This graphic pretty much expresses the final conclusion of the now-dominant population of Mercy House Shelter, my current and temporary residence. More about that later, but first a news item or two and some gratitude expressed:
1. "Rosencrantz" and "Guildenstern" never got to talk to the Assistant District Attorney yesterday because Mondays are too busy a court day for court people to deal with literary characters, no matter how illustrious. Minor characters in Mr. Shakespeare's HAMLET, the boys were such memorable clowns/spies that W. S. Gilbert's satire Rosencrantz and Guildenstern starred them in key roles and later, they became alienated heroes of Tom Stoppard's absurdist play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead .
Today, I am honored that they are two of my pals in REAL LIFE!!! (except, of course, when they're misbehaving, which can be more often than frequent).
2. High Drama at the shelter last night when James Sharpe smacked my just-gotten meal out of my hands (spraying gravy all over my T-shirt), and James "Whitehead" (once again) inexplicably came to his irrational defense. I'm not going to report all the details (except to legal authorities), but in discussion with a couple of shelter managers, we agreed that I should take out Restraining Orders against BOTH of them, and while I had fully intended to do that, my instincts tell me to only take one out on Sharpe, who has deliberately and consciously caused me many difficulties over many months' time.
At one point after insisting I had "tripped and spilled my dinner" and then brandishing his fist, which he'd wrapped in a cloth to protect his knuckles should he punch me in my bony face, Whitehead insisted he had tried to "save me," so I have decided to return the favor and commit him to a mental hospital so that his meds can be properly re-adjusted.
He and I have NOTHING to keep us from being friends and I did EVERYTHING he asked when he was last psychotic -- I even gave him the money to change his phone number, which was MY idea, not his. But the criminal James Sharpe somehow got him off center again and back ready to take the legal fall for physically harming me. A few others cheered them, but the majority of residents and non-residents watched it all with humor -- as they should have.
I only wish Whitehead's friend James Flowers were here (he's reported to be away due to family difficulties). Flowers and Whitehead palled around all the time and in the best humor. Additionally, Flowers showed true sensitivity and love in the way he was mentoring Whitehead to prepare for his GED exam. I only wish James Whitehead the best, so I will hold off on committing him until he gets aggressive with me again -- if he does. I trust he will regain his sense of humor. And in ANY case, unlike James Sharpe, he has not actually been minor-violent with me in a way that adds the cost of laundering a shirt.
And James Sharpe's violence was the teeny tip of a MUCH more violent lava-surge, now on the verge of erupting. Don't mistake this for a sexual eruption -- Sharpe appears by all reports to be asexual (possibly a side-effect of his drugs).
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>>> NOW TO THE GRATITUDE: This morning, I ran into local wag Bob Jenkins rhapturizing once again on local history to a spell-bound group of women. I first met Bob in early 1990, when I was in Wilmington trying to find out about the heritage of my distant and close Kenan relatives. At the time, I found him in the Dixie Grill, and for $20.00 American, hired him to give me "The Kenan Tour of Wilmington," which he did.
You see, my own parents are Kenan Family deniars -- claiming (erroniously) that our branch of the family (descended from William -- I've previously mis-reported "from Felix") is not related to the brothers Thomas and Felix. Actually, all came from Ireland (where the family lived after fleeing Scotland about 30 years before -- this group of Scots are properly called "Ulster Scots"). Additionally, my parents claimed they are not of the True Catholic Religion and what they accomplished was of little importance.
Au Contrare!!!
So, it was the eye-opening (at that time I'd had no access to Alvaretta Kenan Register's not-yet-revised-and-published-by-Mercer-University-Press THE KENAN FAMILY AND SOME ALLIED FAMILIES since soon after it was published in 1967 when I was in high school) that began my search for the truth about my family and its legacy.
I owe Bob Jenkins of Wilmington Adventure Tours a HUGE debt of gratitude, and recommend him as a tour guide for tours of ALL TYPES in the Wilmington area. Rather than risk crank calls (like Whitehead claims he got after I inadvertently published his phone number on this blog), I can tell you that any Wilmingtonian with a love of history -- or any tourist or history organization in town -- can put you in contact with Bob.
THANKS BUDDY: YOU REALLY PUT "ADVENTURE" IN MY "WILMINGTON." HA!!!
Scott
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