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Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2010 11:13 pm
by PNWgal
MS, this really is a beautiful piece. Beth comes to help Mick honor the dead of a war she didn't live through and doesn't understand, but she still wants to be there for him.
MoonShadow wrote:Blankets of fog had rolled in from the bay and they carried with them the scent of distant dreams.
That's a gorgeous line.
MoonShadow wrote:I come here every year. To stand above them. To remember what they gave me.
How difficult it has to be for Mick, to remember the fallen and to know that he will never follow them to a final rest. But he does get his second chance in Beth.

Very nice. :hug:

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:07 pm
by MoonShadow
Lucy, JMC, Darkstarrising, Shadow, PNW
Thank you all for the wonderful comments and compliments!
I guess I'm a poet at heart, I love to paint lovely scenes with words.
This is certainly been a great challenge

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 11:49 pm
by nutmegger911
Oh, Moonshadow, this is a wonderfully poignant look into Mick's time, and a beautiful tribute to those caught in the crossfire at Pearl Harbor.

I loved this:
MoonShadow wrote: “Beth, this wasn’t the anniversary of your war.” He breathed deep before the words came. “These were my friends. This was my time.” Pain laced every word as it slipped into the darkness like the tendrils of fog.”

“You come here every year?”

A cross between a snort and sigh of impatience spoke volumes.

“Yeah, every year. I come here every year. To stand above them. To remember what they gave me. I don’t know how to make you understand what all this,” he gestured across the rolling hills marked with marble, faded greens and browns, and limp miniature flags hanging in the darkness. His empty hand turned palm up, before it fell to his side, “What this means to me.”
She’s trying to understand, he’s trying to explain, but there is no way to truly bridge that gap. The frustration is hard for both of them.

This is so very beautiful.
MoonShadow wrote: “Are you ready?” she asked in a whisper.

“No.” “Yes.”
He can’t entirely let go of his past, and yet he’s embracing his future with her. What a wonderful way to connect Mick’s past and his future. Brava.

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:40 am
by MoonShadow
nutmegger,
Thank you for your kind words. I love peeling back the layers that wrap Mick's past.

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:37 pm
by Moonlighter
This was beautiful, MoonShadow. What a lovely tribute to all those fallen soldiers. And your depiction of Mick and Beth reaching out to one another to bridge that gap between them is so well done as we watch Beth try to comprehend his losses and Mick try to explain it to her. I'm always glad to see Mick hopeful and willing to grab hold of his future, in this case Beth.

Beautifully done, MS!

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:35 am
by jen
Moonshadow

This is lovely! Your imagery is quite stunning. This place was clearly not a comfortable place for Beth. It was cold, dark and frankly a little creapy but she chose to be there because Mick wanted to be there. It was her decision to be a part of his life.

If it was important to him, it was important to her and that is a critical element in the families we choose.

Both recognize the different perspectives, different needs and still value the perceptions of the other. Beth chose to be there with Mick as he stood with his friends of so long ago, and then he left with her so that she could get warm.

Lovely!

Thank you!

Jenna

:hearts: :flowers: :hearts: :flowers:

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:11 pm
by maggatha3
I have been in a similar war cemetery ...first time when I was 17 years old..in Crete. It was a sunny April morning and I can only recall feeling cold and empty. All those similar looking graves, similar ages of young men, different names though and different tears shed upon them. So many broken ties right in front of my very eyes..really, I wondered why our teachers thought of taking us there..so much pain. still, the luck of war experience makes it difficult to share the deep feeling of someone who fought with them, depended on them, had been saved by them or outlived them. Beth can never share this feeling...only stand by Mick..

Loved it! :heart:

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 3:30 am
by MoonShadow
maggatha3, jen

Thank you both for reading this story.
I've stood in a military cemetery and looked at all the names and dates and been moved to tears over the
heartbreak and loss that these places represent. But I've never been to a WWII battlefield. I'm not sure I could.

you are both so kind,
thank you

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 5:45 am
by allegrita
Just stopping by for a reread of this really poignant story. :rose:

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:02 am
by MoonShadow
Thank you lady,

I love it when folks drop by and comment.
sometime I re-read these and wonder... so many of them write themselves. I just get out of the way and let Mick, Josef, or Beth say what they need to say. :heart:

then I just smile.

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:04 am
by cassysj
This is such a beautiful little piece.

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:17 am
by jen
Lovely piece.

Mick is both blessed and cursed by living beyond 'his time'. The world that he grew up in, that made him into the man that walks the streets of L.A. in the 21st century was very different from the one he now inhabits. He does his best to fit into the modern world but his roots remain planted in another time.

Perhaps it becomes easier for vampires, when society no longer resembles what they remember.

And yet even then, does the past break into the present, as it did on this day for Mick? Beth is to be congratulated for choosing to share it with him, easing the solitude of his journey.

Thank you!

Jenna

:hearts: :flowers: :hearts: :flowers:

Re: Cold-- December Champagne Challenge Rated G

Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 12:26 am
by allegrita
This is a perfect story to read on Memorial Day weekend. Mick's sorrows about the past, his grief for his lost friends, and the warmth that Beth offers him--a chance to move on from grief and cold into warmth and life. Just a beautiful story, MoonShadow. :heart: