Chapter 18 - "Shrouded Figure"

Loss of internet connection prevented me from going online to update Hornet's Shelves, sadly. However, I got up to two chapters down, and I'm already halfway-through the third, so I caught up on some reading.

 "Reluctantly, Mortenson agreed to hire an assistant, Christine Slaughter, to work with him in a few hours each day organizing his basement, which even he could see was becoming an embarrassing mess."

Oh my gods. Christine Slaughter? I would immediately change my last name after I gain the legal right to, unless my dream profession was to become a ruthless butcher or a person that can navigate through Mortenson's basement and clean it up without having to worry about an avalanche of papers. About the wanting to become a "ruthless butcher" thing, around my neighborhood, eerily right by McDonald's and a Muslim day care, there's a slaughter shop ran by Arabians. It literally says in direct print as the store's banner: Hand Slaughtered. Nice advertising, eh? :/ Gives vegetarians a nice sign to look at. One day, I'll post a snapshot of it, 'kay?

"In a lot, he found seventy-eight-year old Vera Kurtz hunched over the wheel of her elderly Ford Fairlane. The trunk and rear seat were jammed with old newspapers and tin cans, so he climbed into the passenger seat and wedged his carry-on bag between the dashboard and his chest. 'She'd sent me on this goose chase so she could avoid paying a few dollars to park at the airport.'"

There are enough red flags to realize that Kurtz isn't going to pay a donation from her "rich savings", and that she just wants a companion to spend the night with. She may be a lonely elderly, and deserves some attention before her final days, but doing it through deceit and wasting Mortenson's precious time is pitiful.

"'I hope so, sweetie,' Mortenson said. 'I sure hope so.'"

This translates to, "The baby might grow up into a healthy child like yourself, but there's also the slim but possible chance that it will die of an unknown, unpreventable sickness." Mortenson doesn't want reality to hit the child hard, so he sugar-coated his words with Inshallah.