Morning all. It is a frosty one today. I love how we were just dropped into the 20s from the 70s as soon as the calendar page flipped. But let us warm our suddenly frosty fingers up with a morning prompt. So timers ready and off we go.
I think something is definitely going on with TJ and I suspect pour Neal isn’t going to be able to stay out of it. Not sure what the story is yet. that may require a bit of a think. I’ll think after coffee.
Thursday, November 2nd: He ambled down the street.
He ambled down the street. It looked as though he hadn’t a care in the world. ‘And why would he, Neal thought. Timothy Branson was king or all he surveyed. ‘Or at least a princeling,’ Neal corrected.
Tim Branson, Sr. was actually the king. He owned the factory where people worked. He owned the stores that sold the goods the people who worked for him needed to buy to survive. He owned the television station and at least two of the radio stations. He made sure that every elected official was one of his choosing, often a member of his family and Neal was pretty sure he owned most of the police as well.
His son walking around as though he owned the entire town was simply an early claiming of his inheritance a far as Tim, jr or TJ as he was usually called, was concerned. Neal never really envied TJ. He knew everyone wanted to be his friend, but Neal assumed TJ wouldn’t be able to tell who his real friends were and who just wanted the reflected glory of association. Neal didn’t have many friends but he knew they were real.
TJ could afford the best name brand clothing, the finest of foods and pretty much the best of everything. Neal was always happy with his lot. He didn’t intersect much with TJ, in fact his mother openly encouraged him to avoid TJ.
‘Each to their own,’ she told him. ‘They could cause trouble if they wanted for no reason.”
Neal was never certain what sort of trouble his mother feared, but he knew that even if his grandfather’s business wasn’t controlled directly by the Branson family, the people who shopped there worked for Branson. His ire could cause them to shop elsewhere. He saw no reason to mix but equally saw no reason to stay away. Lately though, things were changing, at least with regards to the way he viewed TJ. TJ had always done what he wanted with few repercussions. He was his mother’s angel and his father’s heir. Nothing could touch him unless something caused his father’s disapproval.
While Tim, Sr hadn’t voiced any disapproval, there were rumors of TJ’s increasingly wild behavior. Stories of people covering things up drifted to Neal’s ears. What they were covering up he didn’t know, details were not mentioned in his presence by those who knew. There was speculation among those who didn’t know anything though and the rumors ran the gamut from drugs, alcohol and sex to alien secret biotech experiments in one of the abandoned buildings in the industrial complex.
Whatever the truth it seemed like TJ was primed for some sort of calamity and Neal wanted no part of it.
Ten til Midnight 