Nobody took me up on the challenge to try their hand at character sketches for April, May, and Carl, dammit. But since I teased the possibility of explaining just what the hell I was thinking when I set out to write this story, here it is; everyone can judge how well my intent came across.

  David/April: David was a sensitive boy who grew up in a cold household (raised by nannies until too old for them), with parents uninterested in their child other than what he meant for them in society. His father saw him only as his successor, his mother was disappointed with his lack of social graces, neither of them gave him the love and assurance a child needs to feel confident in themselves. He "ate his feelings" which just added to his issues as he got older, and the only approval he ever got from his parents was from his acceptance of what they wanted from him. He discovered chess and geek-dom as a social refuge in school, and in high school his father killed his one chance to take some pride in his too-big body which might have won him praise on the football field. After one horribly ended romantic engagement in college, he gave up on that side of life for good and focused on the one thing that earned his parent's approval; taking up the running of the family business. And that would have been all there was to his life; a life neither tragic nor triumphant but . . . gray.

  Then the Seevers moved in next door.

  May: May came from a much different background, even discounting the whole alien thing. While she was also an only child, her mother was much younger when she was born, and in their rural community she was surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Her mother being one of the older siblings of the previous generation, May was one of the eldest cousins and an authority figure among her fifty or so younger cousins, first as a baby-sitter, later as an older confidant. She is deeply caring of others (a trait only magnified by her telepathy), especially those she feels responsible for. And, lets face it, opinionated and bossy. After half-raising a bunch of much-younger cousins herself as their parents worked, so so bossy. As Carl says in the story, she is very rarely uncertain about What To Do and expects agreement. She has always been loved and loves easily; the trait that keeps her from being a manipulative nightmare. She knows what others need and acts to fulfill those needs. She is very seldom wrong, but if she encounters significant push back, she listens.

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  Carl: Carl was a younger child, with an older brother and sister (the oldest of their generation) with whom he got along by either avoiding or being agreeable. He never considered himself responsible for anyone else, he was easygoing and generally rebelled when needed by nodding along and then going and doing his own thing. He fell in love with May in high school and in the process of pursuing her learned that neither nodding along nor doing his own thing was going to work; he grew a backbone because he knew that otherwise he wouldn't survive (or succeed in winning her respect). Carl loves May, but is well aware that with the best of intentions she can go too far. When she does, he does his best to help her realize it and step back. The two of them absolutely agreed on the necessity of getting away from the Chandler family community. Carl is more than ready to let the people he cares about (including May) work out their issues with little advice from him (most of the time he figures they know what they need better than he does), but with whatever degree of help and support they'll accept.

  So those are the personality traits of the main characters involved as I pictured them. You can imagine how I expected their dynamic to play out; May, after several resolutions, learns to listen much more carefully, while April learns she can be loved without surrender to what others want from her. Neither learn their lessons completely by the end of Becoming April (nobody changes overnight) but I like to think I've put them on the road to it.

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  So, what's next? For everyone who's stuck with me this far, I'm going to start posting new chapters for Finding April. Since the continuation of April's story hasn't been nearly so worked out, readers will likely see one chapter, occasionally two, each week. Starting this week; tonight sees the launch of Finding April, continued on this fiction page.

  TP