The Overton Window: Chapter Thirty-Two

Hi there, chapter thirty-two! And hello to your companion, Part Three! Yes, we're starting Part Three. All these parts, it makes me feel like I'm reading Tolkien; this chapter being less than two pages, not so much.

Since this is a new section, an arc for our story, I thought it might be a good time to recap what's gone on since we started our little journey across the shire together. First, though, let's look at our friends in the tale:

Dullis Personae:

Noah Gardner: Presumed hero of the piece, maybe. PR genius, maybe. Patsy, definitely.

Molly Ross: Our Heroine. Teabagging lady and True Patriot. You go, girl!

Darthur: Bad guy. Noah's father. Runs PR for the New World Order.

Danny Bailey: Youtube star, teabagger and sometime weed dealer.

Stuart Kearns: FBI agent undercover posing as former FBI agent. Has a bomb.

Hollis: Teabagging manchild, gun aficionado. AKA Ragnar Benson, noted author.

Beverly Emerson: Molly's mother. Salt of the Earth™.

Charlie Nelan: Awesome Lawyer.

Warren Landers: Darthur's head of security and Sith Lord.

Elmer: Domestic terrorist, planning to nuke Harry Reid's office.

Pretty straightforward, right? I mean, I think that's everyone and their role here. The writing is a little muddy, so it's hard to tell who is good and who is bad in this tale. But knowing Beck as I do (we went to summer camp together, we still exchange Christmas cards) I am leaning toward the teabagger camp being the good guys, and the NWO being bad. (The NWO is always bad. It seems so unfair.) Noah is the wildcard, except, you know, he's In Love, and so, by the end of things I expect him to be teabagging right alongside Molly.

Previously on The Overton Window:

Noah meets Molly and falls in love almost immediately. They go to a teabagging show together where Beverly gives a speech and so does Danny. The show is raided and Hollis is tazed and Noah gets hit on the head. Awesome Lawyer Charlie gets everyone bailed out. Everyone but Danny. Noah and Molly spend the night not fucking. Kearns takes Danny undercover to sell a nuclear warhead to Elmer. Molly and Noah break into Darthur's office to snoop at a Powerpoint about the New World Order. Later, Molly drugs Noah and she and Hollis go back and steal the Powerpoint. Landers tells Noah he's a sap. Darthur tells Noah the NWO starts tomorrow.

So far, so good, right? That was totally worth 212 pages.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The good news here is there's less than 80 pages left in this story. And as a bonus, this chapter a mere two. I mean, that's good because it's a short chapter. On the other hand, it's not bringing us much closer to the finale.

Noah washes his face and takes a piss in "the elegant stall in the corner of his father's private restroom." (Really, that's a direct quote.) He then storms off down the hall, because if nothing else, this book features plenty of movement: down halls, sidewalks, in limos.

He heads to the mailroom and demands info about Molly from her supervisor. It's poorly written and awkward and kind of convoluted because she's a temp and that info is only available at the temp agency. Nonetheless:

"You're talking about that temp girl, Molly?" Another of the mail-room staff had apparently overheard the conversation, and he came nearer. "Somebody called here for her over the weekend. I picked up the voice mail when I opened up this morning."

"Do you have that message?" Noah asked. "It's important."

"I deleted it, and I didn't write anything down, since it was a personal thing. The fellow who called must have just tried all the numbers he had for her. He said her mama was in the hospital."

Sigh.

As the news gripped him there he remembered what Warren Landers had said, up in his father's office. We'll make them sorry. That's how Mr. Landers had put it.

Poor Mama! She's the first victim of Darthur's evil scheme. Well, there was that janitor in the desert from the prologue. But who gives a fuck about him? Poor Bev. May I call you Bev? Poisoned, no doubt. Or maybe tazed. NWO likes tazers. (See above.) Will she pull through? Who knows.

But I sense a decision point coming up for young Noah.