the driveway. My wife suggested he could cut the engine while he waited for my mom to come out. He ignored her and then with Trump-like provocation, got out of the car and went inside with the engine still running. My son told me that he had a conversation, similar to mine, a few months back. He relayed it to me and it was clear that my brother had used the same cheap tactics. I no longer support my sons efforts to engage with their uncle. I doubt his commitment to his nephews. There is little likliehood of a productive exchange of ideas, more likely he will be trading on his elder-family-member creds while playing them like he tried to play me.

I guess in the future it will better to keep these family gatherings non-controversial. Talk about things like sports or the weather.

sources

http://mysite.du.edu/~bkiteley/exercises.html

http://www.uiowa.edu/~writingc/writers/handouts/FictionWritingExercises.shtml

http://funstuff.pantomimepony.co.uk/writers-plot-ideas.htm

plots

plot2

I can't actually remember the plot and I am a little confused by what's playing on the television. It will come back to me. Oh christmas tree oh cristnmas treee.. here comes the bride here comes the bride. I wish the movie was over.. Then I could think. Such a stupid movie. It has nothing to do with its own premise. The girl falls for the gay guy who is helping her re-find all her old boyfiends.

I am a sucker for wedding movies. This one was set in Boston and the girl had to find her man before having slept with her twentieth. Because she then she would be whore. I will like Tobin and Laura's wedding. In my fiction I convince Tobin to somehow work with me. I wouuld like Noah to be working with us too. And we would become millionaires selling to Honeywell.

The rest of my fantasy inspires what I do every day. I think I will once again do something important. Like contributing something useful to the open source community.

I believe in true love. I want Noah to believe in it too. And Ari to not miss it, or not have it while young and foolish and untogether. You have always been togther. If this is the girl then you need to go for broke. Do it all. Have babies, teach, write there is no stopping your. Nothing need to get done first. otherwise you might miss it. You see I understand the feeling.

Peri called and said she was feeling some funny labor like feelings. I was not ready yet. How could I be a father. I barely have my shit together. I hadn't caught up to my idea of who I should be. Too much to get done.

plot1

A young man promoting a brand while at the same time selling bobo mechandise gets entangled in a cover-up after stealing some drones and flying them around the neighborhood finds that the data feed is actually taking place in Indonesia test site involving Iran and Venezuela and Jamaica and Ecuador raft adventur travel company who moves to Mexico playing music. Finds drone in the woods while on vacation, steals the controller. Finds herself looking through a drones camera while livestreaming an occupy demonstration. Lands it on the roof of a 3 decker. Helicopters are everywhere. Demostrators go to court. Sent to Guantanamo..

locked controller key written on the bottom of the plane.

a friend too interested in sports

Story of homeless by MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registrations System). Cleaning company finds some documents.

A world where the whole idea if intrinsic quality has been replaced by branding loyalty

Stories of a three-decker.

Stories of anarchists.