I'm posting this one early (even though it will have Thursday's date on it) because I'm going to be busy on Thursday. I'll fill you in on that "why" later. A brief setup for this one... it happens pretty late in the story. It is actually the final turning point, before the end of the book. This story is basically a 4 parter, and this scene sets up the end. If that makes sense to you, great. If not, check out the HW/SW How To Write Workshop, and maybe it will.
"But Granny Grace, I don't know what to do. Can't you just tell me? Tell me what to do," Glory all but wailed. Sitting on the swing of the enormous wraparound porch, using her left foot to move the swing into the rhythmic motion she'd always found so soothing as a child, Glory pleaded with Grace for guidance.
As usual though, Granny Grace's lips were sealed tighter than the lid on one of her mason jars of pickled beets. Grace simply stared at Glory, looked at her with a combination of pride and exasperation, and made no sound at all.
Frustration getting the better of her, Glory stopped the swing and jumped to her feet. Sitting here on Granny Grace's porch wasn't doing a damn thing for her. Frankly, Glory couldn't remember the last time that Granny had given her more than a slight hint at anything. Granny seemed to love to just sit there in her rocker, watching Glory stew and huff and swing herself with her left foot. Well, enough was enough. Granny was the matriarch, and she needed to start living up to her responsibilities and dishin' out some advice, real fast.
"Fine. Don't say anything. I'll figure it out on my own. Without your help, as usual. You just sit there rockin', with your lips practically sewn up, and keep all your words to yourself. I don't want 'em, and I don't need 'em. I can figure this out on my own," Glory all but spat. She was hoping that her outburst would cause Granny to react, to open up.
Reverse psychology always worked in the movies. Of course, that was Hollywood. Not Brimstone, Mississippi. Glory should have known better than to even try. There were some things that almost eighty years in the world protected you against. Apparently, reverse psychology from a fuming grandchild was one of those things. She watched as Grace kept rocking, the steady squeak of her chair reminding Glory of how many times she'd been out on this porch, hopin' for some answers.
"Look Granny, I get that you're not gonna tell me what to do. Hell, even you can't have the answers to everything, right? But at least tell me how to make this up to him. The man loves me. I know he does. And I love him right back. I've always loved him, Granny, and it's killin' me bad right now, thinkin' that I let him walk away. But I really didn't have a choice, did I? I mean, I've seen what The Curse does to the men that hook up with us. I know I don't stand a biscuit's chance at the breakfast table of marryin' that man and livin' happily ever after. Still though, I want to go find him, Granny. I want to find him and tell him how much I love him. I want a shot at happily ever after." Glory glanced at Grace and noticed that her spine had stiffened.
Right then, Glory heard the sound of footsteps, coming from the edge of the porch near the steps. Glory looked over and saw her momma, walkin' the length of the porch, eyes glued to Granny Grace. Having no idea what her momma was doing at Granny's house after more than two decades, Glory fastened her eyes on Granny's and waited for an explosion, or at least a minor disturbance.
"Hear that, Grace? Glory wants you to answer her. She's already lost one good man because of your 'curse'. Don't make her lose another too. It's time she knew the truth. Tell her," Mercedes implored.
"Mercy, you have no right to be spoutin' off at the mouth. We made a deal, you and me. I've kept my end of it for over thirty years. You better not stop keepin' yours," Grace replied, with her typical steely determination. When she used that tone of voice, nobody dared to argue.
Nobody but her daughter.
Mercy squared her shoulders and took a step forward, putting her cool hand on Glory's arm as she came to her side. Glory turned slightly so that both women were in her line of sight. Both of these women, so strong in different ways, both held the answers to what Glory needed. One of them had always been the past that Glory tried to outrun, the crazy momma that left her baby girl in front of the double doors on the wide wraparound porch. The other one had always been the pillar of strength that Glory leaned on, like the oak tree in the backyard that she scaled as a child. Glory held her breath and waited, sensing that explosion any second.
"I don't want your deal anymore. It's not worth it. Not if it means seeing Glory in this much pain. Don't you see that? The whole reason for that stupid deal was to make sure that my baby girl never felt pain. Well she's feelin' it now. You can stop it, you know. All you have to do is tell her the truth. Just tell her, momma," Mercy added that last word as a whisper.
Glory flinched at the use of the maternal name. As far as she knew, Mercy hadn't called her mother any other name besides Grace for over thirty years. That same feelin' of walls crashing, of tumbling, of having the air sucked right out of her lungs, hit Glory in that instant. She snatched her arm out of Mercy's grasp and directed the full force of her flashing blue eyes at Grace.
"What deal, Granny? What's she talkin' about?" Glory questioned her grandmother.
"Now chile', don't go listenin' to her babbles. You know she's most likely off her pills right now. She has no idea what she's yammerin' on about. Go on in the house and fetch me a glass of lemonade. I believe your momma and I have some words that need to be said betwixt us," Grace reached out and tried to pat Glory's hand, but for once Glory stood her ground.
"What deal, Granny?"
"I said to go on inside, Glory. Don't you stand there on my front porch and give me lip. I've already heard you swearin' like a sailor today. You think I'm gonna sit here and listen to you demandin' things that you got no right to demand? Now get inside and let me speak to my daughter," Grace demanded.
"No way. Not this time. In this past week alone, I've watched a baby-faced preacher bury my great-grandmother and helped deliver a baby. I've lost one man and chased away another. My momma's waltzed back into my home and I've seen [removed, by author. You have to buy the book or bribe McB to find this out!!]. Now you're sitting there, rockin in your damn chair, with some big secret that's about my life, refusin' to tell me. Well I got news for you. I'm not leavin' this porch until I know what it is." Glory was shaking as she finished, her voice louder than she'd ever used with Granny Grace and much more forceful.
"Oh Glory. Sweet Glory. Hallelujah! Finally yer showin' some fire. I was wonderin' how long it would take you to break those damn reins you been keepin' on your spirit.About this man, Glory. What does your heart tell you to do? What do you want?" Grace demanded.
Confused by the abrupt change of direction of the conversation, and even more confused that Granny Grace hadn't washed her mouth out with lye soap for her outburst, Glory took a second to try to decide how to answer.
"Want? Well, I guess I want what the fairy tales promise. I want a happily ever after," Glory finally answered. "But I don't see what that has to do with any deal you made with my momma. You're not gettin' out of it, Granny. You gotta tell me."
"All in good time, child. All in good time. First though, let me tell you something else. And you listen up good, y'hear? Happily ever after does not exist. It never has and it never will. If that's what yer lookin' for, then that man is better off without you, and you're better off without him. Now, I can see by the look on your face you think my mind's as jiggled as your momma's but hear me out. The best that you can get is happy, Glory. Just happy. Sure, you may get beyond that some days. You may feel like you're livin' on top of the ferris wheel sometimes, or that big rush you get when you're drivin' your car too fast down the road. But that feelin' don't last longer than a gray hair at Edna's beauty shop. There is no ever after, Glory. That's what I'm sayin'. You just have to be willin' to take each day as it comes, the good with the bad. Don't worry about the ever after. The good Lord takes care of that for you. You just search for that happy. And if you can't seem to find it, then you make some of your own, with the person you choose to share your days. You bake' em a pie, pick 'em some flowers, rub their back. Do whatever it takes for you to find that happy every single day, Glory. But don't you expect it. Don't you ever expect that it will be there, just because you think you deserve some fairy tale. You treasure those happy moments when you get them, and remember that they might not last forever. But live like they will," Grace finished, in what was surely the longest uninterrupted string of words Glory had ever heard come from her Granny's mouth.
Shocked almost speechless, Glory asked the one thing that she couldn't help but ask. "But Granny, what about The Curse?"
"Yeah, Grace. Tell Glory about The Curse. I can't wait to hear this one," Mercy said, taking a seat on the swing.
Grace fixed her eyes on Mercedes and uttered eight words that tilted Glory's world so far off its axis, she wasn't sure how she was still standing.
"The curse - -. - - - -[again, removed by the author. Sorry, can't let this one out just yet.]."
And for the third time in a week, Glory felt her legs give out as her butt landed firmly on the ground.
12 comments:
Wow. I need to read the whole thing. In it's entirety. From beginning to end. Without interruption. NOW!
YOu say the sweetest things to me.
I have been going back to this scene for a few weeks now, tweaking and changing, and trying to make it flow. I think i almost have it. finally.
i read it to my daughter and she got mad because i only read her what i posted here, not the uncensored version. she wanted to know what the two "removed" things were.
I was trying to do so much with this scene, and I had to tweak it a bit for posting here. But the whole name thing was kinda big. I changed Glory's momma's name a few times, til I finally decided that it just HAD to be Mercedes. Grace named her that because it was German, like her daddy. But also, because she had dreams of them being really close, and that was echoed in her head a lot... "Oh look, there go Mercy and Grace"... sort of thing. But Grace and Glory both start with the same letter, because they share a lot, etc...
Blah blah blah, i have no freakin clue. but this scene? i really love this scene. I mean that.
i'm almost sad that i won't be posting anymore excerpts.
Thanks for the link at the top. I think. :-) Here's my thing with "narrative plans"--if I've planned out the entire thing, I'm not so much interested in writing it anymore. So, I'm curious--how many authors start with the narrative plan and then fill in the blanks? And how many start with an idea and write, and shape the story as they go? If the end result is good, it doesn't matter either way, to me, anyway. I just want to read a good book. :)
I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I don't want to know everything that's going to happen. I want the characters to have room to do their own thing. Having some landmarks along the way is helpful to me, though, sort of "Ah, at X point this character is going to be here..." but then I can observe how that character gets there.
What I'm working on now started out as a series of images. I know how this section is going to end, although I had to do some research to see if it fit the character. I wasn't sure. She's going to do something I'd never, ever do, and I had to make sure it fit. When I started, I envisioned a short story. Now, if I keep going with this (send encouragement!!) it's going to have to be a novel spanning twenty-some years, in several sections. Ack.
So back to the narrative plan stuff: I don't have one, really, with this WIP. I have vague ideas on what's going to happen to these people. I have vague ideas on how to hold it together. Other than that, I'm making it up as I go along.
Wow, what a tease. Dee you are really on a roll with this one!
Well I'm open to bribes but I'm not sure what it is I'm supposed to know.
Dee,
You are going to be making us beg now aren't you...
This is really really good. I trust you realize how good.
mcb, well what kind of bribes are you thinking about these days?
McB- If you remember back to a conversation we had over a few bottles of wine in December, you may remember the basic plot. This is the same story, but with some major tweaking. I had this long convo with CMS about how I didn't really want to give away a lot of plot with the excerpts, but I did want people to get a feel for the characters. Hopefully, that's happened. So yeah, you know what happens, basically, but it's been tweaked. A lot.
jenb- Thank you. I don't know what else to say. It means a lot that somebody likes this enough to read it. I have no idea if the rest of the story will work, but I am just really enjoying it, so who knows.
Amy- I know exactly what you mean. I started the workshop back in January, but quit going there for a few months while I was doing my first draft. It was just too much for me at the time, so I just quit. I started out this story with a concept, one single idea - What would happen to a woman that made a major life decision based on a false belief? - and I really started exploring that. The rest, the Southern stuff and Granny Grace and the romance, sort of just came out in the writing.
When I started, I already knew how it was going to end. That's the one part of the story that I really had. The rest of it? That's changed a lot. Like the names. I think her name was Andrea in my Nano draft. Really didn't fit her. It wasn't until April that I realized she was a Glory.
Ugh. too long of a comment. I'm going to write a post about this soon.
I think this is your best scene so far. Can't wait to find out what the secret is...
Oooh, that story. Yeah you'd given us the rough outline then. Well if I didn't recognize it, then you didn't give anything away.
Dee- Book done yet?
Hurry up, I have Jen's to read and then 2 from Ms. Cruise, and 1 from that Bob guy.
I need more. And my best friend in grade school was Glory, so I have to find out what happens to her! :-)
Dee, when do we get to read the entire book????? If it isn't published for some unknown (and stupid reason - because it's really good!!) then you will just have to keep posting here UNTIL WE CAN FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED. I wanna know... wanna know... wanna know... sooner than later!!
As you can tell, I'm really enjoying the excerpts! Want to read the whole thing.
This is so good I went back to the first excerpt and read them all in order.
Dee this is terrific. I also went to the HeWrote/Shewrote courses in January and I couldn't keep up either. I haven't followed it since and wish I had now because editing is really tough. I could use the help. You on the other hand--probably not.
Margaritas help to bribe Mcb. Try that.
I want to read the rest of this. It is really entertaining reading. Good job.
Hot dam, Dee. I can't wait for this to come out at the store. You'll give us all ARCs, right?
Post a Comment