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kemetic-dreams · 3 months

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Anthony Burns was born enslaved in Stafford County, Virginia on May 31, 1834. His mother was the slave of a certain John Suttle and served as a cook for the Suttle family. She bore 13 children in total, with Anthony being her youngest. Anthony's father was rumored to be a free man who worked as a supervisor in a quarry in Virginia who later died from stone dust inhalation.

Burns's master, John Suttle, died shortly after Anthony’s birth. His widowed wife took over his estate and sold Burns’s older siblings in order to prevent bankruptcy. Eventually, Burns’s mother was also sold, or rented out to some other family. Anthony did not see her for two years, when Mrs. Suttle went to collect the revenue from her being hired out as a laborer. When Anthony was six years old, Mrs. Suttle died. Her property, including Anthony, was inherited by her eldest son, Charles F. Suttle.

In order to repay the family’s existing debts, Charles mortgaged his slaves and continued his mother’s financial practices to prevent further bankruptcy. During this time, Burns began his earliest tasks while enslaved. Burns looked after his niece so that his sister was available for labor, and stayed at the House of Horton where his sister lived and worked. Here, Burns was introduced to education by the children who lived there; they taught Burns the alphabet in exchange for small services.

At the age of 7, Burns was hired out to three single women (referred to as maidens in the historic text) to work for $15 a year, paid to his master. His jobs included running necessary errands and collecting their weekly supply of cornmeal from the nearby mill. It was during this time that Burns was first exposed to religion. At the age of 8, Burns went to work for $25 a year and was again offered a chance to learn. In this job, the children taught Burns how to spell through their own spelling worksheets from school; in return, Anthony performed antics for their entertainment. Burns worked in this capacity for two years and left due to poor treatment.

Burns was next leased by William Brent. Brent was the husband of a rich young woman, and lived off her wealth, including the labor of numerous slaves. His wife was extremely kind to Anthony and he stayed there for two years, earning Suttle a total of $100. Under Brent’s supervision, Anthony learned about a land up North where black people were not enslaved. He began dreaming of his escape and freedom. Anthony refused to remain under Brent’s employment for a third year, although Suttle was satisfied with this position. Suttle humored Burns’s wishes to find his own employment, since he knew it was worth more to have a willing slave than many reluctant slaves.

Anthony entered the hiring ground to find a new master under a lease hire arrangement. Eventually, Suttle entered negotiations with Foote, who wanted Anthony to work in his saw-mill for $75 a year. Anthony was 12–13 years old at this time, and did not want to remain enslaved. In his new capacity, Anthony continued his education with Foote’s daughter, but otherwise dealt with many cruelties. Foote and his wife proved to be Anthony’s severest owners, and beat even their youngest slaves without sympathy. Some 2–3 months into his service, Anthony mangled his hand in the wheel after Foote turned it on without prior warning. Anthony was discharged because of the injury and was returned to live with Suttle as he recovered.

While recovering from the injury to his hand, Anthony had a religious awakening, that superseded other experiences. Simultaneously, Millerism was introduced to his small county in Virginia, and Burns was excited by the religious fervor that spread like wildfire. Suttle refused his request to be baptized, saying that Anthony would turn to sin if he joined the Church.

However, after Anthony returned to his employment under Foote, Suttle gave Anthony permission to get baptized. Suttle took Anthony to the Baptist Church in Falmouth, which accepted everyone in its congregation. During mass (communion), the free whites and enslaved blacks were separated by a partition. Two years later, Anthony was given the chance to preach to a group of church members and appointed as a preacher at this church. Anthony used this new position to preach exclusively to assemblies of enslaved persons, although Virginia nominally required all-black congregations to be supervised by a white minister. According to Anthony, if a law officer discovered the blacks in their meeting, any enslaved persons who did not escape would be put into cages and given 39 lashes the following day. Additionally, Anthony performed marriages and funerals for enslaved persons as a preacher.

As previously mentioned, Anthony returned to Foote’s employment after his hand healed. He finished his year of service and was hired by a new master in Falmouth, Virginia, where his church was located. His new master loaned Burns to a merchant for six months of his year of service. Burns was treated horribly by that man, so he refused to remain with the lessee after his year of service was completed.

For the next year, Anthony moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he worked under a tavern-keeper. He earned $100 for his master by this service. A year later, Anthony went to work in an apothecary in the same city. He met a fortune teller who promised him freedom within the next few months.

A short time later, Suttle hired William Brent (Anthony’s former master) to manage hiring out his slaves for fees each year. Brent moved Anthony to Richmond, Virginia, at the end of his year of service. The young man was excited to work in a city with ships that sailed down the James River and then through the Chesapeake Bay to the North. In Richmond, Brent hired Anthony out to his brother-in-law, whom Anthony did not get along with. By this time, Anthony was skilled at reading and writing, especially compared to other slaves. With his knowledge, he set up a makeshift school to teach slaves of all ages how to read and write; this was kept secret from their masters in Richmond. At the end of his year of service with Brent’s brother-in-law, Burns was employed by a man named Millspaugh.

Millspaugh quickly realized that he did not have enough work for Anthony to earn a profit on him, so he set Anthony out into the city to work small jobs and earn money for him. Although they originally set up a daily meeting, they changed it to meet up once every two weeks since Anthony only made a small sum, if any, each day. In his job search, Anthony was pushed to escape by the sailors and freemen he worked with. The only thing holding him back was a sense of religious duty towards his owner, but he justified his escape with the Epistle to Philemon and eliminated any religious qualms he had with leaving. In one of their biweekly meetings, Anthony gave Millspaugh $25 as his earnings that month, and after being presented with such a large sum, his master required Anthony to visit him daily. Anthony refused and walked out on his master without his consent, thus making his escape much more pressing than it would have been if he had had two weeks to plan and execute it. Anthony devised a plan with a sailor friend he met during his work on a vessel in the harbor, and one morning in early February 1854, Anthony boarded the vessel that would take him to the North.

We went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, compromise Union Whigs & waked up stark mad Abolitionists.

— Amos Adams Lawrence, Conscience Whig, on the Anthony Burns affair, 1854

Anthony Burns left Richmond, Virginia one early February morning in 1854. His friend stowed him away in a small compartment on the ship, and Anthony immediately fell asleep after days of anxious and long nights. Upon waking up, the ship was already miles out of the harbor and on its way to Norfolk, Virginia before heading to Boston, Massachusetts. On the journey, Burns was stuck in the same position and in the same compartment without room for movement for a little over three weeks. In that time, he suffered from dehydration, starvation, and extreme sea sickness. His friend brought him food and water every 3–4 days, and it was just enough for Anthony to survive the trip to Boston.

The vessel reached Boston in late February or early March (the exact date is unknown), and Burns immediately began seeking new employment. At first, Anthony found a job as a cook on a ship, but was dismissed after one week since he could not make his bread rise. Next, Burns found employment under Collin Pitts, a colored man, in a clothing store on Brattle Street. However, Anthony only enjoyed one month of freedom in this capacity before being arrested.

While in Boston, Anthony sent a letter to his enslaved brother in Richmond and revealed his new home in Boston. His brother’s owner discovered the letter and conveyed the news of Burns’ escape to Suttle. Suttle went to a courthouse in Alexandria County, where the judge ruled that Suttle had enough proof that he owned Burns and could issue a warrant for his arrest under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The warrant was issued on May 24, 1854 and stated that Watson Freeman, the United States Marshal of Massachusetts, was required to arrest Anthony Burns and bring him before Judge Edward G. Loring to stand trial. On that same day, Deputy Marshal Asa O. Butman, an infamous slave hunter, was charged with the execution of the warrant.

On May 24, 1854, Butman scouted out Burns in the clothing store before arresting him. His goal was to make a peaceful arrest in order to not incite mob violence and have the mob rescue Burns before he could be returned to the South. After Burns and Pitts closed down their store, they walked separate ways to go home. While walking, Butman stopped Burns at the corner of the Court and Hanover street intersection and arrested him under the guise of a jewel store robbery. Burns, knowing he was innocent of that crime, complied with Butman and peacefully walked with him to the courthouse. At the courthouse, Burns expected to be confronted by the jewelry store owner, but was instead met with U.S. Marshal Freeman. In this moment, Burns knew he had been caught under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

By the first day of the trial, the prosecutors had succeeded in keeping the trial hidden from the public. However, Richard Henry Dana Jr. was passing by the courthouse an hour before the initial examination and heard about the proceedings of the day. Immediately, Dana entered the courthouse to talk to Burns and offer him his professional help. Initially Burns declined, citing it would be of no use, but reluctantly agreed due to Dana’s insistence.

In the initial hearing, the plaintiff (Charles Suttle) put William Brent on the stand to further verify Burns’ identity along with Suttle’s testimony. Brent was also asked to recall his conversation with Burns and Suttle the previous night right after Burns’ arrest, but Dana intervened on behalf of Burns and got the evidence thrown out for the time being. At the end of the hearing, commissioner Loring agreed to push further proceedings back to May 27, but they were again delayed until the 29th due to Burns’ late appointment of counsel. In an interview, Theodore Parker, witness to the trial, cited that Burns's hesitancy to accept counsel came from fear over how well Brent and Suttle knew him.

During the duration of the trial, Burns was kept in a jury-room under constant surveillance of armed guards. In this time, the guards tried to provoke and trick Anthony into slipping up and admitting to his status as a slave, but Burns evaded their tactics. The closest Burns came to self-admission was at the provocation of Suttle, who was outraged the public saw him as a harsh and abusive master to Anthony. Suttle asked Anthony to write a letter proving the contrary, but Leonard Grimes, a Boston clergyman and abolitionist, had Burns destroy the letter after seeing it as evidence to be used against him in the trial.

The final examination began on May 29, 1854. Armed soldiers lined the windows of the courthouse and prevented all officials and citizens from entering the courtroom. Even Dana, Burns’ senior counsel, couldn’t enter the courtroom until late into the examination. Thus, Charles Ellis, Burns’ junior counsel, was forced to begin the examination by arguing that it was unfit to continue while Suttle’s counsel carried firearms, but Loring rejected this sentiment. During the plaintiff’s argument, Loring approved their request to present the conversation between Suttle and Burns as evidence from the night of his arrest. As their final piece of evidence, they admitted the book that contained the Virginia court’s ruling in favor of Suttle.

When Burns’ counsel presented their defense, they focused on proving that Suttle’s timeline was off and they lacked sufficient evidence to show Burns was the slave who had run away. They brought in William Jones, a colored man who testified that he had met Anthony on the first day of March and described his relationship to Anthony through their time together in Boston. In addition, the counsel knew that the commissioner would be hesitant to accept the testimony of a colored man, so they called up 7 other witnesses to validate his story. As one of the witnesses, the counsel called up James Whittemore, a city council member of Boston. Whittemore testified that he had seen Burns in Boston around March 8, and identified him by his scars as proof.

In Loring’s final decision, he admitted that he thought the Fugitive Slave Act was a disgrace, but his job was to uphold the law. Loring stated that Suttle produced sufficient evidence to prove the fugitive slave Suttle described matched Anthony’s appearance, thus he ruled in favor of Suttle.

It has been estimated the government's cost of capturing and conducting Burns through the trial was upwards of $40,000 (equivalent to $1,303,000 in 2022).

Among the citizens interested in Burns’ trial was the Committee of Vigilance, which was founded after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The goal of the group was to prevent the execution of the Act for fugitives in Burns’ position. It was effective due to the diversity of its ranks, ranging from people of every socioeconomic status and race. In Burns’ case, the committee debated between two courses of actions: attacking the courthouse to forcibly rescue Anthony, and creating a crowd when they removed Burns from the courthouse to act as an immovable barrier. Between these two propositions, the committee ruled to go forth with the second and more peaceful plan, and additionally posted men at the courthouse to make sure the officials did not try to move Burns without their knowledge.

Although the committee itself agreed to go ahead with the peaceful plan, a faction of men planned to rescue Burns from the courthouse themselves. On Friday evening, May 26, the entire committee dispersed from their meeting in Faneuil Hall at around 9 p.m., when the men planned to hold their assault. By that time in the evening, they had gathered at least 25 men, all armed with various weapons such as, revolvers and axes. The crowd picked up members from the committee meeting as they made their way to the courthouse, and began their attack by breaking down the doors with axes and wooden construction beams. After breaking into the courthouse, a fight broke out between the guards and rioters, and resulted in the death of one of the guards, James Batchelder.

The riot did not get far after the police arrived as back-up, resulting in the arrest of many abolitionists. However, it is highly unlikely the attack would have been successful in rescuing Anthony since he was held in an extremely secure room in the top floor of the courthouse.

A grand jury indicted three of those involved in the attack at the courthouse. After an acquittal of one man and several hung juries in trials for the others, the federal government dropped the charges.

After the riot, President Franklin Pierce sent the United States Marines to Boston to aid the police in preventing further violence. Following the riot, the entire city of Boston was excited and awaiting the next phase of the trial. Once Loring’s decision was announced in favor of Suttle, the abolitionists began their preparations for Burns’ movement.

Following the trial, Marshal Freeman was tasked with successfully moving Burns from the courthouse without interference from the crowd in Boston. Jerome V. C. Smith, the mayor of Boston, was responsible for maintaining a peaceful crowd. With this news, the citizens of Boston set up interviews and tried to persuade the mayor to join their side of the cause and free Burns. Initially, the crowd succeeded in convincing the mayor to only implement one military company to guard the courthouse the day Burns was moved. Like Loring, Smith was against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, but did not feel as strongly about upholding it. Despite the mayor’s orders, Marshal Freeman felt as if one company would not be enough to maintain order while Burns was moved, and pushed the mayor to call in more troops. Mayor Smith ended up implementing an entire brigade of state militia to help clear the streets on the day of Burns’ transfer.

While the mayor was planning for crowd control, Freeman put together a band of 125 citizens of Boston to help move Burns. The Marshal swore these men in and armed them with various weapons, such as pistols and cutlasses. From the date of Loring’s decision until his departure on June 2, Burns was kept in the same jury room he was in during the trial. Throughout this time, Burns’ friends began making plans to purchase his freedom and no matter how much money they offered, Suttle refused to negotiate as long as Burns was under his service.

At 2 p.m. on June 2, 1854, Burns was escorted from the courthouse by Marshal Freeman and his men, along with an additional 140 U.S. Marines and infantrymen. State militia brigades lined the streets to keep the crowd at bay and to prevent any interference with the procession. Along their route, citizens left symbols to indicate the funeral of Burns’ liberty and freedom. One man suspended a black coffin and others draped their windows to show Burns they stood with him. At one point in their route, the guards made an unexpected turn into a road lined with spectators. The officers ran at them with bayonets and beat their way through the line of bystanders. One man, William Ela, was beaten with muskets down on the pavement, cut in the face, and put into confinement. Eventually, the officers and Burns reached the wharf where the vessel headed to Virginia was scheduled to depart from Boston. At 3:20 p.m., Suttle, Brent, and Burns left Boston for Virginia.

As a result of Burns’ trial, Massachusetts passed the most progressive liberty law the nation had seen up until 1854. The law stated that slave claimants were not allowed to be on state property, fugitive slaves were required to have a trial by jury, and slave claimants had to produce two credible and unbiased witnesses to prove the evidence in their case. Burns’ trial was the last rendition hearing for a fugitive slave in Massachusetts. Additionally, Loring suffered severe consequences at the hands of abolitionists in Boston. Harvard University refused to re-hire Loring in his faculty position in their school, and the Massachusetts legislature voted to remove Loring from his state position as a Probate Judge, but the governor never approved the removal. However, in 1857, a new governor was elected to the position and signed Loring’s removal address. This action prompted severe anger from politicians in Washington, D.C., and President James Buchanan appointed Loring to the Federal Court of Claims when a position opened up.

After leaving Massachusetts, Burns spent four months in a Richmond jail where he was prohibited from being in contact with other slaves. In November, Suttle sold Burns to David McDaniel for $905 and McDaniel brought Burns to his plantation in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. As an owner, McDaniel was firm and strong businessman, who constantly sold and traded his slaves. He had as few as 75 slaves on his plantation and as many as 150 slaves at other times. Burns was employed to be McDaniel’s coachman and stable-keeper, which was a relatively light workload compared to that of other slaves on the plantations. Instead of lodging with the other slaves, Burns received an office and ate meals in his master’s house. Due to this level of respect, Burns vowed never to run away from McDaniel as long as he was his master.

In addition to Burns’s level of care as a slave, Burns attended church twice while serving four months under McDaniel. Burns even held illegal religious meetings for his fellow slaves. Although discovered by McDaniel, the master did not punish Burns as he would have another slave. The overseer on the plantation resented Burns getting such special treatment, and threatened him with a pistol during one of their quarrels. Burns reported only to McDaniel as his supervisor and recognized only his orders. During these months of enslavement, Burns failed to notify his Northern friends of his location in the South.

One afternoon, Burns drove his mistress to a neighbor’s house. In the outing, a neighbor recognized Burns as the slave who had caused commotion with his trial in the North. A young lady overheard the neighbor recalling the story, and repeated it in a letter to her sister in Massachusetts. Her sister, after receiving the letter, told the story to her social circle, including Reverend Stockwell, who told Leonard Grimes. He was a known abolitionist who had spent his life helping fugitive slaves escape from Washington, D.C. Later he built the Church of Fugitive Slaves in Boston. Stockwell wrote to McDaniel to begin negotiations for Burns’s purchase, and McDaniel responded, saying he would sell Burns for $1300. In the two weeks before they left for Baltimore to meet McDaniel and Burns, Grimes collected sufficient funds for Burns’s purchase, while Stockwell covered the expenses for their journey. Grimes departed by himself after Stockwell failed to show up.

McDaniel knew he was going against public sentiment in North Carolina by selling Burns to the Northerners, so he swore Anthony to secrecy. On their train to Norfolk, a confidant of McDaniel spread the rumor that the fugitive slave notorious from Boston was on board the train. Many passengers and even the conductor were outraged. The latter said he would not have let Burns onboard if he had known who he was. McDaniel held firm and kept the crowd at bay in their journey. When they arrived in Norfolk, Burns boarded their ship to Baltimore before McDaniel did. There he encountered another curious, unruly crowd. When McDaniel arrived, the crowd's anger was directed at him. Some men tried to buy Burns for more money than Grimes was paying for his freedom. McDaniel refused but compromised with the crowd by agreeing to sell Burns if the purchasers never arrived.

In Baltimore, Burns and McDaniel met Grimes at Barnum’s Hotel. They arrived two hours after Grimes, and immediately began negotiations. The payment was delayed after McDaniel demanded cash instead of the cheque Grimes produced. Eventually, the cash was exchanged, and Anthony’s freedom was purchased. Upon leaving the hotel, Grimes and Burns met Stockwell at the entrance. He accompanied the men to the train station. Burns spent his first night as a free man in Philadelphia.

Anthony Burns reached Boston in early March, where he was met with a public celebration of his freedom. Eventually, Burns enrolled at Oberlin College with a scholarship. He entered a seminary in Cincinnati to continue religious studies.

After briefly preaching in Indianapolis, in 1860 Burns moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada in 1860 to accept a call from Zion Baptist Church. Thousands of African Americans had migrated to Canada as refugees from slavery in the antebellum years, establishing communities in Ontario.

Burns died from tuberculosis on July 17,

#african #afrakan #kemetic dreams #brownskin #africans #afrakans #brown skin #african culture #Anthony Burns

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sassyfrassboss · 1 year

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Where did all the money go?

So we keep coming back to the fact that Harry & Meghan are broke, like on the verge of bankruptcy broke.

Going back over the past 5 years I am going to delve into their finances.

Meghan was estimates to be worth $5m when she married Harry. Now, we know this just isn’t in fact true. While Meghan may have earned close to $5m while appearing on Suits, she also had to pay her agent, PR people, attorneys, etc. By the time that is all said and done, she was probably closer to $1.5 million, and that’s being generous.

Now Harry is said to have had about $20m at the time from his inheritance from Diana. This was due to not having to touch that money so it was able to accumulate over time. There are also rumors that he received about $3m from The Queen Mother (this has been heavily disputed) and will be set to receive about another $4m from that trust on his 40th birthday.

While a working royal, Harry was only responsible for paying for personal items such as clothing and travel. He never had to pay a mortgage, electricity bill, or car payment.

I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he had about $25m at the time he married Meghan. With her income we can say that as of May 2018 they were worth a combined $26.5m (this does not include her merching money from 2016).

So they lived in Nott Cott and according to them, had no staff because the place was just “so tiny!”

From November 2017 until March 2020, I would say Meghan has probably earned close to $20m in merching contracts. Plant has stated that she knows for a fact Meghan, at one point, was earning $250k per item she was merching per outfit, so up to $1m a day. I do believe this money has been set aside and Meghan is using this as her fallback plan. I truly don’t think she has touched this money.

So Fiscal year 2018 they had $3.5m minus any personal expenses. We know she wasn’t paying for her clothing and they were getting free private jet rides and free stays so I am going to say at the end of 2018 they had about $3m of that $3.5 remaining.

When H&M moved into Frogmore in March 2019, the UK paid the refurbishment bill of close to $4m USD. While living there they paid for household staff such as the chef they had, housekeeper, and nannies. So I am going to take about $250k off of the $3.5 and let’s say another $500k for personal expenses. Fiscal year 2019 they ended with $2.75m.

January 2020 I am going to estimate they went into the year with a possible savings of $5.75m from Charles. We know they stayed for free in Canada and didn’t have to pay for security at the time.

By March 2020, I estimate that they went into being “private citizens” with close to a possible $32m in the bank (not including her merch money).

Their house was $14m and rumor is that Charles gave them an approximately $4m down payment. Let’s say H&M put down an additional $3m out of their own pocket. Now they have $29m and a mortgage of $50k a month, plus staff salaries. I estimated that their yearly expenses were close to $4m a year for household and security. To have spending money I figured they would need to earn about $6m a year.

So if they were to earn no income, that $29m would last about 7 years. However, we know they have received about $13m to Archewell plus whatever they earned from Spotify & Netlfix. Which I doubt was a lot after overhead for their projects.

$29m plus the $13m and approximately $4m from Netlfix & Spotify combined is about $46m, plus Harry’s $35m three book deal ($10 million because he only wrote one book).

This would put them at possible $56m (up to $81m) net worth from 2018 until current if they were careful with their money.

Rumors of them being beyond broke means that they have spent a total of $56m in 5 years, but probably closer to $70m.

Yet they have nothing to show for their insane spending other than their house.

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ohsilverplease · 9 months

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C and his dad are coming by in a bit to try to patch my roof, so I did a whirlwind cleaning job and the house looks so much better. I mean everything just got moved to the guest room but at least it’s out of sight.

I made good fried eggs for breakfast to go with this local sausage I’ve been buying. It’s definitely not an every weekend kind of meal but I do love a breakfast sausage. I also opened the lemon curd I got on sale last month, and it was such a nice bright flavor on a gloomy morning.

I have to work late two days this week so today I’m going to try to meal plan/prep for the week and maybe even pick out my clothes for the whole week so I can just keep rolling. I’m already tired just thinking about it. I have a toothache that I think is from grinding my teeth due to stress, and one of my moles is suspiciously irritated so I can’t put off finding a dermatologist any longer. It’s just a lot!

BUT tomorrow I will make my last real payment on my last credit card! I’m still going to be charging my cruise payment to that card so I’m technically not done with it. But actually I think I could pay off the cruise early anyway and not have that hanging over my head till November. But I have worked my butt off to pay off my cards and I truly assumed for a while I would always be in debt or maybe needed to declare bankruptcy, so this will be a major milestone. It’s not the end of my debt but hopefully it’s the end of that cycle where I had to use a card to make ends meet, then owed so much in monthly payments that my income would never catch up, and I would use the cards even more. Anyway after this I just have a few thousand on my credit union loan, and of course my mortgage. So I’ll be out of consumer debt very soon. Yay!

#journal entry

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sergeantsporks · 9 months

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Gilded Fam monopoly night plus Petro! Who wins, who spends half the game in jail, and who tries- and fails- to rig it in their favor

After the first trip around the board, this very quickly turns into a game between Novus and Sam. They've counted the chance cards and know which ones are up next, both of them have calculated how they have to throw the dice to get the rolls they want, they've done ALL the math. It's just a matter of which ones screws up a dice roll first.

Soon, they'll enact "death round" which is a house rule where one trip around the board, everyone has to pay based on an estate's mortgage rather than the rent, and has to pay the price to the bank if they land on their own estate or an unbought estate. Immediate bankruptcy for most players, but Sam and Novus can crunch the numbers and land on the right estates/chance cards in order to make it out alive.

Phoenix has been in jail for some time, and is now afraid to leave. Jason is bankrupt and crying. Cherry has invoked the house rule of "debtor's prison" which is where he goes to jail until whoever he's in debt to makes another trip around the board or ends up going to jail themselves, at which point he's free to try and stumble his way around the board hopefully collecting enough cash from chance cards to pay off the people whose estates he lands on. He's on borrowed time; if he goes bankrupt before passing go again, he's just out. He's buying more time by deliberately landing on the Go To Jail tile so that he can make another run at the chance cards between jail and the go to jail tile.

Petro had the good fortune of landing on boardwalk first and bought it immediately but is slowly losing all his money because everyone else is out and Sam/Novus are too good at rolling to land on it. He's waging a bidding war between Sam and Novus over boardwalk. He knows that if he actually sells it he'll lose the game, so he's just trying to destabilize the two of them and get them at each other's throats so that one of them will make a mistake and land on his or someone else's property, losing their money, or that the property taxes will slowly bleed the two of them dry until he has a chance.

Caleb and Evelyn are making plans to hide the game once it's done.

#asks #toh #gilded family au #gilded fluff #petro #sam #novus #cherry #phoenix #jason

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tocitynews · 5 months

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Georgia Lawmakers To Rein In Aggressive Home Owners Associations After Hearing Homeowner Horror Stories – Atlanta Georgia reporting

You can be up to date on your mortgage, never missed a loan payment, and lose your home to foreclosure by your Homeowners Association.

▶︎ Each month Karyn Gibbons mailed a check for HOA dues on her Gwinnett County condo to the address provided in writing at closing. But she said she never knew when or if it would be cashed.

“It was just random. I mean there’d be two, three, four, five months go in between checks being cashed,” said Gibbons. Then out of the blue she was served with a notice of foreclosure by her Home Owners Association, with late fees and thousands of dollars in attorney fees.

She owed more than $30,000.

“Did you even know you could be foreclosed on by an HOA?” Gray asked Gibbons.

“No. Never heard of it,” Gibbons said.

▶︎ “It’s totally insane. It’s totally insane,” said Tricia Quigley, a former Cherokee County homeowner.

She learned it can happen the hard way.

When Quigley’s Cherokee County home of 18 years was sold at foreclosure on the courthouse steps for about the amount of spare change on her coffee table as Gray interviewed her.

“It went for $3.25,” Quigley said.

She admitted she did not pay two of her biannual homeowner association dues payments totaling $800.

She ended up paying more than $10,000 trying to get right with the HOA but the late fees and attorney fees kept growing.

“I kept thinking I paid all this money; how come it’s not stopping?” Quigley said.

A big reason is attorney costs.

Every email, every inquiry, every attempt to contest, fix, or even pay the overdue bill adds to the bill.

Channel 2 Action News checked foreclosure records and found that ▶︎ just two metro Atlanta law firms that specialize in representing HOAs have filed 279 notices seeking damage and foreclosure notices in just the past three years.

By the time Juliet Graham finally sold her downtown Atlanta condo her HOA bill had reached $250,000.

“You broke us. We’re broke,” Graham said.

“I can’t imagine the mafia having been any worse than what my experience was with this,” Graham said.

State Senator Donzella James, a Democrat who represents South Fulton County, introduced multiple bills this legislative session trying to reign in overly aggressive HOAs.

“People need to be protected and safeguarded against foreclosures,” said State Senator James.

“This is where I resodded the whole thing,” said James McAdoo, a homeowner in South Fulton County.

The only way he could stop his HOA from intercepting his paycheck was by filing for bankruptcy.

“They garnished my wages,” McAdoo said.

He owes $36,000 and counting predominantly because of weeds in his front yard.

They were garnishing $600 from his paycheck every two weeks until he started the bankruptcy process.

“What way do you see out of this?” Gray asked McAdoo.

“Selling my home and just getting out of this neighborhood,” McAdoo said.

That is what Karyn Gibbons did earlier this year even though she still does not believe she did anything wrong.

“I just said enough. I can’t do it anymore,” Gibbons said.

She paid $34,000 in fines, interest, and attorney fees to end the nightmare.

“I don’t know how it’s legal,” Gibbons said.

And it’s not just happening to homeowners. Gray also spoke with a couple who said just because they were renting a home, they were not safe from an HOA.

Jasmine Latson and Jaquan Hunter said their HOA in their South Fulton neighborhood came after them over the condition of their yard.

They ended up hiring a lawn service to take care of everything. But that wasn’t enough for the HOA.

“I was like, maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m not doing good enough, I don’t know. So I went ahead and just hired an outside resource that my neighbor used. He’s been pretty consistent and good, but the fines keep happening,” Latson said.

Last year, they received a foreclosure letter saying the home’s owners owed fines and fees of more than $23,000.

“Never, never in a million years would I have thought that I would have would be dealing with this. You know? I pay my rent every month,” Latson said.

First Key Homes, Latson, and Hunter’s landlord negotiated down the fines to about $12,000 to prevent foreclosure. But the company has now passed that bill onto the couple along with an eviction notice.

Latson has fired an attorney and has a court date set for Friday.

Now, these renters are hoping state lawmakers can do something about these aggressive HOAs.

▶︎ A bipartisan bill sponsored by state senator and Rules Committee Chair Matt Brass, a Republican representing Newnan, did pass at the Gold Dome this year to create a study committee examining how to change laws to better protect homeowners.

Brass told Gray the No. 1 topic on the study committee’s agenda will be HOA foreclosures that he said are taking families’ generational wealth.

“To have some outside group come and take that away from me is again, it’s un-American. And we’re not going to stand for it in this state,” Brass said.

Several states have put in place laws limiting HOA foreclosure.

#homeowners association #foreclosure #eviction

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manicpixxiedreambitch · 6 months

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Reasons why my biological dad is listed as “Disappointment” in my phone:

1. My grandma had a heart attack a couple years ago and was in the hospital unresponsive for about two weeks. (Don’t worry it’s the immortal grandma so she’s still alive) I was not informed of this until two weeks after she had the heart attack. This was my dad’s mother. My mom told me because she found out from one of my aunts on facebook. I texted my dad and yelled at him, asking him why the actual fuck he didn’t bother to tell me this. Like what if she died?! What if she died and I found out there was a two week period where I could have visited her that my dad neglected to tell me about??? My dad, when confronted with this, started pulling excuses out of his ass and eventually when he ran out of excuses he just said “Well it’s none of your business what I do and do not tell you.”

2. A few months after my mom divorced him, he took money out of my brothers’ and I’s bank accounts to pay a bill he was short on. I was five. He didn’t even ask. We each had about $100 in the bank accounts and he just…took it. My mom had to close the accounts. He never even paid us back.

3. He neglected to pay child support to my mom for years. Once he paid it just so the court wouldn’t take his drivers license away.

4. On the night I was being born (I was a C Section baby and my mom had scheduled it) my mom told him to stay home and watch my older brother. He put my brother to bed early and spent the rest of the night running up the phone bill while calling spicy numbers. My mom found out three weeks later.

5. He wasn’t even there for my first birthday. One of his friends asked him to help them move without knowing it was my birthday. He agreed without talking to my mom first or telling the guy he was on a time limit because it was my birthday. No he just missed the whole thing. I took my first steps on my first birthday.

6. He would lie to my mom about where he was. He would tell her he was going to help a friend move furniture or something and he’d really be at a bar playing pool with his buddies while my mom stayed home and took care of us.

7. He ruined both his and my mom’s credit scores because he let the house they bought together run into bankruptcy or foreclosure or whatever it’s called (essentially he stopped paying the mortgage or bills on it) instead of fixing it up or reselling it and since both their names were on the mortgage my mom’s credit got screwed over, too.

8. He couldn’t hold a job for more than a few months to a year for a long time.

9. He once bought season passes to an amusement park a state away from us and said that he would take me and my brothers up there a bunch that summer. He never did. My mom used the season passes to take us up once, though.

10. He never taught me to ride a bike without training wheels. My stepdad handled that one.

11. He always broke his promises.

#vent post

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pettyrevenge-base · 1 year

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She's Bankrupt, I'm Debt Free.

About six years ago, my former partner of six years and I broke up, and I started to realise all of the things I had normalised were actually abuse. Instances of gas lighting were all too prevalent (even one instance where she gaslit me about what gaslighting even was), financial (she could spend what she wanted, I had to ask permission), even limiting time that I spent with my family and my best mate. There was more, but that's enough of that.

After we broke up, I realised that money I had continued to place into our joint account wasn't going to the mortgage as promised, but was going to shopping, paying for her new partner (who, it turned out, was on the scene months before we split...and wasn't the first!) and payments to her lawyer.

When I found this out, I called the finance company handling our mortgage and told them I would no longer be making payments. I told them they could sieze the house if they wanted, but my half of the payments would cease immediately until I had recouped the money stolen, roughly five months worth of payments.

They said I couldn't do that. I told them to watch me.

Soon after that, when the debt letters and dishonours started, the texts, phone calls, and voice mails from her started....I ignored every one.

Two months in, I heard her car broke down badly because she couldn't afford to maintain it.

Not long after that, she filed for bankruptcy.

A month later, she moved out and I got my house back. I cleaned it up, changed the locks, got my mortgage back in front....and recently my wife and I sold it for a tidy little profit.

She got nothing. Not a dollar, not a dime.

She has no usable credit rating, and my wife and I are debt free with a deposit on our new home.

Feels good.

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

#pettyrevenge #lol #omg

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clarktooncrossing · 9 months

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Giraffe's Eye View: Christmas Specials Special (2023) | From All Of Us to All Of You

Chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost is nipping at your nose. Mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again. All the dogs in the neighborhood somehow learned to bark Jingle Bells in sync. Yet retail workers are still more annoyed with Mariah Carey. Snow is getting shoveled, tossed, and formed into sentient beings leading parades without permits. It makes for an excellent distraction as the Krampus abducts children for bad behavior. Fruitcake is exchanged only to find its permanent home in the garbage. Terrorists have hijacked the Holiday office party right before your boss can give you a Jelly of the Month Club membership as your bonus. And of course, the Turducken has returned to wreak its fiery vengeance upon an unsuspecting world! If all this doesn’t put you in the Christmas spirit, perhaps these following Holiday specials will!

Greetings people of today and robots of tomorrow! It is I, Santa Clark, your geeky giraffe friend with a deep love of Christmas! My obsession for the yuletide is rivaled only by Maleficent’s hatred for it, which is saying a lot considering she once teamed up with Mad Madam Mim to kidnap the literal Spirit of Christmas. Yes, that really happened. I know this due to my annual pilgrimage to the Island of Misfit Specials, home to obscure or nerdy festive media ranging from movies, TV episodes, and comics. It’s no easy journey. Constantly I find myself confronted by sinister snowmen, genocidal gingerbread men, and worst of all, crappy commercials. Getting stabbed in the foot by a candy-cane wielding cookie is one thing, but I swear I’ve seen that ad for Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium more times than I’ve seen Miracle on 34th Street! Sometimes at night I catch myself reciting that jingle. Wilbur’s White Elephant Gift Emporium: Where Christmas meets Convenience! Huh, maybe Maleficent had a point.

Nah, my deep-rooted appreciation for this time of year can weather even the most moronic marketing! It helps that most of the merry media I’ve seen have put me in the perfect Holiday mood! Examples include the time a Ninja Turtle found himself trapped in a truck full of stollen toys, a drunk department store Santa stumbling onto a wish-granting magic bag, Big Bird nearly becoming a popsicle, Gwenpool waking up in a world where Galactus took the place of jolly ol’ Saint Nicholas, a terrifying tree stump trying to slaughter some saps over a stupid ship war, and the year when Death gave the Little Match Girl the greatest gift of all. Needless to say, I thought I had seen it all. That is, until I took my friends on a trip to the Island, tasking them to find me new, strange, seasonal specials to review! Some of them were fair, finding me festive favorites as comforting as coco in front of the fireplace. Others were fiendish, wanting to feed off my misery like Gremlins after midnight. Regardless of how naughty or nice my companions were, I’ve compiled all of their suggestions into a makeshift advent calendar! So stay tuned everyday until Christmas to see how badly my buddies can shred what little sanity I have left.

On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my buddies gave to me...

Being a Disney fan today is hard. The parks have been ravaged, their films flop on arrival, their continued downplaying of animation is annoying, and don’t even get me started on how they handled this year’s Writer / Actor Strike. Not to say there’s no diamonds hidden in the rough every now and again, but for the most part the buzzards running the Mouse House believe in profits not pixie dust. Worse, they have forgotten the most crucial ingredient to any creative undertaking: risk. Go big or go home, make a splash or stay dry, spending money makes money. Perhaps no one knew this better than Walt Disney himself. The man mortgaged his home to finance Snow White, nearly drove his company to bankruptcy to build Disneyland, and embraced television when the rest of Hollywood cowered in fear of it. He understood that television could be a powerful marketing tool that could help his brand grow in the long haul. Ironic, innit? Uncle Walt became a beloved figure through the small screen, hosting the Disneyland series and making a brief appearance at the opening from From All Of Us to All Of You. Premiering in 1958, the seasonal special proved so popular that it airs along with a sampling of various shorts to this day in other countries. Including Sweden, home to the rambunctious robotroll SIM-N (Finjix), himself having fond memories of watching it with his family. Being a classic Disney fan myself, I was actually eager to see if the hype the malicious machine was peddling was valid.

A pity it’s not on Disney+! First the Star Wars Holiday special, then Snowed in at the House of Mouse, and now this!? You advertised everything would be on there, Bobby Boi. What gives!? Thankfully where you fail, the Internet succeeds! Let’s just say I found a copy well archived on a specific site. It also had One Hour in Wonderland, Walt’s original Holiday offering from 1950. Sadly it was nothing special, just the Magic Mirror from Snow White showing clips from several projects to Kathryn Beaumont, Bobby Driscoll, Edgar Burgen and his iconic puppet pals. Aside from Walt’s daughters Diane and Sharon making a brief cameo, this trip to Wonderland is only notable for how many times it promotes Coca Cola. Man, is anybody else thirsty for a Sunkist?

Let’s pop a cold one and we can check out From All Of Us together!

Walt, now the same size as Tinkerbell, welcomes us to the program. He wishes everyone at home a Merry Christmas before turning things over to the real musical Masters of Ceremony; Jiminy Cricket (Cliff Edwards) and Mickey Mouse. Together on piano the cartoon celebrities sing a rousing rendition of The Little Drummer Boy mixed with Peace on Earth! Or rather Jiminy just shows off his collection of Christmas cards. Each card cues up a segment from a beloved animated feature that’ll already has or will be unnecessarily rebooted in live-action. Which features depend on the version you're watching, this recreation including Bambi, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, along with two additional short films, Toy Tinkerers and Santa’s Workshop. The former features famous foul Donald Duck (Clarence Nash) comically dueling against Chip and Dale in toy warfare, the latter showing Santa prepping at the Pole for his annual sleigh ride. It also features an unfortunate bit of blackface, something I hope is cut from reruns. At least they didn’t show an entire segment from Song of the South like One Hour did. Remember folks, Disney’s most controversial film was once endorsed by Coca-Cola!

Overall, From All Of Us is decent blend of Holiday warmth and Disney magic, a warm cup of cocoa laced with a pleasant amount of pixie dust. However, I feel like it’s unnecessary in this modern age. Call me crazy, but why watch this clip show when I’ve seen these movies in their entirety via VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, or streaming? For SIM-N, the answer is comforting nostalgia. While I might see it as regifted film scenes with barely any new material, SIM-N sees it as an excuse to get together with his family and watch the moments that made us realize magic was real. Knowing that makes this special a yuletide treasure in my book. Still, if you want some comforting Christmas capers centered around Mickey Mouse, I can do you one better. Or should I say three better?

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1016anon · 2 years

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Title: Used to Be Mine Author: 55anon Fandom: Bridgerton Pairing: Anthony Bridgerton/Kate Sharma, Thomas Dorset/Kate Sharma Summary: It's not simple to say, but most days, I don't recognize me.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: SPOUSAL ABUSE, IMPLIED SEXUAL ASSAULT, ALCOHOLISM

A/N -- I keep seeing "Kate is in an abusive relationship and Anthony rescues her" fics and I just. This is my response. Also, I have nothing against Dorset. He's just a convenient name here. Title from Sara Bareilles song, fic plot (such as it is) vaguely inspired by The Waitress.

He doesn't recognize her.

Kate is thankful, because she doesn't recognize herself. If he had seen her, if he'd looked at her twice and said her name, she doesn't know what she would have done. Maybe say something sarcastic. Maybe pretend she doesn't know him.

Most likely, she wouldn't have energy to do anything other than dredge up the same smile she uses for all the other customers who come through this diner.

Kate is thankful, that he's passing through. She's never seen him in this part of the city before, though even if she had, what difference would it make? They no longer share any connection-- only faded dreams of what could have been.

You see, Tom was a good man.

They had been happy.

Then the economy took a bad turn and he lost his job; they found themselves in a mountain of debt between the student loans, the second mortgage they took out on a fixer-upper Tom was convinced he could flip on the housing market, then Mary's medical bills. It turns out that filing for bankruptcy doesn't erase medical debt.

They got through by the skin of their teeth. They'd loved each other, despite the difficulties and the stress of the finances. They got through it-- Kate juggled three jobs, Tom found a job when the economy began to improve. They slowly began to pay the remaining debts, rebuild their credit score.

But sometimes people break. And Tom, who'd grown up in a lovely white middle class family, only child, parents who had already passed away and the little they left, she and Tom had used as downpayment for their house; Tom, who was perfectly lovely when the going got tough, and tougher, and rock bottom, couldn't pick the pieces of himself back up.

This is what people don't tell you: it's not the breaking that's devastating. It's the rebuilding.

The rebuilding is all the more devastating because you thought the breaking was the worst of it. You survived the breaking-- surely the pieces would fall back into place on their own.

It turns out, that's not true. And Tom, who grew up on a diet of self help books and believed in the power of mindfulness and therapy, self medicated with alcohol, disguised as unwinding after a stressful day at work.

Kate watched with growing apprehension as the number of beer bottles on the table increased, the wine became cheaper and cheaper swill, their kitchen was littered with brown paper bags crushed in the same of bottlenecks.

She tried to talk to him and he brushed her off. Tried, and tried, and tried, until it finally became untenable and their friends stopped coming over for dinner because Tom drank a bit too much, he wasn't the fun kind of tipsy. He said things he shouldn't, he yelled and found new friends-- friends who understood he just needed a fucking beer to relax after his boss breathed down his neck.

Kate is a strong woman. But the thing about abuse is-- it starts slowly. No one means to fall into an abusive relationship and stay there. No one thinks it's fun to stay in that fucked up situation, no one would sign up for that shit, if they knew the cost and the loss.

They fought, but all couples fought. They said terrible things to each other, but they were stressed out about his unemployment, her three jobs, their debt, Mary's medical bills, the bankruptcy, his depression, her exhaustion. They didn't have sex because they were too tired and if they did, he cared less and less about what she got out of it and more and more about his own gratification and Kate faked it once. Twice.

Fake it enough, and it become habit.

That is the thing they don't tell you about abuse-- it doesn't punch you in the face one day out of nowhere. It's a slow slide. It's something you get used to, little by little, day by day.

You get used the screaming. You get used to the increasing number of beer bottles. You get used to the feeling of resignation that things won't change. You get used to making excuses-- because it's been a hard year, it's been a hard year for everyone, every marriage has its ups and downs and as long as they have each other, it's fine. They'll make it through because they love each other.

It's lies you tell yourself every day because at one point in time, they weren't lies at all.

But you can't tell where the line is, where the lies which weren't lies become lies in truth.

It's a painful erasure, it's an insidious process. To lower your standards, little by little because the reasons were good reasons at the time, legitimate reasons. Only, after the economy improves and life starts looking better for everyone else, life takes a stark downturn for you.

And the problem is, Tom still loves her. There are days when he's the man she fell in love with, when he treats her well, when it looks like maybe, just maybe, she could bring up the topic of therapy without him throwing empty beer bottles across the room.

The problem is, Tom apologizes.

The problem is, Tom apologizes, says he'll do better, and does better.

For a week. Two weeks. Sometimes even two and a half weeks.

Then, it shatters.

At first, she didn't know what would set him off, but now she knows what not to talk about. What words not to say. She doesn't bother because she's so, so, tired and while she's dying inside, Tom begins to look like he's on the up and up. Promotion at work, being careful with his drinking around their old friends. Mending fences, saying he's better. He's going to AA and he does. He never makes it past two weeks of sobriety.

Tom is a functioning alcoholic. Tom is smart. Tom loves her, apologizes to her, uses her body to the point she dissociates, says things he doesn't mean but also does mean when he's in a rage, when he's drunk.

And Kate, who never understood how women found themselves in abusive relationships, finds herself in an abusive relationship.

Tom doesn't hit her, or leave marks, or do anything people immediately identify as abuse. Kate doesn't have to cover her face with foundation and pretend she fell down the stairs.

Kate has to watch Tom be the man she used to love while they dine with their friends; Kate has to watch Tom grimace briefly when someone asks them about kids; Kate has to start hiding her birth control. Kate finds out one day that all of her friends are actually Tom's friends. Kate, stressed and close to breaking, confides once in Tom's friend's wife, who is a good woman, a concerned woman.

But a woman who talks to her husband, and a husband to talks to Tom, and Kate never tells anyone again, because it only takes 17 days to establish a habit and Kate has too many habits, too many lies, too many ways she's found to cope and get through, too many times she clings to the good days. The books, the movies, the tv shows all tell her that he won't change. He's an abuser, he won't change.

Tom wasn't always an abuser. Tom loves her-- or used to, or once did, or never had, or could, or might, if Kate could stop fucking up the curry and burning the naan.

Tom brings her flowers on their anniversary; all her girlfriends-- wives of Tom's friends-- tell her how lucky she is to be married to him, how romantic it is that he brought home cake and wine for their anniversary when they can hardly get their husbands to remember their birthday and the only thing Kate remembers about the cake and wine is all the wine she did not drink.

Their finances became irrevocably meshed together when they went through the bankruptcy. All her money was deposited into the joint account and it's still deposited in the joint account. Tom keeps track of how much she makes and he knows when she tries to keep some for herself.

He tracks her activity on her computer. He looks through her phone calls. He makes her life smaller and smaller until the only thing she has left are her coworkers at a diner which pays too little, but is as far from Tom as she can get; as far from his friends as she can get, and the two hour commute each way gives her time to cry, or simply sit blankly in the car, wondering what kind of mood he'll be in when she gets home.

She was only able to keep the job because it had been one of the three she'd picked up when the economy was bad.

Kate has a college degree. She used to make more than Tom does now. She was laid off first. When the economy got better, she thought she would go back into the workforce; she thought they were on the same page.

They weren't.

When the economy improved, no stopped meaning no.

Abuse is a series of slow breaks until you look in the mirror one day and don't recognize yourself.

Until your ex-boyfriend, who had been your fiance until he broke off the engagement because of issues with his family-- until your ex-boyfriend walks into a dingy diner and doesn't recognize you and the only thing you feel is relief that he's not seated in your section.

Until he comes back, a second time.

A third time.

And the other waitresses giggle and flirt with him, they jokingly fight over covering his section.

The only thing Kate feels is clawing anxiety, dread, fear-- because what if Tom comes by? Sometimes he comes by.

He never comes by.

But if he did come by, he would recognize Anthony and he would assume. He would ask Kate why she didn't tell him Anthony came to the restaurant. He would ask how many times Anthony has eaten at the restaurant. He would make her quit her job and cut her off from the only people she has left in the world, the only place she feels halfway safe.

Kate stays as far away from Anthony as possible.

Even though he tips ridiculously well.

Even though he's only grown more handsome over the years.

Even though each time he comes to the diner, a terrible, tender, horrific tendril of hope curls in her stomach that perhaps--

Perhaps he recognizes her

Perhaps he comes to the diner to see her

Perhaps he will approach her and say hello

And every drive back home, the hope shrivels, fades. Or does it hide under the dead leaves which carpet the forest floor?

When it happens-- when that thing she hoped and dreaded and feared and wanted happens--

"Hi, Kate."

She says, with her customer service smile,

"Hello, Anthony."

In truth, he doesn't recognize her the first time he sees her. It was raining, he was hungry and angry, he was on his way out of the city to attend some country club gathering Daphne put together, and he knew he would be a bear if he didn't get some calories-- any calories-- in him.

The diner looked like something a hurricane should have mowed over in 1970 and the interior was exactly what he expected. The food was nothing to write home about-- all those stories about gems of Americana tucked away in dilapidated diners were myths.

But the second time she walked past him, when he was about to ask for a coffee refill, he recognized her.

He was about to say something, almost certain she saw him too, but her eyes slid past him and she was gone in a moment.

Anthony got his coffee refill, paid his bill, wondered if he would come off as a creep if he asked whether Kate Sharma-- no, it was Kate Dorset now-- worked there, then decided against it. Let the past be. Better not to go down the path of what-ifs and could-have-beens.

Only he couldn't stop thinking about her.

Wondering how she was. Whether she had kids. How many. How old were they. He was recently divorced himself, two kids, both boys. Yes, he was still working for his family's company, but branched out to more eco-friendly endeavors. In fact he was inspired by something she'd said.

He'd thought she'd been working in microfinance, or a similar nonprofit. How did she find herself at the diner? Not that there was anything wrong with working at a diner, just. He'd thought she'd. Her career. She'd always talked about. Well, it was years ago, they were young, people changed, obviously. But she'd seemed passionate about.

But maybe with the kids. It wasn't uncommon, as unfair as it was. He was working on getting the company to implement a fair maternity leave policy. No, he didn't expect compliments for doing the right thing, he just wanted. To tell her.

He would have said she looked good but she didn't.

It didn't matter.

It was Kate, who would always be beautiful to him. No exaggeration. She had designer bags under her eyes, he'd joke. That was a joke women often used, right?

He couldn't stop thinking about her and found himself stalking her social media.

Social media which became more sparse over time. Though there seemed to be plenty of pictures of her-- not tagged-- in Dorset's photo albums, and his friends' albums.

No kids. Anthony felt vaguely guilty for feeling so relieved, well aware he had no right to feel relieved, well aware that it was honestly a bit disgusting he was relieved. She'd always wanted kids. A family of her own.

She looked happy in the photographs. That was good. He was glad she was happy. She deserved to be happy.

She deserved to be happy, and Anthony told himself this would be the last time he would go to the dinner; this was the last time; this was really the last time; and he finally gave up to admit to himself he was going to keep going to the diner until he had a chance to speak to Kate. Say hello. It wasn't possible that she was avoiding him, was it? It was coincidence she never worked in his section, no matter how many different places in the diner he managed to seat himself, right?

After a month of enduring mediocre coffee and middling diner food, Anthony finally just... stood up and walked over the Kate.

His heart shattered when she gave him her customer service smile.

It was a strange sensation. He hadn't been aware there was anything to shatter.

Anthony just... kept coming to the diner. And as polite as he was to the other waitresses, they decided he was Kate's responsibility-- he was clearly there for her, anyone with two eyes could see the way the man lit up.

Anyone but Kate, it seemed.

The women at the diner didn't know, but they knew something was going on with Kate. The way she sometimes froze when she saw her husband's name flash on the phone screen. The way she mentioned living in a rather affluent part of town, or once having a high paying job, or her college degree, her estranged stepmother and half sister.

Kate was strong. She was the one who kicked out customers who harassed the other waitresses; gave comfort to the girls when they were down on their luck; grimaced through serving rude customers who demanded too many things and didn't tip enough.

Many of the waitresses who came through were seasonal, or college students themselves. The two old ladies, married to each other, the owners of the crummy diner, the hunk of unimpressive junk which was still a labor of love and a shelter for them both-- they called themselves Edith and Edna to the customers but where actually Charlie and Agatha-- they'd been through enough to know something was going on.

Been through enough to know, sometimes the only thing you could do was offer safety and stability; sometimes it was the unspoken promise that if she ever found a way to leave one day, she could come to them, no questions asked, no payment needed, that was enough to tip the scales.

They watched with keen eyes, this young man (because everyone was young to them) who smiled just to see her face when she came on shift and decided to let him stay, pending review. Kate didn't say anything and she was usually quite vocal when it came to customers.

The places she was silent were just as loud, if you knew how to listen for them.

Charlie and Tabby (long story, involving a cat named Tabitha) were old hands, well versed in reading young women. Young women running away, running towards, exploring sexuality, fearing sexuality, needing shelter, hating pity, defensive, overwhelmed, disowned, disillusioned, there for a party, there to get paid, pulling themselves up by the bootstrings, made of grit and shoestring, crumpling like wet newspaper, falling apart at the seams.

They didn't tell young Anthony, who would have swooped in the first chance he got if he knew the full story, about Kate's silences and the stiffness of her posture.

Because these young women-- because all young people-- because people-- don't always take kindly to being rescued. There's a timing to it. There a fear, or a desperation, which lends the kind of strength that allows people to risk their lives to leave. That the leaving has to happen before anything else, and that every person decides to leave for their own reasons, in their own way.

They didn't tell young, hopeful, recently divorced Anthony with two children and an acrimonious custody battle-- people who have been broken down for so long already know what most people do not:

It's not the breaking that breaks you.

It's the rebuilding.

And leaving--

Leaving is the decision to begin again,

Not knowing if there's anything left to begin again with.

But they let him stay because if the day comes when Kate makes that decision-- because people can tell when you've given up on them, people can tell if you think they're a lost cause, so you have to be quiet in your confidence, silent in your support, and believe in them even if they don't know you believe in them-- when the day comes Kate makes the decision, he'll be right with them:

The unspoken promise of safety, and enough care to help her start again.

#bridgerton #kathony #fanfiction #spousal abuse

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