The Women of Circe: Nadine Walker
I want to thank you for being smart enough to see what I was going through, and thank your mama for opening up her house for me. She didn't have to do that."
"I hear you, and I'll tell Mama." She turns to go again, but suddenly spins on her heel. I admire the athletic turn that is as pretty as a ballerina's pirouette.
"Oh, a little piece of very helpful information. The guest bathroom is the one on the right at the end of the hallway, but I'll give you a warning," she says. "If you pee and miss a little bit like you guys often do, and you leave some on the rim of the toilet, or worse yet on the floor, clean it up. Mama absolutely hates that. And no little hairs sitting around. You know what I mean. Mama isn't above breaking into a breakfast conversation and telling everyone around the table what you did, and she'll ask you if you can kindly not be a pig next time."
I put my hand over my mouth and suppress a laugh. Nadine stops for a few seconds, and she looks deep into my eyes for the first time since we met.
"It's good to see you laugh, Mr. Sean." Her look is one of deepest sincerity. "I hope we see a lot more of that around here in the next few days."
Excerpt From: Chris Metteer. "The Search For Circe." Apple Books.
Why Nadine and why now?
Why Nadine? I don't have an immediate answer, and I wrote the novel. The "why now?" is easy to answer. Sean McNabb has gone through that potential suicidal moment he references in the opening sentence of the novel. (Read the entire first chapter in the Excerpts section.) He needs someone, and by happenstance they meet along the banks of the Strong River, a waterway in south-central Mississippi. She sees his need, and her reply is to take him to her mother's house, where she battles her mom and gets her to agree to let Sean stay there. That is the set-up to the above passage as Nadine shows Sean to his room. She's aware, compassionate, and tough enough to take on her mom. She's that important to Sean's life, maybe as vital to The Search For Circe as Darrington Circe himself. I will follow in a few days with another section with Nadine in which they discuss the tremendous losses in their life, and their connection gets stronger.
How to buy The Search for Circe
The novel is available as an e-book only on smashwords.com (and other top e-book retailers such as the Apple Bookstore and barnesandnoble.com). Here's a link to the Smashwords purchase page: bit.ly/35yEKae. Cost is $5.99.