Best

Owen Grady (mentioned)

Zach Mitchell (mentioned)

Leon (mentioned)

*"Well, if you're willing to read, I'm willing to write, and it's about time the crimes of Deborah Stashing were made public."*
—Mariana Stashing(**src**)
Best was a series recounting various non-linear events in the life of Mariana Stashing. It was an autobiographical work.

## Chapter Summary

### Beginnings

Mariana Stashing introduces herself to the reader as Zach Mitchell's ex-girlfriend, though they dated thirty years ago at this point. She says that she is working in maintenance at Jurassic World, which reopened due to the efforts of Claire Dearing. She prepares to tell her own story, warning that there are no dinosaurs or action, only an abusive grandmother named Deborah who wanted Mariana to be perfect.

### Bribes

Mariana describes how her grandmother used to subtly bribe her to get what she wanted. When she was a child, Mariana loved dinosaurs, but her grandmother forced her to play with tea sets instead. She wanted to buy an *Allosaurus* toy while shopping with her grandmother, who said Mariana could have it so long as she gave her grandmother a kiss on the cheek on command. Mariana agreed to the terms.

### Promises

Mariana describes how her grandmother would sometimes lie rather than follow through on a bribe, such as promising her a trip to Australia but never taking her. She also promised to buy her a puppy, teasing the possibility for months (to the point of actually selecting one to adopt) but never buying it.

### Photographs

Mariana describes her grandmother's two husbands. Her paternal grandfather, who was a doctor, died of cancer when she was too young to remember. Deborah Stashing was impacted very negatively by this event and became highly unpleasant toward her family members; she also lied to her friends about how her husband was doing and fabricated information about his death afterward in order to elicit more sympathy.

Deborah Stashing eventually remarried, her second husband being described by Mariana as "a goddamn weirdo with paintings of naked women hanging all over his house." He was also a doctor, one who specialized in delivering babies. He owned an acreage where Mariana used to excavate bison remains. Mariana believes that her grandmother only remarried to maintain some image of normalcy; during the wedding, Mariana was made to put her hair in an uncomfortable hairstyle which made her feel miserable.

### Fantasies

Mariana describes an imaginary Thanksgiving she held with celebrities including Andrew Lloyd Webber and Steven Spielberg. During the fantasy, however, she decided that these celebrities would be insulted by her imagining what they were like and stopped pretending they were there.

### Manners

Mariana describes her grandmother's overly pretentious obsession with manners. Deborah would have Mariana and her young relatives research the dining traditions of a country and imitate it at dinner. They would be harshly reprimanded for any mistakes.

### Ideals

Mariana describes her grandmother's harsh interpretation of Christianity; she focused much more on discipline and punishment than love and forgiveness. Mariana believes that Deborah was far more concerned with putting on a show for her peers than she was with safeguarding Mariana's spiritual health.

For a few paragraphs Mariana criticizes Christian philosophy, then returning to her grandmother. She explains that her hatred of Christianity comes from her grandmother's forceful and uncaring indoctrination practices, rather than the religion itself. Despite her clear resistance to conversion and Mariana's mother's protests, her grandmother continued efforts to forcibly convert Mariana. Eventually, Mariana reveals to the reader that she was physically abused by her grandmother along with the other forms of emotional an psychological abuse that were already revealed.

### Lives

Mariana describes how she was molested by her grandmother in the bathroom of her summer home, under the pretense that her younger cousin needed to learn sex education. Apparently Deborah Stashing had committed similar acts with various family members and at least one neighbor, and was possibly molested by her own father as well.

However, she goes on to describe that she has overcome her past and is leading a successful life. She is an employee of Jurassic World, and is interested in a coworker named Leon who she works with on Wednesdays. She did not turn out to be perfect, but she has come to be happy with herself.

## Plot

Mariana Stashing introduces herself as the ex-girlfriend of Zach Mitchell, and explains that she is now forty-nine and working at Jurassic World. She reflects upon her life, which has not amounted to a great deal, and promises to narrate her existence to the audience.

Mariana begins by describing an environment of manipulation in her childhood, stemming mostly from her grandmother's actions. She recalls seeing a toy allosaurus in a store one day. Her grandmother told her she would buy it if she promised to kiss her on the cheek when asked. Mariana accepted the offer.

Mariana reflects on a promise made by her grandmother to take a trip to Australia. She also promised to buy a puppy, going so far as to strongly hint about a future adoption, but never following through. Mariana did, however, receive a Roboraptor for Christmas. This is considered a fond memory, but it is the exception to the constant misery.

Mariana reveals that her grandmother married two doctors. The first died of cancer, though the grandmother was in constant denial about this fact as the disease worsened. She entered a relationship with the second doctor shortly after the death of the first without consulting her family. Mariana used to dig up bones on the acreage of the second husband, but generally remembers him with little fondness. Mariana recounts disastrous wedding preparations, including the alteration of her hairdo. Mariana refused to smile in any of the pictures, though her father made her grimace in one by squeezing her shoulder.

Mariana states that her grandmother stole her daughter in law's wedding bouquet. She reflects that there are abundant stories about her grandmother, some of which she will not tell. Mariana then recounts her imaginary Thanksgiving. She imagined a party with celebrity guests while she was alone in the house. Her fantasy proved difficult to maintain, and she spent the rest of the night in a glum mood.

Mariana's grandmother proposed a "dinners of the world" program, in which her grandchildren would present facts on a certain country. The environment was one of formality, and one of pristine manners. The grandmother would often scold Mariana for minor offences, including neglecting to raise her pinky while drinking. Mariana was not fond of this arrangement.

Mariana reveals that the key element that turned her away from her grandmother was her attempts to convert her to Christianity, specifically Lutheranism. She forced religious media upon her granddaughter constantly, including a magnetic bottle cap diagram to represent the story of Moses. This was done to uphold the reputation of Mariana's grandmother as a virtuous figure. Mariana then describes the complications of conflicting religions, and how everyone believes in their own ideology with a similar devotion. She explains why the tactics used by the Bible had little to no positive effect on her, and recounts how she was told to sit outside of church during a sermon on Easter. Mariana was forced to go to Sunday School and attend golf lessons, which she did not enjoy. Her grandmother claimed otherwise. Mariana curses her grandmother, furious at her constant betrayal.

The final chapter recounts the circumstances under which Mariana was molested by her grandmother, changing to present tense. She is in the bathroom at the family's summer home. She describes the scene in detail. She remembers a particular element very strongly, that being a decoration with a pig in a tub that said "hogwash" beneath it. Mariana's grandmother enters the room with her cousin, insisting that the cousin must watch Mariana defecate for educational purposes. Mariana reveals a series of past incidents that point to the disturbed mental state of her grandmother. The molestation may have occurred partly because her grandmother had also experienced sexual abuse. Mariana ends by revealing that she is doing fine, and has been interested in dating Leon, the former raptor feeder. She concludes on a hopeful note, as she has not let her past trauma ruin her life entirely. She believes that no one has control over her, and that she can choose to be whatever she wants.

## Trivia

* Best takes place in 2040.
* Mariana states that she is 49 years old as of the present-day part of the story. This indicates that Mariana was born in 1991.