We don’t think Black Friday is as fun anymore. Brandon Saw 4 wisemen. We set off to the 1800s!

Deals and steals
Brandon haircut
tricks with the 4 wiseman
Stable sandwiches for driving
don’t let your burger turn into sadness
Collin’s trip to the Lamine river
What's the worst that could happen?
Great Expectations - 1850
3 MORE!!
Brandon Haiku

Aromas waft through the house
Drawing all to the kitchen
Sneaking bites

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Christmas lights, pickleball dinosaur, fast food, road trip, cemetery, convict, file, guilt, sister, brother-in-law, stealing, mist, prison ship

SPEAKERS

Collin, Brandon

Collin Funkhouser 00:04

Collin, welcome to Oh brother, the podcast where we try to figure it all out with your hosts, Brandon and Collin on this week's show, don't let your burger turn into sadness. Ahoy. Ahoy. How's it going? Pretty good. How are you I

Speaker 1 00:25

am, well, I am, I am all sort of discombobulated. Here, hold on. Oh, my goodness. I thought, I thought I had it right, and then I realized that this is just not, it's not right, how it

Brandon 00:39

works. You know, think it's good, then it isn't

Speaker 1 00:43

story that face, literally, story of my life. Yeah, right, like it's it gets good.

Speaker 2 00:49

Steike, surprise. Oh, it's all gone wrong.

Speaker 1 00:57

Oh, my gosh, yes, my goodness, well, you get this, I've got windows in the wrong places, Windows and all the wrong places. Oh, I'd probably turn that into a country song if I wanted to,

Brandon 01:14

you know? Yeah, I did. You are giving a little Garth brooksy, you know, good. That's what I

Speaker 1 01:21

was that's really what I was going for. That's what I was hoping. So cleared that.

Brandon 01:28

Check, bang, bang, oh my gosh. So what's going on?

Speaker 3 01:35

Oh, you know, just got back home from seeing you and so what?

Speaker 1 01:42

Yes, yes, we survived Thanksgiving holiday of sorts, indeed, right?

Brandon 01:49

Collin had to go Black Friday shopping, though, so, you know, I had to just leave him alone. I had to go out

Speaker 1 01:55

mega early getting them deals. You know, that's me gotta get to, I was deals and steals.

Brandon 02:02

I was talking to, I got a haircut the other day, right? So I was talking to the lady, and she was like. She was like, so do you Black Friday shop? I was like, No, I never have done that. I just don't really see the point. And she she right, she has some insight that I think is important. Yes, right? She was like, Yeah, we used to go, you know, a little bit, but like now, they just started so early, and it doesn't even feel worth it to go, right, because she said that it's not, I don't know. I don't know if anybody else would agree with her, right? But she said, it's not a challenge anymore.

Speaker 3 02:49

There's no reward for going because you can get all this stuff, like, a week early. The exclusive can't get it online.

Brandon 02:57

Yeah, there's, like, not really any exclusivity. That's like, worth it, and there's no, she used words like, you don't have to battle and right, like, there's no, like, overcoming, I was gonna succeed.

Speaker 1 03:13

How many? How many people did this lady punch to get a tickle me on?

03:17

That's what I don't really know. She wouldn't go in details. How many people she,

Brandon 03:24

or I don't know, her age or somebody may or may not have attacked, but like, yeah, because there's no like challenge involved, it's not worth going, sure. And I was like, That is a weird sentence, but also, I think you may be on something right there, right? It's too easy, right? Plus, you know, nowadays, right? You know, you know, a lot of the deals aren't actually deals, right, right, right? They do this thing where they like. They do the thing where some of them are okay. I'm not gonna disparage all okay, because obviously there are some things out. There are some good but a lot of stores, right? They have the deals right, but then they try to pretend like other things or deals, right? And they forget that the internet exists, and people are in their store, like, I saw one. It like, I think it was Walmart, probably. And they were like, check it out. And it was like, on sale, 125 or it was like, $120 and then they, like, scratched off the little piece of tape that they put over it, and it, like the normal price was, like $115

Speaker 3 04:33

it was Like, guys, what are you doing?

Brandon 04:41

We see that like, come on, can't trick everybody. Like, what are you doing? Her, her, her input was that, because it's not challenging enough that there's no point in. I mean, that is true. I feel like you've accomplished like a Herculean feat, right? It's just like me, yeah, when

Speaker 1 05:12

I got and I had thought that there was a push for more like in store, things like in store exclusive and in store deals, that kind of stuff. But I guess, I guess that has kind of gone away. Or maybe the only exclusive that they have are, like, and this bobblehead, wow, look at this amazing.

Brandon 05:39

It's not like, really, particularly interesting, right? Like, I don't know, because, again, have I ever gone Black Friday shopping? No, right? I'm not. So I don't really have a good, like, baseline for this, but I do feel like, if there aren't, like, if there's no real reason to go into the store and, you know, like, again, I don't know if there's like, a thing that people want nowadays either, right? Because, you know, used to be there was always like that, like, have to have thing, right? But nowadays, people, there's a have to have thing like on just a random like Wednesday, so, you know, like, Do people really care about Black Friday? If they're, like, flocking out to bi, you know, some random it trendy thing, just like on a Wednesday, because capitalism has spiraled so far out of control that the only way they keep people consuming is to have a new trendy thing every other Wednesday. You know, who said that? What was that? Man? That was a weird, weird breeze noise for that,

Speaker 1 06:56

have we been Hold on. We may need to switch to the other line. Hold on. Just second.

Brandon 07:00

Boom, there you go. No, yeah, I don't know that was her take, I suppose, interesting, so I'd share that with you. So also have some other updates, right? Just new, new updates, right? Went to Christmas light display this evening. Oh, it's up and running now. Just this evening. Nice. Yeah, so they've added like, four, slash five. I can't quite remember how many new things. Oh, in the deal, that's pretty sweet, right? And they have a couple new little ones. They're like, sponsored by, look, some of them are like, in memory of like, so and so, right? Like, or local businesses like, add new stuff in there. So they've switched it up a little bit, and they've moved some things around. But it's very, it's very, it's very, got a lot more, right? Excuse me, are very pleased, very pleased. But I think most importantly, Collin, you're going to be pleased by one of them. Oh, because, first of all, do the four Wise men still exist? Yes, don't worry, the four wise men, they tried to again. They've switched it around a little bit to try to make it look like there's not four, but there's four. Okay, four, fine.

Speaker 1 08:23

Just, can i? I Okay. I will do this. I will next year. I I think we should go in and we should sponsor only the fourth. Wise Men podcast should ask to sponsor just the fourth one, like we want that guy my sign next to,

Brandon 08:43

yeah, the other one anyway. So there is, there is the four wise men. Are there? Good? I was a little worried, because they, like, normally, the big, huge, major thing is, like, parallel to the road, right? So it's all laid out in a big thing, right? This year, they've kind of angled it, kind of like a 30 to 45 degree situation. So it's like stacked up. When you see it from a distance, it's all, like, really dense. But then you drive by and you see all the pieces, right? So they tried to hide that fourth Wiseman in there. What dinosaur, right? However, other new other new installations, include a T rex with a pickleball racket. Oh, no, on the fence of the pickleball court.

09:46

Yes, what now

Brandon 09:51

it's giving very we're back a dinosaur story. But yes,

09:55

but you know, vibes, that's not what it is.

Brandon 09:58

Hold on. I gotta add vague. Get references to or obscure references to our list of 12 Days of Christmas things here. Oh, yes, okay, I'm just gonna add that right now. But yes, there is a big purple dinosaur carry with the pickleball paddles. So, okay, well,

Speaker 1 10:24

that's, that's a good choice. That's a good, you know, very timely, very timely with the rage of pickleball. And it's a purple, oh, it's a purple pickleball dinosaur,

Brandon 10:34

and it is on the fence of the pickleball court, nice. So it's just just like a big wham right there. Like, what, what, astounding.

Brandon 10:53

Oh, that's other things.

10:55

Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Nope, nope. Go ahead. You. Oh,

Brandon 10:58

yeah. These are other thoughts I just had on the way home. See, being right. We talked about before, like, fast food restaurants losing their identity, like mostly McDonald's, like, not remembering that it's a fast food restaurant. Oh, yes, right, yes. And I want to say, right. I think one important aspect of knowing that you're a fast food restaurant is remembering because, at least in the States, right so all other outside US people can't hear some insight for you that you may or may not already know. Okay, it's very important, not very important, but because of the way that we have destroyed our railroad network, it is quite crucial that you be able to eat and drive simultaneously, right? And it is very important that your fast food burger has a paper wrapper and not the box thing, right? Yes, because they put it in the box, they're all fancy, like, Oh, here's a little clamshell box, hot. You can't eat that whilst driving. Is not possible, right? It'll be disastrous. You need the wax paper wrap thing so that you can fold it around and hold the burger firmly in one hand whilst driving with the other. I know all of my European friends may be thinking that sounds absolutely insane. Yes, it does, but that's just the reality of living in the US, sometimes you must eat and drive simultaneously. And I was thinking about this because we had to stop on the way home and get something to eat, right? And so we did, and we had with part of the reason, part of the place, part of the reason we chose where we chose eat was the burger delivery system, right, wrapped in my ex paper and so, you know, you can hold it efficiently, yes, while driving, right? That was part of the choice that went into this.

Collin Funkhouser 13:14

Okay, oh, man, this is a whole other like discussion about foods for road trips. And I know people be furiously writing in saying, don't eat while driving. But also,

Brandon 13:28

yeah, all the cops listening, right,

Speaker 1 13:33

okay, but I think what you allegedly, I think what you're hearing here is a discussion to be, like, conscientious of this, because what Bryden didn't say was yeah, and then I pulled over and we got, I got, I got 1515, wings, and was dipping them in my sauce that I was driving down the highway. Or no, can't do that. No, no, no, no, not doing this. But like a burger, which is all wrapped and nice and neat and simple. And you can, even, when they're wrapped well, you can even, like, set it down and go back to driving and then pick it up. Like, yeah, you just put it back in the bag, right? You just keep the bag right there. You set it in the bag.

14:15

You're good to go right

14:18

when it's we have a box. What are

Brandon 14:20

you supposed to do? You can't do that. You can't drive anything that's dangerous, is what it is really, right? So there's a different fast food experience. Okay, there is the I'm gonna, like, I guess you can go in and eat. But like, sometimes, like, we get it and take it home, right? That's a different need than I'm going to still be driving whilst consuming this, right? And so you have to take into account what it is, because, yeah, like you said, like, I can't have, like, dipping sauces everywhere, all right, and drive at the same time. That's not working out. No, no. No, I can't do that. Can't be doing that nonsense, right? Your passenger, they can't have dipping sauces. That's fine, but the driver, no dipping sauce. You need to have. Yeah, it can't be, can be having dipping sauces. And it's just not a thing, not about the view, right? No, no. It's a little more austere situation, and you have

15:22

to be happy. With it. I

Brandon 15:23

mean, you also can't have a messy, saucy burger, right? Like, it can't be too crazy, can't have a bunch of extra stuff on it. Like, it's got to be well constructed stable.

15:41

Stable. You're looking for stability here, yeah,

Brandon 15:45

a good quality bun must be there. Otherwise, you know what? You're just back in the boat of, Oh no, it's in my lap and not in my mouth, right? That's not That's not good. Yeah, it's real bad

Speaker 1 16:01

it is, yep, bad things have fallen, and now I am hungry and messy and

Brandon 16:07

and then and sad and sad, right then sadness. And that's not what you want. You don't want sadness in these situations. Okay, you're trying to get a burger, and then you don't want that to turn into sadness, okay, that's really what we want to avoid all costs. You. Don't let

Speaker 1 16:23

your burger turn into sadness. Nice, that's

Brandon 16:28

very important. Okay, don't let your burger turn into sadness. Okay, I'm gonna add pearls of wisdom to our list.

Speaker 1 16:35

We need the pearls of wisdom corner.

Brandon 16:38

Oh man, we have a few. Can dig out, right? Don't forget, Be Kind Rewind.

Speaker 1 16:51

Oh, well, I'm glad, glad that went well and you had a was the burger good? At least

Brandon 16:57

it was quite good, actually, yes. Oh, there we go. Thing all right, yeah. So what else were you up to?

Speaker 1 17:06

Well, I was flipping quite a bit, not a whole lot of things. Thankfully, it's been relatively quiet with with what's been going whatever, like clients are going to client like they're going to have comments. You know, one lady like some of the photos got messed up when they went through the software, and she was responded and was like, I'd appreciate it if you could please make sure that the photos are clear and legible before you send them. And I'm like, Look, Dick, didn't know when they hit send, okay, it looks fine on their end the system, the software, actually scrambled them and made them look really odd, and actually made a few of them blank, okay, like, probably the encryption part, like it didn't be we did just fire these things off and have it look horrible. So I felt I was a little like in incensed at this. So I had to bite my tongue and say, I blame software, which it was, wasn't the because I reached out to the employee, and they're like, no, they looked fine on my end. I don't know what happened. I'm like, Yeah, it's fine. Like, this kind of stuff happens. So we didn't, you know that's kind of stuff comes up. But no, we've been we I, I'm still reflecting on my my trip over the creepy bridge at the lemine River. Because Are you? They affected you greatly. It has affected me greatly a

Speaker 3 18:33

because staring into the turbid waters of despair.

Speaker 1 18:39

Well, really excited to go and because I, like, I'd actually driven over this Okay, so I had actually driven over this bridge all times before it

Speaker 2 18:48

was decommissioned, hopefully not recently, because that's a bad plan. Yeah, that's why I just drove over, you know, the gravel mound. It's fine,

Speaker 1 19:01

but no, like, when I was working with the Department of Conservation, this is right across some conservation property, and it was still used then, and so we would drive our truck across it, and it was terrifying then, but I was like, Yo, like, it was kind of, I had it romanticized in my head, of, like, it's really pretty out there, we should go see it. And initially, on the one side, it was more fine, and then, like, as we got into the middle, it became very much less fine. Where, like, where like, boards were missing, and then somebody had just gone in and, like, tacked in a random two by four to take

Brandon 19:40

over the place. Yes,

Speaker 1 19:43

that's what we're talking about here. And then what I hadn't realized was the West Bank was actually a little bit higher than the east bank, and so if you go from the gravel road, it kind of went straight into the bridge. And. And up a little bit, and then it had a much more further drop off, more severe drop off on the east side. And so like that is when I really started to panic, because when they made the slope for the east side, they didn't make sure that all of the pieces of planks were like nicely pressed together. It was kind of like they had used up all of the wood for the west side. Because they're like, Oh, this is we have so much wood. There's no, we're never going to run out of this. And then like, as, Oh no, we've run out of this, as they did, as, yes, oh no, we're going to run out. So like, the gaps between the wood planks start to explain wider. Yes, they do as you go, yes, and as you and as it starts to slant, right, then they really increase, and so, oh yeah. Like, that's whenever my brain was like, Oh, right. Run away. No, thank you. I don't know if it's because it's landed or whatever. Like, the planks are in also worse condition. So they're getting, like, a little bit soft as you're walking on them. And of course, at this time is whenever all of my family decides they just want to stop walking and, like, look around. This is now when they're like, hey,

21:21

this part of the bridge. Hey, meanwhile, like, move along. Keep walking. Keep walking. This is the bad place to stop. It was back there

Speaker 1 21:34

up on the highest point. That was the cool part. Now keep growing. Make it across, right? We have fun. It's, it's great. Kind of cool to see. Later, I learned that there's actually a, like, it's a stable rock bed crossing there. And there's a the guy farms both sides of this river, and he drives his combine through this part. It's like, mega sketch, like, yeah,

22:06

Vegas sketch,

Speaker 1 22:08

combine through the river up these really steep embankments with the like, combiney thing out front. Like, it angles forward. Oh, the harvester doesn't take that off. No, no. He tries to. Doesn't have time.

Brandon 22:23

That's a totally safe and logical thing to do. What could possibly go wrong?

22:29

What? What indeed, what, indeed,

Brandon 22:31

what indeed, oh Lord,

Speaker 1 22:35

so we get back across very slowly and painfully, not without some jeers ingesting at someone's expense,

Brandon 22:43

much trepidation, and

22:45

I was very eager to get across quickly.

22:48

Let's just say that yes.

Speaker 1 22:50

And as we're approaching our car, Lillian goes, is that a fox? And I go, what? And she goes, fire under our car. Is that a fox? And I'm looking, and this little tail goes flip around one of the wheels, and I go. So we get down, and there's a gray cat who's sitting now. We are miles from anything, and here's this cat curled up in her car. And I'm like, shoe, Kitty, shoe. I'm about go right, like we're leaving, and this cat turns and starts to paw and climb up into the engine bay. Ah, no, that's That's not. That's the opposite of shooting, at which point I went, Ah, no, took a handful of gravel and, like, threw it at the cat and, oh, at your car. Good, underneath my car, underneath my car. I was laying down on my side, and I kind of

Speaker 3 23:48

went the grave right at my paint. It was right through my way

Speaker 1 23:53

into my window. It's like, yeah, no, I'm laying on my side. I'm laying on my my shoulder, and I kind of go straight out towards the cat. It peeks off the bottom car, and it kind of like scares the cat in. The cat just goes back towards the the back axle. And I'm like, Well, no, that's wrong, also not helping. So I have to run. I find this long stick, and then I get down on and I get down back on my shoulder, and I look, and I can't find the cat. And I look over back up at the engine, and it's crawling back up into the engine bay. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, what in the holy so I take the stick, and I'm like, like, okay, sorry, PETA, but I'm like, hitting this cat, like, aggressively, like, not like beating it hard, but I'm like, pushing and pushing and shoving and trying to get cold outside. It was, it was in the 50s, so it wasn't even all that cold, but it sure knew where to go and so, and it was supposed to get like, cold that night, I think, right. So it was in Okay, so I'm like, now frantic, because I'm like, I am not doing this like we do need. I am not extending my time out here just so you can take a little nappy and. Then finally, I get the cat down again and I can then I throw the branch at it again. I'm on my side. I hug it at the cat enough so that it shoots out on the opposite side, yeah, and goes out into the bush. And I'm like, good at the car, everybody. We're going, Yeah, so we don't get chased down by this cat. And then, of course, I have to explain to the kids, like, why was Daddy so frantic during for about, you know, 74 seconds, because we enjoy cats, and we don't want them to be not alive.

Brandon 25:37

Word up in the belts and the gears in the beginning, yes, and

Speaker 1 25:43

then we drive south to a different input, to a different bridge which is actually built. So the bridge we were at was built like in 1912 or 1918 something like that. The bridge that we were going to was built in the 1950s and it's kind of this beautiful, like, like understated Art Deco bridge, like concrete bridge. Love it, and we're reading this plaque, and it's all about the impact of the Civil War at that bridge. Oh yeah, because apparently they built an entrenchment to fight off the Southerners. At this the entrenchment could host hold 3000 members, and this was a key strategic point, apparently, for this, for that area, where they could try and protect that bridge, not the 1950s bridge, but, like

Brandon 26:35

I know, the version of the bridge, yes, it's very good, the bad and the ugly, right? This is very the end of that movie.

Collin 26:45

And so like I'm reading. And what was cool was we started to get some bigger picture context for some characters that we had had in history of we started to hear price and Shelby and these names that were also we learned an extensive amount about. And the kids remembered from when we were at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, because they made an appearance down there. And then we kind of got a better idea of what some of the Southern raiding parties would do, where they'd like, come up, kind of like near the boot heel, come up along along the Missouri River, over head out west, and then swoop down through like Clinton and Springfield, and then go back down into Arkansas like they do these huge, long loops. And this was one of the places where they would cross, and so they had to fortify him. And that original bridge was burned like five times, and it turns out that the last time it was burned was by Jesse James, when he burned the bridge and then held up a train

27:55

so that he could, As one does.

Speaker 1 27:58

And I was like, well, that's crazy. And, and, like, turns out there were like, 30,000 soldiers in the town, right? Like it was just, like, just around the corner, like they were stationed there full time, and, and all this stuff, worrying about and unfortunately, well, the entrenchments are still there. They're huge structures, big earthen structures. You can't get to them anymore because they're on private property, yeah, which is a little unfortunate, but like that is true. You know, whatever you seat them from over there. Yes, you can say over that way, there it is, there it is. There it is. I was kind of neat of a little bit of a history lesson and tie into something that we've already had discussed and learned about in Springfield and Wilson's Creek and some of these other things so and then as I was telling dad this story, that's when he was like, you know, we have family over there, right? What? Tell me again. And then that's why that book was out. Whatever everyone was here. He was like, see how it says, buried Otterville. And I was like, Yeah. He was like, there, there you go. Oh, okay. Well, this is all very enlightening, yeah, random, yeah, it turns out that the cemetery that we thought it was is not the cemetery that it was. I don't know if you heard this part of the

Brandon 29:27

story, but, like I heard the word you thought it. You knew where it was. Well, that bit, yeah. Well, we thought

Speaker 1 29:33

it kept on saying it kept on calling it the cemetery. But that cemetery was coming up in a town that was still another like, 27

Brandon 29:39

miles east,

Speaker 1 29:41

and so dad called the funeral home, of course, in Otterville, and talked to like, Derek or whatever. And was like, hey, is there this cemetery there? And he was like, yeah, it's on the north side of town. I was like, Okay, it's not labeled any. Air on any Google or any online thing. You can't get a pinpoint there, but it's supposed to be on the north side. And I was like, we literally drove right by that to go to the creepy bridge. So like, let's do this.

Brandon 30:11

Let's go back to the creepy

Speaker 1 30:12

bridge, maybe not quite the creepy bridge, just before the creepy bitch.

30:16

Oh, near the creepy bridge.

Speaker 1 30:18

We'll go near to Okay. Now this is really sounding like, Okay, this is becoming an 80s movie because there is a creepy bridge, and I'm going to a

Brandon 30:25

cemetery Exactly.

Speaker 1 30:29

So we'll have to park on the east side, so I have to cross the creepy bridge to get to the cemetery.

Speaker 3 30:34

I love this. And we'll do it. We'll do this, oh, I don't know, around dusk. I think that'll be

Brandon 30:42

clearly the best time to do such endeavors.

Speaker 1 30:45

Oh, oh, and it was a busy day, so I didn't have a chance to charge my phone, and my phone charger in my car just went on the fritz.

Brandon 30:53

And, yeah, obviously, obviously, it's not going to be functioning correctly, right? If that would be the true 80s

Brandon 31:14

experience. This is a plan that you have, oh, we'll see. Let us know how it goes.

31:23

What's the worst thing

Brandon 31:28

that we don't know how it goes and that's the worst?

Speaker 1 31:31

Oh, sure, fine, yeah. You don't hear back from me. Oh, but when you get to the house to look for clues, what is sitting on our front porch, but a great cat, of course,

Brandon 31:43

yeah, knowingly. Oh, smoking like, go no, preening its tail like, Oh no.

Speaker 1 31:58

Oh, my goodness. Well, that's about all I have done and encountered since. That's quite a lot of things. Yeah, there's quite a lot of things, but it survived.

Brandon 32:13

Speaking of cemeteries, Collin, speaking of

Speaker 1 32:17

cemeteries, yes, this is a great transition. Boom, done.

Brandon 32:22

That segues to the list into, yeah. First of all, I would like to, I don't think, I think we may have alluded to this potential fact, but think it is worth mentioning. This is officially the oldest book we have read so far.

32:42

Oh, I did not know that.

Brandon 32:44

Yeah. Okay. So, because this was published in, well, originally in the paper in 1850 right? The other books that we've read from the 1800s were in the 1880s so this is quite Yes, so yeah. So Yankee and and Treasure Island are both 1880s I think. And then all the other ones are 1900s Yeah. So with the outsiders being 1960s so this is officially the oldest book.

33:24

Oh, I like this. I like this trend. By the way. Can't wait. I'm going backwards.

Brandon 33:31

Yes, yeah, I can't wait for today. I know brother Thomas Aquinas.

Speaker 3 33:38

Here we go. No, no, yes, yeah. Anyway, so yeah, cave hieroglyphs that we're going to be interpreting. Oh, yeah, no, it's Plato the Republic.

33:51

Yes, see, it's all coming together. Okay. Anyway, sorry,

Brandon 33:56

slowly back. All right, yes. So we start, as you know, any good book does in a cemetery, you know, just hanging out. I also want to talk about how this person's name appears to be Philip pirip, and that is horrible, like, what on earth? Our narrator, yes, so obviously you're gonna go buy a pip. Because, no, no, no. Yeah, so yes, we get, we begin in the graveyard. He's sort of like hanging out with the gravestone of mom and dad here, right? I guess, like he's talking. About how he's drawn conclusions about them based on the writing on the headstones. You know, he's just sort of reflecting when his reverie is shattered by the mysterious individual, right, who is go ahead,

Speaker 1 35:20

well, so my question is, this, is He? Is he learning this information to the first for the first time, right? Like, is this or is this him? I really like at his, at the cemetery?

Brandon 35:34

Oh, no, no, this is not. So the way that I just, I'm thinking about this, right, is based on information that we learn in chapter two. Yeah, this is him, just like, getting out of the house, right? Sure. Yeah. I feel like he's just kind of out and about, and he's just, I don't know if he This was his stated goal, or if he just sort of ended up here, but it kind of feels like he just comes here sometimes because it's like, quiet and get away and stuff. And he, like, already knows all about these people, a little bit kind of from this narration, so I'm imagining he just kind of is here to get away from living with his sister. Right? Sister, right? Yes, um, who is kind of insane, so, oh my gosh, well, yeah, I think this is just him getting out of the house. Okay. I feel like this is yes, yeah. So yes, we have, we have. There is a man here, a man, a villainous type man dressed in gray and quite disheveled and

Speaker 1 36:43

devilish, and specifically a man with no hat. Yes. Had to remind myself that this, this is actually a sign of somebody who is not distinguished or in good or it is an ill repute because they are not dressed accordingly. But I love how it was. He said he was all coarse gray with a great iron on his leg, a man with no hat,

37:05

yes, yes, broken

Brandon 37:06

shoes, yes, yes. So yes, the not the great iron attached to his leg? No, no. That's not the weird part. That's that he has no hat. Yes, yes. So, ah, we have an escaped prisoner just in a church graveyard, sure.

Speaker 1 37:29

Anyway, that's, I guess they go where there's not a lot

Brandon 37:35

of people. I don't really know what he was doing there. That's the real question. Like, what was this dude doing there? Like, what, how did he Why did he come here? Like, I don't know if he was, like, looking for something in the church. Like, I don't really know, but he's encountered young pimp and threatened him with pain of death and eating of his liver, that he needs to get him some supplies, right? And he's doing the old, there's another, I got a friend. You can't see him right now, but he's totally here, very real. He just doesn't go to this school, right? Is he spiritually staring? Right? Pip doesn't know this. No. Completely taken in, obviously. And he asks for, he asked him for a file and some again, I had to stop here a second and be like, sir, what is happening? I'm assuming we are riding in dialog of some sort,

Speaker 1 38:40

given how they later go on to he writes how they pronounce the marshes, yeah, the meshes, or whatever, yeah, yes. I was like, I think, I think this is what's happening here. At least

Brandon 38:53

we just all of a sudden have, he's like, he says, because he says, Now looky here with, you know, l, o, k, e, right. The question being whether you're to be let to live. You know what a file is. So he wants a file and some wittles. Wittles, yeah, yeah. And at first, yes. Vittles, right, yes. For at first, I was like, what is that? A blacksmith tool I'm unfamiliar with. I Yes, that means and then contextually, I was like, Oh no, no. He means victuals. He wants snacks, right? Okay, okay, okay, that makes a lot more sense. So I don't know if this is how people actually talked during this time. I'm assuming this is what we're supposed to be getting out of this was some sort of dialectic trapping here, but he threatens him. He threatens dole PIP says, You better bring him here to me. Well, not here, but he tells him where to go. It's like the fort. Is this where we're going? They'll fortree. Yeah, yes. Don't say a word or make a sign concerning you have seen such a person as me to any person, some ever, which, again, I'm assuming this is a dialectic situation, but yes, so he says, Yes, I'm doing this. And that's pretty much the opening of this book. Is he's just chilling in graveyard. He gets threatened by a convict, under pain of death to bring him a file and food, and then he scarpers off back home. What an opening.

40:39

What an opening, yep, and an intermix with this is quite the like,

Speaker 1 40:55

very well, I've enjoyed the the scenery descriptions helping set kind of what's been going on and how things are. You know, a little bit about the world here. Like, I don't know if it's going to be important about how he was picking his way with a sore feet among the great stones dropped into the marshes here and there for stepping places when the rains were heavy or the tide was in. Like, probably won't matter. But I appreciate that kind of detail, and it makes it like really sets where this is happening. And he goes on to describe the edge of the river and how he's watching these two things, and how his childlike imagination here. This ends with him kind of picturing this guy being the pirate, that it was a carved whatever, like, up in what, the lighthouse, pillory, Hillary, yeah, where it's like, he kind of envisions that this was that pirate come to life and now stalking him. Are they

Brandon 41:56

talking about how he's get the in the little, yeah, in the cage, right? They used to hang him the cage up on the Long John actually referred to one of these as well. So, yes, right? And so yes, yeah, he did kind of think, because he had that sort of countenance about him, right? So, yeah, this was kind of weird. But I, you know, I do agree that was pretty nice intro, but it was just the, just very, like, ah, what is happening? Like, we're in a graveyard. Here's a villain. Like, what, Yep,

Speaker 1 42:34

pretty and again, speaking to pips, like young, like childlike interpretation of this, like, obviously he's terrified out of his wits and trying to make some sense of this. But we later see the same thing come back into chapter three, where he sees, like, you know, he's even envisioning what the cows are thinking as they're going. He's like, I wonder if they thought the same thing too as they cows are watching him go up. So it's just kind of like this very like, childlike, very lively, lively, like, like, yeah, view on, yeah, how things are going and playing out. Yes, yeah. Anyway. So then chapter two, we get introduced to miss Joe. Yeah, and Mr.

Brandon 43:19

Joe, I will say I just as a side note, we really know why this is. I haven't quite put my finger on it, but out of the three chapters that we read this week, chapter two is my least favorite. I don't really know why that is, I felt like maybe parts of Chapter Two were a bit I did feel kind of like, Ah, yes, we got to get that weekly word count in the paper a little bit right. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe that's just me, but, like, I just parts of it were dragging a bit right. Like, I don't know, I don't know. But yeah, we did meet the sister. We do meet that we learned here the sister is not a friendly lady, right? So she's a very, like, aggressive, like, all the time, and her husband's just kind of like, okay, sure, whatever. Like, he's pretty, like, chill and easygoing. She just kind of bosses him around all the time, kind of, what's happening here.

Collin 44:25

I love the the phrase here of brought him up by hand, like that, yeah, turning that into, like, the negative, because that has this very real like, Oh, I did it by hand. Like, you there was, it was labor intensive. It was careful, you know, it took skill and stuff to do. And he's like, Yeah, by hand, as if you mean that she beat us all the time, yeah, I suppose she raised him by hand too. Yeah. I like how he kind of makes

Brandon 44:50

a pun about the whole thing, like, I keep bringing it up, right? Like, oh, that part was kind of funny, right? But she does mention, like, here where it's kind of at the beginning. He's like, where, you know, where were you? Blah. Blah. And I, you know, that's why I think he was just kind of out, hiding from her, probably, but he said, I was out. I've only been to the churchyard. And she said, churchyard, if it weren't for me, you'd have been in the churchyard long ago and stayed there, who brought you up by hand, right? Brings it in, and then, like, he keeps joking about it, because he like, yeah, he's kind of inferred that she just, like, whacks her husband with whatever is at hand and makes him do stuff.

Speaker 1 45:28

Oh, or, or he, or the, what do they call the cane that she uses, oh, the tickler, the tickler, yeah, my gosh, yeah, great, yep. And Joe's even, like, trying to help him out. He's like, like, get the door old chap and have the jack towel betwixt you. Basically, like, get something in between you

Brandon 45:49

and her. Watch out. Yeah, it was a wax ended piece of cane worn smooth by a collision with my tickled frame. She's been looking for him because she didn't know where. Didn't know where he was, because he's out, you know, being all hiding, right? So, yeah, then he's kind of trying to be sneaky, because he's real worried about this whole situation. He doesn't want to get he doesn't want to give the game away, right? Because this guy has told him he's gonna do bodily harm to him if he finds out about him. So he's trying to be like, play cool. And he's trying to, like, not eat all his food so he can take it with him, give it to the guy. So he's like, puts his buttered piece of bread in his pants. Oh, she's trying to play it cool, like the whole thing where him and Joe, like, this weird exchange, where him and Joe, like, are supposed to be, like, having a discussion, and they eat their bread at the same time, and Joe's kind of put off because he's not eating his bread. And then he shoves in his pocket real quick and makes it look like he just stuffed it all in his mouth. And Joe is very upset by this, because he didn't play the game proper, right? Like, yeah,

Speaker 1 47:16

he's, yeah, he's, he's sad that he he didn't play this. And so he is like, Well, Joe, I don't want to have to do didn't want to have to do this. But like, and then his like, she's angry because they're not saying what's going on. And then finally, Joe's like, well, he Oh, what did he call he scarfed it. Was that?

Brandon 47:36

Yeah, they scarfed it. She's like, Don't scarf it. Is bad, right?

47:39

Like, oh my gosh, yeah.

Brandon 47:42

It was very, it was a very weird exchange, right?

Speaker 1 47:45

Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, because the wonder and consternation with which Joe stopped on the threshold of his bite and stared at me were too evident to escape my sister's observation. Like, okay, what's the matter now? Yeah, and he says, scarfed it. He's like, manners is manners, and I didn't want to have to do this to you. Pip, but yeah,

Brandon 48:09

don't scarf oh my gosh, yes. And then we bolting. Oh yeah. But it was, he's sending him. He's talking about here. Then they, they talk about that. There's a another convict gone off and escaped because they fired the gun, which apparently is just like, oh, another one got out, just FYI. People, just FYI. So what we're learning here is that there is offshore. Here is a ship, right? We have a prison Hulk, right? Because, you know, they were putting so many people in prison at this time that they were just like, well, we can't build prisons. What if we just stick them on boats out in the harbor? Perfect. What could go wrong, except for, apparently, people just like, jumping off the ball,

49:04

also that

Brandon 49:06

we have two in two days, right? Is what this is implying. Because they were like, yeah, there was another one yesterday, and then there's another one. Like, right now, they're like,

Speaker 1 49:16

oh, like, yes. And now, if you didn't get it, the first encounter with the guy with the leg iron. Now you're putting out really together of like, Oh, that explains the weird guy in the beginning. Like, yeah, because now there's another one,

Brandon 49:33

yeah, yeah, cross the marches, right? We always use that name for marshes in our country, the niches, right? She calls them the niches, right? That's what you're talking about earlier. Yeah. And he says, I wonder who's put on to prison ships and why they're there. I said in a general way, with the quiet desperation, right? Because he's he actually wants to know, but like he's trying to play off, like he doesn't care, really, but like he wants to know, because I think he knows now that this guy. Was probably that guy, and he's like, Oh no, right? I'll tell you what young fellow she said. I didn't bring you up by hand to badger people's lives out. It would be blamed to me and not praise, if I had people are put in the Hulks because they murder and because they rob and forge and do all sorts of bad and they're always, they always begin by asking questions. Now you get along to bed, yes,

Speaker 1 50:27

she's so angry that he has all these questions, apparently, and it's like he really doesn't have a whole lot, like, he asked, like, Yeah, but she's really not okay with this, and tells him to go off. And I will say, like, prior to this, there is this little bit of he's trying to figure out how he's going to, like, so we know his situation now, and we know really the trouble that he's going to be in. Because not only was he out and now he has to keep this a secret, and he did weird thing with the butter, but he also has to steal from his sister and brother in law, like and there's this phrase here where, see, he's trying to figure out when he's going to do this. And I don't know what page it's not but he says, conscience is a dreadful thing when it accuses man or boy. But when, in the case of a boy, that secret burden cooperates with another secret burden down the leg of his trousers. It is, as I could testify, a great punishment, right? So he's like, he's like, really struggling with what he has to do,

Brandon 51:30

because he was, he said earlier, I think it's a little before that, maybe, where he says, I after the ship sting. He says, I felt fearful, fearfully sensible of the great convenience that the Hulks were handy for me. I was clearly on my way there. I had begun by asking questions, and I was going to rob Mrs. Joe, right,

Speaker 1 51:52

yes, Yep, absolutely. Where he's like, yep. Now he's, he knows what he has to do. He's trying to do this and just after this. Now he says, Since that time, which is far enough away. Now, I have often thought that few people know the secrecy there is in the young under terror, no matter how unreasonable the terror, so that it be terror, right? He's saying he, even though looking he, but what he's saying is looking back now, it made no sense for me to be as scared as I was. Like, I should have just told somebody it would have been better. Like, I should have, like, it could have been resolved. But as he goes on, I was in mortal terror of the young man who wanted my heart and liver, because that was the threat, and that's all he's focused on. So it's irrational, but to the young and inexperienced, that's all there is. Like you don't know any better. And so the terror is real nonetheless, and they're still coping with it, all the more, even more so because they're inexperienced.

Brandon 52:52

Oh yeah, I mean, and it kind of that plays out when he's going to do the deed, right? He said, I got up. Oh right, went downstairs, every board upon the way and every crack and every board calling after me, Stop thief and get up Mrs. Joe, right? So, like, he's very aware of what's happening, yes? And also, like, he doesn't, I think he sort of exacerbates the whole situation, because he, like, takes a whole bunch of stuff, right? Like, yeah, I know he does that because he is fearful and does not want to have his litter eaten by the young man. But he takes, like, I stole bread. It's a brine of cheese, a jar of mince meat, some brandy, Brandy and like, let's see,

53:40

meat bone,

Brandon 53:41

yeah, meat, bone, pork pie, pie, right? The whole pie. Like, okay, man, you know, you definitely didn't have to take the pie, right? I feel like the pie is really the thing that's gonna get you in trouble. Because, like, everything else, you know, well, whatever the pie, though, that's, that's what you're gonna get in trouble for. If you get trouble for you, it's gonna be for that, right? So,

Speaker 1 54:11

and I think what's interesting here is that he goes, I don't, I don't know if this was written in this way for a purpose, maybe so, but he goes into extenuating, excruciating detail about this, what he stole, and all this stuff. And then when he goes to take the file, he's just like, yeah, I opened donut, already got it, and I left. Like, there's part of that

Brandon 54:34

is because, like, I think maybe some of that is like stealing the file. There's like, lots of other tools, right? There's not just tons of food, right? Yeah. And also, stealing from the husband is not as terrifying as stealing from his sister, right? Right, right? I think that's kind of the other sort of implied there is that, like that stealing from his sister is a much bigger deal. Like stealing from him, just like whatever,

Speaker 1 55:09

it didn't have as big of a prick of his conscience as it did with the food and against his sister, right? Because he knew, like, you're right, like it does have this feeling of food is probably not the most abundant thing. And, like, they it's something that they think I'm talking do go after a lot about, and the file is just on the, you know, probably important, but he probably have 15 different files, yeah, probably

Brandon 55:32

more than one file out there. Probably not just a file, you know. So, like, man. And so, yeah, they slips out in the early morning, right?

Speaker 1 55:42

Oh, and I need to start using this phrase more. It was a rhymey morning. That's true. It's pretty rhymey. Rhymey. I love this.

Brandon 55:52

I do like I do. Okay, so maybe the reason I like Chapter Three better is because the next sentence in chapter three is the following. I had seen the damp lying on the outside of my little window, and if some goblin had been crying there all night and using the window for the pocket handkerchief, and now I saw the damp lying on the bare hedges in the spare grass like a coarser sort of spider's web hanging itself from twig to tweak and blade to blade. I actually

Speaker 1 56:26

highlighted the very next sentence on every rail and gate way let wet lay clammy, and the marsh mist was so thick that the wooden finger on the post directing people to our village, a direction which they never accepted. They never came there

56:41

wasn't visible to me

Brandon 56:44

until I was quite close, like first paragraph. Then as I looked up at it, while it dripped, it seemed to me oppressed. It seemed to my oppressed conscience like a phantom devoting me to the Hulks, right? Like, yeah, pointing him in that direction of the boats, or the boats that way. Like, yeah, yeah. So yes, he did. And then it's where he's, you know, the this is where he's talking about how, like, it feels like everything is accusing him. Like the banks and dykes came bursting at me through the mist. They cried, the cows, you know, with your accusatory manner as I moved around,

Speaker 2 57:26

one that had what the black ox with a clerical air, air about it?

Brandon 57:31

Yes, cravat on right, okay, fixed me so obstinately with his eyes and moved his blunt head around in such an accusatory manner as I moved around that I blubbered out to him. I couldn't help it, sir. It wasn't for myself that I took it. Yeah, this is what we like to call wracked with guilt,

Speaker 3 57:57

ladies and gentlemen. This indeed is how this is being expressed. Yes, this is what we're talking

Brandon 58:04

about here, right? Dreadful anguish, right? And so, so we have a lot of this going on, and he's thinking about this all the way there.

Speaker 1 58:13

His feet are so cold, just like the because he can't get warm because the dampness, just like the leg iron of the man who was he's going to go see, like, he's really laying into this, right?

Brandon 58:25

And then, oh, yes, person, right? And then, so, like, in a way, okay, this sentence, okay. Again, this is how you know he's not actually thinking he's like, I thought he would be more glad if I came upon him with his breakfast in an unexpected manner. So like, he, like, snuck up on him and, like, tapped him on the shoulder, but he turned around, and it's a different guy. And this guy, I mean, could tell he's different, because this man has a hat so, like, Oh no, right? And so he goes, his mind says it's the young man. And he like, runs away, yes, right? He gets to the battery and he sees the person who he was looking for, the other guy who has been he is still hugging himself and limping basically like nothing has happened since yesterday. It's the same pose that he left him in Yes, right? When he tells him all the stuff, he gives him the stuff, and then, you know, he says it's like, it's bad on here. You know, he's like, Yeah, I know, like, like, yes, I'm aware of that. This is not the best place to be, okay, and then he's talking to him, Were you followed? No, blah, blah. And he's like, he starts eating the food, right? He's gobbling it. He's like, Well, aren't you gonna save some for the young man? And he's like, What? No, he doesn't want any. He's like, Are you sure? I just saw him over there. There, and he like, kind of freaks out. Yeah. The guy's like, What do you mean? He's like, wasn't he over there with you? And he's like, that he was lying. But he's also like, there's somebody else here. Oh, my god,

Speaker 1 1:00:16

yeah, yeah, because, yeah, cuz, he's, uh, is this? Is this where he goes, and he talks about, yeah. So he's a little freaked out about this, because he's like, Yeah, didn't you hear the firing?

Brandon 1:00:31

Yeah, yeah, it was firing. He said to himself, yes.

Speaker 1 1:00:36

And then he goes, Yeah, I should wonder. You should have, should have heard that. I heard it way over there, and you're much closer here. And then this, then he goes on to basically talk about how when you're dying in the cold and you can't think of anything else, sometimes you don't really hear or, like, pay attention to a lot of stuff. But Oh yeah, like, because he's like, this part was very said, when a man's alone on these flats with a light head and a light stomach perishing of Collin want, he hears nothing all night. He hears nothing at all, all night, but guns and firing and voices calling. He sees soldiers. Here's his number call. Here's himself challenged. Here's the rattle of the muskets. Here's the orders, make ready, present, cover him, steady men, and is laid hands on, and there's nothing. And basically he's like, he's just as just as Pip is all consumed and stressed out about what he's doing. This man is even if he didn't hear the Fire Blast, but he was freaked out all night of being discovered, having right away,

Brandon 1:01:39

yes, all soldiers find him, right? Yes, yes. So yeah, it was a Yeah, carried a four closing in around him. Here's the numbers called right, because you got prisoners have numbers right, so they right in a very lame is potential reference here, known only by the number, right? Yes, exactly 567, yes.

1:02:07

And then, and then, this is where he ends up. And he's like,

1:02:10

Hey, did he have like, she noticed

Speaker 1 1:02:11

anything interesting about that guy that you saw, obviously, and he had had a badly bruised face, not here, exclaimed the man

Brandon 1:02:23

saying, like, wearing, like, pointed to his face, yeah. Like, here I was left cheek mercilessly with the flat of his hand. Yeah. And so he apparently knows who this person is, uh huh, and they he's distressed. He's like, give me the file boy and I indicated in what direction the mist had shrouded the other man, and he looked at it for an instant, but he was down on the rank wet grass, filing into his iron like a madman, and not minding me or minding his own leg, which had an old chafe upon it and was bloody, but which he handled as roughly as if he had no more feeling in it than the file. And so he just starts filing like mad and pips, just like,

1:03:07

I'm gonna go now. I told him I must go, and I left.

Brandon 1:03:13

Yeah, he's looking. I just so I thought the best thing I could do was to slip off. Yes, that is correct. That is exactly the best thing you could do. And so he did. He just slipped off the last I heard of him. I stopped in the mist to listen, and the file was still going Yes. So that's where we leave here. Now we have to go back and face our deeds, which potentially not going to be great, but

1:03:43

surely everything will be fine

Brandon 1:03:45

tune in next time for that.

Speaker 1 1:03:50

Yes, so these were, these were interesting chapters. I didn't feel like, like you said, I feel like there was definitely a word count being trying to get hit with these that but, like, but I did a lot. Did happen in the story. Like, a lot

Brandon 1:04:09

it, oh yes. And I feel like it was, I only felt that way about chapter two, for some reason chapter two, I don't really know why I just did. I just felt like I know the pacing was just a little bit slower introducing the characters of the sister and the brother well.

Speaker 1 1:04:27

And I think it was some of the back and forth between PIP and Joe that was like, Oh, this is supposed to be like, a weird, like, nudge, nudge kind of dialog. And I don't, I don't get it, yeah,

Brandon 1:04:38

I don't get it right, yeah, yeah, right. Like, I think that also, is it too? Like, I'm probably missing some context here, because I am not an 1850s British person from Kent, so I don't know what's happening. I don't have all of this context. Yeah, I am. I. Missing something important, probably. So, okay, like, Yeah, that might be part of it, right? Part of it was just kind of dragged down with some of that dialog, a little bit, but the other way, and then, but yeah, we did a lot. Did happen, right? We have a full whole thing occur in here, so we'll see what happens. Now, I can't imagine the fallout from this is going to be particularly well received from sister. You might get raised by hand a little bit higher. We'll see.

Speaker 3 1:05:33

We'll see. Indeed, so yes, I Oh yes.

Brandon 1:05:43

All right, so do you want to do three more for next time?

Speaker 1 1:05:47

Yes, I think that. I think that'll work. I think I think three is fine with me. Are you okay? Or do you want?

Brandon 1:05:52

Oh yeah, that's fine. Okay. No, I mean, I don't we try three's Fine with me too.

Speaker 1 1:05:57

Yeah, that'll be fun. Okay, three more. Yeah, okay. Very nice.

Brandon 1:06:07

And if you have nothing else, then I do have a haiku

Speaker 3 1:06:12

for you. Yes, perfect. Oh man, there we go.

Brandon 1:06:16

Okay, brought to you by yesterday. All right. Aromas waft through the house, drawing all to the kitchen, sneaking bites.

Speaker 1 1:06:41

Sneaking bites. Allegedly, allegedly. Can't prove it. Fine. Sorry, Mrs. Joe, don't hit me. Yeah. No, no, no, I like it. I like it. And yes, bites were snuck. It's fine.

Brandon 1:07:01

Oh, yeah, of course, obviously,

Speaker 1 1:07:05

yes, very nice. Oh, well, we will. We will keep on here and keep yeah, see what happens. See where, see what PIP gets into next time.

Brandon 1:07:24

All right, probably nothing great, but we'll

1:07:27

see based on, based on the

Brandon 1:07:28

first three chapters.

Collin Funkhouser 1:07:31

Nothing good. We all know he's gonna get up, but we'll know for sure that's true this time next week. Okay, yes, there you go. And On that, stay tuned. Love you. Collin.