Beware of the reader
This from the Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville, with thanks to the sharp eyes of VBC member Jessara, who comments, “Somebody around here has been reading Night Work, and the difference between fiction and nonfiction has eluded themâ€:
A Jacksonville man went to grab a beer and brought home a painful memento from his night out.
The 22-year-old sailor was knocked unconscious and had the phrase “Wife Beater” scrawled across his stomach Saturday outside Bourbon Street Station Bar on St. Johns Bluff Road.
The victim, who was arrested in March on a domestic battery charge, went to the bar by himself about 11:45 p.m. He said he left the bar and was walking toward his vehicle when he was knocked out. He woke up with a burning chest pain, according to the report. He lifted his bloody shirt and saw the letters stenciled into his stomach with a blade.
He went home and didn’t go to the police until Monday morning. He told authorities he was worried the incident might violate his probation.
That’s a little….scary.
That is indeed, a bad night out. Wow.
Art is supposed to immitate life, not the other way around. Sheesh. It makes a curious mind wonder just what he was locked up, and then released on probation, for in the first place.
OT question for Laurie:
How do you go about naming characters? Specifically, how did you come up with Russell as Mary’s last name? (Sorry if you’ve anwsered this before and I just didn’t see it.) I’ve always loved the way you write her personality. She reminds me of my father’s sisters. She’d defintely fit right in at a Russell family reunion.
So, did you have a Russell friend you patterned her after, or was this just a fluke?
Nikki
I talk about Russell’s name at a previous post:
https://laurierking.com/wp.php/?p=361
As for the Mary part, that came from another author’s first name shelved next to Letty Russell.
Oh, the reader comments on the paper’s (expanded) report on its website are fun too.
http://news.jacksonville.com/justin/2008/07/02/wife-beater-carved-into-jacksonville-mans-chest/
I am wrestling with my conscience. So far I’m winning. If I knew who did it, I would certainly tell the police. However, NOT pointing them to “Night Work” is something I can live with. After all, the Pink Vigilantes in India may well have been the inspiration.
Hey that’s my home town….happens all the time in J-town. It’s a big Navy town….
Glad to hear you are home safe and sound and settling back into life.