First of all... the thread title and Sara's pic!! LOL!
You don't know how many different things I tried and failed to get Elise to say when introduced to her ancestors.
She very stubbornly stuck with that, though, and now I'm glad!
So...nearly there. Am I the only one who is going to miss these meetings?
I have promised myself that once this is wrapped-- and I've caught up with all the great writers whose stuff I've fallen far behind on-- I'll just unplug my brain for the summer. Set it out in the sunshine and let daisies grow in it.
But this has been such a great, fun thing for me. Thank you for this!
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Labby saw that coming from a long way out, Wendy.
And on the subject of soulmates:
I thought the soulmates that Marge was keeping an eye on were Elise and Hank (I thought that they have something very special going on.
I left Madge's one reference really vague just for that reason, gerry. Readers could decide for themselves who they think it is. (I know who they are, but like Madge, I'll never tell them...)
This... I just *loved*
"Listen, Silas, I can't talk. It's the end of the world."
"Wait, Elise, listen to me! It's the end of the world!"
Actually, Paul, I could have copied and pasted all of your story comments on this last part. They made my writer's heart beat gleefully. Thank you!
*runs up and adopts Paul as her younger, smarter brother*
And while we're on that:
CC, you obviously have experienced sibling rivalty,
Chris, I'm the middle child. That's all I'm saying. (But it says a lot, doesn't it?)
He really was an absolute genius, and I have a feeling Madge is going to miss him when this is all over. Her sweet Frederick notwithstanding.
Ah yes, and I tried to write teeny, tiny hints of that. I imagine the years of trying to out smart each other has given their relationship an unusal sort of closeness, a begrudging respect and admiration.
*hands the Madge/Tempus ship off to KathyB for further exploration*
Last thing, because it just floored me, the religious undertones of the Madge/Clark scene:
Did anyone else see that scene that way, or was it just me? If you did see it that way, what did you think?
Holy cow.
You know, Paul, when I first read that I thought maybe I'd been busted. Finally. For years I wrote acts of worship and liturgies for the Methodist church. It's a language in and of itself, and while I've never been blatant, I've often used some terms and phrases, etc., because I find them powerful and universal even when telling Superman stories. For telling any story, really. So, when I first read your comment, I thought 'Shoot, so much for my secret identity.'
But then I really looked at that scene. And dang, if you aren't exactly right. I didn't have it in mind, not. at. all. What I did know was that even though each character held a small piece of the puzzle, it was to Madge I wanted Clark to first 'appear.'
*** From here I will take a paragraph that is in no way meant to be offensive to you religious types (of which I am one, btw), but read no further if mixing the secular and sacred makes you cringe.
So.
Ok.
If I stand back and look at it, I can see how closely it mirrors many a 'angel arrives in a dark hour bringing good news' story. And stronger still, the parallel to Easter morning in the Garden with Mary Magdelene. To her mind all is lost, and the words first spoken to her are "Woman, why are you weeping?"
You know, it makes me wonder... what *else* is in there that I've never seen??
*** Theological discussion concluded. And maybe that was only interesting to me and Paul, but thank you for indulging that one last ramble!!
Part 18 coming up later. Still tweaking, still fretting... the usual!
Thank you to everyone who read and commented on this part. Part 17 is my very favorite. That you liked it so well is really gratifying.
CC
