Date: 02 Jun 2013 02:23 Title: Chapter 22
Well, first let me address what Malcolm and the gang tried to do, which was escape. I’m thankful that Dino was not harmed any, merely bounced back, nor did anything else super bad happen to it and by extension those tossing it against the funnel thing. It has to suck that they’re stuck in that place, that there is really no way out, but at least they’re not being killed by a twister, right? They tried and gathered some data, but they’re not gonna get out of there until Q lets them out of there.
Back with Q, he’s getting hurt, he’s feeling vulnerable, and now I think he’s getting desperate. Desperation, often seen in a bad way, is a great emotion for taking action. Some of my better actions in life came from a desperate need to make a change and here Q needs to make a change. He needs to go from being sure of what’s going to happen and being complacent to learning how to trust, to have faith, and hope for the best. You can’t love without trust, without faith, and you have to make that leap.
If Q is to make that leap and help save his species, he’s going to have to heed Lili’s lessons (which he’s beginning to do here). Q’s progression over the course of the last many chapters has been a good progression, one that has been well paced.
Taking a moment to address the theme of the chapter here … poor Melissa. She’s living the life all of us, at some point or another, fear for ourselves or our loved ones: a life where she is forgetting all she has known and loved, and she’s becoming a burden on others. Norri is broken up about it all, not sure what to do, but Melisa does know what to do an ultimately, I feel they make the right choice. It’s a super sensitive issue, a really tough one to tackle, but you did it here and I’m glad. This story has addressed a number of tough to tackle issues and it’s almost as much an education to the reader as it is Q. At the very least, like Q, it makes us think and that’s the hallmark of a good story.
Author's Response:
Oh, you honor me.
I wanted one ending to be not so nice. Something to be a hard decision, because I think most of us will face up to that at some point, either for ourselves or for someone close to us. The hardest bit to write was Norri offering orange juice instead of water for the end, so that the last moment of Melissa's life would have a small bit of pleasure in it, a final act of kindness and consideration.