ANOTHER SILENT BOOMER, MANNING'S MODEL, JERRY ORBACK (born October 20, 1935)

Lennie Briscoe/Jerry Orbach

Today the writing went extremely well. Finished segment 14. I don't call them chapters because their length is irregular. In a filmed drama, they'd be scenes. That's how they break into segments—as scenes.

In this 14th segment, Manning's character becomes more fully revealed. I sometimes picture Manning as Jerry Orbach in character as Lennie Briscoe of SVU. Coincidentally, I was born on Oct. 20th, 1937. In this segment, one of Manning's longtime friends goes missing, and since it's Manning who has brought his friend into harm's way, he feels guilty. He's already lost an acqaintence to whatever the forces are he's dealing with, and he's pretty far from knowing what those forces are. He's certain they're pretty bad forces. Being a physically fragile ghoul, Manning would like to give up this job, but his friend is missing now. 

Also had an interesting sense of time today. I'm setting novel this in Portland, Oregon, 250 years in the future. Anyway, I've got Manning going to a Starbucks on Lombard Street, near U. of Portland. Then I stop to wonder if Starbucks will be there in 250 years. Two-hundred-fifty years is a long time as far as cultural icons go. Compare it to Sears and Roebucks which began in 1893 as a mail order catalog. That's a mere 120 years ago. According to some people, Sears is fading even as we speak ... or as I write. 
 
Zags won again last night! Olynyk is playing for Celtics. My feeling is Kelly's the type to make something of his opportunity. Maybe even moreso than the solid Ronny Turiaf.