Originally
published August 2, 2004
by Brent Kellogg
Prelude -
Over the course of the next few days the GCN will make an attempt to
document for readers how Daniel Romalotti came to be in the mess he and
Kevin Fisher now find themselves in.
It helps by
going back to when Daniel returned to Genoa City after being snatched away
from his mother as a baby by a man claiming to be his father and how Damon
Porter played a role.
What in the Hell was that creepy Christine 'Bug' Blair thinking? Is she an
utter moron? A total imbecile? Does she have her head so far up her butt she
can see her tonsils and wouldn't know a true "sophisticated" 16-year-old if
she ran over one with her big stompin' SUV?
The question must be asked because on Monday the Bug creeped just about
everyone out - again - when she found Daniel Romalotti inside her love
bunker packing up a few things he had conveniently left behind and/or
couldn't remember to take the last time he returned for things left behind.
Informing Daniel that she and his father had been out looking for him
earlier, Daniel interrupted to ask if she didn't mean "Mr. Romalotti" and to
say he was surprised that his mother had said anything of his whereabouts as
Phyllis Abbott hates the Bug with a passion just like most everyone else in
this godforsaken city.
Noting that Daniel didn't seem like himself, the Bug demanded to know what
was going on and repeated her position that Phyllis is pretty much a skank
and that Daniel doesn't know her the way righteous Danny Romalotti and the
Bug do.
Unwilling to listen to his mother being backstabbed again Daniel was about
to leave when the Bug shrieked, "I won't allow it!" and went on to say that
the hatred she feels for Phyllis isn't really hate, but that she merely
wants Daniel to watch his back. Then, out of nowhere, the Bug pulled a Dru
Winters does Devon Hamilton.
Woe is the Bug. She grew up without a mother too, but was lucky to have met
Jessica Blair later in life. As with most everything the Bug says it wasn't
exactly the truth. The Bug had been estranged from her mother ever since
Jessica had shipped her off to live with her grandmother. When Granny died
the Bug was returned to Jessica but after less than a year with her ran away
at the age of thirteen to live with cousin, Joe Blair.
In 1988 when Jessica returned to Genoa City the Bug wasn't pleased. Time was
running out for Jessica. She wanted to make her peace with the Bug before
she died from AIDS so she told the Bug that her father had died in Vietnam
before she was hatched, um, born. Even then the Bug was snarly. She didn't
believe her own mother so she enlisted private investigator Paul Williams
who reported back that Jessica was lying. Confronted with the truth, Jessica
fessed up that she had a one night stand with a boy she didn't even know and
that's how the Bug came to be.
Always a sucker for new arrivals old man John 'Yawn' Abbott was smitten with
Jessica who tried to keep her distance from the geezer because she didn't
want him - or anyone - to know she was near death.
When the Bug came down with the flu, Jessica nursed her back to health. As a
result mother and child grew closer and so did Yawn who wanted to marry
Jessica. She accepted but later left Yawn a note along with his engagement
ring saying she was going back to Kansas. Before the flight Jessica
collapsed and was admitted to the hospital where she begged Dr. Scott
Grainger not to tell Yawn or the Bug the truth although she later admitted
to the Bug that she was dying from AIDS.
The Bug in turn told Yawn who again proposed so that Jessica could die in
peace. The wedding took place.
The following year the Bug was looking through Dr. Grainger's photo album
when she noticed a man she thought looked like her Pa. Odd, considering the
Bug never knew her Pa. The man turned out to be Scott's Pa so Scott arranged
for the Bug to meet the man given that he and the Bug were in love.
When Jim Grainger arrived the Bug's suspicions were correct. Jim admitted to
Jessica that he was the boy she'd had sex with all those years ago. Yes, Jim
wanted to marry her but she had rejected all his letters and told him to
forget about her.
Jessica was confused. What letters? Jim showed her one. Right away Jessica
recognized her mother's handwriting! Seems Ma Blair had never wanted Jim
anywhere near her daughter. So Jim was really the Bug's Pa which meant that
Scott was the Bug's brother which meant that they could never marry. Yawn
and Jessica agreed to dissolve their marriage so that she, Jim and the Bug
could live together as a family. It didn't last long. Jessica died soon
afterwards.
As for Jim, Jack Abbott hooked him up with Nikki Newman who was tickled pink
as she needed someone to make Victor Newman jealous. That was odd too,
considering just a few weeks later Jack became interested in Nikki himself.
When Nikki announced she wanted to marry Jim, neither Victor nor Jack would
approve. In the end Jack got her. Victor was so upset her offered Jack
control of Jabot if he'd let Nikki go. When Nikki found out she was nothing
but a pawn in their silly games she kicked both men to the curb.
Jim eventually left town and by 1990 the Bug had moved on to develop a
relationship with Danny Romalotti which would live in infamy.
And Scott? He took up with Lauren Fenmore. What man hasn't?
The real story here is not so much about another Bug deception but rather
the conclusion the critter reached this week regarding the man Daniel
Romalotti and his mother are shacking up with. Does the reason Daniel seems
so out of sorts have anything to do with Damon Porter abusing him?
What fugue state is the creature living in this time? Any lawyer worth her
salt, even those with law degrees from Sears, should know that men don't hit
on boys so early in the game. If Porter is queer for boys it's unlikely he'd
hit on Daniel until the two had, as they say, grown closer. There would
first be the casual instances where Porter allows Daniel to see him naked,
etc., to sort of, um, feel the boy out.
Daniel said that Porter hasn't come onto him sexually but there is something
he'd noticed in the two or three days he's been staying with the man. Porter
could "blow up" at any time!
Apparently, Porter was right when he said Daniel is one "sophisticated" boy
who can tell when a man is full of weirdo intellectual tofu-sucking yoga.
Good lord, why hadn't Daniel's mother seen it? Porter is obviously deranged.
What else could explain why Porter threw a bawling fit and fell on the floor
when the woman of his dreams said she's moving out to be with her long lost
son?
Who besides Daniel can't see that Porter is a homo sub-intellect waiting to
explode? Who else but the Bug could sense that Porter is gay or bisexual -
or something - when Mrs. Abbott, who has been living with Porter for months,
could not.
And what if Porter is? What business is it of the Bug's? Will she slither
back to Porter's pad demanding he be cured? To say that she won't allow
homosexuality in Genoa City? Does the Bug's desire to be protective of a
16-year-old have something to do with that fact she's always considered
Daniel to be the son she never had?
This is the mental image the Bug projects, happening right this moment,
across this fine city: Thousands of honest, hard-working, sexually terrified
parents are running around their homes with their hands to their heads, each
thinking oh my freaking God what if our beautiful wee one just so happens to
walk past Damon Porter's apartment? Will they hear funny sounds coming from
inside telling them that Chester the Molester Porter is gay? Why, our child
would surely quiver and tremble and explode!
Really, now, is there anything more scary than that? Anything more traumatic
than teaching our kids that, no, you are not a healthy potent sexually
burgeoning self-defined being of potential and love, but, rather, you are
prey, ever put upon, ever under duress, ever requiring armed protection from
the Bug. What a wonderful lesson.
As we've said before, there's many ways to victimize people. The most
insidious is to convince them that they're victims which is exactly what the
Bug wanted so desperately to do this week. Had only Daniel said yes, if he
had fallen on his knees before the Bug and said, oh how true it was, Porter
would have been viciously attacked by the Bug and then ordered to leave
Genoa City.
As it was,
Daniel split and again without asking, and the Bug not saying, why she and
Danny were at Porter's pad so early that morning.
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