Chapter One, Episode 162 - Lift and Let Go - Situationally Theirs

Review, Revision, Edit and Update

Point of View. Trying to understand the various types of Point of View (POV), for me, is like trying to understand mathematics. Gives me a headache. Quoting again from The Art and Craft of Storytelling, Nancy Lamb poses a huge challenge for me: "The writer's task is to choose the most effective character or characters to tell the tale." With the writing of each episode, usually a specific character steps forward wishing to speak. Sometimes it will be more than one - the loudest or most determined one gets the stage. In this episode of Situationally Theirs, when Emelina takes to her bed, she needed others to speak for her. Those people that cared for her prior to the pandemic lockdown - her employees and friends. Writing dialogue and having distinctly different characters directed the Point of View that I unconsciously utilized. 

Lift and Let Go

She could hear only her footfalls splashing on the gravelled track. The rain helped her focus. Gave her direction. She was so cold and had been since getting Carrie’s letter. Her flashes of anger at Jeremy, at Carrie and at herself came in bursts, pushing her out onto the track at the Estate. Running in the rain that came everyday was the only time she could feel anything other than anger and frustration. Coming in out of the rain she could warm up. Hot tea, a hot bath and a warm bed. She felt safe in bed. 

~~~~~

Brigitte was worried. Really worried. She recognized what was happening to her employer - her friend. Instead of going out to charity functions, she would run and run or stay in bed. She wasn’t eating. She wasn’t talking with anyone. If Brigitte reminded her of an appointment or asked her about any of their plans, she would only say “You take care of it.” and turn away. Brigitte went first to Martha. “I don’t know what to do for her, Martha. Seeing her turn back into her shell after all she’s been doing for the last many months, is painful and it’s just….well.... wrong!” Martha had been just as concerned. The mood at the Estate seemed joyless again, no matter how cheerful everyone acted. In the sullen kitchen, Martha shared her worries with her friend. “Elizabeth, what should we do? Has anyone talked to James?” Cook added the last ingredients to the soup pot. She took her sealed jar of bay leaves from the spice cupboard, removed three of the dry savoury leaves and put them in last. The lid went on. She filled up her mug with the fresh steeped tea and held out the teapot to her friend. “Martha, come sit down. First, we call her sister to come out. She probably doesn’t even know how bad it’s gotten. Then, we’ll talk to James. Brigitte may already have talked with him. There’s nothing else we can do. Miss Emelina is going through something kind of like a shock wave. All those years when she took to her bed after Mr. Michael died can’t just go ‘poof’ and never happen again. We just leave her alone in her grief.” 

“You’re quite right, Elizabeth. She did have quite a shock. Wrote all those letters. Got her hopes up - about what I don’t know. She’d never tell us what it was all about - like it was a secret or something. Just go through the mail everyday like she was expecting a million dollars.”

~~~~~

Emelina threw off her covers. Hot and uncomfortable, she lay quietly on her bed. There was a spider crawling across the ceiling to a web that Joey must have missed. She got up, opened her curtains squinting at the brightness that shone through the clouds. She flipped the covers up on her bed, put her housecoat on and walked out of her bedroom. 

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”

~ Havelock Ellis (1859 - 1939)

English essayist and physician