Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY
IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I
generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family
rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to
write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration
(quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind.
These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat,
irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if
anything comes of them.
F Trope: Most
lycanthropy, telekinesis, etc starts at puberty why not at menopause…
A Not-So-Current
Event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf
According to the
source above – “A notable exception to the association of Lycanthropy and
the Devil, comes from a rare and lesser known account of an 80-year-old man
named Thiess. In 1692, in Jurgenburg, Livonia, Thiess testified under oath that
he and other werewolves were the Hounds of God. He claimed they were warriors
who went down into hell to do battle with witches and demons. Their efforts
ensured that the Devil and his minions did not carry off the grain from local
failed crops down to hell. Thiess was steadfast in his assertions, claiming
that werewolves in Germany and Russia also did battle with the devil's minions
in their own versions of hell, and insisted that when werewolves died, their
souls were welcomed into heaven as reward for their service.”
Teodors Pakalns
(Latvian) – who goes by Ted in his Minnesota high school is in his supposedly
“native land” while mom and dad go clubbing on the French Riviera to celebrate
their 20th wedding anniversary. While admitting to himself that with
the divorce rate at 73%, it might be something worth celebrating. But sending
him to live with his LATVIAN grandfather in some dinky town of Lode! Near the
bustling metropolis of Rujiena? What the heck is he supposed to do?
He frets, fumes
and mutters about lousy internet connections until he’s so hungry, he can’t
stand it. Coming out to eat, he finds that his grandfather has made a simple
meal. It smells great and looks sort of like a calzone. Ted eats on, then eats
another and then in sudden and surprisingly good English, grandpa tells him a
story. He also tells him he needs to watch out – grandpa Pakalns is a werewolf.
He’s a werewolf on a mission from God!
Jaanjika Kivi
(Estonian) is called Jan in Helsinki where she lives with her artist mother.
She drags Jan to visit her “she’s-been-dying-for-the-last-ten-years”
grandmother in Mom’s home of Estonia, which she escaped as a kid by winning an
art scholarship to Helsingin Yliopisto the University of Helsinki.
Jan and her mother trek to the tiny Estonian town of Karski near the roaring
metropolis...of Tartu.
*sigh*
Mom says she can
go, but she’ll have to walk. Then Mom goes out to paint, leaving Jan with her
elderly grandmother. Jan is mostly afraid of the old woman and doesn’t remember
her speaking anything but some old language Jan assumes is Estonian.
Until suddenly
Grandma starts to tell a story – in clear English – about how she was a
werewolf, on a mission for God...then she turns to Jan and says, “You are my
granddaughter. My own daughter refused to take up the mission. I am asking if
you would take up my mission; complete it and do what our people have been
called to do for five hundred years. I will be with you the entire time, but
you must be my strong arms and strong legs. Will you do it, Jaanjika?”
Grandma’s eye’s suddenly clear and seem to pierce her heart. “Will you?”
Jaanjika meets
Teodors on the border between Estonia and Latvia – in the heart of the ancient
land of Livonia, a land with an ancient history that may very well be poised at
the dawn of a new era that rights an millennium old wrong.
But what about
the forces that don’t want the wrong set right. The ones who have profited from
the carnage? Who are they and what will they do to Jaanjika and Teodors?
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livonia
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