A Character Interview: Lenore Gay

Joss and Phil’s already rocky marriage is fragmented when Phil is injured in a devastating fire and diagnosed with Capgras delusion—a misidentification syndrome in which a person becomes convinced that a loved one has been replaced by an identical imposter. Faced with a husband who no longer recognizes her, Joss struggles to find motivation to save their marriage, even as family secrets start to emerge that challenge everything she thought she knew. With two young daughters, a looming book deadline, and an attractive but complicated distraction named Adam complicating her situation even further, Joss has to decide what she wants for her family—and what family even means.

—

Interviewer: “Today I’ll be talking with Adam, one of the major characters in a novel called Other Fires by Lenore H. Gay. 

“Adam, would you tell me about yourself, start at the beginning and keep going until we see you in your final scene when you’re riding in a truck, you’re in another state with a new- found friend.

Adam: “I’m an electrician, you see, so a get a lotta calls for my services. I’m good at what I do.”

Interviewer: “So, you’re skilled? Are you reliable?”

Adam replied: “Well, I hit some rough patches where I hang at home and watch TV, mostly the educated channels, the ones with narrators who tell you about the world. Don’t bother with any silly crap cartoons, I only watch educated TV. Sometimes I got a headache and just don’t wanna work. I stay home to watch smart TV. Learning more about the world, you know? When I was a kid my parents took me to a big building with statues and pictures. In the lobby I see this big elephant, well, like an elephant. Big tusks and shaggy hair. The sign said about a wooly mammoth. My Dad beat me a lot when I got older, but that day the two of us – we had fun, even Mom had fun.”

Interviewer: “Where did your headaches come from?”

Adam is silent, then says, “Well. I get ‘em kinda regular since high school. I think it’s cause sometimes I drink too much. But drinking is just sometimes. Now, when I was in high school, I did smoke some weed with friends in the parking lot, but booze is better. When I stop drinking, go to a few AA meetings I feel better, for a while. When I played football, no drinking allowed. So okay, I wanted to stay on the team, you know.”

Interviewer: “Now that you are way past high school, what goals do you have? How old are you now?

Adam smiled. “I’m old enough to be a real man. And I am dating. In high school I had trouble with girls, but I’m doing better at it, finally. I met this beautiful lady when I went to her house for a job. Her electric was screwed up since the bad house fire the family had. We talked about wooly mammoths first. I know all about them from the TV, the shows I just told you about. Then I screwed up for a minute by telling her I was planning to go to college. The idea just popped in my head, but it was a piece of bull. College was never in my mind. Nobody in my family went there. Besides I studied electric in high school. I’m good at it and it’s an important skill.

Interviewer: “Then after you met her, what happened? 

Adam sighed: “Good at first, except Joss has two kids. The older girl was bratty and didn’t like me. Course I don’t blame her, with her Dad staying and staying in the hospital and acting all weird, no longer his self. Said he didn’t even recognize his own wife any more. How weird is that? Also, the other kid, the baby girl, got on my nerves screaming in the morning when I stayed over with Joss. 

“At least for a while I felt like Joss and I were together. She even drove me a far distance when I told her my mother might’ve been in a plane wreck. I was too scared and worried to drive.”

Interviewer: “Did you find your mother?”

Adam smiled. “Yep, she was at the airport. Shook up, but lucky she didn’t have any broken bones and didn’t die. She liked Joss, but said we wouldn’t fit together. Deep down I knew mother was probably right, but I argued with her anyway. I had to make my own decisions. I’m a grown man, I even got my own apartment not long ago.” 

Interviewer: “What did you do next?” 

Adam said, “I hit the road. I always wanted to travel west to see a rodeo. You know a kind of dream that starts when you’re small. I got to thinking maybe I’d be a good rider. In high school I played on the football team. Pretty good, too. But I’m tall, with muscles. When I saw on TV, rodeo riders were smaller and skinnier than me. But at least I could see some rodeos, you know? I drove toward the mountains and crossed into West Virginia, until I felt like stopping for the night. Met the guy who owned this motel. Nice guy. There was a lake behind the motel with a boat. We talked and got along good. I decided to help him fix up his motel. A few back rooms had moldy air condition units and bad electric so he couldn’t rent out those rooms.

We hopped in his truck, a nicer truck than mine. We rode further up the mountain. Everywhere were trees, small ones and higher up ones bigger than Christmas trees. I’d only gone far as West Virginia, not close to rodeo country yet, but it was beautiful. The wide sky, trees and country singing on the radio made my heart feel good. I knew Joss wanted me gone. At least now I was making a friend. 

—

Lenore Gay is a retired Licensed Professional Counselor. Near retirement she worked at her ten-year private counseling practice and later as the Coordinator of the Internship Program at the Rehabilitation Counseling Department, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Her debut novel, SHELTER OF LEAVES, (She Writes Press) was published, August, 2016. The book was a finalist for the Foreword Book of the Year and a finalist for an INDEFAB award. Her second novel, OTHER FIRES, (She Writes Press) will be published October, 2020. Currently she is working on a new novel.

The Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA) has awarded her two writing fellowships. Her short story “The Hobo” won first place in a fiction contest hosted by Richmond’s Style Weekly. Her essay “Mistresses of Magic” was published in the anthology, IN PRAISE OF OUR TEACHERS (Beacon Press). Another essay, “My First Mentor” was published in the anthology “US AGAINST ALZHEIMER’S” (Arcade Publishing). Fall, 2019.

For three years she served on the steering committee of the RVALitCrawl. Each year more than 70 writers read in venues around Richmond, Virginia. For many years she volunteered as a reader and editor at Blackbird, An Online Journal for Literature & the Arts, a publication of Virginia Commonwealth University. She is an active member of James River Writers.

find out more about her on her website https://lenoregay.com/

Twitter @lenore_gay

Tags: featured. women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing