The Train’s the Thing December 9, 2009

Although trains are only physically present in one of my stories, it is a strong image that is applicable to all three.

 Expanding the Florida Railroad system was David Yulee’s life work both during and after the Civil War. The railroad provided mobility to all of Florida. It single-handedly enable new cities to be developed, allowing the state of Florida to grow more prosperous. 

In great storms, tornadoes are said to sound like a great train. Trains are so powerful and so forceful, like a flood. Trains are capable of causing severe damage, just like severe weather is capable of causing severe damage.

Trains are also about mobility-the ability to go somewhere you have never gone before. The Little Mermaid longs for mobility between her world of the sea and her beloved prince’s world on land. While trains can cross bridges, traveling across swamps, forest, rivers, and countries to connect people, the little mermaid is without any vehicle that could help connect her to both her home and where she wants to go.  Because she cannot have both, she is forced to choose.

Also, the train that ran though Homosassa, was called the Mullet Train–which I think is pretty fantastic. In some ways, the Mullet Train helps to bridge the gap between my Community Story (which is largely based on land) to my Entertainment Story (which takes place primarily in the sea), with my Family Story (on land but surrounded by the sea).

The Little Mermaid – Protagonist October 12, 2009

“The chief characteristic of the protagonist is a desire, usually intense, to achieve a certain goal, and it is the interest of the audience in watching him move toward that objective that constitutes its absorption in the story” – The Tools of Screenwriting

The central character of the The Little Mermaid is the little mermaid princess. She is the youngest and prettiest of all the sea princesses. The little princess loved to hear about the world above the sea. She made her grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and the towns, the people and the animals.

When a mermaid reached her fifteenth year, she is allowed to rise up out of the sea. So the little mermaid watched and waited as each of her sisters, all six one year apart in age, take their turn to rise to the surface of the ocean. After six years it was finally the little princess’s turn.

Her grandmother adorn her with a wreath of white blossoms in her hair, and in every flower she placed a pearl.  When she rose to the surface of the water, she saw a large ship. The little mermaid peers into a cabin window. Though the porthole she observed a handsome prince celebrating his sixteenth birthday.

After a while the waves rose higher as a dreadful storm approached. The ship groaned and creaked under the lashing of the sea as the waves broke over the deck, and the thick planks began to give way. The little mermaid swam among the beans and planks that floated on the sea, looking for the handsome prince. When at last she found him, she brought him to the surface and laid him on the beach.  She waited near the shore for him to awake, and when he did she swam back to the palace, longing to rejoin her prince on land.

The Storm of the Century – Part 2 October 7, 2009

The tide continued to rise. My mom went into crisis management mode. She had my old brother swim into our back yard to salvage some fire wood (the electricity had gone out, and it was expected to be a cold evening). All of the hot dogs and hamburgers, which were intended for my party guests, were sent to the Baptist church down the road. We sent a boat (yes a boat) across the street to pick-up family members who lived in my neighborhood. The first trip brought my grandmother, my aunt (who was a teenager at the time), and my aunt’s friend who had spent the night. I watched as they steered the boat through my front yard, hitting a great oak tree in the process. The boat driver dropped everyone off at my front porch, and then went to get my great-grandmother.

I love my great-grandmother, but she was a stubborn woman. Even though there was water in her house, she was admittedly opposed to getting into the boat which would take her to higher ground (my house). Although she lived her whole life in Florida, she never learned how to swim and was deathly afraid of the water. He was eventually able to get her into the boat, Lord knows how. So she was able to join the rest of the family at my house.

My grandfather has many, many hunting dogs that he keeps fenced in down the road. One of the dogs had given birth to a litter of puppies not long before the storm. By the time he got to the Dog Pin (what we call the fenced in area), all but one of the puppies had died. My grandfather brought the lone survivor to my house. We named him Stormy, and he grew-up to be the best hunting dog ever.