truly brilliant, April; I loved it! Amazing that you suffer the demise of two loved ones to drowning and decide that your enemy is .... gravity. But wow! What a lot of threads you pull together (because BABSON pulled them all together)! The Dogtown Stones! Babson College! That essay contest! So much fun--thank you.
So...thinking about how anti-gravity would rescue potential drowning victims: Would it raise up the person, or lift up all the water out of the body of water and expose the person?
At first, the title does seem funny, but then thinking about the extent of the damage, & trauma & suffering this accident (completely preventable, too!) caused, gods. I did wonder why it would move so fast, but learning about the fermintation plus temp changes between refills, it makes sense why it burst out so fast. Gods, the people in their houses, having ptsd from that, & then like, can you imagine that happening & *all* your stuff, your living space, is covered in molasses, it's all ruined-I just. The sensory nightmare I can feel coming on just imagining my whole room coated in molasses. Those poor fuckin' people, those kids, everyone. Such a preventable trauma.
It makes you wonder how many unsung Gonzales' there've been, who took unlicensed action to relieve a larger problem, and mostly by accident it happened to be enough to prevent a disaster so we never knew about what they'd prevented (until the next time we built the same problem bigger, anyway).
Fabulous! I really *loved* the way you told it--the way you explained about cadavers and janitors, etc., leading into the story. The supplemental pictures were *great*, and I loved your special effects ^_^ (And I loved the term "opinion haver" for Fanny Longfellow)
I planned to take this in stages but I listened to it straight through. Thank you for this riveting story! Really has everything: murder, mystery, ballads... what more could we ask for this Halloween?
Th great detective: "Something's afoot, I daresay." (What's afoot? THE GAME. Zelazney is subtle. I've been rereading this book for decades and just picked up on this detail.)
"Knowest thou that thy redeemer liveth" is such a wonderfully passive aggressive reproach, especially when I'm sure other words must have crossed Palmer's mind at that moment.
The expression that someone's "name is mud" was apparently recorded at least as early as 1723, long before Dr. Mudd became infamous, so I think it's just an oddly poetic coincidence. This message board discussion includes most of the main references I've seen around the internet: wordsmith.org/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=57713
