There was a large bird flying over the row of homes near the river. From this river the mountains begin. I watched the bird, and the idea for the beginning of 'Blown Apart' came to me. Dawn, visiting her grandmother in this town of old Capes, Victorians, quiet maple tree lined streets was walking in a sense with me, the first person I wrote about. Then, her cousin - Fred- entered my imagination. Once more, remembering the true story I'd heard- I began to weave place and characters together.
The street corner today has an old clapboard church without a steeple. From it you walk uphill along the brick sidewalks to two similar looking Victorian houses. The one on the right is where Dawn spent much time of her childhood. She'd go to the top third floor window to gaze on the mountains. When Dawn's granny died, she had to move to a village twelve miles distant. From this new place, her life really begins. She lives with her cousin's family now.
She is very pleased with this prospect until we learn almost immediately in the story that her older cousin is fleeing because of an incident of a house blowing up in this village. She keeps his whereabouts a secret as he writes and confides in her.
They are best friends actually, despite their age difference. She may look a mere child, yet is maturing swiftly, trying to understand his disappearance, and her loss. We learn her mother has been dead for a few years, and her father - like her cousin - has left family to make a fresh start.
She may not understand these changes due to outer circumstances as she treads on the village lane to her aunt - her mother's sister and uncle and cousins. She could care less that Nazis were reported to have been living in this village and it was their house that her cousin was involved in blowing apart.
Her new home with her cousins sits on a hill- even today you can see it- which overlooks the range of mountains here in western Maine. The barn and fields lie near their red brick Cape. There is not one part of the day which is not busy here. Dawn finds consolation in taking on her cousin Fred's chores. She receives mail from him which she hides in a bucket in the barn.
Fred is out on an island she learns. I wrote this story on an island. The actual one in the story is several hours out to sea- he picked this particular one because he thought he was safe there, no Nazis would follow him, nor our government, right? Even today, this island is not easy to reach.
To arrive at this haven of so- called safety he took an old bus out of his village- a contraption which let out blasts from its rear every few seconds. I could sense how terrified he was by this noise. As if he'd be tracked so easily, like everyone knew he was escaping his beautiful village and farm life and would drag him back, stick him in jail. He got on this bus one early morning at the old General Store in the village. This store is still there but it's now empty. Someday someone will wish to restore it The real Fred, told me how he shook with fright the whole trip out to the island.
The in reality even, this village remains a quiet place where generally nothing happens, except people passing through it even back then, nothing was expected to arise out of its sleepy one main street and side roads. Dawn as she
lapses into acceptance of her new life, away from her grandmother's town ( where I the writer live and in the granny's home) thinks on her 'mam' - her mother in another dreamy world, which seems closer to Dawn than the real one. She asks questions to her mother regarding love, and what she needs to do in life, her own personal goals. She deeply loves - this spirit mother, her cousin who has disappeared for he is the person she has to reckon with as not a romantic love, although it was sometimes allowed in families between first cousins, but these definitions are not yet present for Dawn.
World War II is about to begin, but who knows that in rural life tucked into mountains, fields, daily events and why are there Nazis hidden away, ordinary men to the village people., except for a few, as Fred. I don't attempt to answer this question but to honestly tell the story and let the reader advance from historical evidence of Nazis in Maine, to what came apart with this world event. And was perhaps mended as best as Dawn could do .
I will go on from here to describe in more detail Dawn's home, her parents home she rediscovers in her cousin's village. I found this home - quite by chance as I the writer here, wandered the village lanes on a summer day. I'd love to live there. It's now a museum library. I will give them a copy of this book - a memoir to a life of being present, making your best effort to manifest your talents in the midst of world turmoil.
The street corner today has an old clapboard church without a steeple. From it you walk uphill along the brick sidewalks to two similar looking Victorian houses. The one on the right is where Dawn spent much time of her childhood. She'd go to the top third floor window to gaze on the mountains. When Dawn's granny died, she had to move to a village twelve miles distant. From this new place, her life really begins. She lives with her cousin's family now.
She is very pleased with this prospect until we learn almost immediately in the story that her older cousin is fleeing because of an incident of a house blowing up in this village. She keeps his whereabouts a secret as he writes and confides in her.
They are best friends actually, despite their age difference. She may look a mere child, yet is maturing swiftly, trying to understand his disappearance, and her loss. We learn her mother has been dead for a few years, and her father - like her cousin - has left family to make a fresh start.
She may not understand these changes due to outer circumstances as she treads on the village lane to her aunt - her mother's sister and uncle and cousins. She could care less that Nazis were reported to have been living in this village and it was their house that her cousin was involved in blowing apart.
Her new home with her cousins sits on a hill- even today you can see it- which overlooks the range of mountains here in western Maine. The barn and fields lie near their red brick Cape. There is not one part of the day which is not busy here. Dawn finds consolation in taking on her cousin Fred's chores. She receives mail from him which she hides in a bucket in the barn.
Fred is out on an island she learns. I wrote this story on an island. The actual one in the story is several hours out to sea- he picked this particular one because he thought he was safe there, no Nazis would follow him, nor our government, right? Even today, this island is not easy to reach.
To arrive at this haven of so- called safety he took an old bus out of his village- a contraption which let out blasts from its rear every few seconds. I could sense how terrified he was by this noise. As if he'd be tracked so easily, like everyone knew he was escaping his beautiful village and farm life and would drag him back, stick him in jail. He got on this bus one early morning at the old General Store in the village. This store is still there but it's now empty. Someday someone will wish to restore it The real Fred, told me how he shook with fright the whole trip out to the island.
The in reality even, this village remains a quiet place where generally nothing happens, except people passing through it even back then, nothing was expected to arise out of its sleepy one main street and side roads. Dawn as she
lapses into acceptance of her new life, away from her grandmother's town ( where I the writer live and in the granny's home) thinks on her 'mam' - her mother in another dreamy world, which seems closer to Dawn than the real one. She asks questions to her mother regarding love, and what she needs to do in life, her own personal goals. She deeply loves - this spirit mother, her cousin who has disappeared for he is the person she has to reckon with as not a romantic love, although it was sometimes allowed in families between first cousins, but these definitions are not yet present for Dawn.
World War II is about to begin, but who knows that in rural life tucked into mountains, fields, daily events and why are there Nazis hidden away, ordinary men to the village people., except for a few, as Fred. I don't attempt to answer this question but to honestly tell the story and let the reader advance from historical evidence of Nazis in Maine, to what came apart with this world event. And was perhaps mended as best as Dawn could do .
I will go on from here to describe in more detail Dawn's home, her parents home she rediscovers in her cousin's village. I found this home - quite by chance as I the writer here, wandered the village lanes on a summer day. I'd love to live there. It's now a museum library. I will give them a copy of this book - a memoir to a life of being present, making your best effort to manifest your talents in the midst of world turmoil.