Hey gang,
I'm sure that we've all been entranced as Samantha continues to taunt Quentin (I daresay some might use the expression: "Stick the knife in and twist it!") with the news that the Q-Man is NOT the father of Tad Collins, heir to the Collins' mighty fortune.
Well, I wonder just who is the "biological" father of the mop-topped Master Tad Collins? Here are a couple of possible "papas" and, in the time-honored tradition of Las Vegas hadicappers, the corresponding odds of these men being the "proud" father of Daniel Collins' grandson.
1. Lamar Trask - Yes, here is a man who continually professes great faith and moral rectitude. Yet, is Lamar's piety just a big act or is he really Collinsport's only forty-something virgin? (I'll put the odds at 5-to-1, that Lamar ever got to first base, let alone, hit a "home run" with Samantha Collins.)
2. Tim Braithewaite - Could the mistress of Collinwood have had an assignation (or "rendezvous" as America's Dad, Bill Cosby, once referred to it) with the macho and muscular, local ruffian? If Tad matures into a brawny albeit dim-witted man with a liking for cheap booze and wanton women, then there might be proof of this Lady Chatterly-like "rendezvous." (Nevertheless, Tim Braithewaite would have to be an even bigger longshot than the love-starved Lamar Trask, thus the 8-to-1 odds.)
3. Gabriel Collins - What of Quentin'sibling, the sarcastic and yenta-like Gabriel Collins? Of course, Gabriel is already mired in an extremely unhappy marriage with the nymophomaniacal Edith Collins. Would the embittered Gabriel take great delight in making a cuckold of his older and "beloved" brother, Quentin? (Does a bear "go" in the woods?)
Yet, one does have to wonder if Gabriel would be even up to a dalliance with his headstrong sister-in-law? Perhaps, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde expressed it best when she sang so poignantly, so many years ago, "that there's a thin line between love and hate." (Accordingly, Gabriel comes in at a more conceivable 7-to-5 odds.)
4. Ben Stokes - Yes THAT Ben Stokes! Don't laugh! Barnabas' former servant was a man who always maintained a hale-and-hearty lifestyle throughout his eighty-plus-years. The man was legendary for his great strength and stamina, prompting comparisons between Ben and the sturdy work horse, that Ben used, to help clear the massive tree logs, that Ben had chopped down during his time as Joshua Collins' indentured servant at Collinwood.
I don't think that it's too much to say that the very spry (and "frisky") Ben Stokes lent credence to the old expression that while there may be snow on the roof, there's still a roaring fire, deep down in the old "furnace"! (Therefore, Ben Stokes is listed as a toss-up or a "pick-em" as to the question if Master Tad is, in fact, Ben's issue.)
There are so many other possible "biological" fathers for young Tad. Perhaps other Dark Shadows fans can suggest other proud papas for the gleam in Quentin Collins' eye?
Bob the Bartender, who, was nowhere the vicinity of Collisport, Maine in 1826, Tad's presumptive conception/birth year.
