A rather long hypothetical that's for reals!

SOoooo...

Let's suppose you are a gal who has met a man who sems to be Mr. Wonderful. Everthing just seems ro click. You two get along great. Your friends all approve - even your mother who would question Jesus himself calls him " a nice young man" - until...

One day he tells you this very wierd story of how he ended up spending 8 months on a ward for the criminally insane out in the California State prison system 20 years ago when he was but a lad. He claims this was a miscarriage of justice (naturally) and that all he had done was find a key laying in the street and return it to the porch of the house of a neighbor. The neighbor later on was robbed and the police wrongfully arrested him for the crime. This all happened when our hero was on a visit to a brother who lived out there in Lotus Land long ago and so far away.

This is a very hard pill to swallow, but you try. You've been seeing the dude for 2 months - everything has been perfect so far. You try to get further information and he looks hurt like he can't stand remembering it all and you are bringing up a subject which only brings him back to old pain and grief. You let go of the topic, but now there's a big question mark in your mind.

You go along for a while with him doing his Prince Charming routine - flowers, dinners for two, blah, blah, blah when one day he suddenly reveals a second tidbit. His bro out in Cali had killed himself and his girlfriend in some sort of suicide pact because they "loved one another so much." Prince Charming adds that he feels bad because he had arranged to visit them the very same day that they died, but something more important came up and he hadn't dropped by as scheduled. "Had I only known," he says sadly.

WHAT!!!!!!!!!

You don't like this story one bit - what does Prince mean that "they loved one another so much they had to die"?

You politely excuse yourself from the champaigne and caviar dinner for two and pretend that you need to go powder your nose. In reality, you tear out of the restaurant and hail a cab to take you to the nearest public library and make it snappy. The reference librarian calmly listens to your request for news stories and/or obits from the Lodi, CA local paper for the date in question. With a flick of her wrist she accesses some amazing Cali Library System reference site and poses your question to the eager seeker of truth on the other end of the screen. TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP!

Her colleague in Cali sends back a newspaper article which is printed out at once right before your eyes. "15 cents, please," says your local librarian, primly holding out her hand. You hand her a dollar and dash back to your waiting cab to get back to the elite restaurant where Prince is by now doubtless tapping his foot.

As the cabbie drives you back at breakneck speed, you scan the one page document in your best Evelyn Wood style. You learn that far from being a suicide pact, the bro had broken up with the GF months before, The EX GF had come home for lunch and been shot with a 22 rifle in the face by the bro who then turned the gun on himself. The bro had bought the rifle two days before the incident. The story also claims that the bro actually lived in Sacramento NOT Lodi where the murder/suicide took place. The reporter who wrote this story adds cryptically that the bro's car was allegedly seen by a neighbor around 11:45am. The bodies were found the same day at 3:00 pm. There is a note from the Cali librarian apologizing for being unable to find anything else. No follow up story, no obits, no nothing.

You know Prince's family has all sorts of military connections and political and financial ones, as well. These folks have CLOUT! A phone call or two to the right person? A mother weeping, "I've already lost ONE son!" ??????????

Your thoughts are racing. Perhaps, Prince just wanted to make things look good by calling it a suicide pact? But why even tell the story at all? Its not widely known, YOU'D never heard it before and everybody gossips endlessly here in Gotham City and you hear most, if not all the juicey tales. And why was the bro's car Allegedly parked in front of the ex GF's? The bro had to get down from Sacramento somehow. Ghosts don't come out and move their cars after they've killed themselves. It should have been a routine matter, not even worthy of comment. "Yep, there's the perp's car, right out front." So just why was Prince REALLY locked up on a ward for the criminally insane? Maybe he wasn't even locked up at all! HUH? WHAT? Ooooh, why does dating in the 21st century have to be so difficult? Is the guy a prince or a sociopath?

The cabbie pulls up in front of the swank restaurant where Prince sits waiting for your return, So you:

1) Tip the driver extravagantly and stroll back in, making up a little white lie about having to stand in line behind the entire Dallas Cowboys' Cheerleading Squad in the powder room and never mention the subject of Bro's sad demise ever again.

2) Say, "Home, James!" and call Prince on his cell and claim food poisoning. Then hang up and frantically try to contact San Joaquin County officialdom for more information.

3) Tell Prince you are dying to have a long heart to heart with him and arrange a meeting at a secluded spot in the mountains admidst a dark spruce forest where no one ever goes.

4) Tell the cabbie to step on the gas for the airport and take the next flight that's leaving for Rio and never return.

Thoughts? This is actually a for reals situation I have come up against written in a humorous style. Except that I don't feel much like laughing over it.

[wolf]

There are a very small number of reasons that one ends up in a hospital for the Criminally Insane. Breaking and Entering is typically not one of these, unless of course he was dressed like Napoleon at the time and found by the homeowners singing in the shower while wearing a swim ring with a duckie head in the front. Even then you only get the regular looney bin.

I don't suppose the handsome prince has mentioned which one?

What comes back when you google HIS name ... and are you willing to spend the money on one of those "find out anything about anybody" searches?

Have you checked the Califoria Violent Sexual Offender database? Criteria for those are pretty narrowly defined, so his not being on there is not a guarantee of safety.

Ted Bundy was always described as a very nice, personable, young man.

Handsome prince stated that he was sentenced by a judge to a mental unit in a prison for the CRIMINALLY insane out there in Cali 20 years ago. He tells cute stories of his fellow inmates who passed the days away with him - friendly psycho murderers and rapists and such. Of course, he tells it all as through the eyes of a bewildered 19 or 20 year old who has done no wrong - never even worn a Napoleonic hat or walked around with a rubber duckie swim tube in his life, either.

Prince SEEMS so normal, but then as you commented, so did Ted Bundy until until you realized that he was about to give you a one way ticket for the next world.

Prince has NO trace on the internet, by the way. It would appear that he never even paid so much as a utility bill or established a home address ever in his life.

[Trilby]

Is this guy the reason you want a gun?

And run, don't walk, to the nearest exit. This is NO Prince Charming. This is your warning--he's telling you exactly what kind of trouble you're going to be in for. Bail. Now.

[Trilby]

And I know you've found it to be strange-and it is-that this guy would spill his guts about a checkered past so soon in the relationship. It's a deal-breaker.

RUN AWAY!

[wolf]

I dunno. This is not the kind of information I would want to find out about after several months ...

Just make sure you meet in well lit, very public places.

Prince and I aren't going to be meeting ANYWHERE! He's got a pretty good disguise, but his frog legs are beginning to show (Yum! Frog legs sauted in a delicable white wine sauce!) That's how I've learned to think of frogs, anymore. A princess can kiss them all she wishes, but they still remain an unrepentent shade of green. He can hop off and tell his stories about life on a criminal nut ward to someone else. I was very wary after he told me that story. I have no idea why he felt the need to tell me the second story about his bro and lie about it being a suicide pact. To my way of thinking, either don't tell the story about bro at all or tell the truth. I think Prince got arrested as an accessory to that crime. Probably he drove bro down there and knew bro had bought himself a brand new 22 rifle. Prince drops bro off at the EX's house and waits patiently outside. He hears the gunshots. He gets out of the car and notices the car keys laying on the street where they were dropped from Bro's trembling hand. Prince picks up the keys and walks up to the ex's porch and looks in through the screen door at the carnage inside. He goes back down the steps and drives away in bro's car. That's why the car was allegedly seen. The cops are highly suspicious of what came down. Where's bro's car? Maybe Prince even left some prints on the 22 when him and bro were admiring bro's new toy. The family sends out a hotshot lawyer for Prince and makes some discreet phone calls. Prince gets off with 8 months on a ward for psycho murderers.

Nah, I don't think Prince is my cup of tea.

[BigV]

Prince's story is real--seeya!

Prince's story is not real--are you intrigued by somebody so creative in a frightening way? -- stay for the next chapter (you apparently did this once already) Not intrigued? -- seeya!

Really why stay? Charming, attentive, nice "perfect" even. Admittedly good qualities, but not unique. Hell, even I managed to be accused of some of them. Back in the day, of course. But I digress. The worth of these qualities proves itself over time. What is being proved in the time so far? Inconsistency. Scary inconsistence, perfect vs wild tinfoil hat story.

How well do you connect with that kind of unevenness? Some people like chaos, differentness. Others crave stability. Is this wild variablility something that floats your boat? That's how I would score the game to this point.

As for me, this sh*t sounds toooo freaky for my taste, by a long shot. No thanks, been nice, you're nice, had a good time, but gotta jet. *mwah*

Next!

Originally Posted by BigV

As for me, this sh*t sounds toooo freaky for my taste, by a long shot. No thanks, been nice, you're nice, had a good time, but gotta jet. *mwah*

Next!

Couldn't agree more! Prince's first part of the story was very hard to swallow as it was. Never-the-less, I kept trying because he acts like such a prince and he's so cute and all those candelight dinners for two over at the Palace.

But when Prince sprang the next story on me about bro's tragic "suicide pact" demise and how him and his girl left this world together because they "loved one another so much" I started gaacking up fur balls all over the place. The newspaper article that my friendly local librarian found for me was the biggest gaack of all.

I briefly considered having a little heart to heart with Prince about that news story, but I decided the better part of wisdom just might be to keep it my little secret. I don't think the other women around here whom prince has dated are aware of the amazing things that can be found out for 15 cents through the public library - as good as most detective agencies and considerably cheaper.

NEXT is right!