Hello again; as I write this, it's shaping up to be a rather warm and, well, stress-inducing summer. This is, of course, due to worrying about the damage Elly will do without anyone to keep her in check. Having that hang over people's heads adds to a long list of letter-delaying issues that Mike and Deanna already have. First off, he has to help a friend of theirs relocate to one of his friend Josef's apartment buildings. It seems that this Tim fellow and his children were held hostage by his abusive spouse. It seems sort of odd to hear that in a conversation but that's simply because the media have ignored the issue. As a nurse, I saw that sort of thing all the time; Hell, I even made the stupid and inappropriate non-jokes about their having something nobody deserves coming. Tim's ex is currently in anger management but that doesn't mean he's foolhardy enough to drop the restraining order.
An unintended benefit of that was that it afforded him a convenient means of disguising who his older sister Claire was; as far as John and Elly know, she's one of Carleen's friends. I shouldn't have to explain why that's a good thing given how her fear of exposure is why she's lost her grip on reality; seeing her nightmare come true would probably cause her to do something rash. As for the visit itself, it went fairly well after the shock wore off. Mike, you see, didn't realize who she was until she arrived despite the broad hints everyone around him was dropping. That's pretty much because he has too much on his plate. Anyhow, after he grumbled about Elizabeth thinking he was as fragile as Elly, he, Claire and April (who took a few minutes away form preparing to head out to Manitoba) had a fairly nice chat. From what I understand, she's not looking to make trouble or intrude where she isn't wanted. She simply wants to figure out who Elly Richards was. Mike couldn't give her what she needed despite wishing he could. For that, she had to watch a video will Mr Richards made years ago. As you could expect he explained that he had no choice to do what he did, he regretted how he made Elly feel like she wasn't good enough, how he wanted to reconcile with her but could never find the words and so on and so forth. She promised that she and her family would visit him this summer for an afternoon so that her children could see their distant cousins. That being said, I hope they don't mind missing out on meeting Robin or talking to Deanna for most of it; that's because he and Mike will be either coming from or going to the clinic they've arranged for him. Touching base with family is nice but his health comes first.
So, to change the subject, is the well-being of a new-born. That's because Elizabeth and her Vancouver-bound relatives are busy taking care of the newest addition to the family: James Allen Caine. The photo that showed up in my inbox last Thursday is that of a fairly healthy looking dark-haired child; that's sort of a problem because fair-haired Liz can't convince red-haired Anthony that, since they're both exceptions to a dark-haired rule, that this sort of thing is normal. Hell, she can't get him to see that she'd be foolish to do things Elly's way even if she were lucid. God, what a winner she narried, eh? Good thing for her piece of mind that the most thing he'll do is pout and act all wounded. It's sort of sad to say but I don't see their marriage lasting longer; just ask Therese. Like Liz, she's took therapy a lot more seriously than Anthony and her marriage went down the spout. I just hope that he doesn't find a twin of Mike's friend Tracey over there; if he connects with another Rosie Gamgee lookalike, all bets are off.
Anyhow, that's a tragedy for another day; I have to get back to more life-affirming concerns. I hope you have a good month and that Elly doesn't do anything to menace Mike's plans.