Operation Keep PT Down: Cast of Characters

***Note: As you read, please keep in mind that Operation: Keep PT Down is a work of fiction. It simply could not happen, a real life Truman Show. (Is that a contradiction?) Any character’s resemblance to real life people is merely…uncanny. And the best affirmative defense to libel and defamation is the truth, as can be decided in a court of law.*** 

Remember the Truman Show? I always wondered how the writer for the Truman show came up with the concept, as well as the hilarious details. I know there could never be a real Truman Show. It isn’t possible. You cannot keep a person within the confines of a giant studio and produce his entire life without him suspecting.

To keep a person living a certain life produced by an organization would take a phenomenal amount of resources. No one has that type of power. Except perhaps the government.

Can you imagine the cast of characters that would be needed to keep a person oblivious to the real world around him? Especially if he were physically strong so that you could not quarantine him? It would require a type of mental brainwashing that kept him from questioning things. Kind of like Stockholm syndrome and battered wife syndrome. In other words, a constant and unrelenting amount of physical, mental, and emotional abuse to keep him down. Doing the things that you wanted him to do.

When the spark of humanity and rebellion arose in Steve, the government set out to destroy all individuality, hope, and life in him, until he returned to the same old, unfulfilling path that they chose for him. No real friends, no love, no real job creating things that could progress society.

But why would the government want to keep one of its citizens in a type of Truman Show? Why not just quarantine him?

Because some of us are born a little different. You know, a slight error in the cell replication process and a couple of genes are not in the range of “normal”. This normally provides for someone to be incredibly smart, or strong, or flexible like a contortionist (cartilage never hardens to bone), a female have more mannish characteristics (XXY gene or high levels of testosterone).

All of these people are still normal. They are still people. They still are endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is, under our American Constitution. That’s what I used to believe.

Go to my link on how I helped campaign for President Obama. I did not have two nickels to rub together but I believed that active participation in your civic duty is the best way to change the world.

But with the new Homeland Security, so many citizens’ rights are being trampled upon. Some, in the name of safety really are being kept safe. Some, like Steve, are being beaten and brutalized until all the spirit and life are quashed in him.

And it almost happened to me, too. Look at how long it took me to post again. It has been almost a year. I wanted to write but what do you think was happening? Well, I shall tell you…Enter the cast of characters.

CAST OF CHARACTERS OF OPERATION KEEPT PT DOWN

Steve T. Patinae - Concept Designer who has had the most bad luck anyone has ever seen. A daredevil bike rider whose stability drives his risky stunts. He has been in over 100 fights, for random strangers constantly approach him…

Alan Patinae - Steve's oldest son, who has inherited his father’s instability through external factors. How can Steve help his son when the government won’t allow Steve to help himself?

Donny Patinae - Steve's youngest son, who has yet to be knocked off by the cruel puppeteers of Steve’s own private Truman show.

Darlena - Steve's first ex-wife. Filippina, Italian. She is very strong, more than the average man. Very feminine and faithless, yet also very masculine.

Asra Abassi - Steve's second ex-wife. Pakistani, White. She is scarily strong, like an MMA fighter. Deceptively feminine, with a cruel streak rarely seen in a woman. She claims that her family is into a lot of incredible illegal activity. So incredible, it is hard to believe.  

Ssal - Innocent outsider who tried to help Steve. Average woman with no enhanced masculine powers. Finds herself in a curious web spun by the government. Instead of running away like every real person in Steve’s life, her curiosity got the best of her. This time, curiosity almost killed the cat, literally…

Roger Yamada – Japanese-American landlord who built an addition to his house and immediately rented it to Steve.

Jackie Yamada – Roger’s White Caucasian wife. They have a son graduating from high school.

Mike Yamada – Roger and Jackie’s son. He’s one of those lucky teenagers who developed early. Built like an adult who just looks very young. You know, Asian genes. (I mean, when I was 25 years old, I looked 17 easy if I dressed the part.)

Lorraine Hernandez – My landlady, until her house started getting infestations. From Jamaica, she is nowhere near as mimsy-pimsy as she made herself out to be when I first met her. Her art of dressing so that she looks different makes people feel that she is a different personality according to what she wants you to believe.

La Princess (emphasis on the “La”, no kidding) a.k.a. Dominque Jackson – My housemate. From Kentucky, a beautiful aspiring actress working at Toyota in Torrance. She has a ready laugh and easy manner. Who could not love her? Reminds me of a classmate I had named “Beauty.” Emphasis on “BEAU-Ty” (no kidding.)

AJAX – Gardener who helped build the extension to Roger’s house. Sometimes, he is suicidal, as is pretty much everyone in Steve’s life.

Arthur – Armenian who heals quickly. He gets a bad cut, it’s gone the next day. Band-Aid really works for him! He ruined two of Steve’s art projects so that Steve lost his scholarship at Art Center. Why is Steve still talking to him?

Edgar Motivated – Mexcian German, he has The Worse accent you’ve ever heard. Have no idea what accent it is he has, but it is the worst. Typical rich Art Institute student (parents pay his way and endow the school with money, money, money when their child has no art talent whatsoever), Edgar has a knack of being around just when a crisis explodes in Steve’s life.

Dolores – Indonesian Woman trying to escape her abusive husband. That has always been Steve’s weakness, protecting women…even when they do not need protecting. Dolores is the only person Steve ever helped who remembered to help him in turn…or so he thought.

Ron – Steve’s childhood friend from Kentucky. Sure, Steve has real friends, only they keep their distance. Too many crazy things happen around Steve for his real friends to jump in and help. For if you do, then bad things start happening to you…

Stan – Steve’s friend in Kentucky. Steve helped David out of a gang, and David would give his life for Steve. Only, David is in Kentucky. Steve is here in L.A.

I’ll update this occasionally, and you will get to meet all the interesting characters as the story progresses.