Two By Susan Carol McCarthy

Two By Susan Carol McCarthy

True Fires (YA)
"'Well,'--DeLuth stretches a foot to admire the mirror-sharp
sheen on his boot-toe--'With all this nonsense coming out of the
Supreme Court, and you know better 'n I do the Governor'll close the
schools before he'll integrate, we got to keep an eye out for any sort
of left-wing foolishness. I told Clive I'd check this kid out myself,
that is,'--DeLuth pauses to make sure Cantrel realizes he's being
thrown a bone--'if it's all right with you.'"
Recall awhile back we looked at Susan Carole McCarthy's Lay That
Trumpet in Our Hands? In her True Fires we return to a Florida in
which the KKK is a strong community presence. A lot of people are up
in arms about the Supreme Court's decision that the nation must
integrate its schools.
Sheriff DeLuth is up for reelection to a third term. He's
nailed his first two terms by preying on people's prejudices and
fears. He won his first election with promises to put Black WWII
veterans "strutting their stuff up and down Main Street like they
owned the place" back in their place. The second time he promised to
keep Commumist labor organizers out. Now the Supreme Court has given
him a gift by cranking integration fears up to a fever pitch.
"You gotta have a first-class bogeyman, something that scares
the panties off your constituents. Real or imagined, it don't make a
whit of difference. S'long as it's you against the Terrifying It, and
you're their only hope for getting an ounce of sleep after the
election."
[A strategy politicians are still sadly winning with as
evidenced by the 2016 presidential election.]
Schools were segregated then. To be in a white school a child
had to prove white ancestry all the way back to and including great
grandparents. So when a constituent complains that two new children,
brother and sister, seem a little too dark DuLuth springs into action.
But when he pulls the children and their cousins out of school
not all the constituents are happy campers.
Lila Hightower, daughter of DuLuth's mentor and patron, is in
town for her father's funeral and the settling of his will. She's no
fan of DuLuth. When he pulls the children of her new tree man (citrus
industry) out of school she's ready to put her resources to work to
thwart him.
"...This is another of your preelection stunts, isn't it? Last
time, it was the Communist Labor Organizers I heard...And now, it's
desegregation, isn't it? Find some kids with curly hair and call out
the Sheriff to save our lily white souls..."
Ruth Cooper Barrows and her husband, Hugh, put out a local
newspaper. She writes a piece exposing rabble rouser Billy Hathaway
after he runs a race baiting rally to promote DuLuth's candidacy.
The local KKK starts getting ugly.
Meanwhile a young boy who has just lost his mother (cancer) and
North Carolina home (eminent domain) struggles to come of age in a
frightening, confusing, and blatantly unfair new world.

A Place We Knew Well
"Kennedy warned the Soviets that any nuclear missile launched
from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere would provoke
'a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.' Finally, he
called upon Khruschev personally to 'halt and eliminate this
clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace' and to
'move the world back from the abyss of destruction.'"
Part of 1962 was a terrifying time to be alive. That was during
the cold war with Russia. We kids practiced what to do in case of
nuclear warfare (duck under your desk and cover your head) the way
kids today practice active shooter drills. The world's two biggest
super powers were vying for dominance, both voicing willingness to
deploy a nuclear option despite the knowledge that this would result
in mutually assured destruction. The prayer clause "if I die before I
wake" took on a new grim significance. Susan Carol McCarthy
beautifully portrays the gestalt of the time in A Place We Knew Well.
Wes Avery seems to be living the dream. He runs a successful
gas station. He and his wife, Sarah, and daughter, Charlotte, have
moved on up to a nice lake side home. But, as an ex military man, he
sees signs of trouble from the outset. Living in Florida, he has a
first hand seat to view a terrible escalation. He goes to bed not
knowing if there will be a next morning.
Sarah had dreamed of a house full of children. Five
miscarriages followed by a hysterectomy have shattered her dream. Now
with the added tension she is gradually losing touch with reality.
Charlotte is experiencing the possibility of not living to
graduate high school as she is nominated to homecoming court and
invited to a dance by a very special young man. She doesn't know that
a new arrival in town could shatter her sense of self and family.
Wes is a basically decent human being who wants more than
anything else to keep his family safe and happy and sees his ability
to do so increasingly stolen by forces way beyond his control.
McCarthy draws paralells to 2001. And I believe this engaging
narrative is relevant to a pandemic world.

On a purrrsonal note, after Thanksgiving the rest of vaca was good.
The biggest news was Amber finishing her first novel and sending it to
me. Horror of course. She's been a big fan of the genre since she
saw The Shining as a 6-year-old. Well she wrote the scariest book
I've ever read. And I look forward to reviewing it in this blog after
it's published. Friday I cooked the turkey Eugene got from work and
all the trimmings. It came out very well. The store bought pie,
however, was nowhere as good as mine. I took the Christmas ornaments
out of the shed for whenever Eugene harvests a tree from his family's
wood lot. (Jules)
We want the tree!!! We want the tree!!! (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the cats and dogs in the shelters.
If you do yourself the favor of adopting a furever friend your home
would be the best Christmas gift they could hope for.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway




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