Mt Tabor

Mt Tabor is the second book in the series. It introduces several new characters, and raises questions about Walter’s past.

Plot
The Monday following his assault, Walter gets ready to appear on Good Morning Cascadia, a regional morning news show that films in the same building as his show. He’s never interacted with Brenda Kite, the show’s host, though he quickly comes to like her. Before he films his own segment, Walter waits in the wings, admiring Brenda’s ability to channel a vapid, bored housewife who is entirely too interested in juice clenses. During his own segment, Walter and Brenda discuss the topic of internet pranks turning dangerous or deadly. Rather than removing the footage of Walter’s attack from the internet, they air it instead, edited to remove the shot of Walter punching a teenager. He leads in to plugging his own show that Friday, before leaving Brenda to her next segment.

On Thursday, Walter confronts Penny about being stood up. She denies it at first, until she realises she’s been running a day behind after missing work on Monday. Penny offers to take him out that night instead, but Walter doesn’t respond. Instead, he throws a ball of paper at her and goes back to the studio to work on his show. Before he can get started, he is informed of a few new hires coming in, as well as the network’s demands that he take in some interns. Walter fails to see the point in doing both, and leaves without agreeing to any of it. When he gets back to his dressing room, Nichola ambushes him with more complaints from the network. His ratings and demographics are falling, but Walter argues that young people get their news from the internet, and that a weak showing in the under-30 sector is expected. The conversation ends with Nichola threatening to stab Walter with a dull knife.

After working all day to get the show ready for Friday, Walter heads home. He finds Penny parked in his driveway, and after some brief banter, he gets into her roadster and lets her take him back into town. They start off going to the batting cages, but are kicked out early when Penny loses her bat. Unsure what else to do, they get back into her car and head to McDonalds for dinner. Walter isn’t thrilled with this choice, but goes along with it. After they get through the drive-thru, Penny drives him through town, and up to Mt Tabor, a park in the middle of Portland. They drive up to a pull-off area and park. Penny pulls out a small stash of cocaine from under her seat, and the two of them clear out what’s left of it. Once the coke is gone, they begin to eat their dinner. As Walter is finishing his burger, they’re visited by a police officer, who lies about the park’s hours. It’s likely he doesn’t recognise Walter in the dark, and with Walter’s mouth full of fast food burger, Penny is left doing all of the talking. Eventually, the officer leaves, and Walter gets out of the car to move around. He doesn’t want too park up on Mt Tabor, but Penny is hesitant to do anything else, since they got out so late and very little is open.

When the headlights of a passing car startles Walter, he loses his footing and topples down a steep edge. Penny chases him down the side of the hill and helps him back up. He loses his glasses in the fall, and has cut his chest open. Penny gets him into the front seat of the car and tries to clean the cut on his chest, but Walter gets angry when she tries to touch him. He eventually relents when it becomes clear there’s little Penny can do with a travel first aid kit. When Penny touches his face, Walter shouts in pain, startling them both. Penny convinces him to go to a hospital, and takes him to the nearest one. She then comments on a large scar running down Walter’s front, with his only comment about it being he was once gutted “like a fish.”

Penny takes Walter to the emergency room, where he learns he broke his jaw in the fall. The doctor comments that it looks like it’s happened once before, and Walter says it was from a baseball accident in college. After some brief consultation, the doctor determines there is little that can be done, and gives Walter a prescription for Vicodin. On the way home, Penny struggles to find an open pharmacy, and comes up with only coffee and an apple pie from a 7-11. After that, she takes Walter home, and stays with him while he settles down in his chair.

When Walter wakes up the next morning, he finds Penny asleep on his sofa. He lets her sleep, and goes to take a bath, locking every door between the living room and the bathroom. Once he’s clean and dry, Walter goes back out to the kitchen to find Penny awake and making coffee. He breaks up with her on the spot, telling her to lock up when she leaves, and to spread whatever rumours about him she wants. He leaves her in the kitchen, and heads to work.

Characters

 * Walter Jung
 * Nichola Stevens
 * Brenda Kite (Introduced)
 * Penny Wilson (Introduced)