There are so many shadows in my life, empty spaces like whispers you don’t quite understand. Shadows are like puzzles we mean to solve. That shadow is the limb of that tree and that shadow is the leg of the table but that shadow knows no form other than its own. Could it be the shadow of an absence? How about the shadow of a lost conversation? I knew a ghost once that had no shadow at all but it did have form. The form was an absent presence with a voice that didn’t speak. But I heard it and when I turned to answer it, it had transformed into what we call ‘nothing.’
What is nothing exactly? Empty pockets? Maybe it’s the lack of something? Does time ever give us what it takes away? Does time have a point, a place to get to? Will time leave its shadow when it’s gone?
Once I traveled to the Pyrenees region of France and the earth sent me messages of great despair. I later learned there was a concentration camp in the Pyrenees Mountains and the Jews were transported in trains to be held prisoner, to be murdered, to be tortured. I saw the shadows of their life and I heard the insanity that the Earth has never let go of.
Some may call me a sensitive, some may call me absurd, certainly a bit touched but that is why I can write books like Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem. My lovely Annabel Horton believes that all time is now. If that is the case then the shadow I cast is long and the cries of the dead are endless.
Vera Jane Cook is an award winning author and has eight published novels. Her most recent ebook, The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, has gone to print and will be featured through Bublish at the Southern Independent Bookstore Association Conference in Savannah on September 18th -19th. The book will also be featured in the October issue of Southern Distinction Magazine. To learn more about her visit: www.verajanecook.com
