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Thank you Angha,
ALISON
Beautifully done,as always.
ALISON
Easy As Falling Off A Bike pt 1522
Cathy has yet to grieve over Billie. What will she do when the Glory pays a visit?
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
That thought
really frightens me. What will Cathy say to a deity who has in the past threatened her family?
Turning the corner
It looks as though the visit from Sister Maria was exactly what Cathy needed. Obviously she's going to remember and grieve Billie's passing routinely from now on, but the conversation and shared jokes towards the end are a step towards the proverbial standing up, shaking the dust off, then trying to ease back into something approaching a normal life.
Perhaps wisely, Shekinah hasn't paid a visit1 - perhaps via Cathy the deity is starting to develop a greater understanding of humanity, or at least stubborn individuals that refuse to bow down and worship on command.
1) If you need reminding, think back to the aftermath of the deaths of the Drummond family and Shekinah's major faux pas.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Cathy's Recovery
Of course, things will never be the same; however, Cathy's strength is showing through the wall of this tragedy. We must see that some good can even come from something as tragic as this. I think all involved will gain strength. I feel that all the children will understand a bit more how precious life is. Thank you for handling this crisis the way you did.
Portia
Portia
now thats silly
Thinking someone had not seen that skit. Though I did take the opportunity to watch it again. been a tissue intensive set of days and handled so well.
8 out of 5 boxes of tissue and 9 gold stars
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
Children are definitely as suns and galaxies
Your metaphor relating children and families to suns and galaxies was so well put. I had not heard it before and as a grandparent I can see how our children have their worlds relvolving around them while as parents we see how the suns relate together to make galaxies. From some of the images taken from the Hubble telescope, you can see your children being born and revolving around themselves. Check it out.
Angharad, you continue to weave a tale that is so personal that it continues to tear at my heart. You get to me each day as I read my "Daily Dormouse." Thank you.
Much Love,
Valerie R
Much Love,
Valerie R
Not much more to say
I don't think I could take much more of this. It is just so sad. With regard to Shekinah though, whether Cathy believes or not, I hope she gets to get one special dream to say goodbye to Billie until the next turn on the wheel.
Kim
I was thinking on similar
I was thinking on similar lines. If Shekinah were to return with Billie it would be interesting to see if Billie had become the girl she wished to be. That way, Shekinah would have fulfilled the threat to take a child yet give Cathy a chance to say goodbye to a Billie that was now complete.
Sad
I'm sad that you killed off billie,while I'm quite sure you had your reasons,it's still sad. I'd really hoped that it was just a bad dream that cathy was having but it appears I was wrong.
Ang Talked About It in a Blog Yesterday
Here's the link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog/31898/killing-characters
real life
Angharad, the last two chapters were more about real life rather then fiction ,and you do it with feeling and compassion and as one of your fans it is really appreciated , thank you for letting us all down in a gentle way.
ROO
ROO
Bad Choice
You are a fantastic writer, I have been a daily reader of your story from the begining. But, your decision to do this to Billie was completely wrong. I see no point in it. You are such a good writer, loss of one reader may not make any difference, but I cannot continue reading this. Best wishes..........
I'm sad to see..
I'm sad to see readers rejecting this wonderful work on this point. People were angry at J.K. Rawlings over the death of Sirius Black and then even more angry over Dumbledore. What'd she do? Killed off Dobbie, one of the twins and Snape!
An author's decision to kill off a major character is never an easy one - specially one who is liked and such. They do it for many reasons, and rarely capriciously. Our author (and her editorial team) have investigated many difficult topics with the story - death of parents, friends among them. Her choice of a child is a worthy one. She's looked at other children's deaths - those of acquaintances or even strangers. I think it is a worthy topic. To be honest, it hit me really hard. It seemed to release all the emotions I'd kept bottled up when cousins/friends lost children over the years. (Something that was probably long delayed.) But, I think it better to face this in a story which we can expect to get happy again soon, rather than in real life.
Anne
Choice and life
I as a reader am not happy to see Billie dieing in this story. However, this is something that happens all the time in real life. While her death has been difficult for all of us readers to deal with I think that the aftermath has been well done and quite possibly does show that killing off an important character was the right move. The death of a child is always difficult to deal with especially when it hits so close to home.
When I was stationed at Ft Riley KS a young girl was my next door neighbor. Her father was an MP stationed there and her mother was a Korean (my ex-wife is also Korean.) This little girl was about my son's age. One day I came home from work and noticed the girl had a cast on her arm. Within 4 months she was dead. Her father after the investgation was arrested for her death. I was involved in the Article 32 hearing (military version of the Grand Jury,) to determine if there were enough facts to Court-martial him for negligent homicide. This event hit very close to my heart because this could have easily happened to my children (my wife was emotionally and physically abusive to our son and neglectful to our daughter.) And, yes, my neighbor was convicted and sent to Ft Leavenworth KS (Military prison.)
The Inquisition, What a Show...
Personally, I prefer the Mel Brooks version of the Inquisition from History of the World, Part I.
Quite a nice and thoughtful episode. Events show you have too much experience with funerals and their aftermath... As with the earlier bits, this feels very IMMEDIATE.
Thank you for sharing,
Anne
Death of a Character
First of all, and above everything else, this story is fiction. It is so well written that many of us forget that. Why do people get so emotionally involved in soap operas? They do give us emotional outlets for events in a fantasy world. Thank the goddess things have not reached the state of The Running Man or the spectacles of the Roman Empire, although we seem to be getting close with some of the fighting spectacles that are currently popular.
In my third novel I allowed the main character to die. It certainly didn'y make me (or the readers) happy; however, it was necessary to avoid some of the cliched endings I read in many of the stories published here and elsewhere. My character didn't die in the memories of the other characters, and her life was important in the development of other characters for many years. I was able to work in previously unknown things about her life in other novels.
Hopefully, Billie will not have died in vain. Her life meant something about the struggle that so many of us can relate to.
Portia
Portia
As a main character,
she will be missed. With the blue light, she may never be completely out of the story.
Billie
Ang, I think You must have had a hard time writing the last couple of chapters. They tore My heart out and I am having a hard time keeping it in My mind that this is a story.If any one had that happen to them as a parent it would devastate them Your writing of this story was well written but I could hardly read it through the tears. Goodbye Billie, Blessed Be.
This all
brings back so many memories of when my sister died at the age of 17, and almost the same way, hers was a motorcycle being the main difference. It has been close to 50 years now, and the pain never leaves, I can't begin to imagine how much worse it is for a parent. My father barely survived the experience. So wonderfully written, with so much pathos, emotion and skill, you amaze me Ang.