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****Kenneth Weene’s Red And White is #129 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses
on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote
that specific excerpt. All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece.
Name of fiction work? And were there other names you
considered that you would like to share with us? Red and White. To be honest the title was there from the very
beginning, which has more often than not been the history of my books
What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and
the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction?
I can’t give exact dates,
but it has been a few years in part because I have worked on two other major
projects during the same period, a memoir I co-wrote with a gentleman from
South Sudan, and a play, Ashes, that I co-wrote with a friend
from Nigeria. The play is supposed to be published this summer. The memoir, Jumping
Over the Ram, is still looking for a publisher.
Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work?
And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? I do almost all my writing in my office seated
at a computer. I did take one small break to work on one chapter in Prescott,
AZ. I’m not sure why I needed that few days, but generally, I just hack away at
my desk.
Two reasons I prefer working that
way: I use a double screen for my computer array, which means that I can fact
and spell check while the manuscript is open; and to be honest, my handwriting
is so bad that I can’t do much writing with pen and paper.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did
you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper,
directly on laptop; specific time of day? Okay, I’ve already said I wrote at the computer. I don’t smoke
anything, haven’t for years. I seldom listen to music when writing except that
while working on a couple of segments I did play some Native American music to
help with the rhythms of the words.
Can you give the reader just enough information for them to
understand what is going on in the excerpt?
I thought I would use one of the parts I wrote on
that trip to Prescott. Old Man Miller owns the local saloon. John McCabe works
for and lives with Miller. There has been a fight in town, one that involved
Whites and Indians. The intent of this chapter is to create a sense of what the
relationship between Reds and Whites is.
Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as
reference. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.
Excerpt
from Chapter five – Confusions
“Well
that was some ruckus we had us this morning.” Old Man Miller spat; his spittle
clanked into the bucket that served as a spittoon. “You know how she started?”
John
McCabe settled into a chair. “Sure do. It was ‘count of Mrs. Knox, you know
Amos’s wife. She come into town with him. Wanted to buy some of that cloth
Jedidiah had ‘em ship in from Omaha. Wanted to make herself a new dress, and…”
“Hrmph!
Hrmph!” The older man snorted his impatience.
John
continued, “she was walking cross the street when that Injun saw her, and him
not thinking none because of the liquor, why he said, ‘Howdy.’ And she said,
“Howdy,” back. And Wainright he took ‘ception count of him bein’ an Injun and
shouldn’t be talkin’ to no White woman.”
The
saloonkeeper stroked his whiskers and spat again. “Just, ‘Howdy?’”
“Yes,
sir, ‘Howdy.’”
“That
boy’s got mean in his brain. He’d have taken exception if that Injun has passed
wind.” Old Man Miller hucked another wad of spit into the bucket.
“Yes,
Sir. … We gonna stop sellin’ whiskey to them Injuns?”
The
older man laughed—the sound of a goat bleating in surprise. “Hell no! You know
what a good fight does?” He paused for emphasis. “Gets a man’s thirst roaring.
That’s what it does. Sold more beer today than we do most weeks.” He cackled
again.
The
door to the saloon had been locked, at least a stout of wood had been wedged
against it. The saloonkeeper and his young helper were heating their dinner —
the usual, beans with a few chunks of pork thrown in for flavor. John was
always thankful to see his employer happy. When business was good, the old man
was more likely to share those bits of fatty meat. Most days, the younger man
had to settle for just the beans. Tonight’s dinner was looking promising.
“You
seen your share of fighting didn’t you, Mr. Miller?” McCabe asked. He had asked
the question many times. It was one of Old Man Miller’s favorite topics — the
years he had ridden with One-Armed Kearney, even helping the Captain off the
field when his arm had been blown away at Churubusco.
Miller’s
story always ended the same way. “That was enough fighting for me. Enough of
horses, too. Only thing I wanted after Army life was a good drink. That’s why I
went into this business. Good liquor and a good chaw: that’s enough for any
man!”
When
he would finish, the old man would always spit. Even if he didn’t have a plug
in his cheek, he would spit. Sometimes, if he were cooking their beans, he’d
spit into the pot. “What the hell,” McCabe would think, “it’ll add flavor.”
When
he saw that Miller had actually given him a fistful of that pork, McCabe
figured the saloonkeeper was in an especially good mood. “Mind if I ask ya a
question?”
“Go
ahead. Don’t know as I’ll answer, but go on and ask.”
“Your
name?”
“What
about it?”
“What
is it?”
“Miller.
Hell, you know that.”
“Nah.
I mean your Christian name.”
“Folks
call me “Old Man.”
“Well,
I know that. I mean your real name — the one your folks gave you.”
“They
didn’t.”
“On
your certificate or when you was baptized.”
“None
of that crap. My ma dropped me, and that was about all what she was ready to
do.”
“What
did your pappy call you?”
“Before
he rode out?” The old man lit the kerosene lamp. He ran his finger around the
edge of his plate and sucked the last of the beans from his rough digit.
“Hell,
all he said was, ‘ain’t no kith of mine.’ Course I don’t recall it being just a
baby, but that’s what my Ma told me. Nope, only name I got’s Miller. Course now
folks call me Old Man, but I don’t know as it matters. Miller’s ‘nough of a
name for a barkeep.” He took a plug and stuffed it into one cheek. The younger
man could see the staining of Miller’s teeth — the ones that had not yet rotted
out.
Why is this excerpt so emotional for you
as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of
writing this specific excerpt? I think at a
personal level this excerpt connects with the alienation between my father and
myself and the absence of meaningful communication, which may be why it took
going away to work on it. However, in the larger context of the novel, it is so
evocative of the tension between Whites, Blacks, and Indians that pervaded that
time in history, of the effect the Civil War had on America and Americans, and
finally how in the end money so often distorted what was—and what is—going on
in our world.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can
share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough
drafts of this excerpt. I’m sure there were individual words altered,
but this piece when it was finally written was really just there as was most of
this book. That’s one of the reasons that I mention channeling the story; it
came from within me but so smoothly and complete.
The joke was on Ken;
those books were in German. Still, he had found the joy of reading, a joy that
has never failed him. In addition to loving books, that early experience gave
Ken a fascination with human behavior and how people lie to one another in
order to give meaning to their own lives. Lonely Cricket, the protagonist of
Red and White, draws on and reflects Ken’s fascination with the search for
human truth and the connection between that truth and stories.
With a Ph.D. in
psychology and a never-ending love for language, writing, and his fellow
humans, Ken has devoted the past twenty years of his life to creating stories,
poems, essays, novels, and plays. With each published word, Ken tells himself,
“I think that’s it.” Still new ideas come.
When asked how he can
write about Native Americans, Black Americans, and characters from so many
diverse backgrounds, Ken replies, “We’re all more nearly human than otherwise.”
For Ken, writing is a celebration not of one group or one culture but of the
human experience. “As long as I have the capacity to empathize, I will have a
never-ending source of stories.”
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https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/98-inside-emotion-of-fiction-god.html
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/11/98-inside-emotion-of-fiction-god.html
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