Your man, when he cheats…

I had my day planned today. I LIKE planning my day. I’m autistic so I get this happy little squee of delight when I see a nicely organized To Do list with everything neatly categorized and ordered by priority.

Then SHE called.

She was so sure it was me. That her husband / boyfriend / fwb was sexting over Facebook that the Kristine Pratt that she saw in the chat column just HAD to be me.

She did the logical thing I’m supposing, starting with a search for Kristine Pratt on Facebook. I’m usually the first one people get pointed to, or at least in the top results. I have 3,500 friends, I’m very active, visible. So of course, to her thinking, it was me.

She did her homework. She INVESTIGATED me, a word that means much the same thing “stalking” does but with justification for bad behavior added in. After all, I’m the ‘Other Woman’ and that gives her the right to find my home phone number or middle name.

Which then led to the phone calls, one of which I finally answered, ready to tell the telemarketer on the other end (because I don’t know anyone in California anyway, the reason why I hadn’t been answering these calls to begin with) to bug off. Nicely of course.

Except she threw me a curve.

“I know you’re married so of course you’re going to deny everything…”

Excuse me?

What ensued was a bizarre phone conversation where the tale came tumbling forth. I could hear her trembling over the phone. Breathy and insistant, wanting so much to get answers I could not provide. Because, of course, I’d never heard of this guy before in my life and had no idea what she was talking about.

So in short she had the wrong Kristine Pratt.

There’s a lot of us out there. There’s a newscaster somewhere, and an athlete, and a lawyer and bunch of others I’m sure. In one town we lived in, there was another Kristine Pratt who went to the same used bookstore I did and used up all my credit I had on file before we discovered the mistake of there being two of us.

It’s a common name.

And a common story.

By the end of the phone call, I was upset right alongside of her. “What can I do to help you right now?” I asked. “Can I pray for you? I’d like to pray for you.”

The wind was clearly out of her sails. I’m not sure if she was convinced ever that it wasn’t me that she was looking for. But what could she say? I wasn’t giving her what she wanted, and honestly the mention of God seemed to throw her a curve she couldn’t recover from. She instead hung up.

So what was there left for me to do? I was rattled. Not just annoyed that she had so much personal information about me, but that she’d gone through such lengths to get it. This was a woman scorned, and her anger was directed (wrongfully) at me. I honestly was frightened enough by the experience to contact a friend I have in the FBI and ask their advice.

“Just stay hyper-vigilent and be careful.”

Not what I wanted to hear.

Needless to say, I wasn’t a happy camper today.

I don’t like what this did to my day, what it did to me. But more than that, I don’t like what this kind of thing is doing to that angry yet oh-so-frightened voice on the other end of that phone call.

Now that I’ve had time to think, I wish that the frantic girlfriend/wife/lover would hear these words right now:

You’re going about this all wrong. Much as you want answers from Kristine Pratt, you need to get them from him. Making the ‘other woman’ go away isn’t going to make the problem that led to the ‘other woman’ go away. Talk to a counselor or member of the clergy or someone who specializes in helping women in bad relationships. Get safe. Get happy. Don’t let anyone take those things from you.

And to you, Jesse whatever-your-lastname-is who is cheating on your woman with some OTHER Kristine Pratt:

Grow up. Grow a pair. If you don’t want to be in that relationship be man enough to say so.  If you do, then what the heck do you think you’re doing sexting some other woman? You can’t have it both ways.

I’ve got enough things to derail my day for me on a regular basis. I don’t need this kind of drama on top of that.

So dear readers: What advice would you give anonymous phone caller if it were you who’d gotten that call?

Attempts at Life

Well, we’ve talked about derailment before. I hadn’t accounted for flu, which is by far the best at derailing a soul than anything. So days spent coughing and frowning in fevered headache at the screen has certainly kept me silent. Though I’ve gotten a bit more reading done than I normally would. (I also watched an entire season of Ocean Girl, one of my more secret pleasures that I don’t advertise too openly, being after all an Adult.)

It’s funny that I would read a short story called “Pale” by Chris Wooding from NetGalley in this time, as it has to do with the living dead and well, given my current shuffling gait and the moans with which I wander in search of brains..I mean food…I get hungry when I’m sick. Food. Not brains. I don’t eat brains…

Anyway, as a quick review, “Pale” is a High-Low book (something I am DELIGHTED by as there aren’t enough books written at a low reading level for teens to enjoy. Especially in topics that they’re interested in. So for anyone liking dystopic or zombies or even just for a solid read on bullying and consequences and true friendship…yeah this book has it.

Not that I liked the main character. He drove me nuts until somewhere in the last few pages where I decided I really didn’t want him to get what he deserved, I wanted him to be a better…person?

The story takes place in a future where the newly dead can be revived with an injection that will leave them…pale. And oh, their hearts don’t beat – they’re still more dead than alive. But yet…still are themselves. Just no longer accepted by society.

I find myself thinking about the deeper messages here. About how we hang onto things that aren’t healthy for anyone to hold onto, and then become resentful of the things we’re trying to hold onto.

Maybe I get too introspective when I’m sick and I’m seeing more than is there. But all in all, this was a solid read and one I would highly recommend. Especially if you have a teen struggling with reading. They’ll enjoy the story, and you’ll enjoy the fact that as a paperback you can find it for about $6.95 which is a bargain when it comes to high-low books.

That’s it, I’m shuffling back to bed.

BRAAAAAAAAAINS!

Beware the bar codes!

In my second NetGalley review we’re returning to the future first explored in the the book “Swipe” by Evan Angler. Not a happy future though it looks that way at first glance. Beware the bar codes!

“Sneak” is an exciting, swift-paced adventure.  Let’s see what the publisher has to say:

by Evan Angler

In a future United States under the power of a charismatic leader, everyone gets the Mark at age thirteen. The Mark lets citizen shop, go to school, and even get medical care-but without it, you are on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do . . . disappear.

Logan Langly went in to get his Mark, but he backed out at the last minute. Now he’s on the run from government agents who will stop at nothing to capture him. But Logan is on a mission to find and save his sister, Lily, who disappeared five years ago on her thirteenth birthday, the day she was supposed to receive her Mark.

Logan and his friends, a group of dissenters called the Dust, discover a vast network of the Unmarked, who help them travel safely to the capital city where Lily is imprisoned. Along the way, the Dust receives some startling information from the Markless community, opening their eyes to the message of Christianity and warning that humanity is now entering the End of Days.

When the Dust finally arrives in the capital, it seems that all their careful planning is useless against a government that will do anything to bend its citizens to its will. Can the gentle words Logan has found in a tattered, banned Bible really stand against the most powerful military the world has ever known? Can Logan even sacrifice his own freedom, choosing to act through faith alone?

It’s a good thing that I read the first book or I’m not sure I would have understood what all was going on as we revisit Logan and his friends in Sneak, as we pick up almost right where we left off.

Logan has thus far avoided the Mark – just barely. In this dystopic society where everything seems perfect for those Marked by the government, evil and corruption lies just underneath all this talk of unity and peace. Logan escaped it in book one and this book picks right up where we left off last time, as the race continues to not only stay out of the government’s hands, but also to find those who have been taken.

Like the first book, there are times that this story reads too much like a rough outline of a really really good novel. I find myself craving more detail, wanting to see and feel and taste what’s going on. The addition of new characters keeps things interesting, but at the same time the characterization seems to suffer for it. I want to know Eddie and Peck and Joanne, and everyone else so much better. Double the length of the book and let us PLEASE just sink into this world and walk around into it!

On the other hand the story is exciting and engaging. The Christian elements so loosely introduced int he first book are made clearer here in book two. Yet there’s no alter call, no beating over the head with the faith aspect, which I think the readers will much appreciate (I know I really did).

I want more. Plain and simple, I want to know what happens next. Things have gone from bad to worse, to oh-my-goodness, you’re stopping the book HERE? (Much like the end of Empire Strikes Back in its own way).

Recommended? Yes. If you read the first book and were disappointed, do try the second. I think you’ll find it much richer and better than the first. but DO read the first one before taking on this, so that the story makes more sense. Hopefully the publisher and author won’t keep us waiting too long on the next one…

Thank you NetGalley for the free copy to review! – but the opinions expressed are my own. 🙂