My Head's Above the Rain and Roses Chapter Ten Author's Note

Review Response:

Thank you to lljmarch on FFN for your review and Britney, starktower, mefistofeleswassupidk for your comments on AO3 and everyone who favorited, followed, or left kudos on either site! It means so much to me! Thank you!

Chapter Commentary:

Is it wrong for me to admit that I got bored halfway through this chapter and started making a list of all the horrible things that could happen to a child? In all honesty, I think the power was out (again) due to a thunderstorm and I just remembered the joke from Family Guy where Peter and Chris were counting all the horrible things that could happen to a child to figure out how far away the storm was. Then I just found it funny and kept it in under the repurposed title “all the things that could prevent you from making a phone call”. The second half of the list are actual ways people have died. I found a few lists of unusual deaths online and added them in there. So, please everyone, enjoy my sick sense of humor!

Mew-isms:

Lotensin: An ACE inhibitor primarily used in the treatment of hypertension, congestive heart failure, heart attacks, and preventing the renal and retinal complications of diabetes.

555-310-2187: Not a valid phone number. In the US the 555 area-code is reserved for entertainment purposes. Trying to dial this number will just get you a dead line.

Anonymous: An online hacktivist group is known for their lack of structure and individual member anonymity. They’re basically the guys you see running around in Guy Fawkes masks at political protests.

Stone Press/Peine Forte et Dure: A method of torture in which heavier and heavier stones were placed upon a defendant’s chest until they either entered a plea or died. The most famous case of this was that of Giles Corey, who was accused of practicing witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Corey refused to enter a plea, so he was subjected to this method of torture until he died. According to legend, each time he was asked whether he’d enter a plea as he was being stoned to death, he’d only reply with “more weight.”

Shashank you out of there: A reference to the film The Shawshank Redemption in which the character Andy Dufrene goes to extreme lengths to escape from prison. (Yes, I call crawling through a river of shit extreme.)

Translation Notes:

Peine forte et dure: Hard and forceful punishment (French)