キャミー・タング著「戌年」連載小説 プロのドッグトレーナーであるマリ・ムトウは、厄年を迎えている。 犬小屋と訓練所の改築をしながら、いつも不服そうにしている家族と同居することになった。母と姉に言わせれば、犬の毛とよだれかけにまみれる仕事は、家族にとって恥ずべきものだという。彼女は元カレを説得し、数ヶ月間犬を預かってもらうことにした。しかし、彼の兄は、数週間前に彼女が誤って車に追突した、怒り狂ったセキュリティ専門家であることが判明する。 アシュウィン・ケイトウは十分な問題を抱えている。叔母が玄関先に現れ、同居を希望している。彼は彼女にすべてを借りているので、断ることができません。母親が家を出て行った後、ネルおばさんはアシュウィンと弟を引き取り、愛のあるキリスト教の家庭で育てた。しかも、弟のダスティもアパートを追い出され、居場所を求めている。しかし、彼は犬を飼っている。そして、その犬の飼い主は誰だと思いますか？ しかし、旧友でオアフ島のノースショアでデイスパを経営する私立探偵のエディサ・ゲレロから依頼を受ける。マリの施設で奇妙な破壊行為があり、3年前に失踪したエディサの妹の財布を発見する。エディサはマリが危険な目に遭っているのではと心配する。警備の専門家であるアシュウィンがすでにマリを知っていることを知ったエディサは、忙しい若い女性を密かに監視することを彼に依頼する。 アシュウィンは、活発でのんびりとしたドッグトレーナーに不本意ながら惹かれていく。彼女は、幸せそうな母親を思い出させる。その母親の裏切りによって、彼は人と距離を置くようになったのだ。マリは、アシュウィンの冷たい外見を見抜き、彼が家族に忠実な男であることを認める。彼は、彼女のキャリア選択を批判するだけの母親や姉とは違う。 マリのバラバラな家庭とアシュウィンのバラバラな家庭の中で、過去を隠そうとする人たちから、彼らの周りに危険が迫ってくるようになる。彼らは、影で動く秘密に光を当てることができるのか？ 過去に発表されたパートへのリンクはこちら。 *** 第8章 - 恐ろしくも真っ白な不動産書類 『みんな仲良くできないのかな？』 マリは無用に力を込めて箱に本を投げ入れた。最近、なぜ彼女は人生の中で全員と言い争いをしているのだろう？もしかすると、これは本当に悪いアイデア
Captain’s Log, Stardate 06.17.2006
Blog book giveaway:
My Monday book giveaway is RV THERE YET? by Diann Hunt.
My Thursday book giveaway is A SOUNDING BRASS by Shelley Bates.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for RV THERE YET? and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned.
Blog Bible Study on CAPTIVATING: The guided journal is good, although it does bring up more questions for me than answers.
Blog book giveaway:
My Monday book giveaway is RV THERE YET? by Diann Hunt.
My Thursday book giveaway is A SOUNDING BRASS by Shelley Bates.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for RV THERE YET? and post the title for another book I'm giving away. Stay tuned.
Blog Bible Study on CAPTIVATING: The guided journal is good, although it does bring up more questions for me than answers.
The authors talk about Shame that inflicts women because we don’t measure up to what people or the church tells us we should be—godly women, patient, sweet, yada yada yada.
The problem is, I don’t feel shame. I feel more rebellion. I don’t desire to be like that. I’m happy the way I am.
I’m very happy not being a sweet person, serving in the church kitchen. I’m very happy being blunt and straightforward, telling people “no” if I don’t have time to help. I’m very happy being a little immature and a little wild.
So why should I feel shame? Is it wrong for me not to feel shame?
The book also talks a lot about the emotions of a woman—the language is very touchy-feely. I’m not much like that. I don’t know if it was forced out of me, or if I forced it out of myself, or if I’m just not born like that in the first place.
My practical side is warring with the message in this book that I should be more emotional. It’s very conflicting.
One thing I’ve really gotten out of this is that it’s okay that I’m the way I am. Even if my romantic side was forced out of me—that’s okay. God planned everything that has shaped my character. This book wants me to embrace who I am and not wish I was someone else.
Okay, so what if it says I “probably” feel one way when I don’t? What then?
Like the whole passage from THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, where Nathanial vows to find Cora no matter what. That line—while I can see how women would swoon over it—doesn’t move me.
Here’s why. My practical side says, “He can’t promise that because what if he slips on a rock and dies? The only person I can truly trust is God. That’s a nice sentiment and all, but I think he’s being a little unrealistic here.”
Okay, how’s that for a wet blanket on the fires of romance?
Another thing that bothers me is that they’re saying it’s okay to want romance. Okay, I get that. But if my husband doesn’t romance me, that kind of message only makes me disgruntled, doesn’t it? Maybe I’m misunderstanding.
I appreciate how they emphasize that women do desire adventure. My childhood fantasies were all about strong, independent women who kicked butt. In reality, I’m a wimp—I’d desire an adventure if someone were there to help me.
But I don’t think my husband particularly needs me for his own great adventure. He doesn’t really need me for anything. He’s pretty self-sufficient—a trait I admire in him. So if I’m not really “needed, vital and essential,” is that bad?
As for beauty, I got a mixed message. Little girls like twirly skirts and pretty clothes and being told they’re lovely, but then the book talked about not the outside but the inside for beauty.
Okay, I get that. But the little girl asking if she’s lovely is asking about her outside, not her inside. She doesn’t fully understand the whole outside/inside thing at that age.
I’ve always been admired by my loved ones for my mind and personality, not my looks. So what does that say to me about my looks, especially when so many people emphasize it themselves?
I’m not looking for affirmation/praise/fuzzywuzzies here. I’m trying to understand what the authors are saying about beauty. If it’s inside of a person, then who cares about twirly skirts and being lovely?
Maybe I’m just missing the message. It’s the whole practical/emotional thing.
I’m not giving up, though. It’s a very interesting perspective on things. I’m hoping the book gets clearer as I read on. I peeked ahead to the next chapter, and I think it might explain some of the things I’m frustrated about.
Comments
In many ways I am very grateful to my mother. She was a Christian role model for me. Perhaps, though, I was looking too much at her and not enough at Christ. When she had problems living up to what she told me about being a Christian, e.g., I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 9 and it got into my head that I now had to be perfect. After all, Christ was now living in me. Nobody explained what really happens--at least not so I understood. It was more than 15 years later, after depression had set in and I went to Christian counselors in California from Winnipeg, MB, that I began to realize that I'd never be perfect in my life. But that whole idea weighed on me terribly for many years.
I know I am definitely much more like my father than my mother. She complained that I talked to her only when I had questions. I never praised her for meals, took everything for granted. Yet when I'd talk at the dinner-table, my father would say in essence: Children are to be seen and not heard. I have was never able to hone my argumentative or discussional skills. Maybe he needed quiet at home after work every day instead of having a gaggle of people talking around him. I know that too much noise of any kind can really upset my applecart and bring on an attack of anxiety.
Sorry, I'm sort of spouting off here and I don't even have the book. Hope none of you minds if I respond to your comments.
Come to think of it, I usually ask if I look "okay". I know I'm no beauty with my oily skin and hair that needs to be constantly washed though my hands won't often cooperate. Probably my one brother would fault me for even saying "sorry" because it shows my "negative attitude" about myself. I know that right now in trying to make some money, this is my biggest stumbling block. I can't represent myself as a totally confident person in every way and in writing a job resumé, I can't lie when I don't know if I can keep those promises about being prompt, diligent (when I'm feeling sick), etc. The only promise I can make is doing the best I can.
BTW, the first time someone told me I had lovely skin, I looked at the woman as if she were crazy or I had heard wrong. "You have such nice smooth skin" meaning "you have no wrinkles". My skin: smooth? Well, she didn't run her hands over it and feel all the little bumps and the oiliness. Another person asked how come I don't have any wrinkles. At least I was prepared for it. "Well, I guess that's one advantage of having oily skin."
I'd better stop.
I had a lot of similar reactions to yours when I read the first chapter, and the more I thought about it, the more I found ways the ideas in there pertained to me in their own unique way- (because, lets face it, twirling around in frilly little dresses really makes some of us puke! In more way than one.)
Jamie is right though, it does get better in the next chapters...