Comment from BethShelby

Excellent

This is great story. You are able to get into your character's heads and allow us to remember other people we have known who act and react the way they do. You are an excellent writer.

 Comment Written 06-Dec-2024

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reply by the author on 06-Dec-2024

That's high praise from an excellent writer, yourself, Beth. Thank you very much.

I'm glad you can recognize some of these characters in others. I hope you don't know too many Marie's, though!

Comment from Wayne Fowler

Excellent

Well, there it is, the old impasse. Nothing now but to get out. Scram, old woman!
Am I the only one a bit unnerved by the past tense/present tense issue? I looked at it hard and don't see how to do Marie's reminiscing along with present actions and discussions differently, so it must be me.
I am a bit surprised that a virtuoso violinist would bowl, though.
Best wishes.

 Comment Written 06-Dec-2024

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reply by the author on 06-Dec-2024

So, who's going to break this impasse? You know someone will.

Your final comment is interesting. My ex-son-in-law who was a very good pianist was very careful about his hands--annoyingly so. He wouldn't use sharp knives in the kitchen or do very much with his hands and wasn't at all handy around the house, using his hands as a convenient excuse to get out of any kind of manual labor.

But I've also known surgeons who do just about anything with their hands and don't give it much thought.

Except for that freak accident in the last story where Julia lost a fingernail, I don't think bowling is that much of a concern. It probably helps strengthen her hands and arms. I took my grandson bowling a few weeks ago, and it was the first time I'd bowled in many years. We bowled just two games, but boy did I feel it in many different muscles for the next few days.

reply by Wayne Fowler on 06-Dec-2024

I wish I could show you a picture of my right hand. There's a steel pin in the pinky giving a permanent crook. The middle finger was broken leaving the nail part at a permanent inward bend, the index finger is scarred and has a weird clockwise twist, but is fine. The thumb (from a table saw wreck is stiff from the loss of the last joint and has a wicked scar that gives it an alligator mouth look. Permanent nerve damage makes it extremely sensitive so I keep the nail long in an effort to protect it. If I was a guitar or banjo picker, or a piano player, I would be done.

reply by the author on 06-Dec-2024

Yikes! Yeah, you'd better stick to something like the harmonica or maybe the autoharp if you want to make music.

reply by Wayne Fowler on 06-Dec-2024

or the radio

Comment from Pearl Edwards

Excellent

Oh thank you for the chuckles I got from Marie's rant in the first paradgraphs. Never the twain shall meet with this mother and daughter I am thinking. A good read, Jim.
cheers,
valda

 Comment Written 06-Dec-2024

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reply by the author on 06-Dec-2024

Thanks very much, Valda. I'm so glad you saw the humor in Marie's thoughts about everything. I've built her into one of those characters you love to hate, so far. The hope for a reconciliation seems pretty bleak at this point. Let's see if something can pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Comment from Carol Hillebrenner

Excellent

Marie basically has never forgiven Julia for being born. Some mothers do that and miss out on sharing a happy life with their children. Julie can't apologize because that would give her mother a chance to think she was right all along. Poor Marie has a lonely life through her own fault.

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 Comment Written 06-Dec-2024

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reply by the author on 06-Dec-2024

Everything you said is correct, Carol. So, is there any hope for a reconciliation? The thing that drove the final nail into the coffin for the relationship between Marie and Julia was when Brian came into the picture when they were teens. Keep that in mind as we come to the final showdown in the next chapter.

Comment from lyenochka

Excellent

I know Marie is one of the narrators but can't figure out how she might work with Fran and Dana to solve the Dipraxa problem. Maybe she will take it and understand what it means to be addicted.
Great dialogue between mother and daughter. They came to the crux of the problem but can Marie learn to love?

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 Comment Written 05-Dec-2024

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reply by the author on 06-Dec-2024

Marie will be involved in the other plot line--the fight with Big Pharma. All three of the main characters will eventually come together for that one.

Marie and Julia never had a good mother-daughter relationship to begin with, but when Brian entered the picture way back when, he was the catalyst for fully destroying it. He is the key to their reconciliation if there is to be one.

Comment from Wendy G

Exceptional

So realistic.... You have presented a very real-life scenario, where relationships don't work out smoothly, and where upbringings are repeated and misunderstandings are frequent, where things said are justified, where people refuse to accept that relationships and love are more important than being "great" at something. Excellent story! Very well written.
Wendy

 Comment Written 05-Dec-2024

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reply by the author on 06-Dec-2024

Thank you so very much, Wendy. This chapter is one of my favorites and took many hours to get the conversation between these two just right. Things seem pretty bleak at the moment for a reconciliation, but at least the truth is finally out there.

I won't leave the readers hanging for long, and we'll find out in the next chapter what the final outcome will be.

Thanks for this thoughtful review and those 6 stars too.