#root plays rdr1

[burdock-root]

i need you all to see how severe john’s water allergy is

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I’ve written something like this before, but I wanted to write it again since I’m rewatching RDR1 on YouTube. The Mexico arc in the game is one of my favorite depictions of a political struggle, mainly because it doesn’t shy away from how complicated politics can be. I feel like a great deal of fiction tends to go for a more black-and-white, hero against the villain narrative. The empire is bad, the rebels are good, and so on. But RDR1 really went into depth on how politics can be so confusing and complicated in real life.

The game has a basic set-up: the government led by Colonel Allende is terrorizing the people, leading to a rebellion led by Abraham Reyes. Allende spreads propaganda about how evil Reyes is but the people believe that Reyes is their savior. At this point, the game could’ve just done the simple route of making Reyes the clear-cut good guy and Allende the clear-cut bad guy. Instead, we’re forced to really ponder which side is worth supporting.

Obviously, Allende is evil and does need to be taken down. But Reyes is revealed to be just as bad as him. For example, he is casually revealed to be bigoted towards Chinese immigrants. Luisa says that Allende abuses women, but Reyes also sees women as disposable and would probably continue Allende’s abusive practices if he was in power.

But the biggest point that I give Rockstar credit for is that they created bad guys who had a legitimately good point about the rebels who we’re supposed to root for. Although it’s easy to sympathize with the rebels wanting to take the government down, the government is justified in claiming the rebels were brainwashed into supporting an evil man. From the moment John Marston met Abraham Reyes, he immediately realized that Reyes was exactly how Allende and De Santa described him as. He’s ignorant, moronic, power-hungry, and he views himself as being higher than the peasants despite presenting himself as a champion of the people. But no one else picked up on this! So, you really can’t argue against De Santa and Allende on this, especially since Reyes ends up becoming a tyrant in the future.

In going through this storyline again, I’ve also developed a new perspective on Luisa Fortuna. She was the one character who legitimately cared for the rights of the Mexican people and was fighting to end tyranny. But knowing how obviously terrible Abraham Reyes is as a character (he even gets Luisa’s name wrong right in front of her), it’s hard not to see Luisa as anything but an incredibly naive woman who got manipulated by an idiot. She isn’t really that much different from how devoted De Santa was to Allende’s regime. They were both passionate to their respective causes, but their passion blinded them to how awful their leaders were.

And then to have the storyline end with the message that the cycle of oppression will repeat but with Abraham Reyes in charge? Incredibly dark, but fitting for the story.

Go play RDR1 if you haven’t done so already. This was only one act out of a total of three acts in the story. And all the acts are strongly written in their own way.

[marstons-angel]

dont take any of this too seriously. just spewing my thoughts. some rdr2 / johnigail stuff. mostly talking 2 myself. a lot of spoilers lmao

i really. i really like the relationship that john and abigail share both in rdr2 and later in rdr1. and what i like about it is that it, explicitly, is not a story of true love.

don't misunderstand, i think john and abigail love each other to death and ever after. they share such a deep and solid relationship and both make mutual connections to each other over the course of the game. but what makes them compelling to me is the deep realism rooted in their romance and the way that love is depicted as choice rather than fate.

rdr2 poses this more than once through out the story, with the most obvious example being mary-linton and arthur. when presented the choice to leave the gang or go with mary, arthur chooses the gang due to various internal and external factors. but the implication remains that things might've been different had arthur learned how to choose other things. himself. his future. etc. there's examples of this with hosea and bessie (said by hosea himself "she knew what i was"), with dutch and his varying models of young women. the van der linde gang chooses the outlaw life chronically, habitually, instinctively.

abigail joins the gang as a working girl. she sleeps with most of the camp, and then with john. they're sweet on each other. and she has a boy that she believes to be johns. john is hesitant to believe that (and maybe some of that is warranted) but most of it is him being a complete jackass. the kid is born. john is presented the option of fatherhood. he, like the rest of the gang, comes to a point where he feels he must choose what is going to take priority in his life.

(and this is important - because in my mind, so much of this pressure is so self-imposed. it's inherited in the way most sons inherit from their father or like most younger brothers inherit for their older ones. it's possible no one told john to choose explicitly. not then at least.

but well, john has seen this all play out before. and loyal men choose the gang, almost always. the gang is family, was family before jack and abigail. and if john owes anyone loyalty, it's dutch who raised him as a golden boy)

john, for better or worse, chooses neither. he leaves the gang entirely, for a year which is a huge point of contention. he leaves both things behind. he doesn't choose. he doesn't want to choose. but he comes back, and presumably makes the choice made many times before him. he chooses the gang and completely shafts responsibility of fatherhood and husbandry. but there is obvious uncertainty there.

the choice john makes to leave is interesting when you consider it thematically, and you consider arthurs specific advice to john before his death - that you can't be two men at once. something that is reiterated to john in the epilogue and that he acts on in rdr1. it's also interesting when keeping in mind some hidden dialogue hosea has with john, in which john says he knows that jack is his.

to me, john understands very well whats going on around him. and that his actions are informed explicitly by that choice.

and this to me is what makes his relationship to abigail so interesting. john is no doubt a loser, a deadbeat, and a bum (he is my favorite character) - but all of this information together makes me interpret his actions (coldness towards her and jack) not as genuine resentment but an externalized projection and defensive mechanism.

johns uncertainty is not towards jack being his or even towards abigail, but a baseline questioning of the violence he's been steeped in his entire life. what was once a simple, intuitive choice to be an outlaw is called into question by the legitimate possibility of something else.

arthur has a line to john, where he says that if you don't think jack is yours - why does it bother you so much? and it's a good question indeed, why does any of it bother him so much? why does abigails nagging bother him so much? why is it that john chooses to be actively antagonistic towards her when he could choose to simply be apathetic or choose to reject or stonewall her?

a lot of it is projection. its hypocrisy on johns behalf. he unloads his questioning and beliefs about the gang unto abigail who serves as a semi-constant reminder of his own problems. abigail during the main story game doesn't ask john to choose, but john knows that he has too. that's what that whole thing leads to.

when the gang starts to fall apart and when jack gets kidnapped, john immediately changes his tune. he's in clear disarray. the seeds of doubt planted in his head about dutch during blackwater only get increasingly extreme and as the game goes on into guarma and johns prison arc. he starts more clearly distinguishing where his loyalty will lie as the game closes, john is finally encouraged to make the cemented choice of jack and abi and not gang life (not all at once and something he will continue to struggle with) but he makes it all the same.

and then all of that intersects with abigail. and this to me is where the basis their relationship stems from because it's largely abigails influence, personality, and persistence that allows john not to make the same mistakes. abigail doesn't ask john for love, but she refuses to yield to him when it comes to jack. i know so many people see abigails nagging as nagging, or clinginess - but in my mind, it's simply her not letting john get away with being wishy-washy. abigail makes herself known and doesn't relent even when john continuously acts like a massive dick. she's not a pushover about it though either.

abigail loves john and probably understands him better than people give her credit for. especially with her calling him silly so often (a WHOLE different meta post) it's out of genuine love for john and in many cases, a genuine concern for john as a person that she acts the way she does. she gets on his case because she doesn't really want to give up on him, even though she probably very well could.

and she'd definitely be more at peace if she did lmao.

at a human level, abigails constancy and her both 1. not taking johns shit when he acts like a dick and 2. still wanting more and whats best for him is probably one of the base reasons john has full strength to make it out. and john knows that. abigail chooses john. she wants to choose john. she believes in him and so much of that contributes to the fact john doesn't end up somewhere much worse when the main story ends.

but again its not easy. for either of them. and it's not something that works until john gets his shit together. their relationship doesn't mend overnight, either. in the epilogue of the game, you see them face the same struggles they did through the main story. but like i said, abigail is no pushover. when john keeps choosing outlaw life, abigail leaves because she feels there's no helping him and john has to prove himself to her once more. he has to choose them.

(a lot of people critique abigail for being unfair to john and i understand that - but i think its mostly fear. john was in that life for years, and to abigails there's no telling if that siren song will take over and uproot her life again or not. i do think many times john took up the gun in the epilogue were completely fair, but i dont think abigails reaction is unwarranted.)

but again. again. the core of their love story is about choice. both john and abigail make the choice to choose their family and their love is founded on learning to choose each other. abigail straightens john out, and his character in rdr1 is so much more mellow than he is in rdr2. his loyalty to abigail is fierce and consistent, and john knows he owes a lot to her and never loses sight of that in the years they spend peacefully together.

he likes that abigail gives him shit and a hard time because he knows he deserves it and that it was one of the only things stabilizing him during some of the most tumultuous and difficult times of their life together.

they have such deep and genuine love for each other, built entirely in trying to believe and trust in one another and hold onto love in an era where everything was constantly at stake. it's not fairytale romance, but tried and true connection and choice. i love you because i chose you and i'd keep choosing you. they are so awkward with each other for so long because of the nature of their relationship to each other and that truly endears them to me all the more.

they just. they are so in love. but its not a fairy tale. and its not a case of john getting the girl because he's the hero or whatever. john loves her so much and she loves him and it all took a while and none of it was perfect. but it was real. so so so real between them. ack.

[lonleydweller]

🥀Yandere Javier Escuella hcs (Rdr1)🥀

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Warnings: Yandere trope, spoilers for rdr1/rdr2, obsession, unhealthy/forced "relationship", kidnapping, stalking, blackmailing, abuse of power (government), violence, war mentioned, murder, hanging mentioned (javier)

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● Javier.. oh Javier. He sure does change dosen't he? A former friend, brother in arms, and later on stalker as you found out. As the events of RDR2 play out, you two drift, and discover.. if not contront his depravity. The final mission happens, chased by the Pinkertons and him as you flee with Arthur and John, or perhaps by yourself. You manage to evade him by some miracle, scampering off somewhere else to hide in a new life away from him.

● You managed to get your own place, perhaps marry, start a family similar to John. Maybe you go uncles route and stick with the Marston's, offering help around the house and ranch unlike the old lazy bum. The old life now left behind at Arthur's pleas, old friends now buried, new enemies far away.

● Javier's off on his own path, returning to his home country of Mexico, hiding up in the mountain. Not well enough as seen in the newspaper. Soon under the government's he once so hated thumb. Obliging for his own safety and safety of the family he has left there. Abandoning his previous beliefs and morals as a revolutionary, an outlaw, a bounty hunter. Distant from who he once was, a begruding pawn for the government's dirty work.

● Even with new lives, new family, new homes, and new names.. the past catches up. To all of you. You and John are separated from your homes and whatever family you have. Held above your heads at the demand of the government to find your former gang and put them down. Bill, Dutch, and Javier.

● You and John make your way through Amadillo, Gaptooth ridge, Hannigan stead, collecting bounties, wiping out gang hideouts, pursuing Bill who flees to Mexico with the help of Javier. Letting Javier know they're being hunted. The hunters being John and you. You. Normally Javier would run and hide. Yet your name reignites a raging fire that never was fully smothered.

● Javier hides it from the people around it but he's loosing his shit inside his head. Rooting through the few keepsakes he has of you, shoving old faded photos into his pocket, stolen items into his gunbelt, he'd find you. He'd find you this time. Even if you've changed your appearance as he did his. There are plenty of features people can't change.

● He slinks through crowds. Holding up your photo, looking at people who resemble you, hearing the talks of the townsfolk. The very ones who look at him in fear and disgust. A coward of man. Once respected for his revolutionary efforts. I wouldn't put it entirely above him to threaten information out of people passive agressively with his position of power.

● Hell he'd probably alert them of what's happening. Trying to negotiate with the very people that have him like a dog on a leash to help him get you. He dosen't want you dead. No, no. He'd prefer if there wasn't even a scratch on you. He needs you alive. He might even do it under flase pretense of you having sensitive information.

● If he can't convince the higher-ups above him, he'll probably convince some of his fellow soilders, they're slopping around doing he same dirty work. Fact some of them are worse than him. More depraved. Meaning they'd be up for the deplorable act of getting you for him. Offering them something in return. Essentially putting a bounty on your head.

● This offer, true or not, may ad well even be given to townsfolk and sheriff. Any information on you or your capture in exchange for the safety of the town.

● If you find him first, having come to capture him dead or alive, he tries to plead with you. Guilt trip. He loves you.. he truly does. He always has. He still does. You were friends weren't you? The stalking? He's changed since then. He swears.

● He's lying of course. If you aren't swayed by his attempts he resorts to petty snide remarks. Insults. Backhanded compliments. Turning into a stand off of sorts. He may even attempt to disarm you and fight unlike what he does when encountering John. Despeate to keep you. Not to flee. He won't flee from you.

● Alternatively if you're captured by officers, townsfolk, or ambushed and brought to him. He's much more smug. He has the upper hand. Cowardly. A false confidence that comes from having backup. He spouts the same claims of love that he had years ago. Except with the assertion that you're stuck with him now. No where to go.

● If you're lucky John will pull through and put a screeching halt to all of this. You'll know when you hear a familiar scratchy voice yelling at the top of their lungs and gunfire. Javier may attempt to flee. Drag you round with him.. but at the end of the day he's being hunted by two people. One of them a man with a family to loose if he dosen't get javier.

● As he's being loaded into the car of some feds he takes the opportunity to shout some last vulgar words at you. The last words you'll hear from him. The last time you'll see him in person. Left to be a name that appears in the newspaper. Hung up by his neck, feet to never touch the earth again.

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@adalwolfgang, @helpfandom

[loserkeiji]

time to silly little (mostly sad af) johnny marston headcanons:

important: I haven’t played rdr1 yet, know the game in general terms. probably i don’t know john well enough.

• LONELINESS. he’s so lonely. despite the presence of abigail and jack, he feels a huge emptiness inside every day. i think his outbursts of anger are related to this

• do you know ppl who love only for revenge? this is john. the fire of hatred is heating him up. it seems to me that he doesn’t really think about her roots. it’s the hate that makes him feel alive. at least until the American Venom

• in the early years his ptsd is so bad that he can’t sleep. he falls asleep in the morning. regularly hears voices when riding a horse. the ghosts of his past haunt him every day, and it’s really exhausting (hi to my ptsd pookies)

• he’s itches all over. it started a long time ago, he coms his hands and tries not to touch his face. no matter how much he washes, his skin still itches

• after Colter, he likes it when it’s cold. it seems like it should be the other way around, but he’s still drawn to the snow. he feels like unfinished business await him where it’s cold (he’s right btw)

• he runs away from home like a teenager. over time john turned into a real seeker. but he’s looking for something he can’t find. he’s looking for peace

• he really loves dogs and is afraid of them at the same time

• even when the fireplace is lit in the house, he tries to sit by the campfire outside. he is drawn to what familiar and understandable

• he doesn’t like bugs 🐛

• at first after meeting the Skinners, he has nightmares. abigail always tries to calm him down, but he won’t accept help

come back tomorrow for angst my friends luv you

[neon-junkie]

In story mode do you ever wish you could have got more out of a character?

Like ok so, I absolutely love Sean. He’s my favourite NPC next Flaco and Kieran. And don’t get me wrong I loved his death, it was quick and over in a second. No sob story and you had to go into a gunfight so you don’t have time to dwell on it.

I just wish I could have seen more from him, he’s such a fun character, but in story mode I wish I had at least one more side quest/interaction with him. I would have liked it if I could meet him in Valintine’s saloon and you could get drunk with him. Like no side quest marker it’s just a random encounter you could stumble upon.

Kieran, I’ll admit I miss him. But I would have liked a side quest/random encounter where you could take him into valintine to get his hair and beard cut because no one trusts him to be let out of camp on his own. I think it would have made a player still dwelling on the ‘he was an O’Driscolls, still is’ mindest see that he isn’t such a bad guy. Or if you miss that encounter you could just have a horse race with him, I’d love to race against Branwen.

I understand with Flaco and online makes up for his lack in story mode so he gets a free pass from me. In online I’m glad you can do jobs for Sean, it just makes me miss his character so much more in story though. I do wish you could encounter Kieran in online though :[

Any characters you wish were utilised a little bettter?

bruh. I went off on this.... it’s long so I’ll add it all under the cut lmao

I agree with ALL of this, I would have loved more of those mini-missions, but It think R* could easily add a few more characters to online!! Kieran - You can meet him up in the O'Driscoll camp where we first find him in story. He's in the barn or whatever, and when you first stumble across him, he insists you get out of here because "this is O'Driscoll territory! y-you don't wanna get hurt, so go on, get goin'!" Kieran then realizes you're here for work, and says he can't pay much, but he can offer you a few jobs. He asks for hunting around the area, maybe there's wolves nearby that keep getting too close to the camp? he'll also ask for herb collecting missions, like collecting some burdock root for him because "I can't leave the camp, but you can! you mind gettin' some for me?" Charlotte & her husband - These two are in their home, maybe sitting on the porch when they see you approach. They greet you with a little bit of caution at first, but realize you're just another traveller who's looking to make some cash. They offer you jobs where you hunt around the area for them, maybe taking out some of the Murdfree Brood and rescuing their friends from them. Like Sadie&Jakey, one of them will be in the house at a time, and we'll get to see what their relationship was like before Charlottes husband passed. Albert and Marko - They can both have missions similar to how we see them in story mode. Albert asks you to protect him whilst he does photography, and Marko asks you to collect items here and there for his robot build. Shit, maybe Charles Chantenty could be found running around Saint Denis? and asks you to take out people he doesn't like? or steal art supplies for him? I'm also gonna add that I want MORE content for Marshal Davies. It would make sense if you randomly bump into him at the Sheriffs Office, and he explains that he switches between them to ensure the Sheriffs are all doing their job? It'd be nice to add mini cut scenes for the bounties, rather than just taking their poster off a board, so Marshal Davies could do that?! idk just gimme more of him!!!!!! We need a stranger at Manzanita Post, idc who it is, just give me a Manzanita stranger!! maybe Nils? and he gives you your missions on a slip of paper since all he can say is 'okay.' (oh and 'beechers hope?? okkayy...') Gavins friend? I'm surprised we don't see him walking around towns, but I guess it's because people would try and grief him cause they're arseholes. Anyway... story mode.... I'm REALLY surprised that R* didn't make it a thing where you can bump into other camp members out in the wild. Apparently you can sometimes see them riding about? but I've never had that pop up in my game... I'd also love to have drinks with them, or have a blip appear on my map to show they're in danger, to find that one of them has got into a bar fight looool As for your ideas of Kieran, YES. A lot of people don't even mourn Kieran because there's not much of him, and you don't see his character develop, not unless you hang around camp a lot. I think more people would have fallen for him if you 'helped him get back on his feet', so like you said, taken him out for a haircut and some new clothes, helped him build himself back up after being beaten down by the O'Driscolls. I think the women should have had more missions too. I'm surprised that Karen and Susan aren't brought out onto the odd heist, Karen especially seeing as shes so eager. It would have been nice to see more camp interactions with them, especially ones where maybe they're all playing with Jack, or ranking all the camp guys xD

There needs to be a filler encounter between Micah and Javier. I know we see them drinking together, but Javier suddenly trusts Micah enough in Chapter 6? I need more of Micah sucking up to him, along with most of the other camp members, as a lot of them just suddenly take his side when it all kicks off.

Trelawny magic tricks. That's all I need to say.

More of Bill and Javier, some nice camp interactions? or maybe we see them drinking at the Saloon and Javiers like "yeah Bill's an arse but he apologized so I'm giving him a second chance." Since Javier is find bailing Bills ass in RDR1, so I'd like to see how they got to that point.

It would have been nice if R* did decide to keep the camp member buddy thing, you know where you were able to pick somebody to come out into the open world with you? I think that would have helped show each camp members personality a LOT.

Okay. I'll stop rambling now, but these are my suggestions<3

[squidproquoclarice]

Hey Squid 👋🏻 Regarding your Sunrise AMA, what is one of your favourite moments from the story, or favourite thing about Sunrise in general? Was their a line or paragraph that stands out to you as one were you were like yes, this is good and just flowed easiest? Did you have any things that you knew straight away that you needed or wanted to write about? Also I was wondering what inspired you to have them join the Circus? And what do you think their kids jobs would be when they grow up? (I probably have a dozen more but I will just leave it at that for now 😊 ty!)

Heya!  Let’s see.  Since we’ve got multiple questions, I think I’ll leave the favorite moment(s) question for someone else to ask.   Favorite thing about Sunrise: I started it a few days after finishing the game.  From the savefiles and my chapter 1 posting date, it was only four days.  Obviously Arthur touched something emotional within me, like he did for a lot of people, and seeing Sadie so cold, alone, and fatalistic in the Epilogue hurt too.  I wanted to see if I tried to write what could have happened after that fight on the ridge where it might lead.   So I guess my favorite thing about Sunrise is that it debunked the assumption that Arthur had to die for the story to work or matter.  I wrote a journey for him and for Sadie that a lot of people connected to and told me that meant a lot to them to see them thrive and heal.  Characters don’t need a tragic ending to be deeply meaningful.  Characters don’t have to die for redemption.  It’s not somehow more artistically pure or daring to kill someone off.  I didn’t break RDR1 by writing Sunrise, and I made the plot beats of the RDR2 Epilogue work.  So Arthur’s death also frankly wasn’t necessary for plot integrity towards the events of 1907 and 1911. A line or paragraph that I really enjoyed writing: I’ll go with one early on, from chapter 6, “Death Is A Woman”, that actually gave the chapter its title. He managed a low, dark chuckle at that, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. His lungs gave a bit of a grouchy hitch at it. “Newsmen are a different breed of confidence men and liars, that’s all. Anyway, I’m sure Death’s got to be a woman, Sister, cause it seems even she won’t have me.” That one made me feel like I really finally nailed Arthur and his character and state of mind in the weeks right after he’s had his entire life and identity knocked out from under him.  But of course he has to couch it in a self-deprecating quip.�� Also kind of a funny line in retrospect because I hadn’t planned anything with Death/The Strange Man cropping up in the story at this point, but apparently Arthur’s wrong and Death is not a woman in RDRverse.  ;)   Things I immediately needed or wanted to write about: Giving Sadie a voice and POV to show what was going on in her head.  Beyond that, giving both of them the respect of acknowledging their PTSD, but doing my best to let show what trauma recovery really looks like, and showing that it’s possible.  I didn’t want to either shrug it off as inconvenient to a happy ending, or else treat them like permanently broken things.  I wanted it to be a journey.  When it came to Arthur’s TB, I also wanted to write something realistic and accurate to the period in terms of his recovery rather than just sort of handwaving it.  Historical medicine’s an interest of mine, so this was a good chance to explore some of that.  Joining the circus: This is one of the rarer instances where the tail sort of wagged the dog and I had to make something fit to an immovable future plan.  I had them in 1904 having claimed a homestead up in Canada that needed to be settled and improved within three years.  And I knew for 1907 Team Griffith needed to be in the five-state area of the RDR2 map in order to be involved in the Epilogue.  I could have had them go back to Chuparosa and continue eking out a living, and debated pushing them back on the bounty hunter path to put them being sometimes in those American states that would let them cross paths with the Marstons somehow. Didn’t really like it.  Given how averse they were to bounty hunting together with two very young children at home, how Sadie absolutely wasn’t going to be the little wife sitting at home and letting Arthur go alone into danger as an alternative, and how much they both liked the idea that they no longer needed to live that sort of life, it felt like I needed something else.  And it needed to be something that they could walk away with no offense taken from in three years.  In retrospect, I could have had them hire on at MacFarlane’s full time rather than seasonal and developed that bond even more, but I ended up coming up with a circus that folds in 1907 as a good alternative.  Given they’re ace riders and crack shots and pretty fair actors, that Arthur was very used to a nomadic lifestyle, that circus folk are great actors and can deal some mild well-meaning trickery as part of the delight, that they were fairly egalitarian for the time, and that traveling circus folk sort of existed as a quasi-disreputable and tightly knit “outsider” group, it felt like a neat chance to mirror the gang, but in a positive way.  So with the circus, I got to write Sadie and Arthur getting to live the best version of that kind of life, and sort of coming to peace with more of the past by it.  Proving the things they missed about the gang weren’t the robberies or Dutch’s antisocial philosophy, but the people they loved and the freewheeling lifestyle.  Also proving that while they enjoy that life, they do both really want to have something more settled and put down solid roots.  Sadie misses that, and Arthur yearns for it as something he’s never had. Also noting I hadn’t planned at all on Arkady Rudenko when I wrote Sadie and Arthur performing as the “Cossack Karolovs”, and I only realized that connection after I’d written the final chapter.  Guess my unconscious brain knew more than I thought even back then, though I’d only earmarked a few months before that final chapter trying to possibly work in the interesting fact of Ukrainians being a very prevalent immigrant group to the Canadian prairie provinces at the time.  But yeah, as an actual Cossack kid, Archie’s probably going to laugh his ass off. Kid’s jobs: So I actually have a short scrapped bit that I didn’t include as an extra document at the end of chapter 88, though I debated it.  I like the piece, but I wanted to leave it with Sadie and Arthur’s journal entries and the circle of things being sort of complete. It’s a preface to a book called “Red Dead Redemption” written by Jack--who’s become a writer of a fairly famous radio play turned TV serial--in the ‘60′s once all the OGs are finally gone and he feels safe to tell that story.  It mentions that the illustrations were done by his wife, Bea.  So yeah, Bea got Arthur’s artistic talent, and by submitting her work as “B.M. Griffith”, she managed to get some illustration jobs that would have been denied to her as “Beatrice”.   Mattie (Matt as he grows older), becomes a doctor.  He’s already got the caring heart and desire to heal and help people.  He’ll likely end up helping Felipe out as a teenager and learning some of the ropes there before going to college. Susie ended up becoming a teacher.  There were definitely still strictures at the time against married women working as teachers, so if/when she got married (and I think if so, she did it later in life) she’d have been expected to retire and effectively become a housewife.  But she’d still keep teaching as a tutor.  Andy, with his energy and love of horses and the outdoors, actually shows a passion for farming and ranching.  So he’s the one who ends up running the day-to-day of Paradise Run as the next generation.     Feel free to keep up with the AMA with those further questions!  Might be better to send them in individually, though, as this one got pretty long.  ;)

[burdock-root]

just arrived to mexico for the first time, and then history tried to repeat itself.