28-03-2019, 03:29 PM
Whatever Gets You through the Night Pt. 01
Byroni Medina served as a sapper with the American 27th Infantry, a division of National Guard volunteers, in World War I; where he fought in the Battle of the Lys. In the fighting, he was separated from his unit and ended up alone on the wrong side of the Line but managed to make his way back to the Allied side the next day. History recorded nothing of his actions but his name and that he fought in the battle.
After the War, Byroni pursued the field of Structural Engineering, where he applied his training with explosives to helping build bridges and tunnels across America. He played some small role in most of the great American Public Works projects of the 20th century. An immigrant who could be spotted in the backgrounds of a few famous photos, but little other record exists of his involvement.
When Alaska became a state, he reasoned "They gonna need bridges and tunnels, too." And moved his business to the Land of the Midnight Sun. From then until a begrudgingly-accepted retirement in the 1990s, he put his skills to use connecting Anchorage and the state around it. None of the bridges or tunnels he built bear his name. There is no Medina Street in Anchorage, Alaska.
During those years, his grandson joined him Up North. He married and gave Byroni a great-grandson. From then on, he was most commonly referred-to by the Greek word for Great-Grandfather, Propappou. Years later, when Troy's parents were killed in an automobile accident, Propappou accepted retirement to raise his great-grandson with the same sense of caution and responsibility that a lifetime of safely handling explosives had taught him.
Propappou's great-grandson and his friends had been important parts of the final decades of Byroni's long life. The most important of Troy's friends had been a girl from a bad home where she was in constant danger. He tried to warn people, but few listened to the little girl and the old man about her home life. He fought for years to get the courts to take her away from her abusive father so he could adopt her; but by the time the man had shown the world that he'd been the kind of danger that Propappou warned them all about by murdering the girl's mother, the courts decided that Byroni was already raising one teenager and by then he was close to a hundred years old, and decreed too old to take on another. The girl went into the foster system, but always managed to stay close to Propappou, whom she regarded as her real father. It was because of him and the fact that he'd been the first to call her that name that she went by Helena rather than the name that the reprobate Parker family had given her, Helen.
Years later, the girl grew up to marry Count Vincenzo Ramon de San Finzione, ruler of the tiny European nation of San Finzione; becoming Contessa Helena de San Finzione. The Count died two months before Propappou, leaving 22-year-old Helena as Reigning Monarch of the Sovereign County and Independent Nation-State of San Finzione.
As things were built or were renamed for her late husband and his great works, La Contessa determined that it was an affront that there were no monuments to Byroni Medina and set about fixing that. Many of San Finzione's emergency shelters and several medical facilities had been named or renamed in his honor. In addition, life-sized statues of the man stood outside most government buildings. In the seven years that Contessa Helena had been their ruler, children in San Finzione's colleges had been taught "Run to Propappou if you are in danger. He will protect you."
The statues had been a boon to public safety, as they were always monitored and wired for sound and video, so that if someone came up to one in need of assistance, an operator at La Policia headquarters would see and be able to offer advice through the statue while dispatching help. The statues also had sensors to detect if they were being hugged. Those sensors would set off another alarm, causing the dispatchers to verify that it wasn't a drunken tourist, but someone in real danger. If it were the case, they would then slam down a red button that would alert every government employee within five city blocks to come to the scene and provide whatever assistance they could.
It was La Contessa's policy that if a child were to hug one of the statues, that the button be pressed immediately. Her logic for this was that a child running up to Propappou with something to tell him could just be telling on another child for taking the last cookie; but if a child ran up and hugged Propappou, it meant that they were in danger, that it was probably very real, and right behind them.
It was the weekend, and Stavro Poldouris, head of the Citizens' Grievance Office, was helping out in his father's butcher shop, cutting up a pig, when the alert came to report to the statue in front of the office. Luckily, because La Contessa had created the position and the office primarily for him, it was right across the street from the shop that his family lived above. Stavro set down his cleaver and ran into the storefront and out into the street, removing his gloves and apron as he went. The street was clear, so he kept running until he reached the statue, and the small boy desperately clinging to it and crying.
"Hey, hey, it's ok, I am here." Stavro said in Italian, the primary of San Finzione's four official languages. He tried to parse his Greek thoughts into Italian for the boy as he put his hand on his shoulder. "Of not to be fraiding. What is the matter?"
"He shot him!" The boy cried. As approaching sirens grew louder and the first policia cars pulled up, Stavro looked down the street in the direction the boy had been running from. Half a block away, Stavro saw a blond man in a suit who'd been running stop and turn around. Stavro began to run after him when he heard La Policia shout for him to stop and get down on the ground.
Stavro looked down at himself, then at the boy. In his hurry to get to the statue, he'd removed his gloves before removing his apron, and now his hands and the boy's shoulder were covered with blood. He'd seen enough American television to know what would happen if he tried to run after the man and the likelihood that they'd listen to him after finding him covered with blood and getting it on the child and dropped to the ground.
"It's pig's blood!" Stavro shouted to the officers, putting his hands behind his head and feeling the blood smear his hair. "I'm a butcher across the street!"
Stavro looked down the block and saw the man in the suit get into a vehicle. He tried to crane his neck for a better look when an officer shouted for him to stay down. As they kept their guns pointed at Stavro, other officers went to assist the child. After they'd handcuffed him, a foot patrolman from the neighborhood who knew Stavro arrived and was able to explain that yes, he was the son of the butcher and being covered in blood was not an unusual sight. The matter would be cleared up, but by then, the man would be gone.
Byroni Medina served as a sapper with the American 27th Infantry, a division of National Guard volunteers, in World War I; where he fought in the Battle of the Lys. In the fighting, he was separated from his unit and ended up alone on the wrong side of the Line but managed to make his way back to the Allied side the next day. History recorded nothing of his actions but his name and that he fought in the battle.
After the War, Byroni pursued the field of Structural Engineering, where he applied his training with explosives to helping build bridges and tunnels across America. He played some small role in most of the great American Public Works projects of the 20th century. An immigrant who could be spotted in the backgrounds of a few famous photos, but little other record exists of his involvement.
When Alaska became a state, he reasoned "They gonna need bridges and tunnels, too." And moved his business to the Land of the Midnight Sun. From then until a begrudgingly-accepted retirement in the 1990s, he put his skills to use connecting Anchorage and the state around it. None of the bridges or tunnels he built bear his name. There is no Medina Street in Anchorage, Alaska.
During those years, his grandson joined him Up North. He married and gave Byroni a great-grandson. From then on, he was most commonly referred-to by the Greek word for Great-Grandfather, Propappou. Years later, when Troy's parents were killed in an automobile accident, Propappou accepted retirement to raise his great-grandson with the same sense of caution and responsibility that a lifetime of safely handling explosives had taught him.
Propappou's great-grandson and his friends had been important parts of the final decades of Byroni's long life. The most important of Troy's friends had been a girl from a bad home where she was in constant danger. He tried to warn people, but few listened to the little girl and the old man about her home life. He fought for years to get the courts to take her away from her abusive father so he could adopt her; but by the time the man had shown the world that he'd been the kind of danger that Propappou warned them all about by murdering the girl's mother, the courts decided that Byroni was already raising one teenager and by then he was close to a hundred years old, and decreed too old to take on another. The girl went into the foster system, but always managed to stay close to Propappou, whom she regarded as her real father. It was because of him and the fact that he'd been the first to call her that name that she went by Helena rather than the name that the reprobate Parker family had given her, Helen.
Years later, the girl grew up to marry Count Vincenzo Ramon de San Finzione, ruler of the tiny European nation of San Finzione; becoming Contessa Helena de San Finzione. The Count died two months before Propappou, leaving 22-year-old Helena as Reigning Monarch of the Sovereign County and Independent Nation-State of San Finzione.
As things were built or were renamed for her late husband and his great works, La Contessa determined that it was an affront that there were no monuments to Byroni Medina and set about fixing that. Many of San Finzione's emergency shelters and several medical facilities had been named or renamed in his honor. In addition, life-sized statues of the man stood outside most government buildings. In the seven years that Contessa Helena had been their ruler, children in San Finzione's colleges had been taught "Run to Propappou if you are in danger. He will protect you."
The statues had been a boon to public safety, as they were always monitored and wired for sound and video, so that if someone came up to one in need of assistance, an operator at La Policia headquarters would see and be able to offer advice through the statue while dispatching help. The statues also had sensors to detect if they were being hugged. Those sensors would set off another alarm, causing the dispatchers to verify that it wasn't a drunken tourist, but someone in real danger. If it were the case, they would then slam down a red button that would alert every government employee within five city blocks to come to the scene and provide whatever assistance they could.
It was La Contessa's policy that if a child were to hug one of the statues, that the button be pressed immediately. Her logic for this was that a child running up to Propappou with something to tell him could just be telling on another child for taking the last cookie; but if a child ran up and hugged Propappou, it meant that they were in danger, that it was probably very real, and right behind them.
It was the weekend, and Stavro Poldouris, head of the Citizens' Grievance Office, was helping out in his father's butcher shop, cutting up a pig, when the alert came to report to the statue in front of the office. Luckily, because La Contessa had created the position and the office primarily for him, it was right across the street from the shop that his family lived above. Stavro set down his cleaver and ran into the storefront and out into the street, removing his gloves and apron as he went. The street was clear, so he kept running until he reached the statue, and the small boy desperately clinging to it and crying.
"Hey, hey, it's ok, I am here." Stavro said in Italian, the primary of San Finzione's four official languages. He tried to parse his Greek thoughts into Italian for the boy as he put his hand on his shoulder. "Of not to be fraiding. What is the matter?"
"He shot him!" The boy cried. As approaching sirens grew louder and the first policia cars pulled up, Stavro looked down the street in the direction the boy had been running from. Half a block away, Stavro saw a blond man in a suit who'd been running stop and turn around. Stavro began to run after him when he heard La Policia shout for him to stop and get down on the ground.
Stavro looked down at himself, then at the boy. In his hurry to get to the statue, he'd removed his gloves before removing his apron, and now his hands and the boy's shoulder were covered with blood. He'd seen enough American television to know what would happen if he tried to run after the man and the likelihood that they'd listen to him after finding him covered with blood and getting it on the child and dropped to the ground.
"It's pig's blood!" Stavro shouted to the officers, putting his hands behind his head and feeling the blood smear his hair. "I'm a butcher across the street!"
Stavro looked down the block and saw the man in the suit get into a vehicle. He tried to crane his neck for a better look when an officer shouted for him to stay down. As they kept their guns pointed at Stavro, other officers went to assist the child. After they'd handcuffed him, a foot patrolman from the neighborhood who knew Stavro arrived and was able to explain that yes, he was the son of the butcher and being covered in blood was not an unusual sight. The matter would be cleared up, but by then, the man would be gone.
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