Omens in Boxes

31^st December 2012

Dear Cassi,

What day has come when we find omens in boxes? Today Pickles had two Hammer Mill paper boxes sitting in the den and I asked where they had come from. Pickles said that Pony Girl had dropped them off. When I asked him why he said he couldn’t remember.

       

“It sounds to me as if you’re planning something and as it involves Pony Girl it can’t be good for me,” I said. I was using the real names of my siblings, but you know how I feel about that sort of thing.

       

Pickles then said that the inspector would come soon to look at the work that had been done by the contractor and that I had to make sure he could get into my lavatory. I told him that this was good to know and left it where it was for the day.

       

I took pains to get away from Pony Girl when she visited Pickles today. I decided to run out and buy root beer floats for all my homeless residents. This was a grueling thing to do on New Year’s Eve but I wanted to spend time.

       

Now I’ve got four cartons of Vanilla Bean Driers ice-cream and eight two liter bottles of root bear for my clients tonight. Let us hope I can bring joy even when I have none of my own.

Search your soul, Cassi,

Richard Leland Neal

Wandering

23^rd November 2012

Dear Cassi,

        
There is no dawn on the horizon as for the second day in a row Pickles fails to sleep. His paranoia as taken some rational hold over him and he thinks the voices are real.

       
He showered early today and retired only to wake again and wander the house looking for the voices that haunt him. I made chamomile tea and had him drink it with cream. Two glasses made him ready to try for slumber again but twenty minutes later he was up once more this time fully dressed. It was only moment until he returned to his wandering and looking for the sounds he knew only lived in his head.

        
This is a time that he should be somewhere safe and with folks who know how to handle these things. Normal people would call family at a time like this, but as that has never been an option for me I’m forced to see this along. Well, we greet the challenges as they come and live as best we can.

Live, little sister, live as best you can,

Richard Leland Neal

Digital Cruelty

24^th July 2012

Dear Cassi,

Today Pickles told me a story about Turtle Nose. It was a point I only have some vague recollection of and it may have been more than ten years ago. It was a story regarding Turtle Nose’s sadistic nature.

       

It would seem that Turtle Nose put his hands on one of those cheap digital toys called a Giga Pet. Giga Pets are the American name for a Japanese toy called a Tamagotchi. These are digital pets that are as annoying as real pets without any of the cuddly bits. Turtle Nose would to carry that thing on his backpack when he went to college. I think it was red but that was a long time ago and I can only but some cloudy images together on the subject.

In any case, these things are a good amount like a real pet in that they need to be fed, have to sleep, can be disciplined, and can learn tricks. Pickles account of Turtle Nose’s time with the toy was that he refused to feed it and kept disciplining the poor thing until it died. There are some video games that are by their nature sadistic. There are more video games that can be played sadistically.

As for the Giga Pets they were pulled and rereleased because they needed twenty-four hour care. These things became a disruption in the school room and some folks said that they bothered them when they tried to sleep. Modern Tamagotchi can be turned off and reset and I think that’s what Turtle Nose had because they came out in the early part of this century. Strange how they made digital things that can suffer and Turtle nose found a way to make that happen, took joy in doing so.

Then I have to say that Turtle Nose was sadistic in most of his video game playing. I recall him wiping out whole towns of innocent people in games. I remember there was one game that he kept killing everyone and the game sent bounty hunters after him. They had weapons that should have just bounced off the in game armor but killed him on the first shot just the same. I guess the game was feeling abused.

Further, he took games into real life. He had been a pick pocket and thief in many games and one day started doing that in real life. We both can attest to his thievery. He would steal things from stores just to do so and say ‘I’m leveling up my thief skill’. Then one day he was apprehended steeling batteries. He got off with a fine but from then on went about stealing from folks who trusted him.

Those who take joy in the pain of others, even virtual others, should be ashamed of themselves. Those more genteelly disposed cannot be so only at times but should always be of gentler substance. Anyone can have good moments in their life, but good people have a nature that shines through in all they do even in the digital world.

Keep a good heart, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal