Gideon's Fleece
Originally posted on November 19, 2007
Kaida: Um, Asher, someone here to see you. (loud whisper) And he says he’s your…. brother….
Asher: Oh wonderful. Wonder what he’s doing here…
Kaida: Wait - you mean….he IS your brother? There’s more of you giants around I haven’t met yet?
Asher: *sigh* Yeah, Kaida. Apparently there’s an unending supply of us. Seems it was a real bountiful family tree.
Kaida: Oh……..kay. Hey, can I stick around when you talk to them? Gotta admit I’m a little curious.
Asher: I guess. Might be a good idea, actually……. Hold up, Kaida - what do you mean, them?
Kaida: Your um… brother - he’s not by himself.
Asher: What???
Asher: Gideon.
Gideon: Asher.
Asher: What brings you here?
Gideon: Not your heartfelt invitation, that’s for sure.
Asher: Sorry – Didn’t mean to be rude, but we can hardly claim to be best pals, can we?
Gideon: That would be your doing. To know me is to love me. (Jeremiah snorts) See? The Jerm agrees with me.
Asher: The….?
Gideon: (tugging Jeremiah’s hood down) My little brother…. and yours – Jeremiah Bennett.
Asher: Good to meet you, Jeremiah.
Jeremiah: Yeah whatever…uh… same here.
Gideon: And who do we have here?
Asher: This is Kaida – one of my volunteer staffers. Kaida: my half brothers, Gideon and Jeremiah Bennett. They’re here from New York for…. well, don’t really know what for.
Kaida: Hi, it’s um…. really good to meet you.
Gideon: Mmm… but what is a lovely young lady with such a melodious speaking voice doing amongst the lowly production staff? You should be onstage making hearts melt.
Kaida: I tried it and didn’t like it much. But thanks for the compliment.
Jeremiah: Geez, Gid, you have to be The Big Act 24-7?
Gideon: Oh stuff it, you little geek. It’s called charm. Someday you might find some use for it yourself if you can ever pry yourself away from your games.
Asher: Kaida, why don’t you take Jeremiah on a tour? Run by Pete’s “office” and start there. Maybe Jeremiah would find the sound room interesting. Oh and…. no trap door nonsense.
Kaida: Moi? Sure, Asher (to Jeremiah) Come on – guess I’ll show you around.
(they leave)
Asher: Ok, now how about telling me what you’re doing here?
Gideon: So happy to see you too, brother….. Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not here with some conniving scheme like you seem to be thinking. I have no agenda except to introduce you to the Jerm. But as we’re not welcome here…..
Asher: (exasperated) Look, I’m sorry, okay? I still can’t get my head around the fact that you exist – and it’s a little hard to greet you warmly when I feel your hostility for our branch of the family…. for reasons that completely escape me.
Gideon: I have no beef with your little branch. Aside from the fact that you consider yourselves superior and disliked me on sight because…
Asher: Now hold on right there. The “dislike” you attribute to us didn’t show up until you started making wild accusations about our grandmother. You don’t know anything more about her than we know about your mother. And we wouldn’t…..
Gideon: Don’t be so sure. I know more than you think. But hey - I’m the easy-going type. So I’m willing to work out a little agreement here.
Asher: Agreement?
Gideon: Yeah – I’m offering you information … the kind you’re not going to get any other way…
Asher: And in return?
Gideon: Oh, your part is easy. I just need a place to dump the Jerm for a while.
Asher: Jeremiah? You want to leave him here? Why?
Gideon: My mother’d never forgive me if I abandoned him in the big, bad city without supervision. A few days I might get away with, but I have a gig that will put me on the road for at least the next month. Maybe more.
Asher: And you want him to stay here that long? What about school?
Gideon: He’s on this weird boarding school schedule – doesn’t have to return until mid January.
Asher: But that’s TWO months!
Gideon: Yeah, well how much is it worth to you anyway? To find out what I know?