Summer is in full brown, here in Arizona. We continue to water our plants, even though we know they will all succumb to the heat soon. Monsoon season is here, which means temperatures over 110, dew point of 55 or more. Hot, humid, dusty, followed by the blessing of torrential rains.
Last July was the last time Lynda came out for a visit. She stayed 2 weeks. She had completed all of her chemo and knew she could just chill, read, play games on her Kindle. I worked some of those days, but she was perfectly fine being alone. Dave would come home from work, put something on the grill and sit in the pool, allowing Lynda to do whatever she pleased.
I was able to take some days off work while she was here. The first week we just hung out, got in the pool, chatted until bed time. We ate a lot of yummy food Dave had prepared. Lynda was slowly regaining her taste for food. She even like the stuffed jalapenos I made. She was never one for spicy food, but I made sure to remove all of the seeds and ribs so the jalapenos would be pure flavor.
The second week we finally got down to doing some writing. We woke up Jo and Susan so they could hang out with us. They told us about their new adventure. We knew what had happened to them up to this point, but they spoke to us and lead us to new discoveries.
Lynda created a new addition to the little group of explorers. Her name is Elizabeth Victoria Webb. Named after Queen Victoria and Elizabeth Taylor. Oh, how Elizabeth and JoEllyn butt heads in "Guam Adventures - The Darkened Light". I never had fights when I was a kid, but Lynda was a scrapper, so Elizabeth was far more likely to come from Lynda's imagination.
Every day I contemplate the details of the rest of the story. I know exactly where the girls are heading, and have a vague idea of how they get there. I can picture their surroundings to the inth degree. In fact, I have a true vision which I could never clearly illustrate for my co-author. Not that I didn't try. We both drew pictures of the scenes described in the book. It was funny how differently the two of us had imagined everything.
In our partnership, I was the one who spent hours and hours doing research, digging into the history of Guam. Lynda took the facts, spent many hours and days contemplating how to meld fact with fiction, and magic happened. The most rewarding part was writing a story that sounded so feasible the reader could never tell what was real and what was fiction.
In reading "Guam Adventures-Mystery of the Cave", our sister, Traci said she was constantly wondering what was real and what was fiction. That is exactly what we were hoping to achieve. For those who lived at Andersen AFB on Guam, who went to school at Andersen Elementary School, our desire was for them to wonder about whether or not Jo and Susan really did enter the jungle, what of what they discovered was real. When we lived on Guam, we knew the jungle was a scary place. We heard of wild boars and Japanese Soldiers who called that dim, humid, exotic, mysterious place their home.
Even decades after leaving Guam, the mystery of the Island and the jungle enticed our imaginations. It was, after all, the most exotic place we ever lived. Although you would think our memories of a place we lived when we were in elementary school would have faded into the deep recesses of old age, it became true to us that, as one gets older, memories of long ago become clearer than what happened yesterday. Of course, our memories may be a little skewed. Who knows? Pretty soon I may start to believe what we wrote, not able to distinguish our lives from those of Jo and Susan. Dementia could be just around the corner. I do, after all, have a 40 year old son.
Many of our cherished memories are displayed in both books. We had magnificent childhoods. Moving to Guam from Castle AFB, California, was a culture shock to us. Tarague Beach, palm trees, the Pacific Ocean were like Heaven to us. Through our Dad, we came to know some of the Chamorro people who are native to Guam.
In "Guam Adventures - The Darkened Light" we introduce a native Guamanian to our readers.
So, hang in there, all of you who have read "Guam Adventures - Mystery of the Cave". I have actually written a couple new chapters. Slowly, but surely, the desire to set pen to paper and allow the story to flow from my hand, is returning. I try to imagine what Lynda would add, listen for her voice. She came up with some pretty unexpected ideas over the years.
I ask only for your prayers. Pray that Lynda's creativity will meld with my logical, factual way of approaching things. I am the bones of the story, she is the spirit.
If you haven't read "Guam Adventures - Mystery of the Cave", it's available at www.createspace.com/4008187. It isn't too early to purchase a copy for Christmas for that 'tween reader in your life.
