So yummy. It's like the best coffee; like bread baking...no, not quite that. More like the sound of the blender at the coffee shop or the snarl of the whipped cream dispenser right before they put on the caramel swirl. Oh my goodness; it's coming.
Somewhere as the last book is coming to an end, when I am tweeking the last acknowledgement and straightening the last illustration on the page, when I am just sending it off for review, I think:
"Is this the end? Are there any more conversations left, or twists in the plot, or sudden revelations? Is it over now?"
And I am sure that it probably is this time. After all, it's been 40 something years of writing about these people and their lives.
But then, like now, there is that sudden delightful tickle in the back of my brain. Or that abrupt intrusion on my day, from out of nowhere. An inkling of a conversation appears. A scene pops into my consciousness.
It's happened so many times before. Like once, as I was closing the dishwasher door, having just stacked the supper dishes, I caught the scene of a barn collapsing in fire, of Kevin shouting: "Let it go! Let it go!" And the men with buckets skipping back out of the way. That was all...just that. In the space of maybe 2 1/2 seconds.
And it led a pivotal part of one of the books.
This time, I suddenly know that something will suddenly become unearthed again for the McKennas in the next book. Something they...and I...had thought was long settled and done with. I know it has to happen. I don't know what will be the outcome. I don't much like what the possibilities are. It's going to cause trouble. But, I know it has to happen.
Delicious.
And I can feel that there is a character that I had really, really thought would travel one course, will actually have to travel another. How will that play out? What about this character's parents? What will happen to them?
I can feel it and taste it. There's another book out there. Or in there...wherever it is, it's coming. After this book which I am transcribing now, there is another one. Maybe even another.
Yummy. I hear those conversations in the back of my mind, I can see someone put his chin on his hand and say to his wife: "I'm not sure what to do." I'm not sure, either. But, the solution is not the fun part; the question is.
And the best part of a frappe is reaching for that tall, frosty glass with the mound of whipped cream and zig-zag of caramel syrup, when the straw is plunged in and that first slurpy, slushy gulp....
Just like the best part is not getting to the conclusion of the book....it's the journey through the pages.
Oh, yes...