It’s been a while since I posted a serial. Seems like forever since I
finished a story short enough to be posted in eight segments or less. (I tried
twelve, once, but it went on too long.) Thanks to my older older brother, who
expressed some interest with an exercise I posted in 2013, “The Waiter” starts
tomorrow and runs to the last Saturday in June.
Endings are not my strength. I can’t even say good bye to my co-workers
when I leave for the day; I quietly shut my door and slip away when no one is
looking. No wonder I have so many half-finished projects. At some point in our
relationship, I quietly shut the door and slip away.
A good story, however, and/or a strong character will insist that I
complete a piece—and that’s what happened with tomorrow’s offering. When I
wrote both the initial exercise and its follow up, I approached it through the
heroine’s eyes. Like her, I disregarded the boy who fell in love as a
lightweight, sweet enough but lacking the depth that makes a hero interesting.
Wrong-o. Turns out that he has as much or more depth than any of my more
compelling heroes. I am learning that a short story is but a few scenes from a
character’s life. The time that François spent with Odette was a turning point
in his existence. He has no desire to tell any more than that, and so I wished
him well and let him go … but not before he insisted on having his say.
Enjoy.
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