The Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode 8: Cat out of the bag
DETAILS: Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #8 Format: Kindle Vella Story Read Date: November 10, 2022
I smiled at the stupidity of it all. No one who was right in the head would think this would work, even with a real coin. “Stupid stuff works all the time.”
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.
Before then, he gets himself drunk and we get some of his tragic backstory. As he ponders this, he decides to use some of his ill-gotten-gains to buy more booze and walks into a liquor store robbery. He foils it in some sort of magical fashion, gets some more to drink, and heads off to the park to drink until he’s arrested (probably for the failed robbery). At least that’s his plan, but it gets interrupted by being hit by a car. He wakes up on some sort of short, metal bed and is unsure what’s going on. It turns out that some group is subjecting him to a test—if he passes, everything will be explained to him (and hopefully the reader, too).
What’s Cat out of the bag About?
Bonaduke tries a couple of new strategies that fail, and when he’s about at the end of his rope, or maybe at the end of his rope, something happens. Now he’s ready to begin.
So, what did I think about Cat out of the bag?
Oh, ho. Now we’re cooking with fire—we see a little about Bonaduke’s childhood. And we get to the end of the test, so we can find out what this has all been leading to. Whatever it is, it feels like a real improvement compared to his life on the streets.
Or, it could be a trap.
Either way, it will be fun to see.
Read Irresponsibly, but please Comment Responsibly