A foxy tale: Episode 4

A collaborative serial by Jessica Perini and
Catherin J Pascal Dunk

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EPISODE 4

Over dinner, Marguerite Bagué noticed something very strange about Brandon De Bras.

He was nothing like the Maserati driving, womanizing drip-merde she’d been expecting. Instead she saw a young child, very much lonely and lost in a forest. Devoid of real friends, the man before her sat strangely vulnerable. 

It hadn’t started this way. At first he was his usual brashness. They fought about all the things they had over the years. The single sordid media empire started by Brandon’s great-grandfather, which governed what everyone would see on their airwaves, soilwaves and spacewaves. The journalists who had been gaoled for reporting the truth.  

Brandon argued that in this post-truth age a trustworthy single voice had to take charge of the narrative.

‘And you’re that single voice are you Brandon? What makes you so trustworthy?’

‘Bien sur, we must trust someone. Otherwise, who, all those self-made journalists, podcasters, truth seekers, uncovering the next scandal? We must have a trustworthy voice!’

‘What of all the journalists in gaol?’ she replied, barely keeping her cool. ‘What of all of us who have spent our lives uncovering the truth? I have travelled the warzones Monsieur. I have talked to the dictators. Interviewed ze drug kingpins. Dedicated my life to uncovering the secret powerplays among the rich and famous. What if I were the one imprisoned?’ 

‘If you … my dear …’ he paused, taking a moment to peer into the candlelight. But this man of a million words, now had none. His words failed him.

Brandon’s instinctive veneer melted away under Marguerite’s questioning. Unbeknownst to him, Marguerite’s sister listened in to their conversation via Margie’s brainchip, feeding her intelligence from the intergalactic web.

Marguerite softened, watching Brandon falter for words.

‘He’s not trustworthy Marg. Ask him about Solomon,’ whispered Celeste into Marguerite’s brainchip. Though why she would whisper, was anyone’s guess.

… TO BE CONTINUED …

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