What can I say about this? A painful examination of a relationship breakup.

The last scene is a brilliant example of characterisation. In only a few short words, we learn exactly what sort of person Maricha is, and wonder how her husband could ever have been fooled by her.

One interesting thing I noticed was that we never learnt the husband's name. We learnt his wife's name, and that of his son, but not his. He ends the story nameless....

This story raised an interesting question... Was Maricha merely happy that her husband died?

She seemed to have already made arrangements for her son to leave. that means she had forknowledge. That makes this a murder.
Thanks Rose! Very intriguing!

My reading was that the husband was going to take Brandywine. Even if it hadn't be agreed ahead of time, Maricha would have pushed him on to her. Instead, he's being pushed off onto his grandparents. Murder is unlikely -- she's just really happy with what happened because it was a loose end tidied up.

My interpretation too. Really the only way it could have been a murder is if she'd hired someone to hit the car. That seems a bit difficult to orchestrate as well as a technique not many hit men would readily agree to (too many variables, plus a lot of personal danger). At least that's my opinion.

In any case I guess it was convenient that the narrator had just finished his will!

An unexpected story, Rose! Nice job,
Kevin

I loved every bit of this story... and I loved it right till the end.... even the damn twist...

Thanks for sharing this with us, Rose.
BeaStKid

Thank you, for your kind words. I tried to take this one in a different direction then my previous stories and I apparently got it just right.

Maricha...she's hard to describe. To use as few words to describe her and how she is was an interesting challenge for me and one that I was glad I did.

As to the husbands name, his is Lian and since he dies so early in Brandywine's life, he hardly comes up in the stand alones that I write.





In a way, both of you are right in a way. Murder may SEEM unlikely, but it did happen. But who set up what and why? If you really look at the story and Maricha's reaction to it, you'll notice that she was...smug about it, as if she knew something more then what was let on.



Thank you, Kevin. Like I said, any thing is possible with this story. I suppose, I'll have to write another story that continues off of this and answer those questions, huh?



I love doing that to people, that twist that just kind smacks you into a wall and leaves you going 'Huh?'
I'm glad you liked it BK.

I hope you all continue to read and review my stories. It's nice to hear from you guys, really it is.

I saw the smugness, but I had interpreted it as being happy that he was out of the way. I wondered if there was more to it, but I had no evidence to say so.

So then there are more installments to this story? I didn't realize that!

There might be another part, this time when Brandywine was older. Mostly talking about what is what and clearing a few things up.

I'll look forward to it!

I thought it was murder, too, she was just way too happy about it for it to have been an accident, then she'd invariably have been shocked, no matter how much she wanted it.

Interesting ending, Rose! And a sequel with some clarifications might be a good idea, too.

So do I. Ah, the joys of trying to write a story just as good as the first one.



Well, I'm happy that someone saw it...though, at first, it wasn't supposed to end like that.
Anyways, I'll be writing it as soon as I finish up a few other things. Until then, I'm glad you liked the story.