Activity 1.15

Write 500 words in the voice of a character telling a story either about himself / herself or another person.  Try to make the narrator come to life by showing their conversational style and mannerisms, what they find interesting or significant, what delights or annoys them and so on.

“We first moved to these islands fifteen years ago. Me, my husband John and our beautiful, beautiful boy Daniel.  Me and John had been coming here on holiday for years before we made the move, and before we had Daniel.  We fell in love with the place the first time we saw it; the white sand, the green islands and the blue, blue, blue of the sea and the sky.  And, oh, the flowers!  The snaps never did it justice and our friends thought we were mad for wanting to live here.  It may be alright for a holiday, they said, but it will be different living there.  How will you make enough to live on, they said, what will you do with yourselves in the winter, how will you fit in with the locals? We said it was love and they thought we were mad.  We said it was a good place to bring up Daniel and they said we were mad.  We moved anyway. I think our friends were jealous as they waved us off.  I think they wanted us to fail, to come back admitting that they were right, that it had been nothing more than a holiday romance.  We didn’t go back.  Despite everything we didn’t go back.

The first couple of years were both difficult and fantastic at the same time.  In the holiday season we let two bedrooms as B&Bs and John took on various odd-jobs around the island.  It wasn’t always easy.  Money was tight and when Daniel was toddling I never seemed to have a moment to draw breath what with looking after him, the guests and, usually, John morning, noon and night.  Out of season we had more time but less money.  The wind never seemed to stop blowing in the winter but the thought of those blue skies kept us going until spring and, somehow, we survived.

As Daniel grew he thrived on island life.  Always outdoors, with his little friends, exploring the hills and beaches, always looking tanned and healthy.  It was always so safe, you see. We had none of the worries that our friends from home had.

I can’t remember now when I first knew for sure about John and Susie from the hotel.  It’s a small place and people talk.  John got careless.  Who knows? You can only ignore the obvious for so long before it slaps you in the face and calls you a stupid cow.  He worked out how to fit in with the locals alright.  We agreed to stay together for Daniel’s sake.  Of course John carried on with her, he couldn’t help himself, but we never spoke about it.  For Daniel’s sake.

Of course since Daniel, you know, passed away, drowned, we have no reason to stay together and I have no reason to stay here.  I remind everyone of a dead boy and a broken marriage.   But how can I go?  I see my beautiful, beautiful boy everywhere in the blue, blue, blue…