The Parallel Universe

At least, that's what I think it's going to be called when it's ready. But I have a short week this week. Ann and I are leaving tomorrow for a weekend long music conference in Memphis, so I'm not going to be able to finish this installment until we get back next week.

The chapter title, BTW, is a reference to a certain New York City subway token.

--PS

Update: Feb 28, 2007:

Chapter 53 is now online:

https://www.ttbrown.com/defying_gravity/53_OneFare.html

Gee Paul ...... can't we have a LITTLE more to chew on? grinder

Paul :

I can remember that far back. Chewing on those things always got you into trouble with your Mom.

Looking forward to your return from music city. Have fun !

flow....

I am happy to wait because I know it will be worth it and you have told me enough to let me know that you are going back to the Linda/Morgan thread which you KNOW is a favorite of mine.

I am always wondering what kind of shit my bad boy Morgan is going to get himself into ... Your chapter 42 is actually one of my favorite chapters. For those of you who haven't had a chance to read it yet

https://www.ttbrown.com/defying_gravity ... esson.html

And the first paragraph sets the timing pretty well:

"When Morgan left Florida in the summer of 1965, after the encounter with Tolstoy in St. Augustine, after his meeting with Stephenson in Nassau, he knew that there were a few more hoops he was going to have to jump through before he was going to be entirely accepted in Townsend Brown’s network. But he was already starting to make adjustments.

“I returned from that meeting in Nassau,â€

Victoria Steele wrote:(OH BOY, OH BOY!!!! MEETING IN NEW YORK! HOW ROMANTIC IS THIS GOING TO BE, OR WHAT!)

I dunno... you tell me:

Chapter 53 is now online:

https://www.ttbrown.com/defying_gravity/53_OneFare.html

--PS

No, not terribly romantic, if I was in Linda's shoes. The ball dropped, and Morgan was gone! *sigh* Or in other words, Morgan dropped the ball. If I was Morgan and could go back and change the past...

I absolutely agree with you Gewis. Morgan did drop the ball, big time!

The fact that Linda took off a ring that she had worn for so long, (one that her father had given her) and gave it to him. You don't need much to know how much that ring meant to her. And notice that it was not a token of committment between the two of them. She told him that it would "keep him safe" and thats all that she seemed to be worried about. This lady is different ,thats for sure. That was a heavy duty emotional exchange I think as far as she was concerned but she left the door completely open for him.

And he came up with a token. Now I know that it became a very special item to her but the alternate gift, (which he DIDN"T give to her )would have been the ring that he considered (but then didn't follow up on.) What? because she was already wearing a ring? On which finger? No, he just didn't want to give her a ring. He had already decided that. It was the sixties. If you gave a woman a ring it meant more than a piece of jewelry.And he wasn't going to go down that road. Good old Morgan. I know the type.

Too bad. Spending the evening with some comic reading character that she didn't even know, after traveling all that way to be with Morgan at that moment. I would have been pissed off.

And she kept that token for the next 40 years! I remember that scene when Paul was first brought into this story. Morgan contacted him but apparently hadn't walked back into Lindas life. He asked Paul (or had his secretary ask Paul) " Does she still have the token? What did he think? That she would have thrown it out? Like I said, this lady is different. What would Morgan have done if the response had been " What token?" but he KNEW she would still have it. How come guys like that get that sort of love? (Course he probably deserved it, I still think he is a special, just complicated (there is an understatement!) man. )

So the next chapter is going to be Philadelphia in 1966? Now that is going to be interesting. Like watching trains approach at high speed. I can't not look. Victoria

Victoria Steele wrote:Like watching trains approach at high speed. I can't not look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pow7maAXPWQ

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what's his significance in this story? Did he commit suicide? I know that's what was reported. He's an interesting fellow.

I am sure Victoria is happy you went back to the romance between Linda and Morgan. Reading between the lines, there seems as if there is a LOT that happened that no one will ever know about


I am glad you put in the piece about her not knowing that they will meet up again in Philadelphia. This says to me that 1966 is a very significant year in the life of TTBrown and that there is grave significance in the period of time he spent in Philly.

Thanks for keeping the story rolling. Always something to look forward to every week

LBL

I think that I have one of his videos ( Monster in a Box) where he talks (monologue form) about his experiences in trying to finish this book that he was writing ( the "Monster in the Box" and actually some of his observations are pretty darned funny.(Paul would probably appreciate it!!!!)

And what a talker! If you know of him its easier to try to picture the three of them walking in the cold and talking the whole time. A good indication of the rare mentality of these three people. Spaulding Grey was maybe one of those people who was searching for a matching intellect and found it in Morgan and in Linda too, I would bet.

It is sad to me that he apparently did commit suicide. He had been injured in an auto wreck I understand somewhere in Ireland. I do find it odd and somehow very sad that he apparently jumped from the same (or similar) Ferry that Morgan and Linda found so special. grinder

grinder wrote:I think that I have one of his videos ( Monster in a Box) where he talks (monologue form) about his experiences in trying to finish this book that he was writing ( the "Monster in the Box" and actually some of his observations are pretty darned funny.(Paul would probably appreciate it!!!!)

Yes, I have that video. A Monster In A Box. For those unfamiliar, he's talking about an unfinished, 1,200 page novel. Yeah, I can definitely relate.

I do find it odd and somehow very sad that he apparently jumped from the same (or similar) Ferry that Morgan and Linda found so special. grinder

I hadn't made that connection, but I believe you're correct about that. A curious coincidence (if indeed there is such a thing...).

--PS

Good read Paul.

Yep...dropped the ball. By the way, gold and lapis were the royal colors of mostly ancient Sumerian and Assyrian elites. If it were an Egyptian ring, Carnelian (red) or Serpentine/jade (green) would have been more likely. But gold...? Yes in both empires. But there was some crossover trading done, especially after 2,500 bce. So really...anything was/is possible.

flow....

One of my favorite songs and obviously Morgan associated the words and the song with Linda. Check it out and you will see what I mean.

- - - -

Moderator's addition: listen while you read the lyrics:

https://www.ttbrown.com/mp3/SheBelongsToMe.mp3

- - - -

She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black.

You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
But you will wind up peeking through a keyhole
Down upon your knees.

She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She's nobody's child,
The Law can't touch her at all.

She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She's a hypnotist collector,
You are a walking antique.

Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
For Halloween give her a trumpet
And for Christmas, buy her a drum.

Victoria

A wonderful chapter Paul! Well done! Could make even the hardest character reach for a hankie. But perhaps I react a little more strongly than some because I am a little like Victoria and can see where this is going and OH! I do feel for Linda! She is SO in love! and yet she is willing to put so much of what she considers valuable out there. A young girl with a great depth of character!

Knowing a man like Morgan needs to not be tied down, loving him anyway. Knowing that her father needed her desperately, being there for him too.Being straight up with her father about her plans for New York, putting it all on the line when it meant so much, yet she would not lie to him. (How many of my school friends would have spun a yarn " Oh just tripping up to the city Mum ,with Mimsey, you know her! We thought that we would shop for a couple of days and take in a show!" But Linda didn't do that. Sort of amazing actually considering how devastated she would have been if her father had simply said "No, out of the question"

A really good chapter!

So now, I am afraid to ask. He is going to Philadelphia for the summer? But Linda is going to be back in Homestead? That must not have lasted because I am hearing others speak of a lab outside Philadelphia in the summer of 1966. So the lovers will be back together again? oh, oh. grady

And I meant to add that the lapis stone is one of the most ancient and mystical. Used I think with the Ancient Sumerians. They believed that the stones would help you communicate with other realms. In a soldiers hands the stone was supposed to protect him from harm. I can see here that Linda knew her history and she probably knew much more about that ring than I ever could relay here. I do know tht the Egyptians used alot of lapis. Its the dark blue stone that you see encased in gold on head dresses and burial finery. Usually only worn by royalty so a gift of it to a soldier in those ages would have been exceptional. And I sort of see that in the exchange. I don't think that she realized it but maybe he was going off to be her Centurion. And that gift was really appropriate.

But I have a question. Did he have to get it sized? Or was it a mans ring in the first place? It must have been her size because she wore it for so long.
Does he still wear it Paul? After all, she kept the token! grady