Great and Small

It's no secret that I love cats, and if ever it was, my Favorite Things post dispelled it. Cats have been a part of my life for almost as long as I can remember, excluding a brief period after one of ours ran away and before we got our current ones, Buster and Esther. When I was little, the neighbors had a massive amount of cats (all one family, I believe) that Jenny and I were allowed to play with, and when they moved, they left one cat with us. At the same time we had Ashes, a big black devil-cat who used to lie in wait and pounce on me when I came around corners. My contact with cats, you see, has not been wholly positive.

But despite that emotional scarring at such a tender age, I grew up loving cats - and of all adorable and sweet cats, I consider my Buster to be the best. I've had him now for about eight years; he sleeps on my bed at night, gives me "kitty hugs," plays peek-a-boo with me, gets blue (so I am told) when I go away. Those who know more about dogs than I do say Buster is one, only in cat form. That may be true; I couldn't say. All I know is that he is one special cat.

I suppose, then, that he forms a large part of the inspiration for Sunshine and Gossamer. I have not "properly" begun this story, "properly" entailing research and Word Documents, but I keep a special notebook for it and write sections when the mood strikes. Right now it is merely the tale of a girl and her cat come to live on a Welsh farm for the duration of World War II - a coming-of-age story, of sorts. Mostly, however, it has shaped itself into a tribute to my love of cats in general and Buster in particular. I'm just finishing up a James Herriot novel, so what comes to mind is the song which inspired his titles:

all things bright and beautiful
all creatures great and small
all things wise and wonderful
the Lord God made them all.

Not deep or profound, but for some reason it makes me smile. And now, in the spirit of Sunshine and Gossamer, here is a snatch of the story for you.

Dear Father,

Today, in a sweeping naval battle that will go down in the history of Farrowdale, the Great Gossamer Armada was defeated by the Sunshine Fleet. The struggle raged for hours with great loss of twigs on both sides; the Sunshine Fleet (two noble bogwood corsairs and six bark galleons) was outnumbered by the Gossamer Armada (five corsairs, four galleons and a dinghy), but superior seamanship was shown by the Sunshine Fleet. Oh, the suspense was terrible! It looked as though the Armada would prevail, having sunk two of my galleons, but a stroke of genius saved the Fleet: I converted a corsair into a fire ship, and that was that.

Of the Gossamer Armada, only the dinghy sailed away. The Sunshine Fleet returned to harbor with a corsair and four galleons only slightly crisped, but the fire-corsair went to the bottom of the pond. Ho hum. The Navy Department will build another one.

With love,

Sunshine and Gossamer

Beautiful People - Charlie Bent

Guess who! Yes, the Beautiful People questions are back for February. I debated whether to do this round, but then Jenny went and posted hers and declared that I was soon to post mine, so here I am. Last month I did Tip; this month I am returning to Charlie. As The White Sail's Shaking draws toward a close, Charlie is more and more involved in each chapter and thus has been occupying the greater portion of my brain. I hope, therefore, that you won't mind seeing him again.

charlie bent, midshipman

1. If your character could be played by an actor, who would it be?

Jeremy Sumpter, if he would go to Neverland himself and stop growing up. I fixed on him after seeing "Peter Pan" (2003), but of course that movie was made nine years ago and Sumpter is now in his twenties. However, he still has a young-looking face and I believe he might be able to pull it off.

2. Does your character have a specific theme song?

There are a number of songs that remind me of Charlie, some more directly than others. I remember I picked Owl City's "To the Sky" and Andrew Peterson's "After the Last Tear Falls" some time ago. "Streets of London" by Blackmore's Night also brings Charlie to mind, although he has never been to London.

3. What's his worst childhood memory?

"I...had a fever. Walked a long way."

4. If your character had a superpower, what would it be?

Perhaps the ability to turn anything he touched into ice, ala Frozone. I never saw much use for the power, myself, but it is the only one I can see Charlie having.

5. If your character [wrecked] on an island with a bunch of other people, how could your character help the group survive?

A second question arises from this one, and that is whether or not he would want to help them survive. As to that, I suppose that, in a detached way, he probably would. However, Charlie has a great deal of the aristocrat in him and is not one to throw himself into any kind of brute labor. I could see him spending the entire time working out the island's exact location and its physical properties. It wouldn't help his companions, but if ever they were rescued it would be interesting information to have.

6. Is he married? If not, does he someday wish to be?

Charlie is fifteen, and he has no thoughts of matrimony at the present.

7. What is a cause he would die for?

Perhaps as telling a question would be, what is a cause he would kill for. But at any rate, I think one answer - there could be several - is that Charlie would die for honor. It would be stupid and he would know it was stupid, but he would do it, all the same.

8. Would he rather die fighting valiantly, or quietly at home?

Fighting. Or at least, he would like to think he would rather die fighting.

9. If a stranger walked up to him and told him he is the child of the prophesy, would he believe them?

If it happened in Boston, ten to one this stranger is going to smell heavily of alcohol. In that case, Charlie would remove them from his way with a wary smile, brush off his gloves carefully, and go on with whatever he was doing. Were the stranger of the darkly-cloaked, mysterious-Druid sort, straight out of legend and not to be denied, I imagine they would still find Charlie a difficult case. He would not like to be a child of the prophesy, and what he does not like he does not accept with good grace.

10. Do they prefer the country, or the city?

The city, if it comes down to a choice between those two alone. Charlie had enough of plantation-life when he was growing up and prefers the bustle and hustle of a place like Boston, although ships and the sea are his first love.