I'm going to be visualizing this story forever. Also thinking of a boy who was my best friend, Dwayne, the memories of whom have been washing over me lately. The things that children learn about the world without fully understanding because so many critical details are withheld. The way you've written this, bits of memory revealing those bits that only a child sees, makes this story so intriguing. The desire to fill in the adult drama is strong. This story evokes so much from its mysteries.
oh my, Tonya. this is such a tender beautiful story of a sad and broken little boy, who died at the loose end of the thread. that lost place where so many are just trying to hold on. this one will stay with me for some time.
Oh, Tonya...you delivered me into another realm with this achingly beautiful piece. I have known some decent doomed souls as well & cannot even begin to understand why this could happen. Like you, I am willing to live in the mystery...& embrace the beauty where we find it. You gave "Alex" an extraordinary eulogy here.
Tonya, I find this to be an entirely honest and masterfully written piece, all accomplished with great delicacy and compassion for the human soul, our scarred places.
This is truly beautiful and so, so sad. I appreciated especially that you did not try to fill in the blanks, in part because that's how memory functions. I have stories — as I'm sure many of your readers do — of people whose paths we've crossed who just seem — for lack of a better word — doomed for any number of reasons. This is one I wrote about one of my friends: https://open.substack.com/pub/glenncook/p/weekend-flashback-lou-and-brian?r=727x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I'm going to be visualizing this story forever. Also thinking of a boy who was my best friend, Dwayne, the memories of whom have been washing over me lately. The things that children learn about the world without fully understanding because so many critical details are withheld. The way you've written this, bits of memory revealing those bits that only a child sees, makes this story so intriguing. The desire to fill in the adult drama is strong. This story evokes so much from its mysteries.
god damn, Tonya. This is an incredible piece of writing. I absolutely love it. Life is an act of repair. That line is fucking brilliant.
oh my, Tonya. this is such a tender beautiful story of a sad and broken little boy, who died at the loose end of the thread. that lost place where so many are just trying to hold on. this one will stay with me for some time.
Oh, Tonya...you delivered me into another realm with this achingly beautiful piece. I have known some decent doomed souls as well & cannot even begin to understand why this could happen. Like you, I am willing to live in the mystery...& embrace the beauty where we find it. You gave "Alex" an extraordinary eulogy here.
very powerful ....beautiful and terrible at the same time
Tonya, I find this to be an entirely honest and masterfully written piece, all accomplished with great delicacy and compassion for the human soul, our scarred places.
This is truly beautiful and so, so sad. I appreciated especially that you did not try to fill in the blanks, in part because that's how memory functions. I have stories — as I'm sure many of your readers do — of people whose paths we've crossed who just seem — for lack of a better word — doomed for any number of reasons. This is one I wrote about one of my friends: https://open.substack.com/pub/glenncook/p/weekend-flashback-lou-and-brian?r=727x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web