“Do you believe in magic?” asked John.“Yes,” said Von, his olivary lids, looking larger than they were in the warm reflective light, as if he had large marbles for eyes, never moved past three o'clock.
John pressed. “Care to expound? We’re going to need it.”
A look came over Von’s face Rog had never seen. John, without know quite why, immediately regretted asking the question.
In a voice that seemed as deep as a castle keep, his face aglow as much of light as in light, Von spoke. “When I watched my son play ball.” His unblinking eyes measured the two as if to backhand the snoot from their intemperate faces. “That, was magic.” Von said nothing else and returned to sipping his snoot as a dragon returning to his cave, secure in protecting sacred treasure. After a short period of silence, he stood up, drank the rest of his snoot in a single swoop, slammed the snifter down on the table and, in the ringing echo of crystal on wood, his glassy eyes burning Rog and John with a look aflame in remembrance, said. “And if you frailers don’t understand the magic of this mission, may Janus have mercy on your souls.”
Von left. Five shallow breaths later John leaned over to Rog and whispered as a choirboy at mass. “Never knew he had a son.”
Raising his eyebrows, Rog added, “Neither did I.” Suddenly feeling much more sober than the moment before, he repeated, “Neither did I.”
12 comments:
We live moments. We remember moments. Last night, as I do at all my son's football games, I was on the sideline taking pictures. It was their first night game and there is just something special about football at night that is never captured by football at day. The players look bigger, older, more professional, more serious, more excited, like knights on horses, a joust of hues and helmets before the pageant of pompomed princesses and mothers swooning between fathers yelling fish and foul.
So I was posting a few pics to his blog (you can find the link on my profile) and the thought popped into my head of just how magical last night seemed, felt, today. They got whooped. Never really was a game and we are not all that bad. But it wasn't about winning and losing. It was about a moment. A memory. A night of teamwork, of family, of a young boy playing before his father, of words unspoken but looks exchanged beyond any currency I know.
And so, we learn Von had a son. I suppose the key word is "had." John just asked the wrong question at the wrong time. He had no idea, wasn't his fault.
Oh, and I have on pretty good authority that as Von was leaving the room, he uttered something to this effect: Every frailer thinks the frailing universe revolves around their petty frailing arse."
Then he made some sort of sign and looked up before tapping the top of the door and exiting.
:-D
Von's hidden history makes an excellent stopping point.
You sound like a great dad, snapping photos on the sidelines. Good for you!:)
SJ, guilty as charged. :-D
when you see your children perform, it is magic all right. Its a miracle rather...
To know & feel what you have created is a part of larger creation, is to know the full potential of your being...To realize that you have been able to wrought such magic is even more a marvel!
Mona, you could sing in my choir. But then, I would gaze upon your beauty and wonder why I never heard your voice. :-D
Von was always someone that we wanted to spend more time with, someone who from his journals to his conversations with Kyra and perhaps especially his snoot conversations with Rog we just want to be near. This hynerian knows what is important. And Rog and John both knew that about him, which is why they have both sought him out in times of confusion. Seeking what they know he has. Rog at least knew about his time in capture. Now they both know he had a son. And though neither of them may have got it into their heads completely, somewhere on the outskirts there is an understanding for what he said, at least so I imagine, as he left them to it. Both know what it means to love, both know too what it means to be fearful of losing what they have, both know that this mission could cost, but neither see the real, or rather the main, reason of this mission. Life or love.
To lose a child, there could be no greater pain. With Von, I believe he knew just as Papa did, just as you do, at the time, that he was aware and thankful for the magic, for that would be the only thing greater than losing a child, losing and only then understanding where the magic was. Holding it at the forefront. Rog and John are not unaware, at all, other things just take their focus.
The fact that Von gets frustrated with them, that he walks out in that frustration, at what they do not understand, his words there and his words within about his son, perhaps it is because you have shown Von to us as clearly as you have in other chapters that this scene becomes so easy to picture, that one can imagine the inflections in his voice, imagine the expressions that cross his face, as he is asked the question, as he answers it, and as he walks out.
This chapter is what the story has been all about. You have something to say and you show it rather than tell it.
Wish I knew how to tell you how special I thought this chapter was. Coming back to this one later to try.
Sweetest, what I like about this chapter is the additional depth it gives to Von, another layer as you said. I like characters with layers, good and bad, happy and sad, but layers. I find it interesting that for almost two years Von has said nothing about having a son and we know nothing about his own family situation. Since we know what happened on Hyneria, we know his son is lost. And so this brings up a very interesting potential chapter--Von's dock story.
We know Von was placed on Bravo by Zeke, aka Papa, to watch over Kyra, so his presence is almost a duty, an assignment, something he accepted. We also know, he accepted this assignment to repay a debt he owed to Papa, so that leaves the door open to wondering if he would have gone without the debt hanging over his head. Also makes us wonder exactly how that conversation took place between Papa and Von. Can you imagine the emotions Von must have felt? So mixed, so many (a chance to escape, to live, but not having the guilt of making the choice; a chance to repay a debt to still be of service yet leaving behind everyone he knew, which, it seems, very well could have been saying goodbye to his son). So, Von's dock scene. Haven't written it yet, but I have a feeling that his son was the one that dropped him off, that said the final goodbye, and Von was the one that had to turn around and board Bravo, knowing that he would live a little longer and his son would not, that his son would die a death he would not know, would not attend, could not succor. I have a feeling this is why Von never talked about it, until this moment. Could be an interesting chapter and could open the door to a lot more Von chapters. :-D
Stay tuned. ;-)
As always, thank you for your very, very kind words. Just so you know, they never, ever get old. :-)
Like the tree that keeps growing new branches, the doors keep opening, thank goodness is all I can say. There was a time when I was hopeful that your story might last into that very first beginnings of spring, now I almost feel myself trusting that it will never end, and it won't, for even if the words stopped, the memories and the love of the story and the characters wouldn't. I've said it before, I do believe that just as those in the real world, just as yourself and several others will, so too I can see myself remembering back upon the days that were, remembering fondly when this happened or that was said.
Initial thoughts in regards to Von's son are that he would be Von's son. Somehow in some way he will have something to say that will help Von cope with such a troubled mind and that it will be due to something his son says to him, something that draws upon what he has learned from his father through observing him, being with him, that will give Von the strength to leave. Just my imaginings as I begin to wonder what that dock scene must have been like and how, just as Kyra, just as Papa, just as Rog, and Yul, he was able to walk towards the only chance of safety leaving his child behind. Papa's words to him, his request that he look after Kyra, the reasons, the debt, all of these things and more have been hovering in the background for the longest time, but there is a time and a place for revelation, time and again you've shown us that, and so it becomes almost easy to wait, certainly enjoyable in as much as it prolongs the time in which one can ponder independently of fact just what the circumstances may be.
I wanted to come back to this chapter due to the fact that I hardly began what I wanted to say this morning. Forget nightjobs etc, what I need is a job where I can work from home and set my own pace, so that whenever I want to, I can take a coffee break over here with the gang. :-D
There is a simplicity to this chapter that exposes, in the flash that it is, the talent that you have. A question asked, the understanding through changed demeanour that the question was meaningful in ways unconsidered, a statement/revelation, pause for thought, Von's exit and Rog and John's, with a little luck, continued consideration.
Short, in a word. The style is doubly admirable. Firstly, as I began to say this morning, it is a stable component of The Story how it focuses upon singular events, in the past and present, defining moments where in that small snapshot of time and relationship, there is a full picture, so much so that what remains unsaid is suggested. For someone to even go back over the life that they themselves have lived and explain to another how crucial moments defined who and where they are today is difficult enough and thus that you are able to create not one, but many characters as complete as yours are is amazing. We have the added bonus here of having seen a little of the future also, but aside from that, the way in which we have approached these characters has been much like what would draw us in when we feel attracted to people in life. There was something first, a first impression, one event, that allowed us to observe them without really knowing anything about them. Somehow, and I do go on for I am genuinely in awe at how you are able to do this, you were able to show the essence of that character, and it is thereupon that your characters become so 'real'. As with the actual events of the story, it is just as mind-boggling to know that at least to a lesser extent, your characters have developed as you have been writing and that you are not working backwards. A completed picture first that you then broke up into little pieces. It is one thing to see a person that way, I would for example insist that with particularly those who are aware, honest and most importantly comfortable about who they are - with yourself for example when I gained those first impressions of you through your blogs and comments, that I saw the essential part of you, that to put it rather absurdly that there is a completeness in your pieces. ...like DNA. :-) Like even in minute amounts, a person can fill that space completely. In any case, one thing is being able to gauge a real life person, it is quite another to be able to hone in on how those elements work and to create a full-bodied, three-dimensional fictional character. As though everything else in the story had not told us that you have a great understanding for human nature, that you are even uncommonly aware of our similarities, that you are astute at discerning what makes the individual precisely that, that you are able to create such perceptible and solid characters through scenes such as this one would.
I was reading a book yesterday that wasn't very good. It's main flaw was something that highlighted for me once again a great strength that your story has. You show rather than tell. Reminding me of Papa. :-) You leave, though your story is nothing if not detailed, such a great scope in which to emerge oneself. So though the information is there not only the facts but suggestions, less is more, the quiet voice calls for deeper listening, and that, that, is what draws the reader so deeply within. Like your artwork, in itself and as a means of describing The Story. There is a image to be viewed, one is aware of seeing a complete picture, while aware too that taking time to look deeper, which the quality not just invites but demands, will allow the details, the intricacies, the innumerable fragments that merged make up the whole, to show just how notable they are in their own right. So to speak.
Secondly, with you for example here, as with any great fictional writer in their choices, there is just such a sense of awe at the creativity and originality that meant a scene, an event, was imagined. I've told you how much that part of the writing process fascinates me in particular, a spark that in turn initiates a flow, which is why I do so love when you do audio commentaries and we get to hear a little of where the initial thoughts that turned into a chapter came from and/or were inspired by. So not only do you have something to say, which all of us do to one extent or another, but the way in which you interpret first is what makes you magic and convey second is what makes DT magic.
The magic of the story, essentially, is the short list of convictions that make up the trunk, reflecting in doing so the lives we all live. Whether one as Von here is fully aware or one as Rog and John become infused in the details so as to forget, regularly, the big picture despite knowing it is there, through day-to-day living, the ups and downs and arounds of the crew and those that come into contact with them, through past, present and future, beyond death, as in our world, the magic is always there, if one is looking. And so once again, I feel very thankful that I have had the opportunity of following this story from the beginning, for the imaginative, brilliant, skilful, varied, touching, action-packed writing, for the opportunity through it to learn something of the beautiful mind, heart and soul that creates it, for the constant reminders of what we know shown in the most resplendent, to use a word I think of as yours, of ways.
In short, this was a gloriously simple chapter, simple in every glorious meaning of the word including it's complexity. :-D
Shorter still, loved it. :-)
Past 150,000, an a*mazing achievement!
Wouldn't it be fun to know just how far the count in the comment section of your blog exceeds that. You did say "never, ever". :-D
I'm reading Harry Potter, would be good that I can do some magic and vaquish some irritating people ;p
Children enjoying what they do so unselfconsciously is magic...
Layers make people -- and characters -- fascinating, make them real, make us want to cntinue to read about them, to know them, to learn more, to laugh with them, weep with them, grow with them...
Happy Thursday to you, Tree.
May your life - and your son's - have much good magic in it !
Loving Annie
Thank you Annie. Happy Weekend to you too. :-)
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