CHAPTER XX. Mr. Dombie, Sir." said Major Bagstock. Joey B. is not in general a man of sentiment, but Joseph is tough. But Joe has his feelings, sir, and when they are awakened, damn Mr. Dombie! cried the Major with sudden ferocity. This is a weakness, and I won't submit to it. Major Bagstock delivered himself of these expressions on receiving Mr. Dombie as his guest at the head of his own staircase in Princess's place. Mr. Dombie had come to breakfast with the Major, previous to their setting forth on their trip, and the ill-starved native had already undergone a world of misery arising out of the muffins, while in connection with the general question of boiled eggs, life was a burden to him. "'It is not for an old soldier of the Bagstock breed,' observed the Major, relapsing into a mild state, to deliver himself up a prey to his own emotions. "'But damn, sir!' cried the Major in another spasm of ferocity. "'I condole with you.'" The Major's purple visage deepened in its hue, and the Major's lobster eyes stood out in bolder relief, as she shook Mr. Dombie by the hand, imparting to that peaceful action as defiant a character as if it had been the prelude to his immediately boxing Mr. Dombie for a thousand pounds aside and the championship of England. With a rotatory motion of his head, and a wheeze very like the calf of a horse, the Major then conducted his visitor to the sitting-room, and there welcomed him, having now composed his feelings with the freedom and frankness of a travelling companion. "'Dombie,' said the Major, "'I'm glad to see you. I'm proud to see you. There are not many men in Europe to whom J. Backstock would say that, for Josh is blunt, sir. It's his nature. Joey B. is proud to see you, Dombie.'" "'Major,' returned Mr. Dombie, "'you are very obliging.'" "'No, sir,' said the Major, "'delebit, that's not my character. If that had been Joe's character, Joe might have been by this time, Lieutenant General Sir Joseph Backstock K.C.B., and might have received you in very different quarters. You don't know old Joe yet, I find, but this occasion, being special, is a source of pride to me. By the Lord, sir,' said the Major resolutely, "'it's an honour to me.'" Mr. Dombie, in his estimation of himself and his money, felt that this was very true, and therefore did not dispute the point. But the instinctive recognition of such a tooth by the Major, and his plain avowel of it, were very able. It was a confirmation to Mr. Dombie if he had required any of his not being mistaken in the Major. It was an assurance to him that his power extended beyond his own immediate sphere, and that the Major, as an officer and a gentleman, had a no less becoming sense of it than the beetle of the royal exchange. And if it were ever consolatory to know this, or the like of this, it was consolatory then, when the impotence of his will, the instability of his hopes, the feebleness of wealth, had been so direfully impressed upon him. What could it do, his boy had asked him. Sometimes thinking of the baby question, he could hardly forbear inquiring himself, what could it do, indeed? What had it done? But these were lonely thoughts, bred late at night, in the sullen despondency and gloom of his retirement, and pride easily found its reassurance in many testimonies to the truth, as unimpeachable and precious as the Major's. Mr. Dombie, in his friendlessness, inclined to the Major. It cannot be said that he warmed towards him, but he thawed a little. The Major had had some part, and not too much, in the days by the seaside. He was a man of the world, and knew some great people. He talked much, and told stories, and Mr. Dombie was disposed to regard him as a choice spirit who shone in society, and who had not that poisonous ingredient of poverty with which choice spirits in general are too much adulterated. His station was undeniable. All together the Major was a creditable companion, well accustomed to a life of leisure, and to such places as that they were about to visit, and having an air of gentlemanly ease about him had mixed well enough with his own city character, and did not compete with it at all. If Mr. Dombie had any lingering idea that the Major, as a man accustomed in the way of his calling to make light of the ruthless hand that had lately crushed his hopes, might unconsciously impart some useful philosophy to him, and scare away his weak regrets, he hid it from himself, and left it lying at the bottom of his pride, unexamined. Where is my scoundrel? said the Major, looking wrathfully round the room. The native, who had no particular name, but answered to any betuprative epithet, presented himself instantly at the door, and ventured to come no nearer. You villain! said the Coloric Major, where is the breakfast? The dark servant disappeared in search of it, and was quickly heard, re-ascending the stairs in such a tremulous state, at the plates and dishes on the tray he carried, trembling sympathetically as he came, rattled again all the way up. Dombie! said the Major, glancing at the native as he arranged the table, and encouraging him with an awful shake of his fist when he upset a spoon. Here is a devil-drill, a savoury pie, a dish of kidneys, and so forth. Place it down!  Very excellent fair Major! replied his guest, and not in mere politeness either, for the Major always took the best possible care of himself, and indeed ate rather more of rich meats, and was good for him, in so much that his imperial complexion was mainly referred by the faculty to that circumstance. You have been looking over the way, sir! I've served the Major. Have you seen our friend? You mean Miss Tox? You taunted Mr. Dombie. No.  Miss Tox is a very good sort of person, I believe, replied Mr. Dombie. The haughty coldness of the reply seemed to afford Major Bagstock infinite delight. He swelled and swelled exceedingly, and even laid down his knife and fork for a moment to rub his hands. O Joe, sir! said the Major, was a bit of a favourite in that quarter once, but Joe has had his day. Jay Bagstock is extinguished, outrivaled, flawed, sir. I should have supposed, Mr. Dombie replied, that the lady's day for favourites was over, but perhaps you are justing, Major. Perhaps you were justing, Dombie, was the Major's rejoinder. There never was a more unlikely possibility. It was so clearly expressed in Mr. Dombie's face that the Major apologised. I beg your pardon, he said. I see you are in earnest. I tell you what, Dombie. The Major paused in his eating, and looked mysteriously indignant. That's a devilish, ambitious woman, sir. Mr. Dombie said, indeed, with frigid indifference, mingled perhaps with some contemptuous incredulity as to Miss Tox having the presumption to harbour such a superior quality. That woman, sir, said the Major, is in her way a Lucifer.  He sees, does Joe, his royal highness, the late Duke of York, observed of Joey at a levy that he saw. The Major accompanied this with such a look, and between eating, drinking, hot tea, deviled grill, muffins, and meaning was altogether so swollen and inflamed about the head that even Mr. Dombie showed some anxiety for him. That ridiculous old spectacle, sir, pursued the Major, aspires. She aspires sky-high, sir, matrimonially, Dombie. I am sorry for her, said Mr. Dombie. Don't say that, Dombie! Turned the Major in a warning voice. Why should I not, Major? said Mr. Dombie. The Major gave no answer but the horse's cough and went on eating vigorously. She has taken an interest in your household, said the Major, stopping short again, and has been a frequent visitor at your house for some time now. Yes, replied Mr. Dombie, with great stateliness, Miss Tox was originally received there at the time of Mrs. Dombie's death as a friend of my sister's, and being a well-behaved person and showing a liking for the poor infant, she was permitted, may I say, encouraged to repeat her visits with my sister, and gradually to occupy a kind of footing of familiarity in the family. I have, said Mr. Dombie, in the tone of a man who was making a great and valuable concession, I have a respect for Miss Tox. She has been so obliging as to render many little services in my house, trifling and insignificant services perhaps, Major, but not to be disparaged on that account, and I hope I have had the good fortune to be enabled to acknowledge them by such attention and notice as it had been in my power to bestow. I hold myself indebted to Miss Tox, Major, added Mr. Dombie, with a slight wave of his hand, for the pleasure of your acquaintance. Dombie, said the Major warmly, No, no, sir! Yousef Bagstock can never permit that assertion to pass uncontradicted. Your knowledge of old Joe, sir, such as he is, and old Joe's knowledge of you, sir, had its origin in a noble therosa, in a great creature, sir, Dombie, said the Major, with a struggle which was not very difficult to parade, his whole life being a struggle against all kinds of apoplectic symptoms. We knew each other through your boy. Mr. Dombie seemed touched, as it is not improbable the Major designed he should be by this illusion. He looked down and sighed, and the Major, rousing himself fiercely again, said, in reference to the state of mind into which he felt himself in danger of falling, that this was weakness and nothing should induce him to submit to it. Our friend had a remote connection with that event, said the Major, and all the credit that belongs to her, JB, is willing to give us her, notwithstanding which man, he added, raising his eyes from his plate, and casting them across Princess's place, to where Ms. Tox was at that moment, visible at her window, watering her flowers.  You might do that to your heart's content, ma'am, without any objection. I assure you, on the part of back-stock. Here the Major laughed frightfully up in the tips of his ears and in the veins of his head. But when, ma'am, said the Major, you compromise other people, and generous, unsuspicious people, too, as a repayment for their condescension, you stir the blood of old Joe in his body. Major, said Mr. Donby, reddening, I hope you do not hint at anything so absurd on the part of Ms. Tox as, Donby, returned the Major, I hint at nothing, but Joe E. B. has lived in the world, sir, lived in the world with his eyes open, sir, and his ears cocked, and Joe tells you, Donby, that there's a devilish, artful, and ambitious woman over the way. Mr. Donby involuntarily glanced over the way, and an angry glance he sent in that direction, too. That's all on such a subject that shall pass the lips of Joseph back-stock, said the Major firmly. Joe is not a tale-bearer, but there are times when he must speak, when he will speak, confound your arts, ma'am, cried the Major, again apostaphising his fair neighbour with great ire, when the provocation is too strong to admit of his remaining silent. The emotion of this outbreak threw the Major into a paroxysm of horse's coughs, which held him for a long time.  I don't know, sir, said the Major, wagging his double chin with a jacose ire. What it is you people see in Joe to make you hold him in such great request, all of you. But this I know, sir, that if he wasn't pretty tough and obstinate in his refusals, you'd kill him among you with your invitations and so forth in double-quick time. Mr. Donby, in a few words, expressed his sense of the preference he received over those other distinguished members of society who were clamouring for the possession of Major Bagstock. But the Major cut him short by giving him to understand that he followed his own inclinations, and that they had risen up in a body and said with one accord, J. B., Donby is the man for you to choose as a friend. The Major being by this time in a state of repletion, with essence of savoury pie oozing out of the corner of his eyes, and devil-grill and kidneys tightening his cravat, and the time moreover approaching for the departure of the railway train to Birmingham, by which they were to leave town, the native got him into his great coat with immense difficulty, and buttoned him up until his face looked staring and gasping over the top of that garment as if he were in a barrel. The native then handed him separately, and with a decent interval between each supply, his wash-leather gloves, his thick stick, and his hat, which later article the Major wore with a rakish air on one side of his head, by way of toning down his remarkable visage. The native had previously packed, in all possible and impossible parts of Mr. Donby's chariot, which was in waiting, an unusual quantity of carpet bags and small portmantos, no less apoplectic in appearance than the Major himself, and having filled his own pockets with salsa water, East India sherry, sandwiches, shawls, telescopes, maps, and newspapers, any or all of which light baggage the Major might require at any instant of the journey, he announced that everything was ready.  When he took his seat in the rumble by the side of Mr. Townsend, a pile of the Major's cloaks and great coats was hurled upon him by the landlord, who aimed at him from the pavement with those great missiles like a titan, and so covered him up that he proceeded in a living tomb to the railroad station. But before the carriage moved away, and while the native was in the act of sepulchre, Miss Tox, appearing at her window, waved a lily-white handkerchief. Mr. Dombie received this parting salutation very coldly, very coldly even for him, and honouring her with the slightest possible inclination of his head, leaned back in the carriage with a very discontented look. His marked behaviour seemed to afford the Major, who was all politeness in his recognition of Miss Tox, unbounded satisfaction, and he sat for a long time afterwards, leering and choking like an overfed Mephistopheles. During the bustle of preparation at the railway, Mr. Dombie and the Major walked up and down the platform side by side, the former taciturn and gloomy, and the latter entertaining him, or entertaining himself, with a variety of anecdotes and reminiscences, in most of which Joe Bagstock was the principal performer. Neither of the two observed that in the course of these walks, they attracted the attention of a working man who was standing near the engine, and who touched his hat every time they passed, for Mr. Dombie habitually looked over the vulgar herd, not at them, and the Major was looking at the time into the core of one of his stories. At length, however, this man stepped before them as they turned round, and pulling his hat off, and keeping it off, ducked his head to Mr. Dombie. Make your pardon, sir! said the man.  He was dressed in a canvas suit, abundantly besmeared with cold-ust and oil, and had cinders in his whiskers, and a smell of half-slaked ashes all over him. He was not a bad-looking fellow, nor even what could be fairly called a dirty-looking fellow, in spite of this, and, in short, he was Mr. Toodle, professionally closed. I shall have the honour of stoking of you down, sir, said Mr. Toodle. Make your pardon, sir! I hope you find yourself a-coming round. Mr. Dombie looked at him, in return for his tone of interest, as if a man like that would make his very eye-sight dirty. Excuse your liberty, sir! said Toodle, seeing he was not clearly remembered, but my wife Polly, as was called Richard's, in your family. A change in Mr. Dombie's face, which seemed to express recollection of him, and so it did, but it expressed, in a much stronger degree, an angry sense of humiliation, stopped Mr. Toodle short. Your wife wants money, I suppose, said Mr. Dombie, putting his hand in his pocket, and speaking, but that he always did, haughtily. No! Thank ye, sir! returned Toodle. Ah! can't say she does! I don't! Mr.  No, sir! said Toodle, turning his oil-skin cap round and round. We're doing pretty well, sir. We haven't no cause. The complain in the worldly way, sir. We've had four more since then, sir, but we rubs on. Mr. Dombie would have rubbed on to his own carriage, though in so doing he had rubbed the stoker underneath the wheels. But his attention was arrested by something in connection with the cap, still going slowly round and round in the man's hand. We lost one, baby, observed Toodle. There's no denying. Lately, added Mr. Dombie, looking at the cap. No, sir, upward of three years ago. All the rest is hearty. And in the matter of reading, sir, said Toodle, ducking again, as if to remind Mr. Dombie of what had passed between them on that subject long ago. Them boys are mine. They learnt me among them, after all. They made a worry-tolerable scholar of me, sir. Them boys. Come, Major, said Mr. Dombie. Beg your pardon, sir, presumed Toodle, taking a step before them, and deferentially stopping them again, still cap in hand. I wouldn't have troubled you with such a point, except as a way of getting in the name of my son Baila, Christian Robin, image he was so good as to make a charitable grinder on. Well, man, said Mr. Dombie in his severest manner, what about him?  He has gone wrong, has he, said Mr. Dombie, with a hard kind of satisfaction. He has fell into bad company, you see, gentlemen, pursued the father, looking wistfully at both, and evidently taking the Major into the conversation with the hope of having his sympathy. He has gone into bad ways. God's send he may come to again, gentlemen, but he's on the wrong track now. You could hardly be all fearing of it somehow, sir, said Toodle, again addressing Mr. Dombie individually, and it's better I should out and say, my boy's gone rather wrong. Polly's dreadful down about it, gentlemen, said Toodle with the same dejected look and another appeal to the Major.  Take advice from plain old Joe, and never educate that sort of people, sir. Returned the Major. Damn, sir, it never does. It always fails. The simple father was beginning to submit that he hoped his son, the quantum grinder, huffed and cuffed, and flogged and badged, and taught, as parrots are, by a brute, jobbed into his place of school-master with as much fitness for it as a hound, might not have been educated on quite a right plan, in some undiscovered respect, when Mr. Dombie angrily repeating, the usual return, led the Major away. And the Major, being heavy to hoist into Mr. Dombie's carriage, elevated in mid-air, and having to stop and swear that he would flay the native alive and break every bone in his skin, and visit other physical torments upon him, every time he couldn't get his foot on the step and fell back on that dark exile, had barely time before they started to repeat hoarsely that it would never do, that it always failed, and that if he were to educate his own vagabond, he would certainly be hanged. Mr. Dombie assented bitterly that there was something more in his bitterness, and in his moody way of falling back in the carriage, and looking with knitted brows at the changing objects without, than the failure of that noble education system administered by the Grinder's Company. He had seen upon the man's rough cap a piece of new crepe, and he had assured himself, from his manner and his answers, that he wore it for his son. So from high to low, at home or abroad, from Florence in his great house to the coarse churl who was feeding the fire then smoking before them, every one set up some claim or other to a share in his dead boy, and was a bidder against him. Could he ever forget how that woman had wept over his pillow, and called him her own child, or how he, waking from his sleep, had asked for her, and had raised himself in his bed and brightened when she came in? To think of this presumptuous raker among coals and ashes going on before there with his sign of mourning. To think that he dared to enter, even by a common show like that, into the trial and disappointment of a proud gentleman's secret heart. To think that this lost child, who was to have divided with him his riches, and his projects, and his power, and allied with whom he was to have shut out all the world, as with the double door of gold, should have let in such a herd to insult him with their knowledge of his defeated hopes and their boasts of claiming community of feeling with himself, so far removed, if not of having crept into the place wherein he would have lauded it alone. He found no pleasure or relief in the journey. Tortured by these thoughts, he carried monotony with him through the rushing landscape, and hurried headlong, not through a rich and varied country, but a wilderness of blighted plans and gnawing jealousies. The very speed at which the train was whirled along mocked the swift course of the young life that had been born away so steadily, and so inexorably to its fordoomed end. The power that forced itself upon its iron way, its own, defiant of all paths and roads, piercing through the heart of every obstacle, and dragging living creatures of all classes, ages, and degrees behind it, was a type of the triumphant monster, death. Away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle from the town, burrowing among the dwellings of men and making the streets hum, flashing out into the meadows for a moment, mining in through the damp earth, booming on in darkness and heavy air, bursting out again into the sunny day so bright and wide. Away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle through the fields, through the woods, through the corn, through the hay, through the chalk, through the mould, through the clay, through the rock, among objects close at hand and almost in the grasp, ever flying from the traveller, and a deceitful distance ever moving slowly within him, like as in the track of the remorseless monster, death. Through the hollow, on the height, by the heath, by the orchard, by the park, by the garden, over the canal, across the river, where the sheep are feeding, where the mill is going, where the barge is floating, where the dead are lying, where the factory is smoking, where the stream is running, where the village clusters, where the great cathedral rises, where the bleak moor lies, and the wild breeze smoothed or ruffles it at its inconstant will. Away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle and no trace to leave behind but dust and vapour, like as in the track of the remorseless monster, death. Breasting the wind and light, the shower and sunshine, away and still away, it rolls and roars, fierce and rapid, smooth and certain, and great works and massive bridges crossing up above, fall like a beam of shadow and inch broad upon the eye, and then are lost. Away and still away, onward and onward ever, glimpses of cottage homes, of houses, mansions, richer states, of husbandry and handicraft, of people, of old roads and paths that look deserted, small and insignificant as they're left behind, and so they do, and what else is there but such glimpses in the track of the indomitable monster, death. Away with a shriek and a roar and a rattle, plunging down into the earth again, and working on in such a storm of energy and perseverance, that amidst the darkness and whirlwind, the motion seems reversed, and to tend furiously backward until a ray of light upon the wet wall shows its surface, flying past like a fierce stream. Away once more into the day, and through the day, with a shrill yell of exultation, roaring, rattling, tearing on, spurning everything with its dark breath, sometimes pausing for a minute where a crowd of faces are, that in a minute or more are not, sometimes lapping water greedily, and before the spout at which it drinks has ceased to drip upon the ground, shrieking, roaring, rattling through the purple distance. Louder and louder yet, it shrieks and cries as it comes tearing on, resistless to the goal, and now its way, still like the way of death, is stewed with ashes, thickly. Everything around is blackened. There are dark pools of water, muddy lanes, and miserable habitations far below. There are jagged walls and falling houses close at hand, and through the battered roofs and broken windows, wretched rooms are seen where want and fever hide themselves in many wretched shapes, while smoke and crowded gables and distorted chimneys, and deformity of brick and mortar, penning up deformity of mind and body choke the murky distance. As Mr. Dombey looks out of his carriage window, it is never in his thoughts that the monster who has brought him there has let the light of day in on these things, not made or caused them. It was the journey's fitting end, and might have been the end of everything. It was so ruinous and dreary. So, pursuing the one course of thought, he had the one relentless monster still before him. All things looked black and cold and deadly upon him, and he on them. He found a likeness to his misfortune everywhere. There was a remorseless triumph going on about him, and it galled and stung him in his pride and jealousy whatever form it took, though most of all when it divided with him the love and memory of his lost boy. There was a face. He had looked upon it on the previous night, and it on him, with eyes that read his soul, though they were dim with tears, and hidden soon behind two quivering hands that often had attended him in fancy on this ride. He had seen it with the expression of last night, timidly pleading to him. It was not reproachful, but there was something of doubt, almost of hopeful incredulity in it, which, as he once more saw that fade away into a desolate certainty of his dislike, was like reproach. It was a trouble to him to think of this face of Florence. Because he felt any new compunction towards it? No. Because the feeling it awakened in him, of which he had had some old foreshadowing and older times, was full formed now, and spoke out plainly, moving him too much, and threatening to grow too strong for his composure. Because the face was abroad, and the expression of defeat and persecution had seemed to encircle him like the air. Because it barbed the arrow of that cruel and remorseless enemy on which his thoughts so ran, and put into its grasp a double-handed sword. Because he knew full well in his own breast, as he stood there, tinging the scene of transition before him with the morbid colours of his own mind, and making it a ruin and a picture of decay, instead of hopeful change and promise of better things, that life had quite as much to do with his complainings as death. One child was gone, and one child left. Why was the object of his hope removed instead of her? The sweet, calm, gentle presence in his fancy moved him to no reflection but that. She had been unwelcome to him from the first. She was an aggravation of his bitterness now. If his son had been his only child, and the same blow had fallen on him, it would have been heavy to bear. But infinitely lighter than now, when it might have fallen on her, whom he could have lost, or he believed it, without a pang, and had not. Her loving and innocent face rising before him had no softening or winning influence. He rejected the angel, and took up with the tormenting spirit crouching in his bosom. Her patience, goodness, youth, devotion, love, were as so many atoms in the ashes upon which he set his heel. He saw her image and the blight and blackness all around him, not irradiating, but deepening the gloom. More than once upon this journey, and now again as he stood pondering at this journey's end, tracing figures in the dust with his stick, the thought came into his mind. What was there he could interpose between himself and it? The major, who had been blowing and panting all the way down, like another engine, and whose eye had often wandered from his newspaper to leer at the prospect, as if there were a procession of discomforted mistoxes pouring out in the smoke of the train, and flying away over the fields to hide themselves in any place of refuge, aroused his friend by informing him that the post-horses were harnessed and the carriage ready. Dombie, said the major, wrapping him on the arm of this cane, don't be thoughtful. It's a bad habit, old Joseph. Wouldn't be as tough as you see him if he had ever encouraged it. You're too great a man, Dombie, to be thoughtful. In your position, sir, you're far above that kind of thing. The major, even in his friendly remonstrances, thus consulting the dignity and honour of Mr. Dombie, and showing a livery sense of their importance, Mr. Dombie felt more than ever disposed to defer to a gentleman possessing so much good sense, and such a well-regulated mind. Accordingly he made an effort to listen to the major's stories, as they trotted along the Turnpike Road, and the major finding both the pace and the road a great deal better adapted to his conversational powers than the mode of travelling they had just relinquished, came out of his entertainment. But still the major, blunt and tough as he was, and as he so very often said he was, administered some palatable catering to his companion's appetite. He related, or rather suffered it to escape him, accidentally, as one might say, grudgingly and against his will, how there was great curiosity and excitement at the club in regard of his friend Dombie. How he was suffocated with questions, sir. How old Joe Bagstock was a greater man than ever there on the strength of Dombie. How they said, Bagstock, your friend Dombie now, what is the view he takes of such and such a question. Though by the router, said the major, with a broad stare, how they discovered that JB ever came to know you is un-mystery. In this flow of spirits and conversation, only interrupted by his usual plethoric symptoms, and by intervals of lunch and from time to time by some violent assault upon the native who wore a pair of earrings in his dark brown ears, and on whom his European clothes sat with an outlandish impossibility of adjustment. Being of their own accord, and without any reference to the tailor's art, long where they ought to be short, and short where they ought to be long, tight where they ought to be loose, and loose where they ought to be tight. And to which he imparted a new grace, whenever the major attacked him, by shrinking into them like a shriveled nut, or a cold monkey. In this flow of spirits and conversation the major continued all day, so that when evening came on and found them trotting through the green and leafy road near Lemmington, the major's voice, ought with talking and eating and chuckling and choking, appeared to be in the box under the rumble, or in some neighbouring haystack. Nor did the major improve it at the Royal Hotel, where rooms and dinner had been ordered, and where he so oppressed his organs of speech by eating and drinking, that when he retired to bed he had no voice at all, except to cough with, and could only make himself intelligible to the dark servant by gasping at him.  At this meal they arranged their daily habits. The major was to take the responsibility of ordering everything to eat and drink, and they were to have a late breakfast together every morning, and a late dinner together every day. Mr. Dombey would prefer remaining in his own room, or walking in the country by himself, on that first day of their sojourn at Lemmington. But next morning he would be happy to accompany the major to the pump-room, and about the town. So they parted until dinner time. Mr. Dombey retired to nurse his wholesome thoughts in his own way. The major, attended by the native, carrying a camp stool, a great coat, and an umbrella, swaggered up and down through all the public places, looking into subscription books to find out who was there, looking up old ladies by whom he was much admired, reporting JB tougher than ever, and puffing his rich friend Dombey wherever he went. There never was a man who stood by a friend more staunchly than the major, when in puffing him he puffed himself. It was surprising how much new conversation the major had to let off at dinner time, and what occasion he gave Mr. Dombey to admire his social qualities. At breakfast next morning he knew the contents of the latest newspapers received, and mentioned several subjects in connection with them, on which his opinion had recently been sought by persons of such power and might, that they were only to be obscurely hinted at. Mr. Dombey, who had been so long shut up within himself, and who had rarely at any time overstepped the enchanted circle within which the operations of Dombey and Sun were conducted, began to think this an improvement on his solitary life, and in place of excusing himself for another day, as he had thought of doing well alone, walked out with the major arm in arm. End of Chapter 20 Chapter 21 of Dombey and Sun This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Mill Nicholson Dombey and Sun by Charles Dickens Chapter 21 New Faces The major, more blue-faced and staring, more over-ripe as it were than ever, and giving vent every now and then to one of the horse's coughs, not so much of necessity as in a spontaneous explosion of importance, walked arm in arm with Mr. Dombey up the sunny side of the way, with his cheeks swelling over his tight stock, his legs majestically wide apart, and his great head wagging from side to side, as if he were remonstrating within himself for being such a captivating object. They had not walked many yards before the major encountered somebody he knew, nor many yards farther before the major encountered somebody else he knew, but he merely shook his fingers at them as he passed, and led Mr. Dombey on, pointing out the localities as they went, and enlivening the walk with any current scandal suggested by them. In this manner, the major and Mr. Dombey were walking arm in arm, much to their own satisfaction, when they beheld advancing towards them a wheeled chair in which a lady was seated, indolently steering her carriage by a kind of rudder in front, while it was propelled by some unseen power in the rear. Although the lady was not young, she was very blooming in the face, quite rosy, and her dress and attitude worked perfectly juvenile. Walking by the side of the chair and carrying her gossamer parasol with a proud and weary air, as if so great an effort must be soon abandoned, and the parasol dropped, sauntered a much younger lady, very handsome, very haughty, very willful, who tossed her head and drooped her eyelids, as though if there were anything in all the world worth looking into, save a mirror, it certainly was not the earth or sky. Why, what the devil have we here, sir? cried the major, stopping as this little cavalcade drew near. My dearest Edith! drawled the lady in the chair, major bag-stock. The major no sooner heard the voice than he relinquished Mr. Dombie's arm, darted forward, took the hand of the lady in the chair, and pressed it to his lips. With no less gallantry the major folded both his gloves upon his heart, and bowed low to the other lady. And now the chair having stopped, the motive power became visible in the shape of a flushed page pushing behind, who seemed to have in part out-drawn, and in part out-pushed, his strength. For when he stood upright he was tall, and one, and thin, and his plight appeared the morpher lawn from his having injured the shape of his hat by butting at the carriage with his head to urge it forward, as is sometimes done by elephants in oriental countries. Joe Bagstock, said the major to both ladies, is a proud and happy man for the rest of his life. You false creature, said the old lady in the chair insipidly, where do you come from? I can't bear you. Then several Joe to present a friend, ma'am, said the major promptly, as a reason for being tolerated. Mr. Dombie, Mrs. Scootin. The lady in the chair was gracious. Mr. Dombie, Mrs. Granger. The lady with the parasol was faintly conscious of Mr. Dombie's taking off his hat and bowing low. I am delighted, sir, said the major, to have this opportunity. The major seemed an earnest, for he looked at all the three, and leered in his ugliest manner. Mrs. Scootin, Dombie, said the major, makes havoc in the heart of old Josh. Mr. Dombie signified that he didn't wonder at it. You perfidious goblin, said the lady in the chair, have done. How long have you been here, bad man? One day, replied the major. And can you be a day or even a minute? Returned the lady, slightly settling her false curls, and false eyebrows with her fan, and showing her false teeth, set off by her false complexion. In the garden of—what's its name? Eden, I suppose, ma'am, interrupted the younger lady scornfully. My dear Edith, said the other, I cannot help it. I never can remember those frightful names, without having your whole soul and being inspired by the sight of nature by the perfume, said Mrs. Scootin, rustling a handkerchief that was faint and sickly with assences, of her artless breath, you creature. The discrepancy between Mrs. Scootin's fresh enthusiasm of words, and forlornly faded manner, was hardly less observable than that between her age, which was about seventy, and her dress, which would have been youthful for twenty-seven. Her attitude in the wheeled chair, which she never varied, was one in which she had been taken in a barouche, some fifty years before, by a then fashionable artist who had appended to his published sketch the name of Cleopatra. In consequence of a discovery made by the critics of the time, that it bore an exact resemblance to that princess, as she reclined on board her galley, Mrs. Scootin was a beauty then, and bucks through wine-glasses over their heads by dozens in her honour. The beauty and the barouche had both passed away, but she still preserved the attitude, and for this reason expressly maintained the wheeled chair and the butting page, there being nothing whatever except the attitude to prevent her from walking. Mr. Dombey is devoted to nature, I trust, said Mrs. Scootin, settling her diamond brooch, and by the way she chiefly lived upon the reputation of some diamonds and her family connections. My friend Dombey-Marm, returned the major, may be devoted to her in secret, but a man who was paramount in the greatest city in the universe, no one can be a stranger, said Mrs. Scootin, to Mr. Dombey's immense influence. As Mr. Dombey acknowledged the compliment with the bend of his head, the younger lady glancing at him met his eyes. You reside here, madam? said Mr. Dombey, addressing her. No, we have been to a great many places. Farragut and Scarborough, and into Devonshire, we have been visiting and resting here and there. Amar likes change. Edith, of course, does not! said Mrs. Scootin, with a ghastly archeness. I have not found that there is any change in such places. Was the answer delivered with supreme indifference? They libel me. There is only one change, Mr. Dombey, observed Mrs. Scootin with a mincing sigh, for which I really care, and that I fear I shall never be permitted to enjoy. People cannot spare one, but seclusion and contemplation are my—what's his name? If you mean paradise, mamar, you would better say so to render yourself intelligible. Said the younger lady. My dearest Edith, return, Mrs. Scootin, you know that I am wholly dependent upon you for those odious names. I assure you, Mr. Dombey, nature intended me for an Arcadian. I am thrown away in society. Cows are my passion. What I have ever sired for has been to retreat to a Swiss farm and live entirely surrounded by cows—and China. This curious association of objects, suggesting a remembrance of the celebrated bull who got by mistake into a crockery shop, was received with perfect gravity by Mr. Dombey, who intimated his opinion that nature was, no doubt, a very respectable institution. What I want, drawed Mrs. Scootin, pinching her shriveled throat, is heart. It was frightfully true, in one sense, if not in that in which she used the phrase. What I want is frankness, confidence, less conventionality, and freer play of soul. We are also dreadfully artificial. We were, indeed. In short, said Mrs. Scootin, I want nature everywhere. It would be so extremely charming. Nature is inviting us away now, Mama, if you are ready, said the younger lady, curling her handsome lip. At this hint the one page who had been surveying the party over the top of the chair vanished behind it as if the ground had swallowed him up. Stop a moment with us! said Mrs. Scootin, as the chair began to move, calling to the page with all the languid dignity with which she had called in days of yore to a coachman with a wig, cauliflower, nose-gay, and silk stockings. Where are you staying, abomination? The Major was staying at the Royal Hotel with his friend Dombey. You may come and see us any evening, when you are good. Lest, Mrs. Scootin, if Mr. Dombey will honour us, we shall be happy.  The Major again pressed to his blue lips the tips of the fingers that were disposed on the ledge of the wheeled chair with careful carelessness, after the Cleopatra model, and Mr. Dombey bowed. The elder lady honoured them both with a very gracious smile and a girlish wave of her hand, the younger lady with the very slightest inclination of her head that common courtesy allowed. The last glimpse of the wrinkled face of the mother, with that patched colour on it, which the sun made infinitely more haggard and dismal than any want of colour could have been, and of the proud beauty of the daughter with her graceful figure and erect deportment, engendered such an involuntary disposition on the part of both the Major and Mr. Dombey to look after them, that they both turned at the same moment. The page, nearly as much as slant as his own shadow, was toiling after the chair uphill like a slow battering ram. The top of Cleopatra's bonnet was fluttering in exactly the same corner to the inch as before, and the beauty loitering by herself a little in advance, expressed in all her elegant form from head to foot, the same supreme disregard of everything and everybody. I tell you what, sir, said the Major, as they resumed their walk again, if Joe Bagstock were a younger man, there's not a woman in the world who would prefer for Mrs. Bagstock to that woman. Bye, George, sir, said the Major. She's superb. And do you mean the daughter, inquired Mr. Dombey? Is Joey B. a turnip, Dombey? said the Major, that he should mean the mother. You were a complementary to the mother, returned Mr. Dombey.  She impresses me as being perfectly genteel, said Mr. Dombey.  The honourable Mrs. Scootin, sir, is sister to the late Lord Phoenix, and aunt to the present Lord. The family are not wealthy, they're poor indeed, and she lives upon a small jointure. But if you come to blood, sir! The Major gave a flourish with his stick, and walked on again, in despair of being able to say what you came to if you came to that. You addressed the daughter, I observed, said Mr. Dombey, after a short pause, as Mrs. Granger. Edith Scootin, sir, returned the Major, stopping short again, and punching a mark in the ground with his cane, to represent her. Married at eighteen? Granger of ours, whom the Major indicated by another punch. Granger, sir, said the Major, tapping the last ideal portrait, and rolling his head emphatically, was Colonel of ours, a devilish handsome fellow, sir, of forty-one. He died, sir, in the second year of his marriage. The Major ran the representative of the deceased Granger through and through the body with his walking stick, and went on again, carrying his stick over his shoulder. How long is this ago? asked Mr. Dombey, making another halt. Edith Granger, sir, replied the Major, shutting one eye, putting his head on one side, passing his cane into his left hand, and smoothing his shirt filled with his right. Is at present time not quite thirty?  Was there any family? asked Mr. Dombey presently.  Who was Dranza? pursued the Major, when a child of four or five years old. Indeed, said Mr. Dombey, raising his head, by the upsetting of a boat in which his nurse had no business to output him, said the Major. That's his history. Edith Granger is Edith Granger still, but if tough old Joey Beesa were a little younger and a little richer, the name of that immortal paragon should be back-stock. The Major heaved his shoulders and his cheeks, and laughed more like an overfed Mephistopheles than ever, as he said the words. Provided the Lady made no objection, I suppose, said Mr. Dombey coldly. By God, sir, said the Major, the back-stock breed are not accustomed to that sort of obstacle. Though it's true enough that Edith might have married twenty times, but for being proud, sir, proud. Mr. Dombey seemed by his face to think no worse of her for that. It's a great quality, after all, said the Major. By the Lord it's a high quality, Dombey! You are proud yourself, and your friend old Joe respects you for it, sir. With this tribute to the character of his ally, which seemed to be rung from him by the force of circumstances and the irresistible tendency of their conversation, the Major closed the subject and glided into a general exposition of the extent to which he had been beloved and doted on by splendid women and brilliant creatures. On the next day but one Mr. Dombey and the Major encountered the honourable Mrs. Scooten and her daughter in the pump room. On the day after, they met them again very near the place where they had met them first. After meeting them thus three or four times in all, it became a point of mere civility to old acquaintances that the Major should go there one evening. Mr. Dombey had not originally intended to pay visits, but on the Major announcing his intention, he said he would have the pleasure of accompanying him. So the Major told the Native to go round before dinner and say, with his and Mr. Dombey's compliments, that they would have the honour of visiting the ladies at same evening if the ladies were alone. In answer to which message, the Native brought back a very small note with a very large quantity of scent about it, indicted by the honourable Mrs. Scooten to Major Backstock, and briefly saying, you are a shocking bear and I have a great mind not to forgive you, but if you are very good indeed, which was underlined, you may come, compliments in which Edith unites to Mr. Dombey. The honourable Mrs. Scooten and her daughter, Mrs. Granger, resided, while at Lamington, in lodgings that were fashionable enough and dear enough, but rather limited in point of space and conveniences, so that the honourable Mrs. Scooten, being in bed, had her feet in the window and her head in the fireplace, while the honourable Mrs. Scooten's maid was quartered in closet within the drawing-room, so extremely small that, to avoid developing the whole of its accommodations, she was obliged to writhe in and out of the door like a beautiful serpent. Withers, the one page, slept out of the house immediately under the tiles at a neighbouring milk-shop, and the wheeled chair, which was the stone of that young Sisyphus, passed the night in a shed belonging to the same dairy, where new-laid eggs were produced by the poultry connected with the establishment, who roosted on a broken donkey cart, persuaded to all appearance that it grew there, and was a species of tree. Mr. Dombey and the Major found Mrs. Scooten arranged, as Cleopatra, among the cushions of a sofa, very airily dressed, and certainly not resembling Shakespeare's Cleopatra, whom age could not wither. On their way upstairs they had heard the sound of a harp, but it had ceased on their being announced, and Edith now stood beside it handsomer and haughtier than ever. It was a remarkable characteristic of this lady's beauty that it appeared to vaunt and assert itself without her aid, and against her will. She knew that she was beautiful. It was impossible that it could be otherwise, but she seemed with her own pride to defy her very self. Whether she held cheap attractions that could only call forth admiration that was worthless to her, or whether she designed to render them more precious to admirers by this usage of them, those to whom they were precious seldom paused to consider. I hope, Mrs. Granger, said Mr. Dombey, advancing a step towards her, we are not the cause of your ceasing to play. You? Oh, no. Why do you not go on then, my dearest Edith? said Cleopatra. I left off as I began, of my own fancy. The exquisite indifference of her manner in saying this, an indifference quite removed from dullness or insensibility, for it was pointed with proud purpose, was well set off by the carelessness of which she drew her hand across the strings, and came from that part of the room.  Oh, never quite by, darling, five-five, it would break my heart, returned her mother, making a faint attempt to pat her with the screen, which Edith made no movement to meet. About these old conventionalities of manner that are observed in little things, why are we not more natural, dear me, with all those yearnings and gushings and impulsive throbbing that we have implanted in ourselves, which are so very charming, why are we not more natural? Mr. Dombey said it was very true, very true. We could be more natural, I suppose, if we tried, said Mrs. Scuton. Mr. Dombey thought it possible. Devil a bit, mam, said the Major. We couldn't afford it. Unless the world was peopled with J.B.'s tough and blunt old Joes, mam, plain red herrings with hard rows, sir, we couldn't afford it. It wouldn't do.  Be mute. Cleopatra commands, returned the Major, kissing his hand, and Anthony, Bagstock, obeys. The man has no sensitiveness, said Mrs. Scuton, cruelly holding up the handscreen, so as to shut the Major out. No sympathy! And what do we live for, but sympathy? What else is so extremely charming? Without that gleam of sunshine on our cold, cold earth? said Mrs. Scuton, arranging her lace tucker, and complacently observing the effect of her bare, lean arm, looking upward from the wrist. How could we possibly bear it? In short, obdurate man, glancing at the Major round the screen, I would have my world all hot, and faith is so excessively charming, that I won't allow you to disturb it. Do you hear? The Major replied that it was hard in Cleopatra to require the world to be all heart, and yet to appropriate to herself the hearts of all the world, which obliged Cleopatra to remind him that flattery was insupportable to her, and that if he had the boldness to address her in that strain any more, she would positively send him home. Withers the one, at this period, handing round the tea, Mr. Dombey again addressed himself to Edith. There is not much company here, it would seem, said Mr. Dombey, in his own portentous, gentlemanly way. I believe not. We see none. Oh, I really! observed Mrs. Scuton from her couch. There are no people here just now, with whom we care to associate. They have not enough heart, said Edith with a smile, the very twilight of a smile, so singularly where its light and darkness blended. My dearest Edith rallies me, you see, said her mother, shaking her head, which shook a little of itself sometimes, as if the palsy twinkled now and then in opposition to the diamonds. Wicked one! You have been here before, if I am not mistaken, said Mr. Dombey, still to Edith. Oh, several times. I think we've been everywhere. A beautiful country. I suppose it is, everybody says so. Your cousin Phoenix raves about it, Edith, interposed her mother from her couch. The daughter slightly turned her graceful head, and raising her eyebrows by a hair's breadth, as if her cousin Phoenix were of all the mortal world the least to be regarded, turned her eyes again towards Mr. Dombey. I hope, for the credit of my good taste, that I am tired of the neighborhood, she said. You have almost reason to be, madam, he replied, glancing at a variety of landscape drawings, of which he had already recognized several as representing neighboring points of view, and which were strewn abundantly about the room. If these beautiful productions are from your hand, she gave him no reply, but sat in a disdainful beauty quite amazing. Have they that interest, said Mr. Dombey? Are they yours? Yes. And you play, I already know. Yes. And sing. Yes. She answered all these questions with a strange reluctance, and with that remarkable air of opposition to herself, already noticed as belonging to her beauty. Yet she was not embarrassed, but wholly self-possessed. Neither did she seem to wish to avoid the conversation, for she addressed her face, and, so far as she could, her men are also to him, and continue to do so when he was silent. You have many resources against weariness, at least, said Mr. Dombey. Whatever their efficiency may be, she returned, you know them all now, I have no more. May I hope to prove them all, said Mr. Dombey, with solemn gallantry, laying down a drawing he had held and motioning towards the harp. Oh, certainly, if you desire it. She rose as she spoke, and crossing by her mother's couch, and directing a stately look towards her, which was instantaneous in its duration, but inclusive, if anyone had seen it, of a multitude of expressions, among which that of the twilight smile, without the smile itself, overshadowed all the rest, went out of the room. The Major, who was quite forgiven by this time, had wheeled a little table up to Cleopatra, and were sitting down to play P.K. with her. Mr. Dombey, not knowing the game, sat down to watch them for his edification, until Edith should return. We're going to have some music, Mr. Dombey, I hope, said Cleopatra. Mrs. Granger has been kind enough to promise so, said Mr. Dombey. Ah, that's very nice. Do you propose, Major? No, ma'am, said the Major, couldn't do it.  You're fond of music, Mr. Dombey? Eminently so, was Mr. Dombey's answer. Yes, it's very nice, said Cleopatra, looking at her cards, so much heart in it, undeveloped recollections of a previous state of existence, and all that, which is so truly charming. Do you know, simply Cleopatra, reversing the nave of clubs, who had come into her game with his heels uppermost, that if anything could tempt me to put a period to my life, it would be curiosity to find out what it's all about, and what it means. There are so many provoking mysteries, really, that are hidden from us. Major, you to play. The Major played, and Mr. Dombey, looking on for his instruction, would soon have been in a state of dire confusion, but that he gave no attention to the game whatever, and sat wondering instead when Edith would come back. She came at last, and sat down to her harp, and Mr. Dombey rose, and stood beside her, listening. He had little taste for music, and no knowledge of the strain she played, but he saw her bending over it, and perhaps he heard among the sounding strings some distant music of his own, that tamed the monster of the iron road, and made it less inexorable. Cleopatra had a sharp eye, verily, at piquet. It listened like a bird's, and did not fix itself upon the game, but pierced the room from end to end, and gleamed on harp, performer, listener, everything. When the haughty beauty had concluded, she rose, and receiving Mr. Dombey's thanks and compliments in exactly the same manner as before, went with scarcely any pause to the piano, and began there. Edith Granger, any song but that. Edith Granger, you are very handsome, and your touch upon the keys is brilliant, and your voice is deep and rich. But not the air that his neglected daughter sang to his dead son. Alas, he knows it not, and if he did, what air of hers would stir him, rigid man? Sleep, lonely Florence, sleep. Peace in thy dreams, although the night has turned dark, and the clouds are gathering, and threaten to discharge themselves in hail.


This is covering the spread part of the Fandall podcast network Week number three in the NFL is not one that features a bunch of high-level matches between top-level teams But there are a lot of fun situations for player props where we've got some uncertainty different backfields sometimes for bummer reasons But like uncertainty there potentially some Openness fluidity in the player prop market We're gonna bring that down for today by talking to JJ Zacharyson Picking his brain on week three player props talking to him about his process for betting touchdowns because he has been on a Fantastic run there to open this year also talking later on with Rob Freeman talking strikeout props there And then I'll wrap things up by talking NASCAR in Texas welcome on into covering the spread That's right here on the Fandall podcast network. My name is Jim Sonnis I am a managing editor of digital media for Fandall research joined here as mentioned by JJ Zacharyson Check him out on Twitter at late round QB You can find his work at late round comm and on the late round fantasy football podcast JJ We are on to week number three. How you doing today? Doing alright, you know face a little bit too much Christian McCaffrey in my season-long leagues last night I just I couldn't get enough early round picks like just just luck of the draw right in my league So I don't have enough Christian McCaffrey because of that And so last night of course was the was the week that I ended up facing him a whole lot I guess could have been worse, but that's San Francisco offense is humming man. They're looking good I feel like the best situation to be in is where you have Brock Purdy on your dynasty teams Where you watch him and you realize he's flawed as a player He's got some issues, but it doesn't matter because he still winds up being very efficient and Kyle Shanahan seems to like him a lot So like I've honestly had a lot of fun watching last night's game as a result It's kind of like comical like the fact that like there are some really erratic throws But then he unleashes like these like crazy pinpoint ones mixed in there And I feel like just kind of like I know that like you can have the dumb discourse on Twitter if you want But honestly, I just think it's a fun experiment. Yeah, it's super fun And look, I don't remember a quarterback in fantasy football history That has been more of a lock to score between 15 and 20 points every single week. There's no no more You're not gonna get much more. You're not gonna get any less but 15 to 20 He's locked in there as that like, you know mid-range high-end QB to every single week Yeah, it has been fun. And I hope the Purdy train keeps on rocking out there in San Francisco We're gonna dive into player props with JJ get his read on those and again later on We have the strikeout props and NASCAR as well all right here on the show But first a reminder to make sure you're subscribed to covering the spread wherever you get your podcasts our week Three traditional market preview is already up with dr. Ed Feng joining me yesterday breaking down his thoughts on this week's biggest game So here it bets over at Fandall sportsbook and Ed and I were pretty much in lockstep on everything as far as spreads go for this week Also talked at about week four in college football where there is a banger slate You can find both those in the covering the spread podcast feed on the Fandall YouTube page and over on Fandall TV Plus on Amazon fire Apple TV Roku and fandall.com Slash watch now JJ Let's kick things off here today by patting you on the back because you have been fantastic at predicting touchdown scores so far this year three and one and touchdown bets two of the hits have been longer shots Plus three ten and tank big speed plus 360 on Jake Ferguson. So we've only talked about the process for player or touchdown props yet We talked about projecting yardage and stuff like that, but touchdowns are very different so for those who have not heard your process for that market in the past and What data are you looking at when trying to identify who may be a good bet specifically to score touchdown? Yeah, I think you got to start at the highest level first, you know volume projections are always going to be the most important thing I know that's the most important thing for yards and yardage bets But it's the same thing for touchdowns. You need to see volume to increase your chances of finding the end zone, right? Um, so then from there you can look at projected usage then, you know Close to the end zone, you know, whether it's the red zone or the green zone, which is within the 10 yard line That's what got me on for instance, Jake Ferguson last week is that in week one They clearly were using him a lot, you know close to the end zone and he he had You know really high target numbers within the 10 So you're starting at the volume side and then you're looking more at how they're using these players Close to the end zone and sort of the share of of work, you know in the red zone And then from there, too I'm also looking at regression, right because a lot of times the markets will will place these guys And give them odds that are based on what they've already done When you have to be a little bit more forward thinking and saying some guys get really unlucky scoring touchdown Some guys get lucky scoring touchdowns, you know a good example is Garrett Wilson to start the year You know last week he has a huge touchdown week one. He had that crazy touchdown We can't expect that to happen We can excuse me week in and week out with Zach Wilson under center And so his number might be a little bit more inflated than it that it probably should be And then some players who maybe are accumulating a ton of yards Are seeing a lot of work in the red zone and in the green zone, but they're not converting That kind of stuff progresses to that mean eventually So it's sort of this like three pro and a pro pro I'm looking at Overall volume and team environment too obviously goes into that But overall volume and then I'm looking at how they're being used And projected usage in the red zone and in the green zone And then you're looking at general regression because that can help you out when finding the best line Yeah, you were talking about wilson the jets implied total of this week is 17 So probably not a lot of touchdowns flowing there now I mentioned before in the lead-in that there are a lot of fluid situations for this week a lot of backfields and flux Some receiving situations as well. So when you're trying to identify Situations and flux where you may be able to find some potentially softer markets. Which situations are you zeroing in on for week three? I think there's a few Sorry a couple things you can look at here where Running back injuries are obviously an easy go to, you know You have Austin Eckler who's banged up and you know, I'd say he's iffy more likely to not go than go this weekend You know, and then you look at what happened last week with joshua kelly doesn't come through You know, especially with fantasy managers, you know, he did not have a good game But he still saw 72 of their running mac rushes He had a 66 route participation despite not seeing, you know, very good numbers through the air And so you place that then in a better game environment And then all of a sudden you can see a player like joshua kelly hitting some of his overs If a lot of the numbers are based off of what we saw last week from a result standpoint And then, you know, another backfield that I think is really interesting this week is new warlands You have jamal williams who's banged up Alvin chimera is still suspended You had tony jones last week who's hypothetically there are b4 on their roster He steps in and he you know, he has an okay enough game because he found the end zone But um, you know, he wasn't very efficient wasn't very effective I don't think tony jones is someone that's ever going to be a household name And so now you have kendre miller though who evidently was healthy enough to be able to play last week He's been practicing all this week kendre miller is someone, you know In these really ambiguous situations where there's injuries and such I'm going to lean on my talent evaluation almost above all else and to me, you know, kendre miller coming out He's not that much of a receiver or he wasn't in college So I don't know if that side of his game is going to really be there here in week three But I do think that there's a chance that we see him get 1215 rushes in this game against green bay And that can go a long way, right? So I might lay off You know any any receiving lines for for a guy like kendre might lay off any touchdown bets too because they might use Taysome hill in a really obnoxious way, but I do think from a yardage standpoint, you know, if you find the right line Um, you know, you could hit the over there because I do think he's going to see Significantly more work than tony jones just because of that talent evaluation can obviously go south But I'm going to lean on that talent evaluation And then the other thing I want to call out here is we're still working with small sample sizes And we're working in scenarios where teams having played only two games Could have faced some pretty tough competition in those two games And we don't want that to totally totally warp our minds in how those offenses are going to operate I think a perfect example of this is pittsburgh pittsburgh faced san francisco in week one They faced cleveland in week two two of the best fronts in football, right? pittsburgh's biggest weakness more than likely offensively Maybe I mean you can maybe say quarterback, but uh, you know offensive line their offensive line has been an issue for years now So they face these two fronts. Of course, they're not going to be that strong offensively They finally get a better matchup against vegas So I think it's really important to not Automatically hit those unders because the skillers offense has been so poor to start the season Look at those matchups because there have been, you know, some teams out there that have faced, you know, some easy matchups I'll get to that in a second some tough matchups Um, you got to have that context when you're when you're making these bets And that same context applies to joshua kelly who you alluded to where he goes from facing the tennessee titans Who have the best rush defensive football They're facing the vikings who invite you to run the ball against them Like that's what brian floras wants is for you to run the football against him and I think that kellen moor will be willing to do so at least that's what he showed in week one against a similar defensive Fangio, so it's a very different situation for kelly right now than it was in uh week two and kelly props are not up yet at fangirls sportsbook But I think that's one i'll be looking at pretty closely once they are posted Now let's take into some yardage props here jj looking at those. Uh, where are you seeing value across week number three? Yeah, so this one's over on fandall nico collins. Uh, I like the over he's at 49 and a half receiving yards right now on fandall This is more like 52 53 at other books too. So you're getting a little bit of value there He's hit 80 and 146 receiving yards in weeks one and two Houston's offense right now is fifth and pass rate thirds and third in plays per game Fourth and total drop backs and sixth and air yards And I know you're listening to that and you're saying well They've been trailing in games to start the year and I'm going to say they're facing jackson bill this week They can easily trail in this game as well. You know nico has a 23 and a half percent target share I think he can get this done fairly easily. Uh, you know, I don't I don't think this is that uh That tough of a bet I mean obviously can go south But I do think that you know from a process standpoint It makes sense to hit the over for nico in this case The other one is not on fandall. The other one's not on a lot of books, but I did find on a points bet Kendrick born his line is set at 35 and a half receiving yards over there and uh, I've been taking the under You get a jet secondary. That's obviously good jets defense. That's good Just in general and and one of the big things with Kendrick born He had that big week one and everyone got really excited about it But in week two davante parker returned to the lineup and Kendrick born's route participation went from 93 percent to 54 percent, you know, he is seeing good target shares regardless of that route participation Um, but at the same at the same time, you know, I'm trying to get players if I'm going to hit the over on the football field I want them to be playing. I want them to be active. So, um, you know, he has been Decent he's seen a decent target share But you know, the usage just really wasn't there in week two for me to feel confident And there's a reason for that usage too, right? That's the other thing is that davante parker was active Davante parker ran a hundred percent of the teams A route on a hundred percent of the team's drop backs. He's their number one hypothetically Which is frightening, but he's their number one hypothetically tough matchup I'm going to hit the under with Kendrick born. Uh, yeah, that one is now up at fan dual It's 33 and a half under is minus 114 and the this is And it just kind of shows you how gross the Patriots are as a team They've got uh five guys all between 22 and a half and 34 and a half nobody above nobody below Just a nightmare of a team from a market share perspective We talked about the touchdown props now successful. Those have been so far this year So for week number three JJ where you're seeing the best value right now Yeah, so one of them's one of them's kind of an easy one, uh on fandal travis etn's at minus 180 As an anytime touchdown score, but on draft king sees at minus 110 Um, and so i'm gonna i'm gonna take that You know over on dk the jags being big favorites They're facing houston the texans have already allowed for running back touchdowns to start the year You know, it's a defense that not only is going to face a lot of rush attempts because of the the scripts that they're likely to face Um, but it's it's one that you can run on so I think travis etn pretty safe bet an easier bet at minus 110 I'd take them there and then uh My my longer shot touchdown this week because I gotta throw that out there. Why not? This is like serious serious long shot Um, this is again the the juice is a little bit better on dk. You get it at plus 4 75 On fandal. It's plus 400 But i'm going donovan people's jones anytime touchdown. Okay, and so the logic behind this one Tennessee's been a straight pass funnel to start the year. You mentioned they've been really good at stopping the run Um, but they haven't been good at stopping the pass They've surrendered a top 10 pass rate both in neutral script environments and non-neutral script environments They rank first in air yards per attempt allowed and we know that dpj has had historically he's made some big plays Uh, their bottom 10, um and passing expected points allowed Um now, you know, they they face darik car and justin herbert But even still, you know, this defense is way better upfront than in the secondary Donovan people's jones target share has not been good It's been sub 10 to start the year But he's run the most routes on cleveland through the first two weeks of the season So i'm going to look at that usage. I'm going to ignore the fact that you know He hasn't seen the targets that we want him to see maybe there's a little bit of variance there I do think that elijah more and amara cooper are better players and you know If you'd rather go betting that you know elijah more has decent decent numbers here and decent odds here too So if you want to go that route that's totally fine But i'm going to stick with the longer shot and go with dpj at plus 4 75 or even you know If you want to you can go plus 400 on fandal. Yeah, I think that makes total sense given the matchup with the team that does Push work towards the passing game and like The browns may struggle to run with no nick chubb There are a lot of factors that lead us to think the browns may be more past heavy this week than usual going back to etn There were concerns initially and you had them as well because you bet tank bigs v plus 3 10 and that worked out But looking at snap share for etn specifically last week inside the red zone 68 snap rate for etn. This is for both weeks. It's 80 percent inside the 10 yard line He has one out of two goal line snaps for this team. So although etn Hasn't had like I know there are concerns around the goal line role for him But I think that those might be a bit overblown at least based on what we've seen so far Big speed had those two big errors against the colts that kind of led to a big decrease in usage So to me that's the spot where I want to put a lot of weight in snap rate inside the red zone If you have access to those numbers and I think that those numbers tell me jj That etn especially can get a minus 110 That's a bit of a bargain that seems like a bit of an overreaction to One goal line care two goal line carriers for bigs b in week one Yeah, it reminds me a bit of last week with brashad white in the way that it was just the line looked right? I mean, this is obviously a more our higher odds type play, you know Travis etn definitely against houston You know, he's one of the better player one of the better running backs in football So it's a lot easier to lock that in but again, this is just line shopping a little bit and seeing that it just looks better over on dk I don't think you need to bet the the minus 180 But I do think that when you're getting the the the better juice there it makes a lot of sense I'd agree with that. I agree with the overall philosophy around being on etn as well That is jj. Zacharias and make sure you check him out on twitter at late round qb find his work at late round Dot com and the late round fantasy football podcast jj I appreciate you as always swinging by for today Good luck to you across your fantasy and everything else across week number three. We'll talk to you once again next week Thanks, jim Alrighty again find jg on twitter at late round qb to get all of his work the late round fantasy football podcast also available Whatever you get your podcast and we're not done talking player props for today because it is still baseball season and Things are heating up getting into the thick of things right now Which means you got to bring back on rob freeman You can find him on twitter at pitching ninja, of course You can find his work at peacock mlb mlb on fox and on fangirl sports book as well and rob only Two fridays left during the regular season, but then we get to the post season. So, uh, I think juice is heating up We've seen some fantastic pitching performances so far this week. How you doing today? I'm doing great. How are you?  I can tell I'm excited like how can you not be excited watching Blake snell go bananas earlier this week How can you not be excited? I mean, unless you had justin steele psi young stuff maybe or is that guy? You know, maybe that's something like that but michael king 12 or whatever strikeouts like it's been a good week for pitching It seems like I definitely have you know, michael king is really a force right now Like yeah, he has opened up a lot of people's eyes including my own like I always knew he had nasty stuff But he is a sure lock to be a a starter in the yankees rotation next year Right, he's got to be and I feel like if you're the yankees It's kind of best case scenario where it's a it's a lost season but You can play the young guys and kind of see what happens Obviously the jason domingas injury is a bummer But like you can play the young guys and see who can be a legit contributor for you next year And I think that king is kind of solidified himself as being a guy they can you know Put in like pen as being like an actual like contributor to that rotation And a really good one like we're not just talking scraps like he is a stud Yeah, and strikeouts stabilize really quickly and if you can get that number of strikeouts against a legitimate playoff bound offense That means quite a bit. So very impressive there and just hopefully we can continue a good week of pitching And uh feed off the good vibes to your parley from last night as well Let's see if we can run it back once again today. Let's do it like I I'm all into winning Alrighty, well, let's take a look at the board here for a friday night over at fan dual sportsbook Rob when you dig into what I think is once again a pretty good pitching slate Which strikeout props are you digging at fan dual sportsbook? So so for me I have charlie morton for six k's or more Cole raggins for six k's or more and swir Gibson long who has opened up my eyes too Um as has the whole tiger like the tigers have low key nasty pitching And I think people need to start recognizing that Yeah, I think let's start there. You know, why not? Um, let's have a little fun and talk about him because we haven't gotten a big sample on him He's facing the oakland a's for today and when it's a younger pitcher We don't have a big sample on I'm gonna lean on someone like you someone who is watching these games Who is going to have like an eye on them and can identify what they're doing what they're not doing When you've watched Gibson long so far What has stood out to you as far as making you believe that what he's doing is sustainable You know, he just can pitch it's not like he has overpower and overpowering fastball But his off speed stuff is filthy and that's really what's been getting you know, he pitches well off his fastball But I think it's a sustainable stuff. Like it's like Legit nasty and I expect him to have another big game. What's he coming off like an 11k outing last time? Something like that I you could tell me any number for this tiger Now I believe you're off Yeah, I like I I saw some stat like since august 15th they have the best era among starting pitching in baseball and Looking at like you have Reese Olson. Who's filthy tariff scuba who is top tier You know nasty dude and then Sawyer Gibson long out of nowhere Um, yeah, just tearing it up and it's a good matchup for him today. Yeah Yeah, I like it. Nobody's seen a lot of them. He's got quirky stuff. So yeah, I mean, I definitely like him Absolutely that number right now a fan of the sportsbook is five and a half the over is minus 130 for sore Gibson long So he takes on the Oakland athletics for tonight. Let's go back here and talk about charlie morton Morton taking on the washington nationals and they've been an annoying team as far as uh strikeout props go because They do such a good job of putting the ball in play What do they do when they put it in play not much but like they're you know, they're annoying But I think rob that's fully accounted for in this number because morton's number is not big He's at five and a half minus 115 on the over What to you says that morton has the stuff to overcome a line of that is pretty good at avoiding strikeouts Yeah, I mean his curveball when it's on is just unhittable Um, I like him coming back off a blank and kind of a crappy outing Because he wants to prove himself going into the postseason and and you know, he's going to step it up He's a vet and wants to you know prove himself and just try out different things So the nats lineup is a good lineup to try out things like that Because they don't strike out a lot I expect him to I mean to have a good day like he's he's Definitely other than last outing had been on a roll. So uh a good bounce back opportunity I think the thing I like about morton here specifically too is he's a veteran against a young team like they're they're scrappy and they put the ball in play but like at some point Experience matters wisdom matters and how many pitchers in baseball right now Had the same level of like wisdom as charlie morton. Yeah, they're there there aren't many especially at you know That high a level in those big games But you had freed go against them last night Do I picked and for the same reason like I expect, you know freed they're all sharpening their stuff up for the playoffs Great opportunity to do it against a lineup. That's really tough that you're going to see in the playoffs Like yeah, there's fewer strikeouts generally I think hitters battle a little bit more and this is a good opportunity for for them to try out things and show their stuff Yeah, absolutely Now the third one is col reggins and honestly rob How is col reggins not in the tigers because he's a guy who kind of came out in nowhere this year And has been phenomenal and when he first started doing it. I was skeptical. I thought okay Here's a guy who was in the bullpen didn't see a lot of strikeouts there.   He's one of those guys that if you give him a long track to run on He's going to do it and uh, you know, I don't like the match up a ton I think the astros are are are really tough lineup experience But I also think Cole Regans, you know, I think he he's he's coming off it You know it's worst outing in in a month and a half I I think he's going to want to shape things up show that he's for real again You know because he has to keep proving himself. He's one of those guys that Exactly what you said. He came up You didn't know what to expect. All of a sudden he's dominating. Can he do it? Yeah, he definitely can the stuff is there So, uh, I think it's I think it's a good game for yeah The number for Regans over five and a half is minus 113 if annual sportsbook So the three leg parlay Regans over five and a half Morton over five and a half and Sawyer Gibson long over five and a half plus five 23 And I think all those numbers are very fun. Honestly Rob. I think like from a baseball fan perspective It's also fun because like those are three fun guys to watch right now And like I know we want to find profitable bets and good bets, but like from a rooting interest perspective I care about that too entertainment and those are three guys that I would enjoy watching for tonight Yeah, you know, you just touched on something that I think's important because I narrowed down my The the ones I want to bet on but also narrow it down based on games I want to watch and stuff I want to see from guys and what I think they can do so right I do do it in part for entertainment. I mean I get entertained by strikeouts, but entertained by these type of guys So, uh, really variety of different you have a vet a hard throwing Young guy and then a craftier young guy all going some variety of different approaches And that's always important too. It's why we stress, you know Bet to a level where you can enjoy it and not be worried about it Like you can if you lose your bet, that's okay We want that to be an entertainment kind of thing So make sure keeping that in mind from a responsible gaming perspective as well Now the strikeout leaderboard is not up yet a vandal sports book But I think there are a lot of fun names going forward tonight So when you look at guys who could potentially rack out the most strikeouts on this slate Where are you first turning to as being guys who catch your attention in that regard? But anytime I see tyler glass now on a friday I'm like he's got to be he's going to be way up there, right? Like it's tyler glass now if he's on he gets a ton of case being double digits You know not a it it's a it's a really good match up for him I mean, I think that it's not going to be that easy which opens it up for a lot of other folks But he's where I start and first like he's a monster and you know, can he win the day? Yeah, he absolutely can but looking further down the board. I look at like papa Lopez or chris sale Yeah, i'm sale had a great outing last time You know wants to end with a flourish has a good lineup to pitch against So I mean that's a guy I'd give some attention to I think Again, we talked about this with Garrett Cole last week, but it's a revenge game rob What else could you want facing the white socks chris sale is? So obviously that's the most important thing not the fact that chris sale is nasty and healthy right now It's that he's facing his old team papa Lopez facing the angels that offense pretty high strikeout team Twins can wrap it up tonight. They can win their division with a win. Their magic number is one So might as well papa Lopez Finish off what he started he's been fantastic all year long it seems Yeah, and he's a guy who could who could definitely be you know, he can be 12 13 k's and that may be what it takes to win it today I'd also take a look at like if you want a long shot I'm sure so Sawyer Gibson long is going to be a long shot. Yeah for sure And uh, you know, he's a guy that is pitching against the lineup that he can get a lot of k's against the tigers have been hot Yeah, if you have a little extra money, it's not a bad thing. It's going to win you a lot if you win I mean, he showed he can do it like he showed he can have that upside he showed he can do that So I think that that matters a lot as well. Okay. So rob I want to thank you for coming on once again for today. Hopefully we can go two in a row with that With that strikeout prop parley. I like the picks for tonight Good luck to you. Enjoy the baseball not just tonight, but also this weekend. We'll talk to you once again next week Absolutely good scene again. All right. Thank you rob As always you can find rob on twitter as you know on twitter at pitching ninja If i'm a peacock mlb mlb on fox and fan dual sportsbook as well To get those strikeout parlays via rob. We're going to dive in and talk some NASCAR They're going to kansas for this weekend here in just one second But first snap into the action that's nfl season with fan dual america's number one sportsbook right now new customers Get 200 and bonus bets guaranteed when you play say five dollar bet That's 200 and bonus bets win or lose if you've been thinking about joining fan dual There's no better time to get in on the action. The app is easy to use There's a wide range of betting options between spreads player props totals and more So visit fan dual dot com and kick off the nfl season Fan dual official partner of the nfl must be 21 plus and president select states Fan dual is offering online sports waging in kansas under an agreement with kansas star casino llc First online real money wager only ten dollar first deposit required bonus issued as non-latchrable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt Restricts and applies to terms at sportsbook dot fan dual dot com gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or visit fan dual dot com slash rg in colorado island michigan new jersey ohio pennsylvania illinois tennessee and virginia Call 1 800 next step or text next step to 5 3 3 4 2 in arizona 1 8 8 8 7 8 9 7 7 7 7 Or visit cpg.org slash chat and connecticut 1 809 with it in indiana 1 800 5 2 2 40 700 to visit ks gambling health dot com in kansas 1 8 7 7 7 7 7 0 stop in louisiana visit md gambling health at organ maryland 1 800 gambler dot net in west virginia call 1 800 5 2 2 40 700 in wyoming hope is here Visit gambling helpline ma.org or call 800 3 2 7 50 50 for 24 7 support in massachusetts or call 1 8 7 7 8 hope and why or text open why in new york Let's dig in now to the nascar cup series for this weekend in texas will talk xfinity Later on as well second round of the nascar cup series playoff the first race the second round And it's a total reset. You know if you were in a hole in the first round But advanced you get a reset based on your playoff points And that's a great thing for martin truex jr. Who barely advanced out of the first round And i kind of think he could lock up a spot in the round of eight on sunday truex 9 to 1 right now At bandual sportsbook cup series in texas One and a half mile track with minimal tire works. It was recently repaved. So don't see a lot of fall off there and other than kansas We haven't seen a lot of mile and out tracks recently and kansas is very different from texas different configuration different tire wear all those things now I think as a result of that data that matters to this week does include michigan and pocano because michigan and pocano are Recent races at high speed tracks with minimal tire wear and texas checks those same boxes as well So although they're different lengths i think they do matter for this weekend and looking at those races Toyota's ran really well including truex the cup series has run Seven races on non drafting larger ovals so far this year Which means a mile and a half or longer and in those seven races truex has three podiums Two of those were in michigan and pocano. So the recent ones at higher speed tracks Other one was in charlotte. It is the same configuration as texas, but very different tire fall off there So it's a comp but not a great comp So in the tracks most similar, I think that charlotte's more similar than kansas as a result of the configuration Truex has run really well now truex has never won in texas in 33 tries So it's not his best track, but I think that's accounted for in the odds here I don't think that truex should be the fifth shortest odds this week that which is where he is right now My model is truex at 11.8 to win his implied odds at nine uh 91 are 10 percent So I am more than happy to bet him in that spot. I think truex a very good option for this week in the cup series Two other spots where I see value for sunday are top 10 bets Those two bets are uh, daniel suarez at plus 230 and then also austin syndrake who is eight to one now suarez Was plus 280 earlier on this week, and I like that number more there obviously But I do still show value on him at plus 230. I have 32.7 percent for suarez His implied odds are 30.3 percent. So not just big of a gap, but it's still a gap at least texas for suarez has been a good track when he was with steward haas racing He had a pair of podiums here and obviously the equipment there was better than what he has right now based on the lack of speed track houses had recently but We did see suarez run well in michigan. He had a top 10 average running position there He finished inside the top 10 as well, and that does matter So track house not in tippy top form right now, but that's also why the odds are longer here So even at plus 230 I still think there's a bit of value on daniel suarez to finish top 10 for this week syndrake is longer He has eight to one to finish inside the top 10 You can actually get this at nine to one and ten to one some other books as well So as always shop around get the best number But the implied odds eight to one are 11.1 and I syndrake at 21 which is a big gap and typically If you fight the market the market's going to win Um in in these situations where the gap is big But I can also kind of explain that gap and I think it's because syndrake has had a bunch of incidents this year on similar tracks I mentioned before there have been seven races on bigger non drafting ovals syndrake has finished multiple laps down in four of the seven races He's had crashes. He's had a loose wheel a lot of things have worked against him in those races But in the other three he's been decent And he hasn't been as bad as this number implies So if you think the incidents continue, obviously this wouldn't be a good bet because uh that you know incidents do matter But I think that uh incidents are more random than we give them credit for being I think it's variance more than anything So I believe what the model is saying here I am more than okay betting syndrake as long as you can get him at eight to one or longer I think that it helps alleviate the concerns around the incidents It's just a very long number on a guy who's with a team that's not as good as it was But is still very fast relative to other guys at this number. So syndrake eight to one Good bet, but as always make sure you shop around So cup series bets I like this week martin shurex junior nine to one to win Daniel suarez plus 230 for a top 10 and austin syndrake plus 800 for a top 10 as well As far as the xfinity series goes, I actually do show value in the favorites. That is john hunter nema check He's plus 240 if annual sportsbook. I have nema check at 30.3 percent to win his implied odds are 29.4 percent Not a huge gap, but I do agree with that gap and being above market on nema check He's won three out of six races on bigger non drafting ovals and some of those races Came when there were cup series drivers in the field nema check still beat them He had a runner-up in one of the other races. So first or second in Four out of those six races. He's a very good driver He's on the fastest team in the sport right now and that's a track where equipment does matter The driver obviously matters too, but even though it's not a lot of value I am okay betting nema check at plus 240 or longer for this weekend And he can get a plus 275 out there. Uh, and I think that is very enticing for nema check I also do show value in chanler smith at 25 to 1 riley herbst at 35 to 1 You know, I show value in uh smith every week it seems like But it's for a good reason. He nearly had to win in vegas earlier on this year And I just think he's better than plus 2500 in a race with no cup series drivers even While i'm giving nema check a lot of win equity It's a bit more wide open the situations. He's on a team that has enough speed to get the job done here He nearly had to win at a similar track earlier on this year. He's had a lot of incidents recently. So similar to syndic where Maybe just accident prone right now, but I tend to chalk that up more to variance So implied odds for smith 3.8 percent. I have met 5.1 percent I think chanler smith is a very fine bet for this week. Other one has mentioned is riley herbst I have met 3.8 percent to win His implied odds at 35 to 1 or 2.8 percent You can get 45 to 1 out there and I'd be inclined to take that because Herbst has a fast car and equipment matters at this track So I think he gets a boost on equipment centric tracks as a result of his team Where maybe he can make fewer mistakes those do happen a lot with herbst and He's been a lot better this year. So that's definitely worth noting, but there have still been Mistakes that have crept in at times. So I would like this longer than uh, plus 35 100 before I bite but you can't get that out there. So rally herbst fine option for this week So herbst and smith outright if you can get longer than 35 to 1 on herbst, I would take that Smith 25 to 1 fine by me. I think there is a 28 out there and then nema check plus 240 is fine, but Might be able to get plus to 275 for him as well That is all that we have here for today on covering the spread want to give a big thank you once again To our guests jjzak recent and rob freeman check out jj on twitter at late round qb You can find rob at pitching ninja as well. I am on twitter at jim sonnis j i m s a n n e s You can also follow fan dual research at fan dual research want to thank you all for tuning in for today Good luck to your bets across this weekend. Enjoy all the fantastic sports action We'll talk to you once again monday to preview another double header in monday night football This has been covering the spread right here on the fan dual podcast network You


So we sometimes call that tabula rasa state of mind where you leave your mind blank slate for the Spirit to shine, for the Spirit, for the love to pour through. And it's only having preconceptions about things and agendas that block the light from shining. So that's why tabula rasa state of mind is so important. It's not about trying to set something up in the world or solve something in the world because it's not a worldly problem. It's a perceptual problem that is healed when you're just in the moment and you're looking at the world with fresh eyes. So it's a different mindset. It's a tabula rasa mindset that we're talking about. It's felt, a felt experience and then that's how we live every day. We live every moment.