The Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode Episode 29: All Talk
DETAILS: Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #29 Format: Kindle Vella Story Read Date: July 20, 2023
Just once I would like to wake up on something warm and soft.
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.
What’s All Talk About?
Desperate for something to eat to help him keep going, Bonaduke walks up to a drive-thru restaurant and places an order. Now, unless things are different where Slaywood or Bonaduke reside, he shouldn’t get served there—but he does. Well, almost. The employee at the window is someone the reader and Bonaduke know. So things go downhill fast (that conjunction might not be the best to use, but who do we know that Bonaduke does where things would go well after running into them?).
Without intending to, Bonduke uses his grift. He and the (still) unconscious woman find themselves a place to wait in relative security while waiting for the next shoe to drop and/or he decides what his next move will be.
So, what did I think about All Talk?
It’s not all talk—but it largely was. It’s one of the more dialogue-heavy episodes thus far—maybe the heaviest. But Slaywood’s kept the forward momentum going—and that’s what’s important.
I can think of nothing I didn’t like about this episode, Bonaduke keeps trying to help this woman, and while not enjoying it, successfully pushes this kid around to do just that. And maybe because he enjoys it a bit.
I really don’t have anything else to say. Good job, and I’m eager to see what happens next.
