February 05, 2015

Prologue Part II The Confessions of Mossy Kade

Mossy Kade who'll soon be marching toward the sound of the cannons
Part 1 of Prologue may be referenced here and Dramatis Personae here. The story continues with Mossy and Jimmy Marlow who is Mossy's close friend, a prominent Chicago journalist, and author of award winning non-fiction who also serves as the story's narrator.  It is late one evening after Jimmy has just returned from London and they have been discussing the just completed  Hank Montague (a friend to them both) novel to mark his long awaited comeback and Mossy telling Jimmy how Hank's return and the events surrounding it need a Boswell.  The pieces Mossy has carefully arranged are starting to fall into place and Mossy is about to reveal to Jimmy how he even arranged the first meeting between Jimmy and his future wife Vanessa nearly 15 years ago. Everything not italicized are unspoken observations by Jimmy Marlow, the narrator.

Mossy: ...."Jimmy, of course we all remember the 'introduction' on the mezzanine during intermission of 'Magic Flute'; but my dear boy, what you didn't know was the most magnificent piece of orchestration from that evening didn't come from the pit. You see Vanessa and her little cute blond friend; we didn't just bump into by chance; they had on the previous Saturday brunched at Mitchell's over at Clybourn & Cortland where I always used to set up shop with my papers over coffee and flapjacks. I'll never forget the first time I heard Vanessa's voice; it was so lovely it nearly brought me to tears. She had just come back from St Louis after her sister had a baby and she was telling her friend about holding her new nephew, how adorable he was, and hearing her describe her father holding him for the first time and everybody in the room crying with joy. I had to put my sunglasses on to keep from making a scene.  In her voice I could feel the beauty of her soul. I fell more than a little in love with her and couldn't bear ever thinking that she might go on to lead a life with heartache and misfortune."


Vanessa Marlow: of such beauty she launched the ship that thousands followed...


By this time Mossy's manic pacing slowed while gathering himself and recharged his glass as his emotions, and mine, needed to steady.

Jimmy Marlow who became thrice the man he ever hoped to be upon meeting a beautiful redhead.


Mossy: "Do you remember the night I met your parents? They came up and treated us over at Ranalli's during a Sunday night  Bears game." 



Jimmy:"Yup, it was the Detroit game...we won by about 3 touchdowns and I think Urlacher was a rookie..".which I did remember quite well as I then first saw that well behaved side of him that he summons for older ladies when he's unfailingly polite, respectful, and attentive with his scrappy provocateur inclinations tempered into an air of boyish mischief.  My mother absolutely adored him...still does and to this day says he's the best listener she's ever encountered and remembers everything she says.



Hank Montague whose comeback will soon help put literature back in it's rightful place


Mossy:"That's it. That was the day after I first saw and heard Vanessa. Your parents are such wonderful people and seeing you with them that night told me you would make a most worthy suitor for that beautiful redhead with the voice of an angel. Besides you were getting yourself mixed up with some women that I don't think your dear mother would have been too keen on."

Jimmy:"I won't argue with you there."

Mossy:..."now back to that brunch; I overheard Vanessa and the little blond...'Kelly' was her name, being all in a tither about going to 'Magic Flute' the following Thursday and even overheard where they'd be sitting and then had to strong arm you into going by reminding you how Mencken loved opera and how it would help season your prose with some much needed Sturm and Drang. We got Tony over at Brooks Brothers to get you squared away in a navy pin' that fit like a glove and I even held my fire on your 3rd by-lined article from that morning that had 2 glaring omissions your editors never ever manage to notice. You needed to be at your best when I introduced you to Vanessa and of course knew you two would hit it off quite well....that's why I got so emotional when Bebe was born and Vanessa asked me to hold her in the hospital....this book with Hank and my children's book series will be having similar helpful arrangements to give them a proper lift-off."

Jimmy as an aside: Let me interject here that I was stunned to say the least at these revelations but while in London on assignment, which I wasn't entirely forthcoming to Mossy regarding, Peter was giving me progress reports on Hank all along with some amusing asides on what Mossy was up to and we both wondered if he knew what Hank's book was really all about...but figured he had to know something as his insistence on not reading the galleys seemed a bit too emphatic.

little Bebe working on her drawings for the book series to also feature her pup 'Sugar Wimsey'

Mossy: "Now tell me;, how did it go in London?"

Jimmy: "You'll not be the least bit surprised to know that every critic you so carefully vetted is 'foaming at the mouth' to lay their hands on a a pre-pub' copy and has guaranteed us absolute secrecy and every resource at their disposal to make this the literary event of the century." 

Mossy: "What about Ms. Mantel?"

Jimmy: "She even phoned me today to re-confirm she'll move heaven and earth to be here at the appropriate time and has even volunteered to allow her correspondence with Hank used in any capacity we deem helpful. She was deeply moved to learn that her audiobooks  aided in Hank's convalescence while in hospital."


Dame Hilary Mantel


Mossy: "Good...hey did you look at that link I sent you."

Jimmy: "I looked at it but didn't see it as such a direct affront at Ms Mantel." I could see Mossy getting that gleam in his eye when he's spoiling for a fight

Mossy: "Oh it sure as hell was. All that bullshit demeaning the Booker pissed me off. Who the hell else were they referring to and everybody in the room knew it and the thousands yet to see it.  That whole production was a fucking disgrace...it was like watching one of those painful Ratpack videos in the middle of the day stone sober. No fucking dignity. Not even the slightest inclination to use that occasion to show respect let alone reverence for literature. They were just playing to that smug crowd in New York so fucking gleeful they are among the oh so precious few that 'got' the references...oh weren't they all so fucking knowing! Those are the assholes those guys write for too....they must be punished...they will be punished....and don't think I have a hard-on for that little fucking prick because he's been popping off at the mouth....just wait til you see how I put his ass in a sling and those fancy fucking teeth in a pickle jar. The best thing that will ever happen to his fiction will be the ass-whipping he's about to receive from ol' Moss...all that goddamn talent and his novels are such garbage....Lionel Fucking Asbo?!?!?!?!?!?!....now I need to get going; but first need to give our Boswell some long overdue backstory regarding Estella who is coming in tomorrow....."


Estella and her pup Ripley who will soon also feature in a set of children's books.


Estella who loves nothing more than hearing her name bandied about as "Mossy's girl"
 is now en route to Chicago wearing her best outfit.


Part III will soon conclude the Prologue






©Copyright (excluding pictures) The Chicago Lion's Den and GSL©

24 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Yes indeed Wendy; only a certain expat Brooklyn based Brit may soon be feeling a little empathy for that Jordanian pilot...

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  2. Bebe is just too fucking cute! Well, all the women in your life are really quite beautiful.

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    1. Right you are my dear T and was delighted to add another beauty to my life last November 8th in The Red Lion.

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  3. Darling G,

    Gosh, the plotting and planning, the subterfuge and the battle of the redheads with the blondes. We are not quite sure that we are following the storyline of this confessional but, if Anthony Hopkins ( or his alias) is to play any part at all, then there will definitely be trouble ahead!

    Nobel Prize for Literature or the Booker......now, that is the question.....

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    1. I can understand the confusion Darlings J & L as we are too far removed from Part 1 of the Prologue which should have been more helpful regarding Part 2.

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  4. The Booker prize thing does rile folk up...interesting to read with links to references bc in static reads one doesn't get that advantage.

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    1. I'm glad you were able to access the links Naomi to help with the context. That link with Amis, Rushdie, MacEwan is of course about 100 minutes and it takes about 3-4 minutes of hearing Rushdie in the intro to notice how disappointing that whole event was...a bit too long for a blog post obviously but I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

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  5. Dear GSL, I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent and well educated ( I have an IQ in the top 0.4% and hold a few university degrees - one of which involved 3 years studying English Literature) but I cannot for the life of me work out what the fuck this story is all about! Were you drunk when you wrote it? I don't want to be rude, but it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Compared to Mossy's Confessions, Finnegans Wake reads like a nursery rhyme. Jesus Christ, I need a stiff drink. Claire

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    1. I'd like to join you for that stiff drink Claire only it's just after 7am here and that's too early even for GSL. My apologies for your time not being well spent here today. This being Part 2 of the Prologue was apparently too heavily dependent on immediate familiarity of Part 1 (with the link up top) to make sense and as I note above. Part 1 was way back on November 11th. in retrospect that is too much to ask a blog reader who are often just looking for something short, and often on an iphone, without the undue demands this post made.
      It was just a writing exercise that apparently didn't go as well as I intended.

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  6. I always seem to be posting below Claire these days (on the screen, intelligence and in wit - C. is snort through latte funny plus brainy).
    As the Hattats say, the battle of the redheads and the blondes! the cute wee Bebe completes it, just need a pupstar in there somewhere.
    Lionel Asbo was a strange and terrifying invention and never was quite believable to me.But I do remember him clearly and maybe that is the trick.

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    1. Jody,
      I haven't heard much regarding MA's new novel but hope his move to Brooklyn helps his ficiton. I got about 30 pages into LIonel Asbo and was wanting to do shots of hemlock. House of Meetings also awful and he writes so well about other writers and writing.
      My dear Claire is my kinda gal. We don't need to play patty-cake in The Den's comments section and I've never been offended in my life...or at least since my mother told me about "Sticks and Stones" when I was about 4.

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  7. Darlings Jane & Lance, Beguiling Claire, et al. Upon your very helpful input, I made much need edits to make it easier to follow with a short summary giving the reader an idea of what's going on even if they haven't read Part 1. My apologies again for not being more helpful to our Den guests.

    Oh and Claire, I think you'd find a stiff drink with GSL would help you better utilize your keen intelligence that's keeping you slumming with that 0.4% crowd

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  8. Good to read about the edits, G! Must admit, I was as confused as hell at first pass! Nice to know I was not alone! Will give it another shot!

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    1. Lesson learned Darling Trudye! I was rapid firing dialong down from what I could clearly see in my own mind without stepping away, allowing some distance, and then looking at it as a cold reader would. Sorry for putting everybody through that nonsense.

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  9. Hello GSL,

    When is Part III to be published? Please don't wait too long so we can follow along a little better (sorry, I'm still a little confused and want to know where this is all leading to).

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    1. Oh my dear CD, sorry for the confusion and you always bring such a well stated and insightful perspective and as for "where is all this leading to?" GSL has been getting that question for decades from every single gal he's known for over 20 minutes when I prefer to just order another round and see what develops.
      Since this was the 2nd of a 3 part prologue; the last installment was to finish setting the stage for a narrative that some would find intriguing. I'm afraid a blog format and my early stumbles now make that unlikely..

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  10. Blondes and Redheads battling it out! Will the next instalment see the entry of a Brunette (Estella?) just to really turn it into a cat fight worth of Dynasty proportions (I hope)?
    Love the pictures. That Bebe was a total cutie!

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    1. Bebe was/is a total cutie Heidi and I can certainly see how you may assume if there are several attractive women congregated near GSL, a cat fight is likely to break out.

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  11. GSL; this will teach me, not to check your blog after dinner with abundant wine! I need to go back and re-read part 1.

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    1. Welcome NS,
      The Den would never ask you to the make the sacrifice of forgoing abundant wine and I'm afraid these 'Confessions' have been a little too reader labor intensive with it spread out over 2 parts months apart; links to click for context, several characters, etc. so we may have erred on the side of foolish to introduce this concept in blog format often with middle of day smartphone drive-by readership...

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  12. The mountains of snow under which I am buried have kept me away from all things blogging as just the simple task of running an errand has become akin to prepping for the Iditarod and of course, would be the excuse for my tardiness to the Den if not for the fact that you are living under the same conditions. As it is, I will just have to beg your pardon.
    Mossy talking about the 'triumvirate' at 92Y sounds a bit like me when I read the NYT on a Sunday morning, though I have to curb my language (on those occasions)
    Has Mossy said all that will be said on the subject of his first impressions of Vanessa? Does Estella know of this? Will Jimmy feel indebted to Mossy for all the machinations behind his introduction to V? And what is Jimmy holding back regarding Hanks novel? Im waiting for part 3......

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    1. Mossy keeps his cards close to the vest and has helped mentor Jimmy into a fine writer. Moss will always have a special place in his heart for V...and little Bebe..

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  13. Another snow-not-bound-but-affected soul here---Absentia should have been my middle name (as my first should have been Amanda, but . . .).

    Enjoying and absorbing and darting in an out betwixt family and stuff and cooking and stuff like a manic mosquito, lighting for a sip or a great draught, and off again at the buzzerbelltinklealarm of whichever electrical tyrant calls.

    and this for me, as well, from the inestimable Bebe:" Has Mossy said all that will be said on the subject of his first impressions of Vanessa? Does Estella know of this? Will Jimmy feel indebted to Mossy for all the machinations behind his introduction to V? And what is Jimmy holding back regarding Hanks novel? Im waiting for part 3......"

    Who am I kidding? I can't remember from time to time how to pronounce "Machinations."

    Stay well and warm, and have a wonderful Valentine's Day---do you consider yourself Knave or King?

    r

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