Melanie is far and away my favourite character to write, so when she popped into my head with today’s FF photo after a long absence, I had to find time to record her thoughts and share them with you. My story begins below the prompt picture and I welcome all feedback. If you enjoy Melanie even half as much as I do, click on her tag below, which will take you to some of her other musings.
Today’s prompt is from our esteemed leader, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. I’ve been watching a BBC documentary on Auschwitz recently and have been staggered, not for the first time, by the cheer incomprehensibility of what happened there, and elsewhere in Europe little under a century ago. Rochelle’s brand of historical fiction, set during another period of anti-semitic mass murder, is the kind of writing that I believe we need to turn shocking but incomprehensible statistics back into real emotions. I don’t think I’m the only person who finds it easier to feel for one person than for a million. Her novels are available on Amazon. I haven’t read them yet, but if they are anything like her short stories, they will make the reader do just that.
Seeing God
I see God sometimes. Not actually, because that’s only when you’re dead. And not like a burning bush or something… he doesn’t talk. And when I talk, it’s like he’s listening but he doesn’t answer, like Daddy watching the rugby and if I talk about something, he says “Yes, I’m listening,” but he doesn’t actually talk back about the thing.
Seeing God is like a big light in the sky, brighter than the sun. So bright you can’t see it, but it strokes things on the ground like fingers and you want to touch them, but they’re never quite there.
elmowrites 
The comparison of god to a rugby obsessed dad who doesn’t really do connection very well is telling. Yet the protagonist still has their innocent faith.
Yes, Melanie is a believer – in her Dad too. I like to think he rewards her faith… but maybe not when the game’s on.
This is sad in its realism. I really like how she approaches the situation. She is not happy about what’s going on, but she isn’t letting her it control her. There is a light, a fire in her… that makes me think she will be just fine.
Thanks Magaly, I think so too
There is a wisdom here.. but maybe the listening is like her father… nought
Maybe, Bjorn. I feel bad because Dad gets a rough deal here. We all need our down time
Sometimes just being there is enough, and they don’t need to listen. Great story
Absolutely.
You captured the voice of the child without writing down to him. Love it.
Thanks Lindy, that’s exactly the balance I’m trying to get.
I share Melanie’s feelings and love her explanation of His presence.
😀
Dear Jen,
Love the musings…particularly like fingers stroking the ground.
Thank you for your endorsement in your intro. It is easy to lose the sense of the victims’ humanity in the masses. They become, albeit grisly, statistics. I hope you’ll find the time to read my novels. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
One day, Rochelle.
Similar to what I wrote yesterday.
Great minds
This is adorable! My fav this week so far.
Aww, thanks
Melancholic.
Interesting you see it that way
🙂
The last paragraph sings with so many feelings and ideas. Love it.
That’s actually where i started, Alicia.
…never quite there. I admire her faith and certainty, particularly at such a tender age.
My 100 words
I think there may be a lack of questioning in her faith.
It’s an interesting concept, to compare the devine to the parent who claims to listen but doesn’t show it right away. Her faith in the father/deity is strong.
Thanks gah!
What a wonderfully written description. One of our class assignments in writing was to describe God to someone who’d never heard of Him. You just did it! Beautiful! ❤ 🙂
I loved the voice in this story, the rambling truths.
I know exactly what she means.
A great voice, you got the child’s perspective perfectly.
I thought her compariaion to her half-lstening dad was perfect, a father figure present in a sense, but absent in another. I like the description of her visions, her interpretation of what she sees. I can see this being a great jumping off point for something longer. Nicely done
In some way God is perhaps neither male or female – iMelanie’s only thought about her father, is her mother alive
The analogy is brilliant! Well done!
Beautifully sketched out descriptions.
Seems more a reflection on the dad than God.
Can I add something please?
The reason God doesn’t seem to be there is because you are looking in the wrong place. He is right there beside you, actually!
But then we always seem to derive an image of God from puny failing manhood around us. So sad!