Endtown by Aaron Neathery for December 12, 2012

There never is to that question. Kudos to Mr Neathery for not going the easy option of making her transition easy.

From five stories up, depth. I would be surprised if there wasn’t at least one former TS’er still in town even with Flask gone.

Linda sounds a lot like Wally used to. If she learns to accept herself as she is; she just might find a better life with the real humans.

I agree. No easy way. It is too cliche . We notice that you never take the easiest way out. You make us think and plan. What comes next. I still think she needs an orphan.Blessed Be

Holly: “As a wise man used to say”.

The hard thing is realizing both Linda AND Holly are right.

Linda still feels like a topsider stuck in a koala suit. DOL might be on to something here. An orphan would give her something to think of besides herself. She’ll always mourn losing her son, and the loss is leaving a hole in her heart. That empty space needs filling.

Heres something else to think about..Linda as a former Nazi getting some reality check about Jews. Shes going to have to deal with guilt about what she used to do, esp when shes now on the other end of the stick. Personally, she has to deal with that issue first before I would let her take care of another child. Esp a mutant child…

It would be nice to see what Hollys story is and how she came to endtown

One thing for sure, to me at least, Linda wont be doing any swan dives. Just getting her to talk proves it. Im no psych expert or psyhrink. Just using my cop instincts

..there was a guy a long time ago named Paul that had this same problem..

By the looks of it, I’m sure Holly has had her own demons to conquer as well as everyone else in that town. She seems like a good example of persevering over the trauma, at least from what we have seen.

Holly is so cute peeping over her arms.Linda thinks she’s “not one of you?” Has she looked in the mirror lately?!?

Well, I like it for the characters, and the notion of anthropomorphic beings who actually have a reason for it. There are lots of post-apocalyptic strips around out there on the ’net, but this, so far, is the best.

On the notion of religion, or in particular Christianity, being nothing more than a “get out of jail free” card—-nonsense! If you want forgiveness for your sins, you’ve got to do penance for them. Linda is still sorting out her sins (along with her shock and her grief and her guilt) and will have to find some way to do penance—-either that, or end it all.

Holly’s views of life suggests that she may be a former Top Sider herself! Thoughts?

At least Linda doesn’t seem as angry as she was. However, her greatest hurdle was and will continue to be her inability to identify with the anthros. She uses one of my most hated pair of words, “you people.” Until she gets out of that mindset, she’s a topsider – even if she comes to regret her previous actions. Sit back and enjoy, this will take a while. Aaron, thanks for taking the time to do this right. Like Holly said, “There are no easy answers.” You can look at this as a soap opera if you like, but to me it’s more like Aaron N showing us the human condition.

A flashback story about how Holly became a mutant would be nice at this point.

Pray all you want to what ever you believe in. In the final phase it all comes down to YOU.It was said very distinctly in an episode of Futurama. Bender was floating in space and had life forms begin to develop. He favored one he could see over others he could not see. Finally a war broke out between the two factions resulting in the destruction of both. Bender was heartbroken and later came in contact with some form in space. Bender asked are you god. The form answered I have been called many things. Bender asks do you hear all that praying. The form answer Yes but after a while you just tune it out.The one question Bender asked and got answered says it all.Bender tells the form about the situation he was in. He asked did he do RIGHT or WRONG with what he did.The Form answered. “RIGHT or WRONG are merely words. What matters is WHAT YOU DO.And if you do it correctly it as if you have done nothing at all.”Should one seek forgiveness or work for it by deeds?Henry Lee Lucas went to death convinced he would have a place in Heaven as he accepted Christ. He never did anything to get his deeds forgiven. He lied and deceived until his death but he did accept Christ. So that makes it Okay.Do you really want him for a neighbor?What Holly is saying you have to get into the life to make a change in yourself. Just sitting waiting for something to happen will never occur. The door will open if you but turn the handle and if it does not try another door.Lovely story today. Does Linda rise or fall? Her old Topsider drive should help if guided the right way. She has to accept which is easier said than done.

I’m far away and on the roadBut had to see what Holly showedTo Linda, stuck in “in-between”No easy answers to be seenI hope that we can keep from smearsNo politics/religion jeersBut we’ve got issues on our shelvesAnd bits of Topsider, ourselves=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

I’m reminded of an old Melanie Safka song of building a shell (facade) of a building and then it’s time to make it real by filling up the walls within. Linda has a new shell. Now she needs to fill it up. The question now is what is she going to fill it up with? A good first step would be to ask “What do you see in me?” to everyone who knows where she came from, starting with Holly & Wally. I doubt it would be all negative if she is willing to accept the possibility that it could be al negative. She already has one good quality, she’s basically honest with herself.

Why do you think I used child based on the past comments. Doc and Holly may go further back that just the END.I did not mean she is a child and just something happened to her in the past. Wally remembers the APEX taking out so called dissidents like the teacher. Could she have lost her family the same way before the End? Doc being married to her mom but her birth father lost or killed in the early days before the End? Never been told but would make sense. Doc would not refer to her as a Stepchild or daughter if she came as a full adult. There would be no need for the moniker.

Also it is known that many times your childhood past may not affect you until you get into adulthood. Post Traumatic Stress works that way. Things may happen in the past and not manifest itself for years then BANG. I know. It took about 10 years for the Nam PTS to kick in but kick in it did. It was other stress of living that brought it all to the surface. You have to dump those feelings and move on. Holly did that sitting on a tower for about two years then deciding to get back into it. Holly is trying to kick start Linda into moving on.

Holly does seem to have gotten over her initial distaste for this assignment, though…

Linda looks quite forlorn and anguished. Holly appears to be slightly depressed upon needing to reveal her past to Linda in order to try and get her to see that there in fact IS hope for the future.

Regardless of what one has done in the past, the true measure of redemption lies in what one does to rectify one’s self thereafter.

“Sick of hurting.” Holly implies that she wasn’t such a nice person when she started clocking out from her life, and hurt people. She might have been as much a piece of work as Flask and Linda and knows firsthand what redemption can be like to go through. She also knows that pieces of work aren’t necessarily finished and improve with practice.

Coytoy..i dont think so. Sick of hurting doesnt at all mean she was a hurtful person. I think she was simply hurting inside herself till, as morgan freeman said it best in Shawshank Redemption…"get busy living, or get busy dying. Holly went for the former and found her place and eventually found love with Wally. The same may hold true for Linda. Once she gets busy living…..

I got a buddy who is a panda thats a single dad!

If there is no chance of redemption, in RL or Endtown, then there is no point in going on since there can be no release from the burden of guilt. Unless of course one is a psychopath (makes for great CEOs and politicians)Personally I’d rather believe that there is forgiveness available for those that accept it, albeit (as in Hopkins’ JACK) you have to learn to forgive yourself.FWIW it was said that there is little mpoint in shouting “Lord! Lord!” unless one backs it up by obeying said leader/lord/fuhrers precepts. You either pick up your cross and follow 100% or you don’t – but you’ll only fool yourself.I think we may see some of Holly’s backstory as she explains to Linda…. else we see some of Lindas as we follow that process of self assessment, self forgiveness and acceptance of forgiveness that will be needed as she heals from within.Either way Aaron will doubtless keep us entralled.Happy Christmas and bonny New Year to you all in case I don’t get a chance to comment again!

My bet is that Holly had a family at some point, or at least, a partner, that she lost either to mutations, the destruction during The End, or hunting by Topsiders. Odds are that she probably had a child or two, as well. But, the string of losses probably continued up to the recent past. Back when Wally first appeared, Doc warned Holly about getting too close to him and getting hurt. There’s a chance that she tried having partners after getting to Endtown, and was either jilted, or they got hunted. Holly probably has a big overlap in experiences between Linda and Flask.

in the last panel, it looks like Holly is starting to walk away. It could be to get Linda to come with her to go somewhere else or possibly leaving Linda with her own thoughts, at least for a while. She ain’t gonna jump.

Holly went through some hard stuff! She is a very insightful mouse. She is not just giving Linda platitudes and will show her some of her own past.

I think most of End Towners were from the topside. How long since the war?Any kids? They surerly can mate! there has been 1 child they do have a toys