Today Kekla Magoon made it onto my favorite authors short list. Recall we recently celebrated her masterful ensemble narrative, Light It Up, showing the effect a police shooting of an unarmed Black girl has on a community. The plot of The Minus-One Club also centers on the death of a teenage girl. But the tone is a lot quieter and more intimate. She's showing depth and breadth dealing with a topic that most of us find challenging.
Plus she's a cat person. So she gets Tobago's vote.
"Tuesday: Sitting in the funeral home lobby, wanting nothing but to talk to my sister, who I've barely talked to in half a month and will never talk to again."
Wednesday: Viewings. Family in from out of town, taking my face in their clammy hands.
Thursday: Graveside. Damn. Throw a rose. God damn it."
When Kermit, Magoon's protagonist, returns to school the week after his only sister is killed by a drunk driver his classmates mostly don't know what to say. Even his best friend, Alex, is tone deaf. But the members of the invitation only Minus-One Club can relate to what he's going through. Patrick, Celia, Simon, Janna, and Matt have each lost someone close to them and in various stages of coming to terms with their loss. They form a mutual aid society, ready to nonjudgementally gather around a member who is experiencing feelings too large to deal with solo.
Kermit is gay and very much in the closet. He's had a secret crush on Matt, the only out guy in his school. Much to Kermit's surprise, brought together by the group, they start becoming more than friends.
But their intimacy is complicated. Unlike Kermit who doesn't touch alcohol, Matt drinks quite a bit. When he's inebriated he'll talk about deep topics. When sober he forgets thoughts he's shared and promises he's made, insisting on avoiding deep and potentially painful topics...
...which means that Kermit must deal with this complexity on top of having to adjust to his loss and his drastically changing role in a tragically reconfigured family.
For those of her readers who struggle with the issues raised in her book Magoon includes a list important helping organizations and their contact information. She concludes with these words of encouragement:
"Sometimes it's scary to reach out, but it's well worth confronting that fear or nervousness to get the help you need.
Good luck, dear reader! You are strong and you will find your way. I'm rooting for you!"
I'm rooting for Magoon to experience then most fortuitous writing conditions. While we await her next masterpiece I'm going to check out her former works and share what I learn with you, my dear readers.
On a purrrsonal note, I was personally struck by the paragraph in which Kermit talks about not wanting a closure that will involve forgetting. That's how I felt after I lost Joey, my beloved cat companion of sixteen years. Well meaning people were dishing out the cliches. Even asking if I was getting a new cat.
It feels like these days the ideal way of being is an uninterrupted state of happiness. Grief is seen as an aberration, something like chicken pox to get over as quickly as possible. The job of friends is to facilitate the process. We put a statue of limitations on the very normal process of grief. And if someone goes beyond it there are pills.
My author friend, Lynn Plourde, made a very interesting observation. Children find death to be sad. Adults are the only ones angered by it. Adults are the ones who have built up expectations that death and loss violate. Lynn assured me that of course I was grieving. Joey had been such a big part of my life. Now he lives on in my heart and I haven't forgotten the qualities and traits that made him unique.
If someone one in your life loses a human or animal companion please skip the cliches. Stifle the understandable urge to make it all better. Listen to what your friend or family member wants and needs and be there for them.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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