Author’s notes
Daniel by Candlelight Coda
I normally don’t do these, because there usually isn’t anything to say! But I think this story needs a little explanation, just so you know why it seems to have “gotten away from me”.
When I finished “Daniel by Candlelight Part 8”, lo these many many moons ago, I had always intended to write a coda to the story. I mean, it seemed only fair to poor, much-whumped Danny to give him a little taste of happiness.
The original idea was to have Gaia somehow come to earth and be reincarnated (or incarnated) into a woman who would move in next door to Danny, thereby opening up to him a future of endless and inventive bonking. Indeed, my notes for that story said she was going to be an aromatherapist (to explain the scent Danny remembers).
It was such a simple idea – she moves in, he smells the familiar scent, they meet, they bonk. The ultimate gutter fic!
Anyway, many moons passed, and then the GGC was reborn and Colonel Nepi was looking for new stories. So I dusted off my notes, and started writing.
Now, I know I’m long-winded – I always have been. I prefer to think of it as “excessively descriptive”, but I can usually tell when I am straying off the track into endless waffle and can recover. Usually.
But when I started writing this story, suddenly I found myself oozing all over Theodora’s possessions, slavering over them, describing them in great detail. And I wondered where I was going with this “short simple gutter fic”. It was getting a bit too involved.
And then I got hijacked . . . by a cat. I didn’t realise I was being hijacked at first. I mean, it was a sweet little black cat – and I am a cat lover. I kind of liked the idea that she had inserted herself into the story. Sweet little kittie, and it gave me the excuse to use all those wonderful “cat” words – slinking, flowing, curling, twining . . . you get the idea.
I had no idea she was such a cunning cat. She didn’t tip her hand at all. I mean, if she had named herself “Bastet”, I might have cottoned on sooner that she was something more than a simple feline. But no, she was just “Bathsheba” – queen of all she surveyed, a perfect name for a cat.
So there I was, in the middle of the beginning of this fic which was turning out to be much more involved than I thought. And I just couldn’t seem to manouver Daniel and Theodora into bed. I mean, they were becoming best of chums, and the only action he was getting was from the cat – who was throwing herself at him like the trollop she had already been called.
And then the penny dropped. You’ll recall in the beginning, Theodora was playing music loud – one particular track. Well, I knew (even if you didn’t then) that it was a track from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack, called “Kissing You” by an artist named Des’ree.
This particular track is a favourite of mine – it is sad, achingly so, but there is a joyful note to it as well. For me, it says that while the pain of loss is terrible, there is also a joy in having known the love that presaged it.
In the story, the song was meant to be special to Theodora/Gaia – a reminder to Gaia of her time with Daniel and how much she misses him. Theodora doesn’t know that part, just that the song is special to her.
Imagine my surprise when Bathsheba was the one who ended up reacting to the song!! Why would a cat react to that song, unless she was a goddess? A goddess who’d spent a magical night with someone and had grieved for him ever since?
Suddenly, it all made sense. That damned cat had hijacked my story!! She was making into something more than I had intended, for her own furry purposes. And she had been so sneaky about it!
At that point, I had to resign myself to working harder at this story than I had intended. Fortunately, I had made no rash promises or agreed to any time frames, because the time it took me to complete the story was WAY more than I had expected.
However, despite my chagrin at Bathsheba’s duplicity, I have to thank her for forcing me to create a worthy story. A story that focuses more on human nature and love and longing than it does on a quick slide through the gutter.
A story that I am proud to have written. Thanks Bathsheba, you little trollop.
Nephthys
If you’re interested, here are the lyrics to the song:
Pride can stand, a
thousand trials,
The strong will never fall
But watching stars without you,
My soul cried.
Heaving heart is full
of pain,
Oh, oh, the aching.
'Cause I'm kissing you, oh.
I'm kissing you.
Touch me deep, pure,
and true,
Gift to me forever
'Cause I'm kissing you, oh.
I'm kissing you.
Where are you now ?
Where are you now ?
'Cause I'm kissing you.
I'm kissing you, oh.