By Joshua Ryan
I know I’m coming into this story pretty late. I also know that if it was a story by Steven Meres, the plot would be set up so it was all about the hero. If you liked him, you’d be disappointed if anybody else barged in. If you didn’t like him, I guess you’d be happy if somebody showed up to grab your attention and twist it for a while. Whatever … this is where I come into the plot.
I am Carl Owen Abbott III. Despite that, I’ve always been known as Colly. I was the “college kid” on the boat that day. I put that in quotes because I was 19 already. Meaning fun’s over, right? Time to decide what you’re gonna do for the rest of your life. Not sure how seriously I took that, but…
Naturally I was in college. Everybody goes to college, and my grandfather’s name was carved on the lecture hall at Kingston. The same hall where I scrolled gay porn during lectures. Laughing out loud here! I was a pretty good student, but I knew that even if I weren’t I’d get a decent legacy grade and a more than decent legacy job. If I wanted one. If I just wanted to hang out and read for the rest of my life, that would be fine too. Better, in fact. My brother had been running the company since our parents died, and he didn’t need to be bothered with Collylocks, as he called me. Yeah, nice blond hair. But the point is, I’d never been punished for anything, and maybe that had something to do with what was gonna happen.
