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Marvelina Chapter 13 Part 2


When we get older, no matter how radical we might have been or might still be, the next generation will always produce someone with unexpected talents. Someone who we might have underestimated.

"Grandmother Spider said that a message would come to me in the wind," Marvelina continued, "but what does it mean?" she asked. "I have no object of devotion," she added. Shavana stared at Marvelina. She was surprised that Marvelina was so thoroughly surprising to her. "No one can tell you what this means to you," she answered, passing the page back to Marvelina, who was clearly disappointed by her response.

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Marvelina Chapter 13 Part 1


Many times our own resentments prevent us from having empathy with another person’s situation. Anna, an escaped slave, had not given much thought to why Marvelina had found her privileged situation so intolerable…

"The ST is chained to a tree. The SSFs were drinking and now they're sleeping," Anna added. "Except for the General. He might still be inflicting that girl…" she trailed off. She felt complicit. She turned to look at Marvelina, suddenly realizing that Marvelina might not be so different from that girl at the mercy of the General, or the young Anna she used to be. "There'll be a breakfast delivery in the morning," she said, finishing her summary.

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Marvelina Chapter 12 Part 2


Marvelina didn’t foresee the resentment she would encounter in her search to be free. She also didn’t think about the consequences of having both the King’s Square Troopers and her husband’s Special Forces all searching for her and turning people’s lives topsy-turvy in the process.

Joe raised his machete, seeing only blurry shadows in the dark. "It's the Princess of the Enemy," Amy said, while Anna, Moose and Bucky surrounded Joe and Marvelina. Moose and Bucky shone their flashlights in Joe and Marvelina's eyes, blinding them. "If it wasn't for you those SSFs wouldn't be destroying everything we created," said Amy with scorn. "It's not my fault," protested, Marvelina. "Please, I was coming back to try to help." "Can you get our food back from the depths of Lake Freedom?

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Marvelina Chapter 12 Part 1


Morina discovered her greatest strengths while surviving in WilderWood and functioning as Shavana’s fiercest warrior. If called upon to, she would sacrifice her life for Shavana without a second thought. She is also the best hunter among the group of women, and the most hot tempered.

She fell into a determined march step and lost track of time, startled out of her single-minded state of concentration when she heard the sharp signal. She whistled in answer, and a couple minutes later she appeared at the campsite looking like a bloody mythological beast, half woman and half buck. Flies and wasps buzzed around her in a cloud. The heavy antlers tipped forward as if she was ready to charge. At first motionless with wonder, Frida and Skadi rushed to lift the carcass off Morina's back.

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Marvelina Chapter 11 Part 3


They have different reasons, but Joe and Marvelina both feel like they are outsiders. Joe is an escaped slave with a troubled conscience. Marvelina has escaped but is troubled by her own lack of understanding of how the world works.

"Any man in his true and natural mind can see the truth if he opens his eyes to see, any woman too. But there’s not many in their true and natural minds. That’s the problem. I know better than most.” “Why you better than most?” asked Marvelina. “Cuz I’m an Insider Outsider, an Outsider Insider,” said Joe cryptically. “Well I’m a Princess of the Enemy. Everyone around here hates me!

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Marvelina Chapter 11 Part 2


There are many unique life forms on the planet Grandmother. It was one reason why the Squares came there. One thing they overlooked completely was the Sacred Herb. But the natives of the planet call it sacred for a reason…

There was a duck couple gliding around in a lazy circle, and turtles sunbathing on a fallen limb in the pond. Blooming bushes were growing around the edges of the water. The flowers had thickly bunched long white petals with bright red stamens. They were the source of the musky scent in the air. "What is that smell?" she asked.

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Marvelina Chapter 10 Part 4


The women in WilderWood had remained in separate groups from the men, as a matter of preference and survival. But Shavana recognizes that it is time for them to work together for a common cause.

"A Rebel doesn't wear medals like an ST or SSF does. A Rebel walks with honor, because he has sought freedom. May we bring about revolutionary peace." She held her cup up in a salute to the circle of men and then drank it down in one gulp. The men followed suit. "But being a Rebel, being free, is also a responsibility," she continued. "You men have survived in WilderWood, and we women too. We might think that we have been doing it on our own, but the time has come for us to recognize that we are connected and will need each other."

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Marvelina Chapter 10 Part 1


Joe has to struggle with the fact that he was educated by his masters to serve a purpose. His genius and natural curiosity had been used to accomplish devious deeds that he didn’t want to know about.

….He had told himself that the women weren't conscious in their condition anyway. But there was one woman who desired to live, even after everything she'd been subjected to. He knew that he had seen it in her eyes. When her final file was placed in his inbox his hand had trembled. He duly noted from the autopsy, the final measurements of her ovaries. He cried. He sneezed to create a cover for his tears. It was at that moment that he admitted to himself that it was unconscionable…

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Marvelina Chapter 9 Part 2


King Square wants to believe that he controls everything in his dominion. Of course, that is the anxiety producing desire of every King, and never truly attainable…

…His throne resembled more closely a well-used leather swivel chair than a symbol of dominion. His broad shoulders were hunched forward as if pulled by a magnetic force sucking him into his task. He scanned the information on multiple screens and zoomed in on the video feeds of Square Plaza when he noticed the two men. They passed by a faux marble statue of the King holding high a square fist to the Universe. "Where has that slick slob been?" King Square said, annoyed.

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Marvelina Chapter 8 Part 2


Most of us have abilities that we are unaware of because we have not been taught to recognize what we sense and feel as real. Marvelina is slowly becoming more aware of her senses and abilities.

What Marvelina saw looked so real to her that she wanted to test her perception. She reached out with her left hand to touch the Duke and watched her hand pass right through him. She closed her eyes again, gripping the metal, and heard the Duke's shrill laughter. Her hatred of him rose up like bile in her throat. Then she heard a low growling and let go of the wing suddenly when she realized that the growl was real.

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Hear I Am

Planning to unveil new plans in the New Year… Hear I Am South Carolina… in the spirit of Steve Cannon’s example, and all my experiences with A Gathering of the Tribes while I was a New Yorker, and everything I learned at WBAI Radio, and publishing Listen & Be Heard on the West Coast. I will be looking for local collaborators, writers, editors, podcasters, printers, sponsors…to reveal alternative reality where we are …

Dying and Buying Real Estate

There's Never Been A Better Time To Buy Die by Bernard Meisler
Available at Amazon.com

If you are thinking of buying a house in Mill Valley or anywhere in the bay area of California, I would recommend that you read Bernard Meisler’s book There’s Never Been A Better Time To Buy Die before you spend a dime. If you’re not looking to buy, or already know that you can’t afford those prices anyway, then I recommend that you read the book for a good laugh. It is a page turner, not so much for the mystery that will keep you guessing, but because of the biting commentary of the real estate agent who is the anti-hero of the story.

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Marvelina Chapter 5 Part 2


Shavana escaped from Square Headquarters with her fellow courtesans when they were teenagers. They grew up together in WilderWood without being discovered. But, when Marvelina showed up everything changed…

They had all struggled and learned and grown together in WilderWood. She had seen Lake Freedom's many guises too, calm, choppy, muddy, clear. Tonight, she saw diamonds of light sparkling on ripples in the water created by a gentle breeze along a path lit by the waning moon. A fish jumped out of the water and flopped back. She felt the pleasure of fleeting beauty and sensed something slipping away, their solitude interrupted, a vibration in a spider web that had awakened the spinner. Read the entire episode on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/204609196-marvelina

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Marvelina Chapter 5 Part 1


Shavana is both a legend and a real woman. Her escape from Square City, along with her fellow courtesans, has fueled rumors of revolution for a couple decades. She has learned to pay attention both when awake, and when dreaming…

…She saw the interstices of an ethereal web and sought to inhabit the imminent change of circumstances augured by the high frequency of the vibrations in its silky strings. She saw a spider web that looked like a suspended bridge shimmering in the moonlight, joining WilderWood to Square City. A large black spider was suspended above the clearing between city and forest, where STs were pointing at a young naked woman running for cover. Her only adornment was an emerald necklace. The white light of a crescent moon reflected an aquamarine beam back to heaven. The STs ran after the naked woman, on a reckless hunt among the towering trees. Read the entire episode on Wattpad https://www.wattpad.com/story/204609196-marvelina

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Marvelina Chapter Four Part One

…Queen Square was lying on her back in her four-poster bed, her mouth wide open. Her long curly blonde wig was arranged around her shoulders. She was wearing a red silk night gown that was spread out in a circle around her. Her dainty feathered slippers had fallen from her feet to the white carpeted floor…

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