Day 25: 43,037 Words and the Neighbourhood Historical Society Arrives at Jackie's Place

 In the home stretch now, with still a lot of story left to go... but introduced another foe- the Neighbourhood Historical Society. 

“Well, Mr. Bauer, I can see you have made none of the changes that the Neighbourhood Historical Society suggested,” the woman said, and Jackie glared at her balefully.

“First of all, Toots, you know the rules,” he said, pointing wildly in the direction of the bar, but not steering her toward it. “No cops.” She looked chagrined.

“I am not a police officer,” she corrected, her voice coiled with anger.

“You are from the Neighbourhood Historical Society, which we both know amounts to the same thing,” he said, cutting her off. “And furthermore,” he continued, “the changes were, as you said, suggestions.”

Toots gritted her teeth in frustration. “You know as well as I do, Mr. Bauer, that if all of the neighbourhood establishments do not act according to the suggestions, then the suggestions quickly become meaningless!” 

The Jackie Bauer that Dylann had known was a grumpy but ultimately caring man, gruff in his mannerisms, but tender-hearted. She had never seen the side of Jackie that the unfortunately named Toots McRuff of the Neighbourhood Historical Society was about to cross swords with. His eyes blazed with barely concealed rage, and his body stiffened with the tense alertness of a soldier. His voice dropped to a gravelly whisper. “I am still proprietor of this establishment, Toots. And you and I both know that that means something. Do not test me.” He said, threat dripping from every papery whispered word. 

Toots McRuff shrank from the wrath of his glare, but quickly regained her bluster. The Neighbourhood Historical Society can not be held down for long. 

“Alright, Mr. Bauer,” she said, sneering. “I will leave you for now. But I will be back. And I am bringing others with me. The time of lawlessness in this establishment is coming to an end. The suggestions will not remain suggestions forever. You and I both know that sooner or later, they will be enforced. And then proprietor or no, you will obey.”

While Jackie is crossing swords with the unfortunately named Toots McRuff, Dylann writes another blog post:

The Place on the Edge of Time

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived at the edge of the woods. The woods were a dark place, filled with monsters and unknown dangers. She never ventured there, but stayed in her house on the edge of time, waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for something to happen. But the woods have a way of creeping into even the safest of havens, and so it was that one day, there came a knock on the door, and the girl, who was a fool, opened it.

“I am your grandmother,” said the woman, and the girl knew that although the woman looked like her grandmother, and sounded like her grandmother, and was dressed in her grandmother’s clothes, that she was not her grandmother at all. She was a wolf.

“You have been a very naughty girl,” the grandmother who was a wolf said, and she curled her lips back from her teeth, which were very, very sharp. “But I am here to give you a list of rules that will keep you safe in this house forever and forever and forever. And all you have to do is follow them. All you have to do is be a very good girl and you can stay here forever, with me.”

The girl, who was not a girl at all, but a grown woman, knew a lie when she heard one, just as she knew a wolf when she saw one, even one as cleverly disguised as her harmless old grandmother.

“I will not follow your rules. And I will not stay here any longer.” She said, and as the words left her mouth, she realized that they were true. And she was no longer afraid.

Dylann’s hands had ceased their shaking. She hit ‘Publish’ and the world turned upside down.