Not a Trick Question

[bellatrys]

Canonically, there is one individual whom John Silver trusts in the whole world, by his own attestation. Without looking this up, what is:
a) this person's race?

b) this person's gender?

c) this person's relation to Silver?

So why aren't there more fanfic stories about them?--That wasn't part of the quiz. Or was it

Comments

[fledgist]

Why isn't there more fanfic? That's a very good question.

There's a novel about Ahab's wife, and we "know" less of her

[bellatrys]

--not to mention the intrinsic potential for Drama of all sorts, given the amount of history to mine and the bare outlines of the drama: where and how did they meet? Was she *also* a pirate, or not? What kind of interesting observations would such a double life, respectable (yet very foreign) Bristol matron/secret-sharer to John Silver, result in?

Could go *so* many ways, from what hints Stevenson gave us - which includes that she was able to handle anything, from running a combined bar/restaurant/hotel catering to sailors on her own, to dealing with the white male financial establishment, managing her husband's property in his absence...and not impressed by British aristocrats, either, as the Squire's words reveal, not too subtly.

--Of course you just *know* that a story about a black female pirate in an egalitarian marriage would bring screeches of "PC-gone-mad! PC-gone-mad!" like the echo of a sternchaser near a forest full of parrots...

Re: There's a novel about Ahab's wife, and we "know" less of her

[fledgist]

In this age, perhaps not. The world has changed considerably in little more than the twinkling of an eye.

We can hope--

[bellatrys]

though I fear that the squawkers will need more time to soothe their anxious nerves...

Re: We can hope--

[fledgist]

Perhaps. But I have noticed a person of rather dark complexion occupying the Oval Office lately. And the world hasn't come to an end. A person of Barbadian descent may even become Attorney General, gorblummah.

Oh, aye,

[bellatrys]

but it hasn't seemed to slow down the Clown Hall ilk, yet. I'm afraid that half of the ones inclined to such Podsnappery will be going "What, you want MORE still?" and the others will be making distressing spectacles of themselves as they try, and fail, to cope with the fact that "That's just the way it is in reality!" is not quite the excuse it once was, like the "Tokenism!" guy in the Shortpacked cartoon.

Re: Oh, aye,

[fledgist]

And then there's the loony crew who haven't yet grasped that they are making fools of themselves.