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Eyrie Productions, Unlimited
Gryphon
Charter Member
23113 posts |
Dec-16-10, 02:50 PM (EDT) |
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"bridging fragment, 05/06"
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This bit isn't really essential and including it at the beginning of 06 makes an irritatingly talky part of the ep even talkier, but what the hell, I wrote it, so you might as well have it...
"You ask me," said Gramp after a few moments' consideration, "I'd say she's better off without a father like that." "I suppose so," I replied, "but it leaves me in an odd situation, to say the least." "Mm," Gramp agreed. "The world's not as simple a place as it was once. You may have problems - legal ones, y'know - because of your age. You're not too much older than she is, the government might think there was something kind of squirrelly going on." "Yeah," I sighed. "That's my main concern." "Well, I don't see there's much you can do about it." "No... I suppose not." "Is she willing to stay?" "Yes. Well, she is now. We sort of bonded over blackjack and gunfire in Transbelvia. She's... " I considered my words. "... our kind of weird." "Well, whatever floats her boat, I suppose." Gramp chuckled. "So you figure everybody else is better off if she's with you." "Yeah, pretty much." "Well, I hope you can work it out," Gramp said. "It's a hell of a mess, but I think you're doing a good thing helping her out the way you're doing. A lot of people in this day and age would have looked the other way." I smiled. "Thanks, Gramp." "No trouble. Well, look, I don't want to run your phone bill up... you take care, OK, and come up and see us soon." "I will. Love you... love to Gram, too. Bye." "Bye now." I studied the phone for a moment, then dialed another number. "Ken Masters!" Ken answered brightly. "Hey Ken, it's Gryph." "Hey Gryph!" said Ken. "How's your head?" "Not bad, thanks. Hey, is Eliza around?" "Sure, hang on." A clatter, and then Eliza Masters came on the line. Eliza was originally Eliza Stern, of the Beacon Hill Sterns - one of the richest families in Boston. She would never have had to work in her life even if she hadn't married Ken Masters of the Marin County Masterses. It came as something of a surprise to... well, everyone who paid any attention to Boston's high society, anyway... that she'd bothered to go to school in a field that was actually challenging, let alone follow it up with a low-paying, stressful, but important job. Eliza Masters, MD, Psy.D, is... something important, I forget exactly what - at the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services, specifically the bit dealing with the welfare of children. This had always been more or less window dressing for me - what mattered to me was not what Eliza did but rather who she was, which was a fabulous-looking, smart, friendly woman who's married to an old pal of mine. Now, though, her job and our friendship might bail me out of a -massively- awkward legal situation. "Hi, Ben," she said. "What's up?" "Um well... " I explained the situation. "That's a problem, all right," she agreed. "Well... I can dig around and see, I'm sure there's some precedent in international law that can prevent Kasugano from just dumping her like that." "No, that's not what I'm looking at here," I said. "She doesn't want to go back, and c'mon, do you really want her going back to a man who'd do this to her? There must be some way we can arrange it so she can stay here." "'Here' as in the US, or were you speaking more specifically?" "'Here' as in at 540 Cedar Street." "Benjamin, you have any -idea- what terrible adoption prospects you and Zoner are? -Particularly- for a teenage girl? Two single men in their twenties, specific occupation unknown, means of support hard to identify? It raises questions about your motives. Wait, hear me out, I'm not saying you two would do anything like that - but on paper it looks bad. Looks... -opportunistic-. Maybe even predatory." I sighed. "Believe me, Lize, I know. I've been thinking about it all afternoon. That's why I called you - to see if you had any suggestions, or if you could do anything on our behalf." "Well... " She pondered. "You're in a better position than I am, thanks to your and Zoner's contacts at the State Department, to handle the whole Immigration thing. But if you take care of that... I'd need to interview the girl and make sure she really wants to stay with you and feels secure there. You'd be required to disclose your financial situation, and you and Zoner would have to submit to an interview process and psychological screenings of your own - probably fairly rigorous ones given the risk factors involved. Then there's the whole matter of what your -job- is, although we might be able to downplay that if we're quick enough. And there'd have to be a hearing before a family-court judge... I imagine you can both dredge up literal hordes of character witnesses for that, so that would most likely work in your favor if you can rein in your sarcasm." "I think I can manage that." "OK, well... no promises, but I'll do everything I can. If you have any other strings to pull, now's the time. But Ben... before I start, are you really sure you want to do this? It would be a hell of a lot simpler, if the girl's family doesn't want her back, for her to go back to Japan and be placed in foster care there." "No," I said immediately, surprised at my own forcefulness. "She needs to be with people who can understand her. She's one of us - you've been with Ken long enough to know what I mean." "Hmm... I understand," she said. "OK. I'll get right on it. My office will be in touch concerning the disclosures we'll need, and to schedule the hearing and interviews." "Thanks a million, Eliza." "Don't thank me until it's over, Ben," she cautioned me. "I'll do what I can, but you're still a bad risk. The Department may turn you down despite all of our best efforts. And even if you get it cleared at State, we don't know what the Japanese government will think." "If not for your help, we wouldn't even get that far." "Still, it'll be a hard road," she warned. "Save your energy, you're going to need it. Something tells me you'll have to fight for this." "That's what I do best," I said with a grin. We finished the conversation, and then I hung up and went into the den, where Zoner and Sakura were watching TV, to report. "Eliza's going to get Child Welfare to open a case file. We're going to get interviewed, investigated, scrutinized, psychoanalyzed... there'll be a hearing, and all that kind of crap. The INS stuff is up to us, as expected. She can't give us any guarantees and warns me that on paper I'm the state's second worst adoption prospect." I pointed at Zoner. "After you." "Yeah, that figures," he said. I sighed. "Anyway, we've got a long road ahead of us." "You said there's a hearing?" Zoner asked. "That can't do us anything but good. We can rake up so many character witnesses it'll take them all day to sort out what great guys we are." "I just hope it's enough. If not... " I shrugged. "Let's not think about that. Like she said, we'll have to fight for it, and when I fight I try not to think about losing." "You guys are going to all that trouble for me?" Sakura asked, a note of something midway between skepticism and surprise in her voice. I turned to her and nodded. "Why?" she asked. "Because it's the way we are," Zoner told her. "We like to help people. It's not very fashionable, but it's us."
--G. -><- Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam. |
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Message Date |
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bridging fragment, 05/06 [View All] |
Gryphon |
Dec-16-10 |
TOP |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Offsides |
Dec-16-10 |
1 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Prince Charon |
Dec-16-10 |
2 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Droken |
Dec-17-10 |
3 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-17-10 |
4 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
WengFook |
Dec-17-10 |
5 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-17-10 |
6 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Offsides |
Dec-17-10 |
7 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Peter Eng |
Dec-17-10 |
8 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
remande |
Dec-21-10 |
32 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Peter Eng |
Dec-17-10 |
9 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-17-10 |
10 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Peter Eng |
Dec-20-10 |
29 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-20-10 |
30 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Polychrome |
Dec-17-10 |
11 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
trigger |
Dec-17-10 |
12 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-17-10 |
13 |
(facepalm) |
Gryphon |
Dec-17-10 |
14 |
RE: (facepalm) |
trigger |
Dec-18-10 |
24 |
RE: (facepalm) |
Gryphon |
Dec-18-10 |
26 |
RE: (facepalm) |
trigger |
Dec-18-10 |
27 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
BZArcher |
Dec-17-10 |
15 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Offsides |
Dec-17-10 |
16 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-17-10 |
17 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
pjmoyer |
Dec-17-10 |
18 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-17-10 |
19 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Offsides |
Dec-18-10 |
20 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
drakensis |
Dec-18-10 |
21 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
WengFook |
Dec-18-10 |
22 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-18-10 |
23 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
trigger |
Dec-18-10 |
25 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Peter Eng |
Dec-20-10 |
28 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
Gryphon |
Dec-20-10 |
31 |
RE: bridging fragment, 05/06 |
StClair |
Dec-22-10 |
33 |
RE%3A bridging fragment%2C 05%2F06 |
Bushido |
Dec-22-10 |
34 |
version 3.3 © 2001
Eyrie Productions,
Unlimited
Benjamin
D. Hutchins
E P U (Colour)
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