Friday, December 07, 2012

Howlina Characters Day 7 - Mistakes

"7.) Is there one event or happening your character would like to erase from their past? Why?"

It is interesting that this falls on Pearl Harbor Day.

For Frank it would most certainly be the day that his wife left him.  She was a very deceitful woman and had presented to him a completely false personality.  They had dated for over a year before deciding to marry and he had thought it was a perfect match.  In secret she was cheating on him all along.  She loved the play acting and manipulating him.  That is her true personality, but she so convincingly put on the persona of a loving, caring, thoughtful companion to whom he could tell and share everything that he never even suspected until she finally revealed it all.

She had been recording everything she was doing and her real feelings in a diary.  She didn't manipulate him in order to cheat, she manipulated and lied to her other lovers too.  She revealed it to him when she didn't find it fun to play act anymore.  When she shared the diary with him she laughed.

She published the diary and held a party to celebrate the book.  He actually came home from work to find their home filled with people.  She started an elaborate presentation to show him everything about her deceit.  He lost control and drove everyone out of the house.  She got angry at him and pulled a gun on him when he was yelling at the guests.

She winged him in the arm from a bit of a distance while he was near the gun cabinet.  He took cover and she continued to shoot at him.  In defense he managed to get another of the guns and they traded shots until the police arrived.

There was a great deal of confusion in which the police were fired on, and eventually the house was set on fire.

Both Frank and his wife were arrested.  In the ensuing legal battle both sets of attorneys claimed that the other party set the fire.

Frank sank into a deep depression and was almost useless in his own defense.

In the end he lost his position at the university.  He was not held responsible for the fire or any damage and injury from the gunfight, but he was asked to leave Argentina and never come back.
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The one memory that Fiole would erase is the death of her Father.  He was the loving one of her parents and the only one, she felt, that understood her feelings as a Super in a normal world.  She could talk to him even more than she could her Super brother, Teleto.  She was away from home when it happened and wasn't able to come home in time for the funeral events.  She never forgave herself that.

I suppose I could mention the funeral traditions of the Howlers.  When someone dies their body is stripped naked and they are dressed in a white gown that is made in such a way that it will eventually be wrapped completely around the body and used to carry the deceased.  The body is laid for viewing for only 24 hours.  During that time a shallow grave is dug and a fire laid, preferably in the family garden.  Included in the fire lay are the death clothes, any special keepsakes that the deceased had predetermined should be "death gifts" and any other "death gifts" offered by the family.  24 hours after death they body is carried to the fire pit and surrounded by mourners, the fire is lit.  They sing songs as the fire burns.  When the body is completely burned away and the fire as died of its own accord then dirt is shoveled into the pit by any mourners that want to and/or are able.  For one week the site lays untouched.  After one week the soil is turned over in a ceremony.  The ground is then left to lay untouched for one month.  After that time the soil is turned over three times in a ceremony.  A border of stones is then placed around the pit.  If the season is right then flowers are planted.  If it is not the right season then a green cloth is laid over the site until the proper season.  After one year of only flowers, the site is planted with vegetables and there after used as a vegetable garden.  There are no other markers.  It is imagined that the loved one who passed is now helping the garden grow and is, in effect, growing a garden for those they loved.  If the home, and consequentially the garden is ever sold then the site returns to flowers and the new owner must pledge that they will always be open to the former owner visiting whenever they want.

Fiole returned for the first turning and the second turning.  She also planted the flowers.  She plans on returning to plant the vegetables.

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