The Ballad of Bonaduke— Episode 42: Meaningful by R.T. Slaywood DETAILS: Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #42 Format: Kindle Vella Story Read Date: December 22, 2023 The Story So Far… A drunken Michael Bonaduke decides to use a grift...
The Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode 42: Meaningful
DETAILS:
Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #42
Format: Kindle Vella Story
Read Date: December 22, 2023
The Story So Far…
A drunken Michael Bonaduke decides to use a grift (with maybe some sort of magic/magic-like “help”) to win on a scratch-off lottery ticket so he has money to buy more to drink. He pulls off whatever he did, gets his money and some booze and stumbles off into the darkness to drink himself into oblivion so he can start again the next day. He’s hit by dark memories (probably what’s driving him to the drinking) of fire, pleading, and screaming. There’s going to be a price to pay for his grift, and he’s trying to be ready.
He’s abducted by some representatives of a mysterious group who subject him to a test—if he passes, everything will be explained to him (and hopefully the reader, too). He passes—and is brought somewhere for answers, or maybe training, or maybe another test. Time will tell (or things are going to get really annoying). Answers aren’t quick to come—but the mysteries and questions keep piling up.
Things get hairy and Bonaduke leaves and finds himself back in the neighborhood he started from. He takes refuge in a homeless encampment shortly before a police raid. He’s apprehended and finds himself an interrogation room and shortly escapes after using his grift (but with results he didn’t quite intend). He finds himself by a group of squatters who seem to have strapped a woman to a chair for reasons that can’t be good. He attempts to rescue her before he even realizes what he’s doing, and seems to have succeeded—well, the two of them got away from the group anyway—breathing but bruised. They make their way to a fast-food taco joint and Bonaduke really needs to refuel to keep going. He tries, but fails to get food because he keeps passing out. Thankfully, the clerk is the same guy from the liquor store and he both recognizes him and gives him first aid. The woman (Zero) wakes up and shows some abilities of her on as she helps them escape from her captors who’ve tracked her down. One thing leads to another—Zero and Bonaduke’s magics don’t mix well (at least until they understand what each other can do?), and they end up in a video-game race against the squatters in a tricked-out version of Eric (the clerk’s) car. Note, I said video-game race, not a video-game-style race. They’re actually in one. When dumped back into reality, he’s surrounded by bruised and broken bodies (of people and cars). And then he gets into a supernatural fight and survives…just.
Or maybe not. But he gets better. And then his new…friends? Acquaintances? People who keep popping up in his life?…start explaining exactly what’s going on to him.
What’s Meaningful About?
I said nothing happened in the last episode, but man…it was action-packed compared to this one. They drive, they talk, they have some lousy fast food, then drive and talk some more.
But that’s okay. Because what they talk about is important: Alan gives Bonaduke a quick version of his origin story, starts to explain Omnicrat and their activities, and what he, Om, and Zero are trying to do. Better yet, he gives Bonaduke a better understanding of how magic interacts with the world and people.
So, what did I think about Meaningful?
This is the talkiest that Slaywood’s been yet–hardly any narrative, either. (or so close it doesn’t matter). It’s a lot to take in, really–not too much, but a lot–and it’s going to be one of those episodes you bookmark so you can come back and reference it later when you see some of this in action.
There’s part of me that wants to compare some of what we saw in earlier episodes to what we’re told here, too–just to see how the “in action” compares to the “theory.” But I think I’ll hold off on that for now, to see how things play out a little (and frankly, Vella isn’t easy to flip back and forth through quickly and I’m not in the mood to put up with that), I’ll just assume that Slaywood is being internally consistent (and if not, I really don’t care–the path he’s on is good enough that I’m fine with him diverging a bit from earlier stuff)
This is really good to see, I’m glad we’re starting to get some of the world explained to us. Things are starting to gel.
