Inheritance, Part 3

[Please read Part 1 and Part 2]

Simon was awakened by a loud pounding. Then the bell’s sonorous chimes vibrated through the room. Blasted thing! Should be abolished. He struggled to become fully alert through his hangover. Good thing he had fallen asleep in his clothes! Whoever was out there seemed to be breaking down the door of Gloomhaven.

He stomped through the castle and flung open the front door, glaring at the woman standing outside. “What is it?” he snapped succinctly, not bothering with the usual politeness.

“Good morning!” she said brightly. “Are you Simon Shadows?”

She was pretty, thought Simon, but he didn’t want to encourage her. He had a long day of important tasks ahead. “What of it?”

Undeterred by his rudeness, she smiled sweetly and said, “Nice to meet you! I’m Mandy Mirth, a reporter for the Daily Crier.”

Gah, a reporter was the last thing Simon wanted to deal with. “I’m not giving any interviews,” he told her. “I’m in mourning for my grandmother.”

“I’m so sorry about her passing,” Mandy said. “She was an unusual person and so very interesting.”

Simon nodded once. “All right then. If there’s nothing else?” He began to close the door.

“What do you think about the dead body found in the river?” Mandy said.

“What?” Simon tried to process this. He hadn’t checked the news all weekend due to sorting through ancient books trying to find the formula to lift the curse from the stones. It was imperative that he find it before–

“Oh! You didn’t know,” Mandy said. “Sorry to startle you with bad news. But one of Dr. Dopple’s rescue dogs found it. He trains them you know, as a hobby.”

“What… what kind of body?” Simon definitely needed to hurry up and find the counterspell, but he also had to know if anyone suspected him.

Mandy continued cheerfully, “A human one! A woman. And my contact at the lab says that she may have been poisoned first because she didn’t drown, nor did she have bruising or wounds.”

“Well, that’s terribly disturbing,” Simon said truthfully. “I am aghast that there may be criminal activity in our village. You may quote me, Mandy.”

“I don’t want to quote you, Simon.” Mandy stepped forward, her tone now serious, her green eyes narrowed. “I want a share of the inheritance.”

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Images from Pixabay.

Breakup Songs [MLM]

Jim Adams does a great job in discussing Greg Kihn’s motivation in writing “The Breakup Song,” which has long been on my list of favorites. It illustrates the depression aspect of the grief someone can feel after the end of a relationship. The narrator is sad as he watches couples dancing together while he sits alone. “And now I’m staring at the bodies as they’re dancing so slow…”

No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” (written by Gwen Stefani and Eric Stefani) is also a homage to the sadness we feel as someone leaves us. We’re tired of talking about the inevitable, wasting more useless words that failed to mend things. Just go. Don’t explain further. “And I don’t need your reasons; Don’t tell me ’cause it hurts…”

But sometimes we feel more anger than sadness, right? There are a lot of breakup songs that explore the angry aspect of grief. A perfect example of this is “You Oughtta Know” by Alanis Morissette (with Glen Ballard co-writing). She’s steaming mad! She sarcastically wishes her ex happiness with his new girlfriend. “And I’m here, to remind you of the mess you left when you went away…”

Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” is another angry song. He fantasizes how his ex will end up miserable same as he is now. “When tears come down like falling rain, You’ll toss around and call my name.” We want to believe our exes will end up sorry they dumped us, don’t we?

Denial is another aspect of grief we may feel as our world crashes around us. Eric Clapton’s “Promises” is about this concept. (Brandon Casey and others are listed as the writers.) At the beginning of the song, Eric says to his ex that he doesn’t care if she never comes home “’cause I don’t love you and you don’t love me.” He discusses why it’s better they’re apart and that’s fine. But by the end, he admits he would still love her if she’d love him back.

Billy Joel’s “An Innocent Man” is about denial. Look, he knows she’s in pain and couldn’t deal with a relationship, but none of that is his fault. It’s all due to her exes and baggage. He’s willing to explore that with her, but remember… he didn’t do anything! “And although this is a fight I can lose, the accused is an innocent man.” As we know, however, it takes two…

What about bargaining? Yep, we also find this aspect of grief represented in song. “Baby Come Back” by Player is an example of bargaining (written by John Crowley and Peter Beckett). He begins by pretending he’s fine and having fun alone (denial), but soon he admits he is miserable and wants her back. “Baby come back, you can blame it all on me; I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you.” If only she’d give him another chance, he’ll take the blame for the things that went wrong. (How many times have we heard this though? 🤣)

“We Can Work It Out” by the Beatles (written by Lennon and McCartney) is another good example of bargaining. Just give us a chance, he pleads. He goes on to mansplain about how life is short and there’s no time for fighting, okay? Just see things his way, for cryin’ out loud. Geez!

Then there’s acceptance. You know it’s over and you accept it, even if you’re still sad or mad. You’ve quit denying nothing is wrong and you’ve stopped bargaining for a re-do. It’s done and you have to move on. How about “Last Song” by Edward Bear? (Larry Evoy wrote it.) He’s still sad, but he’s done writing songs about her and done hoping she’ll return. “This is hard for me to say, but this is all that I can take.” Yeah. Enough!

Finally, one of my favorite songs about coming to terms with a breakup is Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” written by Per Hakan Gessle). “It was all that I wanted; now I’m living without. It must have been love, but it’s over now.”

On our way down a new path…

These songs illustrate the 5 stages of grief: anger, denial, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. The stages can last a long time, and you can experience them in any order, including revisiting some you thought were finished. Emotions aren’t linear! And there are many other feelings that can occur too. Guilt, shame, fear, etc. I read that Elisabeth Kubler-Ross developed the 5-stage model to help explain the process of grieving over the death of a loved one. They may not apply as well to the end of a romance (and are apparently out of “scientific” favor altogether, but like whatever). I think they do help to illustrate the roller-coaster of emotions that can plague some of us when a relationship dies.

I hope you enjoyed reading this relatively long post written for Mindlovemisery. It was yet another insomnia-fueled ramble.

Please feel free to add your favorite breakup songs in comments. 💔

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Images from Pexels and Pixabay.

Inheritance, Part 2

[Please read Part 1 first.]

As soon as Belinda stepped back into the woods, Simon hurried over to the bag she’d left under the lantern. He picked it up and peeked inside. Ah, yes! The ancient objects gleamed in the faint moonlight. A ruby winked up at him and seemed to emanate a deeper, darker hue as he gazed, transfixed. He touched it, shocked at its heat, as if it had just been released from a kiln. Shaking himself out of the trance, Simon stuffed the bag in his backpack and went after Belinda.

Her steps were lighter and faster than before, and it took him several minutes to catch up. He didn’t want her to end up on the main road and be seen by a passing car. Simon got close enough to shoot her in the neck with a dart a few yards before the tree cover ended. She cried out in pain and surprise.

Simon watched her put her hand to her neck and stumble. “Hello, Belinda,” he said.

“You!” she gasped. “I thought you were in prison.”

He smiled. “Not anymore. I’ve come back to claim what’s mine.”

“You’ll never win.” Belinda swayed and grabbed onto a tree. “You and your evil… evil… gran…”

Simon watched her fall. He felt for a pulse and then picked her up. Though he was strong from all his workouts, it was still a struggle to carry her body to the river and dump her in. As she floated away, he turned back to where he’d parked, sweaty and out of breath.

But by the time he pulled into the long, curving drive of Gloomhaven, he was calm and breathing normally. The mission had been a complete success! Simon hummed as he leapt up the stairs, banged open the door, and flung the bag of treasure on the sofa next to Grandmama.

“I did it!” Simon grinned, wondering why she didn’t seem more alert and excited. “Grandmama… the ancient relics. Look! Now our we can restore our home to its rightful splendor. Repair the ruin. We will rule once more!”

“You touched them,” the old woman said weakly. “I warned you.”

“Well, I…” Simon had known he wasn’t to touch any of the cursed jewels. “Just for a second. The ruby. It was burning up.”

She nodded. “Gabriella’s stone. You broke my spell.”

“What do you mean?” Simon watched in horror as her beloved face turned ashy and her eyes fluttered closed.

“It’s time… nothing to be done.” She sighed and sunk deeper into the pillows. “I’ve had an extra hundred years. Give or take. No reversing the curse…”

“Grandmama! No!” Simon watched her shrivel and fade. She’d been the last of her line, and the only one who had cared about him. Now, he was alone.

Though he still had the bag of stones…

~*~

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See?

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon

Image from Pixabay.

Happy Birthday Mommy

Always thinking about her, and especially today 💖

Light Motifs II

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Sadje’s Questions

The lovely Sadje tagged me for some Q’s. Thanks for the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite subjects! 🤣

What is your favorite time of the day?

Lately I’ve become an afternoon person. I don’t mean since The Thing, but gradually over the last decade or so. I used to love mornings, but I’m pretty achy when I first wake up now and it takes me a while to feel okay and be productive.

How strict are you with yourself, regarding health?

I’m good about not overeating, but I’m terrible at exercising. I’m good about eating veggies and not subsisting on Snickers bars like I used to, and I rarely touch alcohol.

Do you follow back a blogger who follows your blog?

Mostly not, unless they comment and their blog interests me. If they simply follow and like posts, I may not even notice them.

How do you deal with criticism in real life?

Depends who it’s from. If it’s from someone who is signing my paycheck or someone I gave birth to, I’ll take it seriously. Anyone else, probably not so much. This is different from writing critique when I’ve requested it, of course. 🙂

How do you deal with criticism in the blogging world?

Usually they get thrown in the trash. I am not obligated to provide a forum for jerks and meanies. They can post their crap on their own blogs. Way back in the day, I thought I should allow all comments to pass through, but why? This is my space. Anyone can get their own.

Any ideas about how we can turn the current situation to our advantage?

Yes. The auto insurance companies have reported a decline in claims during the past couple months since people have been staying home. This is obvious, right? Fewer miles driven = fewer accidents = fewer injuries and deaths. But really think about that every time you get in a car. It’s one of the most dangerous things we do. 😬

Are you a dessert person?

I used to be. I used to crave sweets and make a dessert my whole meal. I’m sure I still would if it was available. But I seem to have lost the intense cravings I once had, and I’m much more satisfied with healthy choices. 🥑

What colors do you like to wear?

I like a bunch of neutrals in browns, black, beige, white, etc. and then one thing in a bright color like pink or turquoise. Or on the weekend I might put the brighter colors together if I’m feeling whimsical.

What color decor you like around you, in your home?

Browns and animal print things. 🐯

What is your favorite place to write from?

Probably my kitchen table on my iPhone.

Do you like getting Blogging awards?

Sure! It’s nice when someone thinks of me. I hope people don’t mind if I only answer the questions though and don’t tag anyone.

~*~

Image from Bitmoji.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Apocalypso

As the world ended,
We danced.
The band struck at midnight,
But there were no neighbors left
To complain;
You handed me a grenade–
The loveliest corsage ever made–
And we danced.
The stars winked out
And the seas burst into flame.
Still we danced
Upon mountains of ash and bone,
Finally alone!
We twirled and whirled and dipped
As the last notes slipped
Into space.
Everything dissolved;
I kept my gaze upon your face
Until the fire ran out of fuel
And the world cooled.
With eternity’s darkest rose
Clenched in your greedy teeth,
You waltzed me into Lethe.

~*~

Written for Eugi’s Causerie.

Image credited to lovethispic.com.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Last Kiss [flash 113]

He folded her dress over the chair, his hand lingering an extra second on the silken fabric. Mm, nice. But it was all for the best, this ending, and he’d already shoved it out of his mind. He had a busy day ahead. A big meeting and then the flight. No time to waste on what-ifs.

Even so, he walked back to the bed for one lingering glance. Grasping the quilt, he pulled it up to cover her breasts. She wasn’t cold yet. He leaned down and kissed her lips. He smelled a faint nuance of her perfume from last night, the final notes of lavender drifting away.

She tasted like memory.

~*~

Written for Go Dog Go Cafe.

Image credited to Pexels.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Love Comes Home

They told me not to wait for you,

But their obnoxious pity did not compute.

I kept to my usual mundane routines,

Received cryptic signals in a dream.

One day the seas turned to fire;

I saw sails a-flutter in the flames.

My dream was true–you had returned!

I ran to the dock as the sun sank low…

Your ship floated in, black and burned,

And everyone on board was now a ghost.

~*~

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See?

Image originally from Pixabay-Thommas.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Bingo Update 7

See previous update here.

My friend Doug gave me Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli. At first, I was a bit wary. A book for young adults about a mermaid? Wha? But no! This is a super fun book, and it’s packed full of cool stories about Greek mythology. In fact, it takes place during the Trojan War itself. I love Napoli’s vivid writing. I felt like she truly had spent time living in a mermaid… pod (?) because I was transported into another world full of rich and glorious mermaidian detail. At heart, though, this was a love story, and it was a beautiful one at that. Four stars!

A big thanks goes to Angie for suggesting a Stephen King novel for the 500+ page book! I chose Full Dark, No Stars, which is four novellas. They aren’t specifically connected to each other except by the theme of ordinary people doing something extraordinarily horrible, which King more fully explains in his afterword. I enjoyed the book a lot, but for me the afterword was the best part. It was definitely the icing on the cupcake. 🧁 I gave this book five stars.

I’ll briefly review the stories in order. They will probably contain some spoilers.

The first one, 1922, isn’t the type of story I usually enjoy, but I liked it a lot. It was all narrative/backstory, which normally I avoid, but it worked, so… It took place on a farm, which… eh… but King made that work too. And it was completely disgusting and horrible. So, it had that going for it. 🤣

Big Driver is next, which is a rape revenge fantasy. I can totally get on board with this kind of thing, except idk… I just wasn’t so much into this one. I loved a lot of the details though, especially how she talked her way through the whole thing with her GPS. I guess I don’t feel the rapist suffered enough at the end, or at all really.

Fair Extension is fantastic! I had no idea how it would end. We’ve seen this kind of “deal with the devil” many times before, and yet this still felt fresh and exciting. I just gobbled it up. Loved it all the way through, just perfect.

The last story is A Good Marriage. Just wow. This is one of the best things I’ve read from King. Every moment of the story felt so real and true to me. I was right there with Darcy when she found that box and with each decision she made afterwards. Her character had been crafted so expertly that I felt mind-melded with her the entire time.

What a treat these two books were! 💖

~*~

Image credited to Kriti and Ariel.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Movie Madness

So, I decided to start watching movies again. Idk why I stopped. Just got out of the habit, I guess. For practical reasons, it’s a good idea for me to sit on the comfy sofa sometimes instead of hunched over my laptop at the kitchen table. Anyway…

1. Timeless Love (Prime). This stars Rachel Skarsten and Brant Daugherty. It’s directed by Brian Brough. I was very pleased with my first choice, as it was a sweet fluffy story about a woman who dreams of a husband and children while in a coma and wakes to find they don’t exist. Naturally, she is distraught. When she mentions her conviction that she believes it was more than a dream, people think she’s nuts. Regardless, she sets about finding this man and making him love her by being her wonderful self. He already has a girlfriend, but obviously she is all wrong for him. This is pure romance with only a tiny bit of conflict that took my mind off the thing.

Note: before I watched this, I began The Cooler with Bill Macy and Alec Baldwin, a Vegas/mobster type movie, but also a love story (Macy and a waitress) that looked gritty and interesting at first. After about 20 minutes, the movie choked, which happens occasionally on Prime, and I didn’t care enough to try again.

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm. Completely forgot that S10 had come on, yayyy! Oh, this is a treat. Larry is back in top neurotic, cranky form, and each episode is hilarious in and of itself, yet they’re all loosely connected too. What I love about Curb is they aren’t afraid to be absolutely outrageous to the extreme. You simply can’t predict the ridiculousness that will saturate the writing and dialogue. My favorite may have been Adolph the dog, but it’s really hard to choose. I highly recommend this to anyone with a sense of the absurd (and if you don’t mind liberal use of the F-word).

3. Brittany Runs A Marathon. This is based on a true story. It stars Jillian Bell and is written and directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo. I liked it at first because it was fresh with characters not in the normal mold. But when it became clear that I was to root for a romance between our heroine and some homeless dipsh!t, I lost interest. I began reading stuff on my phone halfway through… though I did tune in again at the end to cheer her on in the marathon. I can’t really recommend the movie though.

4. Prescription for Love. This is another romance directed by Brian Brough ~ I assume it was recommended to me because I watched Timeless Love. But while Timeless Love was sweet, Rx was terrible. Absolutely unwatchable. In fact, I turned it off around a third in. Rx is one of those modern “Cinderella” remakes, supposedly, except it wasn’t in the slightest.

Rx is about a nice nurse (Claire), played by Jillian Murray, who has a mean supervisor, but she has a good life otherwise. While dressed up to see her friend perform in Swan Lake, Claire gets trapped in an elevator with a handsome, charming doctor (Luke), played by Trevor Donovan. They get rescued and fail to exchange contact info; when they meet again at work, he doesn’t recognize her, which is so dumb because she doesn’t look any different! Luke assumes Claire is flirting with him like the other nurses are and gets all grumpy, then tries to apologize and screws that up too. He says he’s “interested in someone else,” which we know refers to the girl from the elevator, but she’s RIGHT THERE. There is just no reason why Luke shouldn’t recognize Claire. Is there some weird prejudice that nurses can’t go to the ballet? I don’t get it. Anyway, instead I put on…

5. Life Itself. This movie killed me. I cried all the way through ~ I don’t mean a single elegant tear rolled down my cheek… no, I literally sobbed. Maybe I should have saved it for a less fragile time when my nerves weren’t so jangled up already. But too late! What’s weird is that some days, for hours and hours, I feel almost numb from this isolation. I just freaking persevere. Hey, it’s mid-April. We’re doing it. We’re getting through it. Maybe things, for most of us, will be all right. I don’t know. Yet, I started watching this film and… blammo!

It’s hard to begin talking about Life Itself without giving anything away. The whole thing is about plot twists. It’s a writer’s movie, which explains why critics hated it. They always scorn writers’ movies. They despised Alex & Emma, which was clever and charming. Life Itself is primarily about unreliable narration. How do you know what really happened? The story is as only as true as the memory of the storyteller. When Will is telling Abby’s story to Cait, we aren’t sure what to believe. Can we trust Will when we know he’s mentally ill? Even if he is relaying the story accurately, what about Abby? How do we know she told the truth to Will? I find these sorts of dilemmas fascinating.

Life Itself is about stories layered within stories and on top of stories ~ it is a tragic yet beautiful layer cake of stories. It’s full of despair, yet love shines through too. You think you can’t bear any more and then… it’s good again. I loved this movie so much I wanted to stay up forever and write my own stories. That’s how I feel when I watch or read something that resonates with me on a deep emotional level.

I highly recommend it if you’re doing okay right now and won’t be triggered by death. I’ll be doing more movie reviews soon and am in the middle of a loooooong Stephen King novel, which is why my book reviews have stalled.

~*~

Images credited to Bitmoji..

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.