"Dad?" asked Ariel, standing beside him before the floor to ceiling grand conference window, watching the wonder of the cosmos silently slip by."Yes?"
"I love you."
John put his arm around her shoulder. "I love you too."
"Good."
"Good?" Laughed John.
"Yeah, because if you didn't, me and mom were going to kick your hide."
John knelt, eyes on her level. "Well, you tell mom I love her too."
"She knows."
"Is that right?"
"Yep, I told her you did and she said she already knew. And you know what else?"
"What?"
"She said love doesn't hold. Love is an open hand. She said to tell you that."
"Next time you talk to mom, you tell her--"
"Dad?"
"Yes?"
"If you squeeze me any tighter, I won't be able to tell her anything."
7 comments:
Your dialogue is poetic yet real. One of your strengths, along with character development.
Thank you kindly Bel. Warmth is always welcomed. :-)
Love is an open hand.
To add to Soul Shine.
Yellow.
The Lesson of the Shells.
Closing circles.
And so many others.
Such gifts. Such truth and beauty, in existence, real, to be found, but seldom as concentrated as it is found here among these pages, as unadorned, as mindful. This is why the love of The Story can only grow and never subside and in the midst of it all, there is the writer, words written revealing in choice and matter, in approach and content, and as throughout it is clear yours is a very special heart, is a very special mind, is a very special soul. Beautiful. The chapter too.
Well, now, how can I argue with that. :-D
I love Ariel (she could live with me if she needed to) and this exchange between father and daughter is so sweet. The hold that he has on Ariel is a great way to describe the emotion that John feels for his late wife.
Open Hand... I wish it were that easy.
Jen, for whatever reason, I seem to channel six year old girls very well. The Ariel and young Kyra chapters with Papa are, without doubt, the most enjoyable i write and they come almost without effort. If I could have an Ariel, I'd adopt. :-D
John will always love Cait. Always. And Cait will always be a character I wish was still alive. She was a special one.
The best written dialogue does exactly this, from words there is tone of voice, there is facial expression, there is thought and feeling imagined through the suggestiveness, the scene here, especially as John kneels as asks Ariel to tell Cait that he loves her, and her words in response telling him that Cait already knows is so very touching, and even if there were not those final words of hugging tightly the depth of emotion that must have welled in him at her words is clear. With this chapter, a short, single scene as so many of them are, word count contradicts the measure, you have such a wondrous instinct for cutting the shot, minimizing the frame, to show the focal point at its best, in best light, at best angle. I think of some of those famous Ansel Adams photographs, clouds in the sky, gulls on the beach, a-symmetrical yet more perfectly in balance due thereto. And Ariel, long before her mother was taken from her, with a perception any adult would wish to have and instincts that seem divine. Your girls (Kyra, Emily, Ariel) speak highly of you in a number of ways. As lovely today as yesterday, so will it be tomorrow.
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