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Thursday, June 2, 2011

A bit of sunshine for LENNY LEE! plus my FRIDAY ROMANTIC CHALLENGE_I REMEMBER_CAN HEARTS SHARE?



HI, LENNY! HERE'S A PICTURE VICTOR STANDISH AND I THOUGHT YOU WOULD FIND FUNNY :


Down below is just "mushy" romantic stuff. Yuck!! Have a great weekend, Lenny!




CAN HEARTS SHARE?

The world traveller Denise Covey

and the ever fascinating Francine Howarth have challenged us for another Romantic Friday project : "I Remember."


My entry is 400 words exactly. It features my Ulysses of the French Quarter, Victor Standish.

He has gone to the cyrpt of Marie Laveau at midnight, for he has believed the lie that for Samuel McCord to live, he must die.


He has just met the eerie Alice Wentworth (think Jane Eyre with very sharp teeth).

She asks him what brings him to her cemetery and how he got those slashes on his cheeks.

(If you want to know about the slashes go to :

http://rolandyeomans.blogspot.com/2011/05/rachels-and-callys-power-of-tension.html )


Victor has just discovered a skill he never knew he had and he decides to try it out again :



I jumped up on a marble slab and patted next to me. “Have a seat.”

Alice flowed like mist beside me. I reached out and softly took her hand, trying for an encore of the magic of earlier.

Sometimes in life you get more than you ask for.

I stiffened as the swirling sea of her loneliness, her joy at being in touch with another hurt spirit swept me up. I drew her into me,

into my memories of burnt out ends of smoky days laced with pain, of the withered leaves of others’ lies,

of the thousand pleas of my heart to the life-hardened hearts of others.

The autumn world of my days on the streets came up over the dark horizon of regret. Lost friends, mocking enemies, the haunted, loving eyes of Mother.

The yellowed papers of memory curled up around us from Detroit to Boston to that strange bus ride to New Orleans.

The light of hope shot through the black shutters of loneliness into images of me wandering lost through Meilori’s.

Dim figures of Billie Holliday and Daniel Webster wavered before us like ghosts of fear. My betrayal by Elu, my being an unwilling teaching aid for Strasser,

my losing everything as I decided that for Captain Sam to live I had to die.

The cry of Alice’s lonely heart calling out to me as she struggled to escape her own private hell.

Her spooky entrance into my life. My own loneliness reaching out to hers.

The circle completing its circuit. Rising from the waters of shared spirits as I gently pulled her hand from my chest.

Our fingers parting. The shiver of separation as her pale face looked at me haunted.

I shivered as our union broken left me soul-cold. Alice was shivering as well. My head was spinning. Something was wrong with my heart.

It wasn’t empty anymore.

What had I done to me?

Maybe you couldn’t see, really see, into someone without it changing you.

And you couldn’t show them the you that you really were without the two of you never being the same anymore.

A wild thought came to me.

I brought her cold, cold hand up to my lips and kissed it.

Alice’s lower lip trembled. “How could you?”

“C-Could I what?”

She softly traced the line of one of Strasser’s cuts on my left cheek. “Turn out so special?”


***

31 comments:

  1. ahhh, Alice and Victor as well as a beautiful video clip from The lord of the rings. Why I do believe you are an incurable romantic my friend :)

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  2. Siv :
    Ah, you found me out! And it gets me into so much trouble, too -- along with all my heroes~! LOL.

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  3. I'm going to have to read every single book you write. (=

    "Maybe you couldn’t see, really see, into someone without it changing you."

    You genius. (=

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  4. Jo :
    Forget Sam, now, you've got me blushing. LOL. I am a romantic at heart. I try to touch, not just the imagination, but the hearts of my readers. I am glad you are my friend, Roland

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  5. Your writing touches me. I can feel the connection between these two, the chemistry. Every interaction with a lover does changes us. Great job.

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  6. Roland, this is gorgeous. Am I going to fall for ALL your guys? ;)

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  7. You paint with words better than Disney paints with images.

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  8. Thank you, Laila :
    That my writing touched you means more than I can say. For me, to write a meaningful novel, it must strike a common chord of the heart within each reader.

    Sarah :
    Victor is a lovable scamp and gypsy who does not believe himself that. Thanks for seeing into the heart I wrote for him.

    L. Diane :
    Your words just made my weary evening! Thanks so much, Roland

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  9. Roland - Fabulous. So good. Love the pic you chose, too.

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  10. RaShelle :
    When I think of Alice, I see this picture in my mind. I'm glad you enjoyed this snippet of THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH. Now, if I can only interest an agent and publisher! LOL.

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  11. Sigh....I adore Victor! Your writing reaches to the very soul. The lucious and magnificent telling in every line.

    Victor AND LOTR has made my Friday!

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  12. Thanks, Margo :
    Underneath his brash exterior, Victor is a poet at heart. And he is also a bit of a Frodo, too. Have a beautiful weekend. I'll be filtering blood, doing QC, and running the roads with rare blood, Roland

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  13. That was beautiful Roland! It literally took my breath away at the last sentence.

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  14. Wonderful, Roland! Very romantic. :)

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  15. Heather :
    Your comment made my afternoon. I will take it with me as a boost to my morale as I start down a long, gruelling day. Thank you, Roland

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  16. Talli :
    Thank you. It was all Victor. (Alice made me say that ... LOL.)

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  17. Hi,

    I didn't realise you were in the challenge this week: no linky signature!

    But hey, how Victor has matured: ((squeak)). He's so romantic in this piece. Lovely!

    Must say I'm not one for first person POV, but I'm reading FQN and I guess because I visualise Tom Selleck as Sam I just love the guy. ;)

    best
    F

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  18. Lovely excerpt, and thanks for the LOTR clip! I love it.

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  19. I remember this scene. One of my favorites. I just love the mood you set between Victor and Alice.

    A new classic...

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  20. Hi Victor .. Lenny will love the picture and the Yuck .. don't read below .. mushy stuff coming up ..

    Great read for the Friday Romantic Challenge .. that hope, the despair, the path to ...

    Have a safe weekend .. cheers for now .. Hilary

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  21. Hello Roland.
    There's nothing I can say about this that hasn't already been said.

    The ending was a real tear-jerker.

    From one romantic guy to another...Excellent!

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  22. That's a funny pic you picked for Lenny, love it :)) And I always love the interaction between Victor and Alice. They're so sweet!

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  23. Wow! This piece was stirring and so captivating. I got a shiver along my arms.

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  24. Francine :
    I didn't realize I had to enter each week. Barring catastrophe, I plan to be there for you each Friday. Glad you liked it and like Sam as well. Cross your fingers. I've submitted a story of Sam and 12 year old Samuel Clemens in 1848 for the anthology, AN HONEST LIE.

    Lydia :
    I've just discovered that particular LOR clip. Wasn't it great and fit in perfectly with remembering?

    Thanks, Michael :
    It's one of my favorite scenes between Alice and Victor. Good luck with BG!

    Hilary :
    Victor smiles big your way (but behind Alice -- she gets jealous!) I hope I did tickle Lenny's funny bone a bit.

    Andy :
    Praise from a talented writer like you always means a great deal to me. Have a great weekend. Me? I'll be working. Sigh.

    WordsCrafter :
    I hope Lenny enjoys his picture. And Victor likes you, too. Alice is jealous, of course. LOL.

    Melissa :
    This is one of my favorite passages between Victor and Alice. It wrote itself. Maybe I eavesdrop onto an alternate dimension? Have a lovely weekend, Roland

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  25. Hauntingly beautiful. I like how you keep the eerieness, and lace it with sensuality. Left me quite breathless.

    .......dhole

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  26. Hi Roland, just look how everyone loves your writing! Hello to Lenny Lee too, the blogger wunderkind!

    Loved your extact from your wonderful yet-to-be-read-by-me book. Phrases like this: 'Alice flowed like mist beside me'continually captivate me. You have such a lyrical gift.

    About the linky, we now sign on weekly for each different theme as not everyone is as prolific as us. That way we know who has a story up each week.

    Now, what have you come up with for 'Forgotten.' I'm just playing into your hands with these themes, aren't I? Francine gets to choose while I'm being 'a world traveller' so there might be a different flavour. I'm sure there will be. You may have to dig deep my friend, from your well of genius.

    Denise<3

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  27. Great sunshine for Lenny! And I really enjoyed your piece, Roland!

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  28. Lovely prose. In 400 words you've taken the reader through varied experiences and some mental agony.

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  29. Love the mood on this, but sometimes so busy I was a little confused. Like this:

    "I shivered as our union broken left me soul-cold. Alice was shivering as well. My head was spinning. Something was wrong with my heart."

    He's physically cold, soul-cold, she's shivering, his head is spinning, and something is wrong with his heart. Too much going on here for me to keep up - my head is spinning. I don't know who to feel with, or what sensation to focus on.

    For me, it would be better if you stuck to one or two sensations at a time - the physical and the soul-cold, for example.

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  30. Thank you, Donna :
    I worked at being both eerie and romantic at the same time. I'm glad it worked for you.

    Denise :
    Hopefully, the physical aftermath of my heat exhaustion will be over by Friday -- with my apartment's air conditioning being repaired by then, too. I've already written the FORGOTTEN entry. Have a fun adventure.

    J. L. :
    Isn't 400 words tough? Thanks for liking my prose.

    Talli :
    I tried for some more sunshine for Lenny in my next post. A whole story just for Lenny. I'm happy you found pleasure in reading my entry.

    Beverly :
    The business was on purpose at least. William James theorized that if we could ever tap into another's thoughts it would sound much like one long run-on sentence. And that made sense to the poet in me. Sorry I misfired with your enjoyment of my entry. You made valid points. Thanks so much for the feedback. It helps me grow as a writer, Roland

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