![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/53111-dive-home.jpg\" "\\"53111-dive-home\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There are reasons for everything, as you long-suffering readers must know by now. The particular form that these disjointed narratives take was spawned in a sort of roman a clef format, through the simple necessity that once upon a time (code for \u201csea story\u201d) there was an implacable Agency that determined it had the authority to review all writings of its employees.<\/p>\n
As a practical matter, that was impossible to countenance. It would take too much time, and once, in an attempt to comply, had a reviewer opine that some of my contentions were incompatible with those of a serving officer, and that was about the time I determined that I was done with them, and done with censorship as a condition of service.<\/p>\n
So, as many of you know, that is when I legally went down to the Courthouse in Fairfax and changed my name. I likewise vowed not to disclose sources and methods in The Daily.<\/p>\n
The deceased are fair game, of course, and public figures, and with a little practice you can generally track who\u2019s who in the zoo without specific attribution. The key is plausible deniability by Socotra House Publications, but that is slightly problematic for others.<\/p>\n
For example, here is the conversation in the car as my sister Annook laid out the situation on the Petoskey Project, of which our literary collaboration is based. Imagine yourself for a moment, hurtling down I-72 or something like it, trying to figure things out:<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t call it Petoskey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t call it Petoskey.\u00a0 Project Petoskey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy, not?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything has to have a code name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t know \u2013 but there are rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that\u2019s just wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRead the contract, you want to be a Socotra, do the Socotra network, be one with the Socotra – ya gotta be in code.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really think this is necessary?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do, Bunny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, great.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst off, I am not a Socotra \u2013 I married a Socotra who also is not a Socotra – only a Socotra by code name\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now you\u2019re calling me Bunny?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBunny Socotra, Mr. Annook (not to be confused with Anook) Socotra of Project Little Town by the Bluff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not be Bunny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever.\u00a0 Oh, look here comes Salmon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re calling your daughter Salmon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d
\n\u201cYour Mother is calling you Salmon in the stories about Project Little Town by the Bluff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPetoskey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, ah, ah\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBluff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am no Salmon.\u00a0 Jesus, Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnnook.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was Anook.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot when I became Annook, Annook of the North.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell is a Socotra anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVic Socotra?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know \u2013 Michigan Mafia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, now \u2013 Bad Guys Group of the 5 Great Lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour Uncle.\u00a0 He thinks Grandma is a Magpie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe camp robber?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUncle Vic thinks Grandma is a camp robber?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, she was an irritant yesterday in the long car drive to Bellaire, her home town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGraveyard on the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGraveyard on the Hill \u2013 Code for\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cBellaire \u2013 got it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must be tough to grow up in the little town of Graveyard on the Hill to end up your final days in the Little town by the Bluff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSalmon!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not Salmon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet it be, Bunny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re calling him Bunny?\u00a0 I\u2019m Bunny.\u00a0 You\u2019re no Bunny \u2018til some Bunny loves you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s Bunny?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, now family, there can be all kinds of bunnies in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I never.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were talking about Big Mama.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMagpie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTerrible name.\u00a0 Horrible bird.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u00a0 Once she saw a sign for Massillon and once we refused to take the exit she was one angry Grandma.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTurn aound.\u00a0 She kept yelling at \u2013<\/p>\n
\u201cBear? You want to call me Bear?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so \u2013 don\u2019t worry – we\u2019ll find you a name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma kept yelling at the male family member driving the car \u2013 turn around.\u00a0 Turn around.\u00a0 There are secrets and you said you were taking me home. You promised you were taking me home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we were taking her home.\u00a0 To Bellaire.”<\/p>\n
\u201cGraveyard on the Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just two more hours southeast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was OK when she saw her town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRemembered the bridge, the football field, the way to the massive graveyard at the top of the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSalmon\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMother!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBunny!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFound the Foley graves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPotato famine immigrant-related relative-final-resting places.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s code for Foley?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLocated at the Graveyard on the Hill.\u201d
\n\u201cEnough.\u00a0 Get your bags – let\u2019s get to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou mean \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cYou tell your brother I am having no more of this code shit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, Camp Squirrel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCamp Squirrel?\u00a0 You think I am gonna put up with Camp Squirrel?\u00a0 Where\u2019s my phone, where\u2019s your brother\u2019s number\u2026\u00a0 Socotra my ass.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Come on Big Mama, Bunny – let’s get to the car.”<\/p>\n
Copyright 2011 Annook and Vic
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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