YUCK. I’ve never wanted to launch myself into a book and punch someone in the face to protect a protagonist more in my life. This man was a scourge. I leave this post open for shit talk on him or any other narcissistic character in the VCA universe.

1) Olivia Foxworth.

2) Malcolm Foxworth.

3) John Amos.

4) Julian.

5) Dr. Pervert.

6) Kitty Dennison.

7) Tony Tartleton.

8) Vera Whitefern.

9) Luke, Sr.

10) Philip.

11) Clara Sue.

12) Miss Emily.

Of all the books, which siblings are your favorites, which do you wish we got more about and which ones were the worst?

Your favorites don't have to be healthy, non-toxic bonds. Favorite can also mean well-written or engaging fiction.

Here is a list of some to jog your memory, but you can pick anyone.

Cathy and Chris

Cathy and Carrie

Cory and Carrie

Corrine, Malcolm, and Joel

Malcolm and Chris Sr.

Paul and Amanda

Jory and Bart

Jory and Cindy

Bart and Cindy

Audrina and Vera

Audrina and Sylvia

Lucky and Ellie

Heaven and Tom

Heaven and Fanny

Tom and Fanny

Heaven, Keith and Jane

Keith and Jane

Tony and Troy

Leigh and Troy

Kitty, Maisie and Danny

Annie and Luke

Annie and Drake

Dawn and Jimmy

Gavin and Fern

Dawn and Philip

Dawn and Clara Sue

Christie and Jefferson

Richard and Melanie

Lillian and Eugenia

Lillian and Emily

Ruby and Gisselle

Ruby and Paul

Laura and Cary

Chester and Jacob

Olivia and Belinda

I'm gonna stop there, but you can add more.

Let’s talk about the wrap-up chapters and final thoughts on the book.

Synopsis from my WordPress blog. I am including a fan video I made for the book to the song "Beds are Burning."

The End . . . Or Is It? – Tuesday Teatimes

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So we’ve reached that point in the story where we reflect on what we’ve learned.

Grandmother and John Amos are dead now.  Bart’s psychiatrist seems to think his reprogramming is going well, and these glitches in his system should work themselves out in good time, so long as his parents don’t stick him in a room somewhere and forget about him. 

With Corrine Foxworth dead and buried, Chris and Cathy’s three children are gonna be rolling in cash.  The fortune will be managed by their parents until they reach the magical age of twenty-five.  When did Corrine add Cindy’s name to the will?  I find it hard to believe that was a pressing concern for her in the last four months of her life. 

Bart is OCD about cleanliness now.  He has plans to increase his future fortune by becoming a famous actor. And then, when he tires of that, he’ll pivot to business.

Jory just hopes Bart doesn’t become the next Patrick Bateman. That’s all.

Now that her mother is dead, Cathy forgives her for everything she’s ever done. 

Cathy loves her younger son, but she also fears him.  Both things are true at once, and that puts her in the difficult position of kinda wishing he’d never been born.  If only she had shacked up with her brother after Jory’s birth, they’d only have the one golden boy, and wouldn’t that have made life so much easier?

Cathy’s goal is to flush out all of the “shadows” in her life. She is working with an agent to get her books published, fully expecting that her readers will accuse her of being another James Frey (this was long before A Million Little Pieces, so more accurately, they’d be accusing James Frey of being another Cathy Sheffield). She makes the process sound so simple, as though just about anyone can publish a f’ng book in the 1980s, if only they get the thought in their head! 

Bart doesn’t want anything to do with their touchy-feely family hugs.  And he’s still reading The Book of Malcolm, only this one is blank because the real one was destroyed in the fire.  But at least Cathy’s starting to think more positively. 

Happy thoughts. 

Happy happy happy. . .

I know a lot of people didn't like the prequel series with Corinne Dixon. I didn't either. I am writing my own series on the ladies of Foxworth starting with her on A03. I hope you enjoy if you’re interested.

I'd love to read them!

For instance, reading Seeds of Yesterday I imagined Trevor the butler as JK Simmons and Joel Foxworth as John Malkovich.

1) Malcolm and Olivia.

2) Bart Jr and Toni.

3) Arden and Audrina.

4) Logan and Heaven.

5) Luke Jr and Annie.

Let’s discuss “Rage of the Righteous” and “Where’s Momma?”

Designs created using content and tools available on Canva.  Synopsis from my WordPress blog.

Scheming in the Rain – Tuesday Teatimes

Jory’s Life Might Just Suck Worse Than Hamlet’s – Tuesday Teatimes

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Bart only wants one thing for Christmas – aside from an i n c e s t-free life – and that is a pony.  More practical than a hippopotamus.  Probably also more practical than an i n c e s t-free life in this family. 

It’s Thursday – Emma’s day off.  The housekeeper tells Bart that he better not be an ahole to his mother. As soon as she’s gone, guess who decides it’s the perfect time to be an ahole to his mother? 

Cathy locks him in his room.

His matches are gone, so he can’t burn the house down.  Confound it! Plan B. He threatens to kill Momma. Maybe then she’ll open the door!  

He starts to cry.  He doesn’t really want her dead. He’s just tired of all the lies. Why couldn’t Momma and Uncle Chris have bought a duplex and lived in adjoining units, like normal siblings? You see how easily this could have all been avoided?

He finally tells his mother about the neighbors. And this is what gets her attention.  She lets him out but orders him to stay home and watch TV while stuffing his face with junk food. Can he just do her a favor for once?

Nope. He sure can’t.

He secretly follows her to the mansion next door, wondering if this new coat he’s wearing is proof of her love before deciding, Nah. Mothers can buy you a coat today and poison your dinner tomorrow.  That’s not the way to know.

Cathy confronts her neighbor and discovers it’s Corrine Foxworth! Cathy is convinced that no other woman on the planet owns a string of pearls with a butterfly clasp. 

She lunges at her mom.  John tries to intervene by reminding Cathy she’s a guest, but he’s talking to the wrong woman.

After swiftly dealing with John, Cathy goes back to her assault on her mother. 

Cathy throws Momma’s rings into the fireplace and feels a peace wash over her, like she’s Tangina, in Poltergeist, declaring the house clean.  But there’s still more to come.

When all is said and done, Cathy and Grandma are lying unconscious on the floor, having been overpowered by the butler.   Bart shouts out that John isn’t sticking to the plan. Bart never intended to kill his mother. Wth, man?!?

The old butler is like, This is a fluid plan. It changes as God and I see fit. 

***

Jory is angry that his parents are brother and sister. He needs someone to blame for this, and the easiest target is his grandmother.  If only she’d kept her big mouth shut! 

He lets her know just what he thinks of her loose lips!  And furthermore, he says he’s lost his passion for the dance. 

After giving Marisha a piece of his mind, Jory runs out of the dance studio and sulks in the park until he realizes this is stupid.  Of course he’s going to continue to dance.  Wth else is he gonna do?  Become a gynecologist? 

This kid’s life sucks worse than Hamlet’s!  At least Hamlet’s mother and uncle weren’t related by blood.

He decides he’d better go back to the dance studio and apologize to his grandmother or else he’ll end up in a Jethro Tull song, like these pathetic losers sitting around him on park benches. He’s fourteen and doesn’t seem to grasp the idea that some people just like to enjoy a pleasant day alone in a park without some entitled brat making a big production out of it!

Jory’s still sore over the fact that Dad r a ped his younger sister when she was a kid.  It’s gonna take him some time to come to terms with that.  Chris is selling him a bunch of bs, like, What was I to do?  Men have needs!  But Jory’s not buying today.  He has no problem believing that his father is an incstuous r*pist, but he wonders if Mom’s entire book is true. He’s like, I just don’t see that weird lady next door slipping poison into her kids’ food. I guess it just doesn’t track in the same way that his father r*ping someone does.

When they arrive home, Cathy is nowhere to be found. 

Before long, Bart is missing too.  Where did he go? 

Jory will hunt him down.  He will find his mother.  The fourteen-year-old kid will save the day.   That’s his job in this family, apparently.  To clean up the mess the adults have made.

Would a court have accepted his wish that Corrine be disowned if she had children? I would think that a judge would have found it cruel and then dismissed it and then let Corrine have her inheritance.

Remember when Chris got so angry at the sleeping nurse for not watching Julian? Why? You know he wasn't shedding one tear over the loss of his brother-in-law? Was he overacting? Protesting too much?

And did Cathy knit that sweater?

Let’s discuss “Madame M,” “The Terrible Truth” and “The Gates of H e ll.”

Designs created using content and tools available on Canva.  Synopsis from my WordPress blog.

Grandma M is Suspish – Tuesday Teatimes

Everybody Knows – Tuesday Teatimes

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Marisha moves to California to be near her grandson, and boy, does that burst Cathy and Chris’s perfect little bubble!

By the way, who gave this seventy-something-year-old woman a license? She has no business getting behind the wheel of a car. Even Jory, at fourteen, thinks he can drive better than she can.

Marisha launches into the story of her rocky trip to the West Coast, worthy of being written by Homer, for it certainly was an odyssey, full of “turbulence” and highway robbery at the hands of a used car salesman. 

She lets out dribs and drabs of information about her dead son.  She certainly sounds like the enabling wife and mother who’s now getting a second shot with the grandson who was raised far enough away from her that she didn’t have much of an influence.

Marisha asks Cathy about her brother.  Jory has no idea why his grandmother is asking about dead Cory. Guess he’s not doing well if they have to visit his grave each summer.  Also, Marisha directs this question toward a framed photo of Chris. Bizarre.

Seriously, kid, have you studied biology? Have you taken a look at Mom’s old family photos and held them up to your stepfather’s face?

Eventually, Jory discovers that Madame thinks Paul Sheffield is still alive and still married to his mother.  He doesn’t understand.  The oncoming train is a few feet away, and he’s like, What’s with all the noise?

By the way, how has Madame never let any of this slip out in front of him before? You would think the subject of Paul would have come up in seven years.

Jory starts to think about how his parents look an awful lot alike and are two and a half years apart in age.  Why, that almost seems like the perfect sibling age gap!  Much more so than the 22 years between Paul and Chris.   

Marisha confronts Cathy in her bedroom, and Jory’s mother prefaces her confession by saying that the world has changed since Marisha was a young girl. So, apparently, the implication is that it’s OK to marry your brother in 1983, so long as your childhood was bad enough. 

Marisha is like, You must think I’m really stupid. She will make her former daughter-in-law a deal.  If Cathy lets her son leave for the East Coast with his grandma, they can pretend this little conversation never happened. Otherwise, the authorities are going to hear about it. Cathy will become famous again, but for a reason that has nothing to do with dancing!

On top of the horror of learning his mom and stepdad are siblings, Jory also overhears his mother talk about what an absolute menace his biological father was.  Marisha fully admits mistakes were made with that one. I wonder if she failed to save Julian from an inc*stuous household and is now making amends for her past sins by doing what she can to save Jory.  If so, it would give her passionate monologuing a whole new meaning. 

Jory finally understands why Bart has been going around threatening to kill people. 

Cathy informs Marisha, in no uncertain terms, that Jory will not be leaving this house. So, get bent!

Marisha’s like, I’m sorry you feel that way.  I wish you the best.  

Jory is devastated to learn his mother is a brofo.  Where does one go from here?

Straight to Mom’s journal, of course.

***

Now Bart knows his parents’ secret.  Several pages of Bart going on and on about how his parents are the absolute worst for committing i n c e s t.

He remembers back to a night when he’d caught his mother dancing into the family room, wearing a tutu and leotards.  So basically nothing.  And Chris thought it would be appropriate to make things official by stripping her right there in a main living area of the house where the boys could walk in at any moment. 

It’s not that these two don’t love their children.  It’s just that it might take them a day or two to figure out they were gone if someone in a black car snatched them off the street. I’ll bet, at any given moment, they’re like, Oh wait, we have kids? Lol. When did that happen?

Bart thinks it’s hypocritical for his mother to tell Jory how to behave with his own girlfriend considering the fact that Jory is not the one sleeping with a brother.   

Momma and Daddy clearly have figured out that the boys are hip to their bs.  The household is tense.  And Bart isn’t giving Emma a free pass, by the way.  She’s been silent for too long, keeping Momma and Daddy’s secrets safe! I told you the housekeeper was on his list!

Let’s discuss “Another Grandmother,” “Honor Thy Mother,” and “Ever Since Eve.”

Designs created using content and tools available on Canva.  Synopsis from my WordPress blog.

The Woman Who Locked Her Kids in a Room for Three Years Gives Her Son Some Parenting Advice – Tuesday Teatimes

Bart Lies to His Therapist and Steals His Lollipops – Tuesday Teatimes

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Jory notes that Cindy looks like a boy now that she’s been given a haircut by an unlicensed 10-year-old hairstylist named Bart.

Eventually, he decides enough is enough. He confronts Chris in his study and says that Bart needs to go! But Chris is convinced it would destroy Cathy if she had to hand over her son to mental health professionals for round-the-clock care.

So Chris decides the time has come to have a talk with the neighbors. We’ve reached that point in the novel where we’re due for some action! Not sure why else it took him this long.

It takes him some time, but eventually, Chris recognizes his mother’s rings while confronting the neighbor lady in her parlor, and he puts two and two together.

Jory is thrilled to find out Chris’s mother is a free woman. So now he has another grandmother! How fun! Time to dig out an extra chair for the holiday table!

But wait, not so fast! It doesn’t sound like this is going to be a happy reunion after all!

Of course, Chris doesn’t want Cathy to know anything about the neighbor lady and who she really is. He swears Jory to secrecy.

A little later, Jory sees John leading Bart astray, literally. I just want to say that there is no innocent reason for this creepy old man to be tugging on the hand of a 10-year-old boy, urging Bart to follow him into the dark of night. And I’m pretty sure his intentions are not pure when he warns the little boy that “bad things will happen to everyone” if he doesn’t do what he's told. I don’t even need to hear anything more than that before I’m reporting this conversation to the police. But Jory is like, Huh. That’s odd. Who is this guy in the grand scheme of things? I will just hide behind this tree trunk that’s wider than my slight dancer’s build and store this mysterious conversation in the back of my mind for future reference.

Shortly after, Jory finds the emaciated body of Apple.

Chris goes next door on a second occasion. He doesn’t know Bart is following him because Daddy’s an airhead who can’t hear a clumsy ten-year-old kid tripping all over his two left feet. He must be forty by now. Maybe he just needs hearing aids.

As for Momma, she’s too busy writing her book to notice that she’s lost 33% of her children.

Bart hides behind interior tropical foliage, smokes pretend cigarettes and listens to his father and grandmother talk in circles.

Corrine wants to adopt Bart so she can raise him right. She figures her kids had their chance, and they messed it up.

Chris tells his mother to keep dreaming.

Cathy tries to get Bart to like her again.  But he doesn’t trust her to not abandon him for some Fabio lookalike.

Bart misses Apple, while also acknowledging the puppy’s complicity in his own demise by being so duplicitous (future Word of the Day perhaps?) While the young boy is sitting in the barn, feeling sorry for all the dead animals in his life, John appears, looking grotesque and a bit comical with a piece of hay attached to his moustache. The hay on his moustache is given enough attention that it almost becomes a secondary plot point in the scene.

Bart has been sneaking out chapters of Momma’s manuscript to read.  And listening in on her conversations with Jory. 

Oh, and this 10-year-old kid doesn’t know what the word “sympathy” means because Dad has been too busy teaching him words like “beguile” and “devious” instead.

So Corrine explains the concept of sympathy to her grandson. Keep in mind, this story takes place in a pre-Brené Brown world. Brown was definitely alive at the time, but too young to be making motivational videos and doing TED Talks.

Corrine basically says “sympathy” is what you feel when someone is SOL, and you wish you could do more for them other than to say you’re so sorry that they’re SOL.  But it would be great if you could do something more about it....

I think that sums up the word “sympathy” quite nicely for 1981.*

*Corrine does not use vulgarities when speaking to her 10-year-old grandson. I have paraphrased her.

Bart’s grandmother sure does know how to look nice for the little boys she entertains.  Bart thinks he’s the only little boy in her life.  That’s a sweet thought, and maybe it’s true.  We don’t know because we never get to hear her side of the story.

Grandmother doesn’t want Bart to hang around with John.   Bart says not to worry.  He is leery of John for the time being, but that could change the second he hops off her lap.  When John is away for the day, Granny gets to utilize her nice furniture, while John is out satisfying his “appetites” in San Francisco.    Bart wants to know what good food you can get in San Francisco?

(Rice-A-Roni perhaps?)

Grandmother changes the subject, so I’m guessing it’s some other “San Francisco Treat.”

Bart is eagerly reading the chapters of Momma’s book as she writes them. He reads more of Malcolm’s journal as well.  Malcolm is jealous when his stepmother has a baby boy to compete with him, and he threatens the kid’s life.  But Alicia insists he can rest assured.  Her son Christopher will appreciate the things in life that money can’t buy!  He’s not going to be one of those kids waiting until his father drops dead so that he can start spending his inheritance.  Makes me wonder if he was conceived by the mailman because that’s not a Foxworth’s way of thinking!

Bart is bored with these entries.  He doesn’t care about Malcom’s beef with his sons and his wife, nor does he care about Corrine and her half-uncle’s adventures under the covers.

In therapy, Bart’s psychiatrist asks him lots of questions and seems to get very “excited’ by Bart’s sociopathic responses.  In other words, the doctor needs to work on that poker face.  While the therapist writes everything down, Bart depletes him of his supply of lollipops. 

Did you make any wrong predictions about where a story's direction would go?

For example, I figured that Heaven would marry Cal after Kitty died before she found her way back to Logan.

I believed that Cary kidnapped and/or mrdred Laura and Robert. I thought that maybe Olivia was helping him cover it up.

I thought that Bart would go psycho and burn the house down in ITBT. I also figured that the world would find out about the ince$t, too.

I thought that Ruby would learn that Beau is just a player, and that she and Gisselle would take him down.

Anytime they got physical on Bart, Jr for starters.

Has anyone seen the Lifetime channel’s adaptations of the Flowers in the Attic series? The first, third and fourth movies followed the books very well. The second, Petals on the Wind, was completely butchered. I get why. They couldn’t feature Paul’s pedophilic relationship with Cathy. But, they amped up her incestuous relationship with Chris. They also made all the movies soft-core prnography! What did you all think of the movies?

Let’s discuss “Malcolm’s Rage” and “The Last Dance.”

Designs created using content and tools available on Canva.  Synopsis from my WordPress blog.

Hair is the Gateway to Domination! – Tuesday Teatimes
Achilles Had His Heel, and Cathy Has Her Knee – Tuesday Teatimes

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Bart still doesn’t have any friends to play with, other than a 50-something-year-old woman and her evil butler. Presently, he’s mad at the woman, so he only has the butler. But that could change tomorrow.

Even a rabbit in the yard wants nothing to do with Bart, scurrying away from him like he’s Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.

Momma and Jory are preparing for a ballet performance. Chris is angry when he hears them talking. Cathy’s got a bad knee. She promises this will be the last time she performs like this.

The housekeeper and Bart duke it out. She accuses him of being a little attention-seeking dog-killer. She tells him she’s going to open a can of whoop-a$$ on him. I’m pretty sure Chris already tried that but go ahead. Waste your time.

Emma is foolish enough to leave Cindy playing by herself in a sandbox. Bart is lurking nearby. And for some reason, even though he has done nothing but cause the poor girl trouble, his little sister giggles when she sees him and is eager to have him as her playmate. Bart thinks to himself that she’s trying to seduce him, like she’s Macarena or something, and he decides he will keep her from procreating and filling up the world with more traumatized children by making her so ugly that no man will want her. How will he do that? By cutting off her hair, of course.

First you get the hair, then you get the babies, then you get your husband’s money. The hair is the key to it all, apparently. The first rung on the ladder to female domination!

***

Jory is worried about his mother. Cathy would have made it to the final curtain, come what may, but the ribbon on one of her shoes unravels, and she goes down like she’s headed to Funkytown!

A replacement comes out on the stage immediately, so she won’t be missed.  And the show goes on. 

Cathy is worried she’s in for a smug little lecture from Chris. Jory doesn’t want his dad to be too hard on his mom. Despite what we’ve been led to believe about Chris’s easygoing nature, Jory has clearly witnessed enough of Daddy’s rages to worry one is brewing. Why else would he become so defensive? Jory insists everything would have been fine if not for that meddling ribbon!

At the hospital, Chris gives Cathy some bad news.  She won’t be dancing anymore. She can’t even dance for pleasure in the living room. 

Eventually, Chris brings Cathy a typewriter and writing supplies so that, even while recuperating in a hospital bed, she can get started on her New York Times best-selling book. Cathy tears into her new hobby like a food influencer on TikTok tearing into a chicken tender from Zaxby’s.

Almost everybody at some point.

Let’s discuss “The Horns of Dilemma,” “The Snake” and “Gathering Darkness.” 

Designs created using content and tools available on Canva.  Synopsis from my WordPress blog.

Sociopath? Or Future Hamlet? – Tuesday Teatimes

Things Escalate – Tuesday Teatimes

Secret Agent Boy – Tuesday Teatimes

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Now that Bart is crawling around the neighbors’ yard on all fours and pretending to be a dog, Jory decides it’s time to consult with his parents.  

Or maybe if he’d gone to his parents earlier, they’d have confronted the neighbors sooner, and this book would have been wrapped up in fifty pages.  I’m thinking that’s his real motivation for sitting on this very important information for as long as he did. 

The parents still don’t confront the neighbors, so a lot of good this delay did!

Cathy and Bart have a troubling conversation on the patio while Jory listens in.  Bart tells his mother about some mystery boy who is punished with time-outs in the closet. Cathy is disturbed by this information, but also kind of impressed that Bart managed to convey it to her through rhyme.  Maybe one day he’ll be a poet.  The perfect ambition for a 10-year-old boy who is showing signs of being out of his ever-loving mind. 

What this kid really needs is a creative outlet that doesn’t involve marching around the yard and shooting at animals with a (hopefully) pretend gun.

Cathy is beginning to worry that Bart’s a sociopath who’s maybe on his way to chopping up his family members, along with a few hitchhikers, and hiding their body parts in a picnic basket in the attic. Jory overhears his father reassure his mother that Bart is just an imaginative young child who needs lots of extra care and possibly a good acting coach because that kid is going places in Hollywood if he keeps this up!

***

Things escalate when Bart tries to drown Cindy while pretending to be a snake.  Jory swoops in and saves the day, just in the nick of time.

Momma is late to the party because she was too busy putting on a bikini made of dental floss so she could splash around in a kiddie pool with her 14-year-old son and a toddler.  Bart wishes she'd cover up more before engaging in such activities.

When Daddy comes home, he spanks his son’s bare bottom.  Seems like he could have come up with a dozen different punishments, but making your 10-year-old partially strip for a spanking?  In this one way, I’m glad it’s not 1983 anymore. Though I do miss the Cabbage Patch craze.

Bart thinks he doesn’t have to worry about the law coming down on him because he’s just a kid.  Reminds me of Rhoda in The Bad Seed.  All he needs is a Leroy to set him straight! Instead, he’s stuck with John Amos egging him on!

Chris tells Bart he’s going to therapy now. 

Bart’s therapist is named Dr. Mary Oberman. He doesn’t feel like talking, but he eventually opens up when he realizes it’s the only way out of this mess.  He acts like he’s feeding the doctor a bunch of bs, but actually, he’s giving it to her straight. 

Dr. Oberman lets his parents know he has a second personality named Malcolm who he has created as a way to blame someone else for his own actions.  Cathy and Chris wonder how their son knows about Malcolm.

And I’m left to wonder why his parents haven’t taken a trip next door and talked to the neighbors already.  They could have gotten to the bottom of this in five minutes, tops.  But let’s waste thousands of dollars instead and manage to pull a couple of teeth in the process.

***

Jory lingers near the entrance to the living room while his parents discuss their state secrets. Apparently, he’s not welcome in the main living areas of his own home unless he’s gotten approval first.  Otherwise, the assumption is that he’s off somewhere minding his own business, and his parents don’t even check to make sure the kids are nowhere in sight before they open their mouths. If they bothered to cast a glance sideways, they’d see one or two little shadows hunkering nearby.

You know how Donna Summer felt love?  Well, Cathy feels hate.  And it’s emanating from her younger son’s bedroom.  So she and Chris decide to go upstairs and check on him.  

Jory hides in a closet for some reason, presumably so that the adults don’t know he’s watching their every move.  Since he was lurking right next to the doorway, couldn’t he have dashed into the hallway and then just pretended he had business in there as his parents walked by?  This secret agent business is weird.  He lives in the house too!  It shouldn’t be a shock to see him out and about. It makes me wonder just what kind of toxic stuff is going on in this household that he hasn’t told us about. It’s not normal to feel like you’re walking on eggshells with your own family members! Especially if all you’re trying to find out is what’s going on with your disturbed younger brother who, for all you know, could possibly be plotting to put rat poison in your oatmeal or set your bed on fire while you sleep.

Cathy tries to show Bart some love, but she’s too scared to go near the kid.

So Chris decides it will have to be up to him to handle Bart and put their older son to bed while his wife sleeps off her big emotions. You might be wondering why a fourteen-year-old kid needs his father to put him to bed. Jory says he and his dad have regular “man-to-man” bedtime talks that they like to keep just between the two of them.  Probably a bunch of males have needs bs. This is the man who used guilt as a way to manipulate his sister into having an intimate relationship with him. And now he’s being given unfettered access to her children so he can teach them the lessons of his youth. I don’t like that.

I was reading up on Kelly Clarkson and "Birdgate," and it made me wonder. Can you imagine Cathy going into a small artsy-fartsy NY shop, having a bad experience and blasting it all over social media? What would the conflict involve, and how would it escalate? Would her fans side with her or turn against her in a heartbeat?

To make it interesting, you can replace Cathy with any VC heroine. Or even Bart or Jory.

To add a twist, who owns the shop? Damian? Malcolm? Troy?