Legacy

A short story by R J Dent

Published by D.F.L. Lit: https://dfllit.com/066-2/

Some notes on the creation of Legacy.

R J Dent says:

‘As with many short stories, Legacy started with a newspaper article that I read; one in which a man died in a car crash just days before he went on trial for several heinous crimes.

‘I used some elements of that newspaper report to write an imaginary back story for the man, trying to imagine what must have happened to him in his life to make him into the monster that he clearly was.

‘I wanted to write a story in which a decent person gets to ask difficult questions about something that would normally be impossible to ask – because the person they need to ask is no longer around. In Legacy, William Deacon gets to ask a question that he would never under ‘normal’ circumstances (whatever they are) get to ask. His question gets answered too.

‘My recent works (Revelation, Suki Takes It Off (Again) and Screaming at the Window in particular) are concerned with giving a voice to those who have either been silenced, or who are made voiceless for some reason. I provide those characters with an opportunity to ask unaskable questions – and to get answers to those questions.

‘As with many of my stories, there are several aspects of the story that are true. One person who read it said: ‘I love how British it is’ – to which I would add a slight refinement: Legacy is a very English story. The private boarding school system, the head boy becoming the headmaster, the Kent roads, the newspaper reports, and the denouement are all very ‘English’.

‘I wrote the story in three sections: the case history, the newspaper reports and the confrontation. The case history was the protagonist’s back story; the newspaper reports were the facts of his death; the confrontation was where the dead man’s brother got to ask the question he wanted to ask.

‘In Legacy, I wanted to examine the abuse of power and how that abuse engenders further abuses of power – leaving a legacy of corruption, psychological damage, destruction and death. There’s absolutely no redemption for anyone in the story, nor is there any proper resolution to the story either. The evil people get away with their crimes and the victims are left to suffer.

‘My interest was in William Deacon, specifically his reaction to the events. I wanted to examine how the brother of a monster deals (or doesn’t deal) with the fact that his brother is a monster. My main question was: What psychological acrobatics would William Deacon have to have performed to believe that his brother was ‘a caring man who went out of his way to help others’, whilst also knowing his brother was a victim of abuse and was also an adult abuser? William Deacon wants to get to the truth of why his brother was the way he was, but he also blames Michael Burton for his brother’s predilections. By doing that, William Deacon has absolved his brother from any personal blame for his actions.

‘In the third part of Legacy, William Deacon accuses Sylvia Burton of hiding her husband’s abuses and in doing so, he is both right and wrong. Mrs Sylvia Burton is evil – but so was his brother. Graham Deacon was not, as his brother claimed, ‘a caring man who went out of his way to help others’; Graham Deacon was a paedophile and a rapist. He was a victim of – and a perpetrator of – child sexual abuse, in that he had been an abused boy who grew up to be an adult abuser, as is sometimes the case with some abused children – and as has been documented.

‘Legacy does not state whether Graham Deacon’s death was deliberate or accidental. However, if Graham Deacon took his own life, then he had reached a point where he decided that rather than be ‘a caring man’ who would accept the appropriate punishment for his crimes and thereby go ‘out of his way to help others’, he would instead take his own life, thereby avoiding justice and condemning his child victims and his rape and assault victims to a lifetime of unresolved – and unresolvable – trauma.

‘Due to Graham Deacon’s death, his victims will never know what it is like to receive justice. As an abused child, Graham Deacon deserves everyone’s sympathy, but as an adult paedophile and rapist, it is Graham Deacon’s abuses which make him a monster. If his death was accidental, he escaped justice; if he committed suicide to escape justice, then he is irredeemable.’

R J Dent’s website: http://www.rjdent.com/

Pretty Bubbles

Pretty Bubbles is a short story by R J Dent, published on 1st August 2023 by D.F.L. Lit.

The link to read Pretty Bubbles on the D.F.L. Lit website is here: https://dfllit.com/051-2/

R J Dent says:

‘There are two sources for Pretty Bubbles:

‘The first source is (was) the figure of death that was filmed in the doorway of Westminster Abbey during the coronation of King Charles the Third in England on 6th May 2023.

‘The second source is (was) a scene from the film Women in Love (1969), directed by Ken Russell. The scene I’m referring to was the one in which Ursula (Jennie Linden) and Gudrun (Glenda Jackson) find a secluded picnic spot beneath some trees and a herd of highland cattle move towards them. Gudrun gets to her feet and dances in front of the cattle, accompanied by Ursula singing ‘I’m forever Blowing Bubbles’, a popular song composed in 1918 by James Brockman, James Kendis, and Nat Vincent.’ Gudrun’s dancing grows more frenzied and her movements quickly unnerve and panic the herd, which she then successfully drives away.

‘The figure of death, the crowd, the public event, the song, bubbles, and the idea of panic were elements that all amalgamated into what became Pretty Bubbles.’

R J Dent’s website for books, news, events and publications is: http://www.rjdent.com/

R J Dent’s short story, Suki Takes It Off Again, also published by D.F.L. Lit is available to read here: https://dfllit.com/043-2/

Suki Takes It Off (Again)

A short story by R J Dent

Published in D.F.L. Lit

Here is the link to read Suki Takes It Off (Again): https://dfllit.com/043-2/

Suki Takes It Off (Again) is a short story written by R J Dent, about a professional ventriloquist who is called to the hospital bedside of her dying mother.

Here is the link to read Suki Takes It Off (Again): https://dfllit.com/043-2/

STORY NOTES:

R J Dent says:

‘My short story, Suki Takes It Off (Again) was inspired by an initial anecdote (told to me by my brother), which I then added further elements to before writing a first draft after several months of research into ventriloquism, particularly the work of the incredibly talented Nina Conti. I kept adding details and refining the story for over four months.

The name ‘Suki Glass’ came from two places – I wanted my protagonist to have an Oriental-sounding first name, as a tribute to the ventriloquist/comedy skills of Showko Showfukutei. And I wanted her second name to be Glass for two reasons: She was named after the Glass family created by J.D. Salinger, the implication being that she was a distant scion of that family; she was also named after Hugh Glass, the protagonist of Michel Punke’s novel of frontier revenge and retribution, The Revenant – and finally, Glass was an indication of her personality and her psychology – clear and transparent, but also fragile.

‘As with other stories I’ve written, in Suki Takes It Off (Again) I was trying to find a way to create a scenario in which someone was given the opportunity to ask questions that they had never asked and which they could never ask – due to it being too late, as the person being asked was no longer around. I wanted Suki to be able to speak to her mother in the way she wanted to – and to ask her mother the questions she needed to ask and for her questions to be answered.

‘It was quite difficult finding the right title for the story. I wrote the story before I had a title for it. The story’s working/place-holder title was Dummy, which was too harsh and didn’t work at all. I knew the story needed a title that implied a reversion to childhood, so I was looking for a nursery rhyme-ish title. I also wanted the title to have a person’s name in it, so that narrowed down the possibilities.

‘I also wanted the title to contain the idea of imitation, as that’s a key element of the story. I remembered that ‘to take him/her off” is an old-fashioned way of referring to doing an impression of someone. Finally, I wanted the title to indicate that a process of stripping away (in this case of identity) was taking place. Suki Takes It Off (Again) seems to be the correct title for this particular story. I’m pleased with the story and the title.’

The story was published in D.F.L. Lit in April 2023.

Praise for Suki Takes It Off (Again):

‘The inner dialog the main character has throughout the story is so well construed. I immediately knew those conversations and feelings. I have been in her place and in this situation I think it feels safer to reside in our minds. I enjoyed being reminded of the way I felt through another’s similar experience as it would’ve otherwise been something lost to being overwhelmed.

It is nice to be given back something you didn’t know was missing. That is what is amazing about art, it gives us a chance to recall and process things that often get lost in the shuffle of life.

Some of us live so much in our minds, talking for others. Hmm, I may need to get me an Apollonia.’

Jhane P (False Maria)

Los Angeles

R J Dent’s website: http://www.rjdent.com/