And this is it for now

Here is part of what I wrote today. The scene is a town meeting to discuss what to do about the boy with wings, a meeting called in response to a petition from members of one of the churches in town.

At this point, I have 51,222 words. I will continue to work on the story for the rest of the month, but I think this is the last bit I will share with you. Thanks for your comments and support up to this point. Maybe someday this book will see the light of day. I'll let you know when and if.

I had intended to keep my mouth shut, but at the end I held up my hand.

Dankins called on me and noted, “This is going to be the last word, people. This has gone on long enough. What do you have to add, Corny?”

“I agree with Vern,” I said, but no one laughed. “No, I just want to say that I agree with Joanne.”

She turned around and looked at me, confusion and pleasure mixed on her plain face.

“That is to say,” I went on, “there is a clear and present danger to the young people of this community. It is not the boy with wings, though. It’s the people who want to sow seeds of fear everywhere, who try to make our young people believe that the whole world is like Blakesfield. Or worse, that the whole world is like part of Blakesfield, the mainly white, Christian part. That anyone who is different is dangerous and needs to be stomped on. That is the danger. People like Joanne talk about God creating the world and everything in it, and as soon as they see something or meet someone who isn’t exactly like their paltry little vision of the way things are supposed to be, they get all tied up in knots.

“Y’all know me,” I looked around, “and y’all know I’m a mess. But I grew up here and I love this place. But this place sure as hell ain’t all there is. And the sooner our kids realize that, the better and safer – yes, safer! – they’ll be.”

I looked around the room and saw a few heads nod and a few mouths tighten.

“With that,” I said to the mayor, “I’ll pass.”

PS -- I felt so good about getting past 50,000 words that after lunch I went to the gym and did my treadmill workout. I feel downright upright, not to say smug!