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Why Does Michael Cook Not See Terri Horman as Wicked Witch of the West?

By John Kays

Suddenly a long lost friend, Michael Cook, gets on the merry-go-round of tabloid absurdity. How does Michael Cook fit into this Horman familial dysfunction that just won't go away? Even though he was a high school classmate of Kaine Horman, he magically appears out of the woodwork in late June, helps organize a vigil for missing Kyron, then colludes with Terri, taking cell phone pics of a sealed court order.

Why does Michael Cook believe that Terri Horman is innocent? Does he have an inside line on what may have happened to Kyron Horman? Cook appears to be an ordinary, nice guy, with no agenda to burn. What's up here?

Why did Cook turn on his old buddy, Kaine, and cavort with Terri? Maybe he thinks that Terri is innocent. Michael has a sympathetic position towards Terri, but why? Maybe it's because he is communicating with a real person, and not the Wicked Witch of the West, such as is the image of Terri projected by the media.

Apparently, the police have confiscated his cell phone, and have seen the inappropriate photos of Terri on there, as well as erotic texting exchanges, which we call sexting. So Cook has admitted to inappropriate behavior, but he denies having sex with Terri. And true, Cook did go over the line by Googling Kaine's secret address. He should have known better than this.

Yet when you see him on TV, he seems like a nice guy. He must have had good reason to side with Terri, to lend his sympathetic ear to a woe-begotten Moll besought by troubles galore, a world of hurt, a modern day witch burned at the stake in a public square of opinion, Salem, Massachusetts. Cook is going against the grain of common thought here. But why?

It must be because he believes in Terri's innocence. In saying this, we must admit that he doesn't side with Kaine and Desiree. With this in mind, does he have some insight into flaws in the estranged couple's position? Did he notice something afoul, something unsavory, upon showing up at a Portland Horman doorstep?

I suspect he did. And I don't buy the notion that Cook suddenly assumed a romantic passion for Terri. I prefer the idea that he merely took on a position of sympathy for Terri, when he observed how unfairly she was being treated by the police, the media and especially the biological parents. Michael Cook does not look like an rapscallion of a character when you see him talking into the news camera.

Rather he appears wholesome and above the fray. It's the public and the media who are irrational, who are the cruel vigilantes of injustice here. Cook can transcend this madness. And Terri's silence speaks volumes; she is listening to her attorney and keeping her mouth shut. The footage of Dan Tilkin stalking poor Terri was uncouth and unethical. Dan comes off as a paparazzi hassling Princess Diana. Poor Terri keeps a Gaga Poker Face though.

A still of Terri Horman when newsman, Dan Tilkin, tried to question her. Was Dan inappropriately stalking Terri? Does Terri not have a right to privacy? Is it ethical or is it harassment by media? Did the newsman cross the line here?

Let me play the devil's advocate for just a moment. Black is white, and day is night in such fancies. If Terri is utterly guilty of Kyron's abduction and possible elimination, then I would expect her to stay much lower to the ground. Maybe she is acting out in a public drama, by sending erotic pics to Cook that she knows will hit the public eye? In other words, this is reverse psychology in play. Terri is just giving the public what they expect.

Since the public already assumes that she is guilty, and sees her as the Wicked Witch of the West, why not just create a scene that shocks and flabbergasts the public to ecstatic extremes. Terri is the Bad News Disco Queen, the opposite of the Abba Dancing Queen. But consider for a moment, that if she were truly guilty, her behavior would more resemble a subdued and undercover characteristic, so as to not shine a bright spotlight of suspicion on her.

There's an element missing here. I'm not fully convinced that the police believe she did it. I don't think that Terri is capable of murder. True, she has some behavioral oddities. I would brand her as an exhibitionist, but I don't believe she has violence in her system. Terri is self-centered and is in need of attention, maybe even thrills.

Her behavior bespeaks just the opposite of the perpetrator. The perpetrator's not going to do anything to raise eyebrows, or do anything to cause the authorities to be suspicious. Terri's acting out oddly (like sending nude pics on a cell phone) rather reflects a person that is trapped. She's a condemned witch screaming in a pile of wood as the constable lights the twigs with scorching flame.

John Kays identifies timeless remnants from our past that will endure, or be admired by future generations.