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© Jacob Aldridge 2004 -0-
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© Jacob Aldridge 2004 -1-I recently read
Primary Colours
for the first time, which may seem surprising for anAmerophile like myself, especially since it’s been four years since I wrote the work youare now holding. What struck me most about that novel was just how very 1996 it was.Sure, it was clearly set in 1992, built around the comeback kid Bill Clinton; but it wasalso decidedly removed from that time, passing judgement from four years into thefuture. It was this observation of mine, coupled with the highly publicised primarycampaign between Obama and Hillary Clinton which at last seems to be over, that drewme back to
The Cookie From The Cookie Jar
.Almost immediately I finished this novel – it ran as a weekly serial from July 2004 untilElection Day in that November – I wanted to re-write it, tighten it, make it somethingmore.Perhaps one day I shall. The focus certainly shifted as I explored the characters, and Ibelieve that tighter narrative focus from the beginning (coupled with a new name toreflect the shift) would make a fine read.But this book is just so very 2004. While not as purposefully as
Primary Colours
does,
Cookie Jar
passes judgement on the earlier election. It also draws heavily on the politicalzeitgeist of the year it was written…at least the one I was witnessing. When I went to edit– and trust me, I have a heavily annotated copy sitting beside me right now – I realisedany editing would serve only to anachronise those parts left alone.So I shall leave it all alone, and send it once more into the world. Yes, Peter Jennings isdead. No, Wonkette ain’t what it used to be. And Ralph Nader…well, the more somethings change…I give you
The Cookie From the Cookie Jar
.It’s very 2004.But then, so were we.Jacob AldridgeJune, 2008
© Jacob Aldridge 2004 -2-
December 7, 1941. August 31, 1997.September 11, 2001.
Dates that will live in infamy.
Pearl Harbour.The People’s Princess.The World Trade Centre attack.
April 14, 1865.
President Lincoln is assassinated in Washington, DC.
November 22, 1963.
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
November 2, 2004.
Another date for the list scarred to the collective memory.
President Edward R. Tryst is assassinated in Washington, DC.Mary Todd Lincoln’s scream resounded across the victorious North.Footage of Jacqueline Kennedy crawling for help was beamed around the world.But Corker Tryst’s groan of anguish and despair was barely heard across the plush hotelsuite where she found the newly re-elected President dead.
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