Uncertain Times Synopsis
As a nature photographer, Adnijio Benjamin Franklin Jones is in one of the worst professions possible for a victim of ADHD. In photo assignments all over the world, he is forced to sit in small, confined spaces for lengthy periods, without moving, waiting for something to happen worth taking a photo that might appear in one of his table top books.
To keep his sanity and his focus, he has two defense mechanisms: He daydreams in vibrant vignettes about past occurrences, which help him pass the time as well as keep him solidly connected with happier, carefree times of his life; he also has his constant companion Bob to keep him company, focused and jacked-up. Bob offers up a Bob-logic view of the world to run interference for Adj’s Andy Warhol way of looking at . . . well, damn near everything.
As Adj’s conscience, inner voice, or battling psyche, Bob has an opinion of just about every occurrence and voices it incessantly. By turns, Bob and Adj fight about the most trivial matters, trade insults like drinking buddies, and give each other psyche hives. Their conversations often take on the appearance of a mental family reunion between the Hatfields and McCoys. Bob is the world’s only stuttering conscience, and that non-verbal fact has Adj convinced that Bob stutters to create a mechanism that allows Adj to slide around the ADHD symptoms and concentrate, if only for brief moments. Bob also does impressions of well-known celebrities and dah-damn well too.
Adj is working on a tabletop book titled "Mysterious Caddo Lake." Living out of a rented hunting lodge in Uncertain, Texas—the only incorporated city with a mobile city hall—Adj runs into mystery after mystery and seems to be in constant trouble with certain locals, even those he’s not purposely trying to rile his short-termed neighbors. Adj’s attention is divided into several key areas: Daydreams and sleep dreams occupies his down-time. The stories he shares include the creation of an excrement sundial; a mighty battle where some pubescent southern warriors fight over the favors of a virgin (now, if they just knew what a virgin was and what to do with it); a battle between a girl wearing eleven petticoats and Friday panties, and a pissed-off armadillo; a Sunday night shoot-out at a church; and how the actions of an entire senior class led to the deflowering of two virgins. To be honest, it might have been just one virgin.
The natural beauty of Caddo Lake inspires Adj’s artistic side and he thrives on wildlife romps, including watching a clutch of jumping alligators, a pee-loving beaver, and a God-ordained once-in-a-lifetime photo taken in a special place called The Cathedral.
Widder Gleason, his next door neighbor, is an understated woman of mystery with under-the-surface sex appeal, Widder tries to hide her feelings for the stranger, but fails beautifully. Widder has secrets that she shares only with Adj. Actually, that’s not true; Adj violates her trust to learn closely guarded secrets, including the fact she’s a famous romance novelist and wants to live out her literary fantasies. Their undeniably personal chemistry, difference in age (almost twenty years), and different views on sex, love, and life create a grown-up version of eighth-grade sexual tension.
From Day 1 in Uncertain Adj is targeted by two brothers—Harmony and Bother Ledbetter—as their personal bug-under-the-magnifying glass. The two have one small problem: Adj was never accused of playing well with others. And, bless his little hard-headed heart, he’s not about to start with two inbred mouth-breathers whose idea of passing the time of day is to cook a little meth and play the role of born-agin bully boys.
One of the brothers’ relatives is Sheriff Johnnie Twiddle, a mountain of a man used to getting his way. Adj doesn’t cater to the long-time law officer’s ego or attempts to quell dissent through sheer will or acts of intimidation. Unable to stop himself, despite admonitions by Bob, Widder, and various townsfolk, Adj antagonizes the sheriff in the mostovert manner … and pays a high price for his stubbornness.
The town’s Poem Board becomes an obsession for Adj, as he chronicles the mysterious, nightly entries on an old blackboard wired to a couple of trees in Uncertain. Adj is the only person who wants to know who is writing the poems and philosophical thoughts. As one man tells him: “That’s the difference in you and us: You have to know. We just accept it as is.” Adj sets out to discover the writer’s identity and when he does, even Bob is shocked.
At first, Adj tries to convince himself that working on the Poem Board mystery—author, content, and meaning of the often obtuse writings—is a noble pastime. But the shape-shifting of the words, from free verse to attempts at rhyming and then onto seemingly deranged, philosophical thought makes Adj “curiouser and curiouser.”
No noise assails me
Except for the krick-krick of the fire.
No wind blows through the trees ….
Must be the silence of the limbs.
Adj and Bob share the emotional highs and lows that normally accompany the act of merely living, both absurd and mundane. Without admitting how important their partnership is, the free-thought duo display a strong emotional tie and share a bond that forms the foundation of a steady, albeit weird, relationship. While depending on Bob in more ways that he would ever admit, Adj, with Bob chattering to him at the most inopportune times, doesn’t always do the best job at keeping his two-way communication with his psyche a total secret. At Widder’s constant probing and refusing to back off, Adj spills his Bob-secret. Fitted with a shield of chagrin over the divulged secret, Bob turns on Adj and starts taking Widder’s side on virtually every important issue.
Adj and Widder’s covert attempts at he-ing and she-ing lead to a final break-up and Adj’s decision to “dismiss” Bob is both surprising and intensely sad. Widder, however, after thinking she gave up a life with Adj for personal emotional security, comes to the rescue and agrees to marry Adj only if Bob remains part of the relationship.
"Uncertain Times" is an offbeat, frenetic ride on the literary wild side with the off-beatresidents of a small community. It is part romance, part mystery, part chick lit … and has heaping helpings of Southern humor.