She Hasn't Repressed This One, Careless Memory #3

A Glimpse into a Writer's Life

When my fantasy author, Sandy Lender, was in high school, she didn't date much (I understand that dating in your society is somewhat similar to courting in my society) because her parents flipped out on her and kept her basically "locked in the tower" and didn’t let her out except to go to school. This isn't to say that she had no interest in dating. You can't repress all that social conditioning. Turns out that during her junior year of high school, in fact, there was a lad by the name of Allen (or however he spelled it) who caught her eye.

(At this point I'm supposed to tell you that his name in no way influenced the character Godric Alan Taiman in the novel Choices Meant for Gods as the young man she knew was an intelligent, handsome gentleman and Godric…well…we all know my opinion of that fool.)

Here's the non-repressed memory that she's actually letting me share with you, if you can believe it. She rode in this huge yellow vehicle (bus?)… She rode the bus to get from her parents' house to her school each day and Allen sat next to her to discuss the gods only know what. So when she got to school and visited with her best friend, Christine (whom you've seen pictured on this blog, by the way), the conversation, of course, turned to the trip. As Sandy announced to her friend, "oh, guess who I got to sit next to on the bus," Christine's eyes bulged and she tried to stop Sandy from continuing. Yes, you know where this is going, don't you? The next thing Sandy knows, someone's chin has come to rest on her shoulder, Christine turns an amazing shade of red, and what equals a teenage girl's most embarrassing moment ensues. The lad said something to her to the effect of "who did you get to sit with?" to tease her, which I find very clever. I think I like this fellow very much.

I'm actually laughing as I type this. She tells the story better than I do because she's dramatic about it, you know. The sad ending to the story is that Allen's parents were divorcing and he moved to California (I don't know what that is…oh…oh, by the gods! That's half-way across the continent from you!)…

Well, I'm not laughing anymore. He moved to California with one of his parents about two or three weeks after that event and she never saw him again.

Tags: Choices Meant for Gods, fantasy author, Sandy Lender, California, social conditioning, writer's life, careless memory