Foreword

I read a very short story written by a Brit, based on some of the language in it. It ended abruptly and left me wondering what might have happened after that. Lots of people write to me and ask me what happened after the end of this or that story and I always answer them the same way. “What happened is in your imagination. You have some idea of how you wish it would have gone on, so think about that and imagine that’s how it was written.” So I took my own advice and imagined what might have happened if this story had gone on.

The original story was called “Family Morals” by “unk” and I have no idea where I downloaded it from, so I can’t give credit for the beginning, which I edited and reused. I changed things a bit in the first fifty lines, to set things up for my own vision, and after that, it’s all mine. It is, in theory, a stroke story, but my record of starting with a stroke story and turning it into something else is well known. I’m writing this foreword at the beginning of the writing process, so we’ll see how it turns out.

Updated Foreword

Okay, after finishing it up I decided there (can be) a lot to think about in looking at the relationships that developed as the story played out in my mind. Yes, this can just be for fun and entertainment. But there are also some things to reflect on because real people are experiencing real issues in the kinds of relationships they want to have. There’s an extensive afterword in which I talk about that a little bit. The afterword is what some of my less than happy readers like to call “pontification” or “philosophy” and it isn’t an epilogue, so you don’t have to read it. I think you should, though. If the theme of this story is what you like, then you should read that afterword.

Bob