{"id":28648,"date":"2015-07-10T07:18:05","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T11:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=28648"},"modified":"2015-07-09T19:43:17","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T23:43:17","slug":"left-behind-classic-fridays-no-41-10-pages-in-the-mens-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2015\/07\/10\/left-behind-classic-fridays-no-41-10-pages-in-the-mens-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Left Behind Classic Fridays, No. 41: ’10 pages in the men’s room’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Originally posted April 15, 2005.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Left Behind,<\/i>\u00a0pg. 77<\/b><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Chapter 5 begins:<\/p>\n

Buck Williams ducked into a stall in the Pan-Con Club men\u2019s room to double-check his inventory. Tucked in a special pouch inside his jeans \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a general rule, it\u2019s probably best\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0to begin a chapter by having the protagonist enter the stall of a men\u2019s room. Nor to have him untuck anything from his jeans.<\/p>\n

It turns out that Buck is just checking on the thousands of dollars of traveler\u2019s checks he carries in his pants. But since Buck and Jenkins are enjoying the ambience of the bathroom stall setting, they take the opportunity to examine all the contents of his luggage and explain his strategy for packing for trips overseas:<\/p>\n

His practice \u2026 was to do his own laundry in the sink and let it dry a whole day while wearing one outfit and having one more in reserve. That way he was never burdened with lots of luggage.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the kind of detail that, somehow, Ian Fleming never provided about James Bond. Bond tended to avoid the youth hostels that Buck apparently frequents, opting instead for hotels that offer laundry service.<\/p>\n

\"WC\"<\/a>It seems that Buck\u2019s expense account with Global Weekly<\/em> allows him to fly first class, to charter planes, and to carry and spend wads of cash, but it doesn\u2019t allow him to get his clothes laundered by the hotel.<\/p>\n

Here in the airport men\u2019s room stall, Buck is in a reflective mood, and so begins a series of flashbacks explaining why he was headed to London and why he had stopped off in Chicago first. As a result of these trips down memory lane, Buck won\u2019t leave the stall for another 10 pages.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s how Chapter 5 begins: “Buck Williams ducked into a stall in the Pan-Con Club men’s room to double-check his inventory. Tucked in a special pouch inside his jeans …” As a general rule, it’s probably best not to begin a chapter by having the protagonist enter the stall of a men’s room. If Buck needs to “double-check his inventory,” I don’t want to read about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-28648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-left-behind"],"yoast_head":"\nLeft Behind Classic Fridays, No. 41: '10 pages in the men's room'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's how Chapter 5 begins: "Buck Williams ducked into a stall in the Pan-Con Club men's room to double-check his inventory. 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Left Behind Classic Fridays, No. 41: '10 pages in the men's room'","description":"Here's how Chapter 5 begins: \"Buck Williams ducked into a stall in the Pan-Con Club men's room to double-check his inventory. Tucked in a special pouch inside his jeans ...\" As a general rule, it's probably best not to begin a chapter by having the protagonist enter the stall of a men's room. 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