And now that I’ve said that I realize the two characters have a lot in common. Both have a tough, hard inner core that allows them to get the job done whatever it takes. If action is required there is no hesitation, no second or squeamish thoughts. Both can kill in the line of duty. Yet, both have a great deal of compassion and empathize readily with suffering, disadvantaged, or victimized people.
Both Luke and Beth have a well-developed sense of justice and high moral standards. They both love their homes and like to nest. Luke walked for almost two years to find a home for himself in a beautiful valley. Beth lived in the same house all of her life and couldn’t part with it even when she was widowed and her daughter left home to pursue her own life. She rambled around the big old house with a large yard and the memories kept her company. Memories she couldn’t sell.
Luke read the Bible daily and prayed to God often and Beth was a regular member of her parish attending weekly, and prodding the church to relevancy. Neither judged others based on their own belief system. They were both close to family and extended family. Neither were really social animals but preferred their inner circle for company. Both Luke and Beth were extremely loyal to those they loved. My hero types, I guess.
One of my other works is more of a love story, second time around. “Love Rekindled in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto.” Both were widowed, and I throw up obstacles to their union and their love; or, physical attraction, wins them over. I never manage to make David the man I think he is, probably Nadia comes through much better. Is that because I’m a woman? Is it harder to write from the opposite sex’s point of view? Is it hard to make a man loving as well as manly? Perhaps, I should rewrite the story from Nadia’s point of view. An idea for my spare time, laughter.
Abby, in “Flight from Obsession,” is running from an abusive husband who is trying to find, and kill her. I give her a new life and new friends but the threat is ever present. Can she survive the years of worry and the frightening climax when he finds her? I’m still putting the last few chapters together.
Bandit is, of course, a cat. The short stories about Bandit tell the story of each of Bandit’s nine lives. I love cats and it is interesting to try to write from a cat’s point of view. Did I succeed? Hard to know, but I enjoy Bandit along with all of the other cat roommates I’ve had over the years. Such beautiful, loving, cuddly creatures who always seem to sense your mood and empathize. What’s the Christmas song, ‘these are a few of my favorite things?’ Cats would be near the top of that list.
Do the “Banshees Still Scream,” is an autobiographical tale about my great grandmother, Margaret Amelia Scott. I wrote it near mother’s day and it involves four generations of mothers, from my great grandmother, to my grandmother, my mother, and myself. You’ll have to decide yourself if it was worth the effort for readers; it was something I had to spit out as a person in the form or words. If I was driven to paint it would be a painting of the snapshot I saw as a child. Smiling, and if I was Steinbeck or Angelou it would be a great novel or poem, but I’m sure as hell not so it’s just a story I wrote. Maybe next time I’ll be writing about some of the writers I revere.
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