Go stop go. I heard a story about a boy who got into a car accident, and ended up getting paralyzed from the neck down. Confined to a wheelchair, his only wish was to die. But he was unable to do it himself, and, although he might be able to recruit someone to help him, could not guarantee that that person wouldn't be culpable for it later...
I was thinking of utilizing this in a story I wanted to write entitled "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday." Originally, "Ruby" (a play on the name: it could be shortened to Rue, meaning "regret") was intended to be some sort of Goth ghost who died when her boyfriend, some guy from Punahou, took her out on a date on the night before he was to fly out to college, and got into some kind of an accident that killed her; the accident occurred near Chinaman's Hat. The ghost of this girl was restless to leave this mortal plane, but was unable to, for some reason... It was only when she was somehow able to "resonate" with the protagonist (another boy) on HIS last day on the island (before flying out to the college) that she could "recruit" him surreptitiously in a mission to somehow find a way off this rock...
Central images to this story were to be (not in order of significance):
* The word Termagant, used in Shakespeare's plays, which, at the time, meant something akin to a "shrew", or a "bitch," the etymological origins of which are unclear. Theories abound, one relating to a Saracen, an "oriental man" dressed in the garb of a woman; another relating to the "three agents" of the moon, specifically the three "Pagan" goddesses of the moon: Celene, Artemis, and Athena (?). The later theory associating Termagant to the goddesses is most significant for the story, because it points to three roles/personae/aspects of the woman: the seductress (?), the chaste hunter, and the keeper of wisdom... This is an ancient image, used to great effect in Neil Gaiman's Sandman, to tie together both the Fates (often depicted as three women; similar to those in Macbeth) and the Furies (evocatively described as "The Kindly Ones.").
* The Black Orchid. This is an almost legendary flower. It was, of course, the name of some restaurant in Restaurant Row, somewhat popularized by the show "Magnum PI." (?) But in terms of the actual flower, it has always been somewhat of an impossibility. There have been many attempts to breed a "black orchid," all to no avail. It is difficult to parse out the color of a flower and reconstitute it genetically. Most interestingly, I heard about one attempt to incorporate a deep purplish color into an orchid; the color stuck, but so did an unfortunate "by-product," the scent of rotting flesh... The color black, of course, symbolizes Death.
* Related to the above reference to color are the three colors: White, Red, Black. The automatic associations most have with these three colors are: purity, passion/rage, and death. I wanted to tie these colors in symbolically somehow... One thing that is interesting: there is a whole theory in Chinese Gynecology relating to the colors white and red. White is essence, most closely represented by male sperm. Red, of course, is the color of blood, and although female menses is not precisely or solely blood but the sloughing off of endometrial cells, it is closely tied to blood. Men are said to be abundant in Red blood, but, because of the repeated "ejaculation" of White essence, somewhat deficient in White (or on the threat of being deficient, anyway). Thus, Men grow facial hair (because, in Chinese thought, hair results from abundant blood, which "fills up" to the face), but they lack breast milk (carrying "White" essence). Women, by contrast, are said to be deficient in Red blood (because of the menstrual cycle), but abundant in White essence. Thus, women lack facial hair (most of them, anyway), but their excess in essence leads, after conception, to the production of White breast milk... I somehow intended to tie this story in, because, related to the earlier discussion of Termagant, I wanted to somehow relate things to the moon, to cycles of the moon, to the MENSTRUAL cycle (?)
songs: "Please don't wear red tonight" (?) by the Beatles; of course, "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday" by the Stones; "Just like Heaven" by the Cure.
Chinaman's Hat and Kualoa Ranch are supposed to be areas rife with Night Marchers. Apparently the region was a "city of refuge," and as a result, Hawaiian chiefs placed patrols on the borders of it to catch any "criminals" before they could find sanctuary. In the afterlife, these patrols supposedly became Night Marchers... Also (and I've only read vague reference to this), certain areas of the island were held to be "jumping off points," where the souls of the dead could launch off into the abyss of the afterlife. Chinaman's Hat was supposed to be one of these places, I BELIEVE...
... anyway, instead of making this a more or less conventional love/ghost story, perhaps I could incorporate the idea of "go stop go," specifically a woman placed in the scenario outlined above, a woman who, to all observers, is catatonic, perhaps a "vegetable," but inside is desperately wishing to leave this world... And, instead of a "ghost," meaning someone who has physically and corporeally died, she becomes instead someone who, by means of her truest wish, temporarily leaves her bedridden, paralyzed body to temporarily live as a beautiful spirit (ala Cinderella) because of a particular resonance with the situations of the protagonist boy...
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