TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine-

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

This is the Wakefield Doctrine’s contribution to the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop. Foundered in 1892 in the anteroom off the lobby of the St Pancras hotel, (the exterior of which serving as the top photo of this week’s post). The St Pancras would, in our fiction, e.g. ‘The Order of Lilith’ (The Whitechapel Interlude a Six Sentence Series) op. cit. Grat Four; become as ubiquitous as the Stanley Hotel in modern-day Colorado. (Point of fact: our roadtrip earlier this century as Grat numero sixeo.)

Following is our list of those people, places and things that have contributed to this here list here.

1) Phyllis

2) Una

3) the Wakefield Doctrine

4) A Six from Ago:

Anselm, if you’ve messed this up you might as well keep walking, the Reverend Mother is not fond of failure,’ I no longer saw the man I was assigned to follow, even as the stone-and-iron dragon that was the new St. Pancras Hotel reared its gothic head two blocks away; fear sparked panic, my body paid the price, and twisting my neck like a giraffe afflicted with Tourettes, I frantically scanned the early-evening crowd filling the sidewalks.

I got no more than a half block back towards St Paul’s cathedral when I saw Brother Abbot, he appeared to be holding a woman in an embrace more restraint than support; fortunately, even the sight of what could only be my mentor’s doppelgänge had a calming effect and I turned in time to see my quarry ascend the stairs to hotel’s entrance; the lobby was so full of light that, as the doors were held open, I could clearly see his face; handsome, intelligent and barely able to contain an ambition that made his eyes outshine the brightest lights in the grand lobby.

As I approached, a memory, from my first days in the Order, of a large room containing five chairs in a circle, six young men and women and Brother Abbot holding a lute; he spoke without preamble from the furthest corner, “In our Order we hold, ‘To each according to their talent, for all the responsibility to grow and develop,’ whereupon he began to play, ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ and said, in a loud whisper, “When the music stops, claim your place.”

Moving around the perimeter of empty chairs, I saw the personal rhythms of the others take control of their bodies and somehow knew when Brother Abbot would stop playing and when that happened, everyone sat, except for one young man, there being one less chair than bodies; we all stared the boy, as his shoulders slumped, imparting both motion and direction towards the door.

“Ring around a….” the notes brought my attention back to the room where, somehow, there were now only four chairs and, once again we began our dreadful orbit; without conscious thought, I knew the girl behind me would be the next left standing; the music stopped exactly when I knew it would and, even as my body sought the security of a chair, I rose with a nod towards her, and she smiled, not so much at me as something within, and remained standing before the single remaining empty chair.

“Thank you,” Brother Abbot’s voice conveyed the confident pleasure of a person experiencing a belief confirmed, and, looking at the two of us, said, “Welcome to the Order of Lilith.”

5) the Unicorn Challenge bloghop

6) Roadtrip to claim the Stanley Hotel (exterior shot for one movie version of ‘The Shining’)

7) the Six Sentence Story bloghop

8) rain? yeah, it rained this week (technically, a Hypo-Grat seeing how the drainage project was successful (What’s a Hypograt? Best ask Mimi. She our resident expert.)