Straw People ~ The traffic light blinked to yellow. Lisa applied the brake, glanced at the rearview mirror, cut the wheel hard to the left and jolted to a stop in the left-turn lane. The light flipped to red long before the car sped across the intersection past Lisa. She smiled, a police car sitting at the adjacent traffic light.
He didn’t pull out, his lights blazing and siren screaming. He turned right and parked on the shoulder fifty feet up the road.
The traffic light cycled, Lisa continued on her way soon to be pulled over. She received a ticket for changing lanes without signaling and a ticket for an illegal turn, coming straight from the left-turn lane.
Her comment: “I bet a blonde pissed him off in high school.”
Straw People illustrates the relationship between the past and the present, straw people populating the shadowy mindscape like puppet masters manipulating the marionette’s disjointed, disturbing dance.
Kasey’s fists are bloodied against the story, pounding away until spent and breathless on a snowy winter day meant to represent hope, forgiveness and rebirth. The style is sharp, not a word wasted. Yet, the telling leaves nothing to happenstance or guess, creating wonderfully detailed images through the eyes of the protagonist, fifteen-year-old Debra.
The clines and colors are not soothed under this artist’s loving hand.
Author's note:
Writing will come alive when we tell the truth as we see it, without excuses or pretext.
I wrestled with whether to publish this book or not. I floated a dozen electronic copies, not for reviews, but for the reader to answer the simple question: Should I publish this book? Four people said no. Four people gave me the wide eyes, taking a deep breath, saying it was my choice. Four people, two with tears in their eyes, told me the book must be published. Of the twelve people, the first group did not finish the book, one person making it halfway through the second chapter.
She said: "The only thing more disturbing to me than this story, is that there's a mind out there that can dream up such a story."
I considered putting that on the dust cover. I nodded, accepting the criticism I asked for. I'd not be fair to ask for an opinion, and than argue when I got it.
I did not dream up this story, which is likely more disturbing.
Due to miscues, bad assumptions and wrong choices, fourteen-year-old Debra has sex with her adult uncle, in the first chapter. Debra takes us through the incident in sober, unblinking detail. This sets off a cascade of events, which the story is about.
Straw People is about our dark side. If you ever look at a child raging, out of control, and wonder: How did this happen? maybe Straw People will offer an eyedropper of understanding, a touch of compassion.
