In The Flow of Time – December 21, 2024
So here I am, writing away. This chapter has had some changes, you know, pirates. I added a scene at the end, how Mom, Grandma, and the aunt react to Robinette’s arrest. They’re wondering what they can do about it. Marie, being the teenager, isn’t expected to say anything, she’s a kid. But.
For the time and place, she’s almost full grown. As a character she’s mature beyond her years. She’s already had some intense life experience. In this scene I have a specific thing planned for her to say. I need to get to that spot. This is easy.
Then this happens. As one of the older women proposes a course of action, Marie speaks, completely out of turn.
Marie says, “I don’t think it will work.”
The brief silence that follows is punctuated with astonished looks.
“What would you know about such things?” her Moman asks.
The instant that follows is filled with an odd light. She does know.
The author says, AWESOME. Ooh ooh. What does she know? Fingers poised on the keyboard, and then, nothing.
Honest to god, I have no idea what she’s thinking, and she’s not talking. This is not anything I plotted or thought about. She just blurted out that she knew. I was a half hour staring at that sentence. I dozed in my chair, I looked at books, I reviewed research, I did this, that, the other. I emptied the dishwasher. Still nothing. I tried a couple of directions, but it’s my head, not what’s in her head. Dry holes. What the fuck?
And then she starts talking, and out it comes. She does know. I swear to god, I know I’m the guy writing this, but I had nothing to do with it. The little dialog that happens reveals Marie grown up, seeing the world with adult eyes, guiding her elders into the paths to follow, and what is likely to happen. And then this happens.
There is no disagreement, there are nods of assent. The question that remains is entirely practical. Tante Charlotte asks, as if the answer will be as clear and simple. “How am I going to pay for a lawyer?”
Marie has no idea. She ain’t omniscient. 🙂
