{"id":2715,"date":"2024-09-21T15:07:08","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T22:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2715"},"modified":"2024-09-21T15:07:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T22:07:08","slug":"the-helping-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/21\/the-helping-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"The Helping Hand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Show how an object\u2019s meaning can change as a character changes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1984:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen lay on the grass in the circle of mushrooms, drawing Fae-touched Fran<\/em>, her comic heroine. Like her, Fran was a recent high-school grad, just a hair over five feet tall, with strawberry blonde hair, one green and one brown eye, and a spattering of freckles across her pale face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike her, Fran had been given a gift by the fae, The Helping Hand<\/em>, a pendant that allowed her to teleport anywhere she desired, that just as often took her instead to where she was needed. Fran had no other superpowers, instead relying on her knowledge and day-to-day skills and talents to solve problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen knew the fae weren\u2019t real, mushroom rings were caused by the spreading mycelium, and teleportation and magic were as fictional as the fae. Still, the setting helped put her in the right frame of mind for Fran\u2019s origin story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was while she was putting together the panels where Fran first found the pendant that something in the grass caught her eye. A glint of something metallic, less than two feet from where she lay. Gwen reached out and picked it up. It was a length of silver chain with a pendant. She turned the pendant over. It looked exactly as she had drawn The Helping Hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pendant with a hand would have been one consequence too many. With the hand in the complicated pose she\u2019d drawn \u2014 she was quite proud of how it had turned out \u2014 it was too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With shaking hands, Gwen clasped the chain around her neck. She held her portfolio in her left hand, grabbed the pendant with her right and thought of her bedroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She didn\u2019t have time to feel silly about it, as she had no sooner thought of her room than she was there. Through practice and experimentation Gwen learned a few things. She didn\u2019t need to hold the pendant to teleport, she should pick a quiet place near<\/em> where she meant to go that she could show up to avoid having to explain how she appeared out of nowhere, most of the help she showed up for was of the mundane sort of lift this or push that, and the fae were very, very real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1986:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen had enough of Fae-touched Fran<\/em> complete to fill two eight-issue volumes. Since her portfolio went everywhere with her, every spare moment was spent expanding the world of Fran, her own experiences adding color and flavor to the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She left work one evening after the mall closed, found herself alone and too tired to walk home, so she teleported. Rather than her studio apartment, however, she found herself standing in front of a shocked man in a beige business suit, trying to balance on a rolling office chair to change a light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen dropped her case and held the chair steady. \u201cGo ahead and finish what you\u2019re doing,\u201d she said. \u201cI can explain later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man changed the light bulb, taking far longer than he should have, owing to his watching her rather than what he was doing. When he stepped down, Gwen picked up her portfolio, ready to disappear from this unknown man\u2019s life forever. She was stopped though, by his question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you a superhero?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just appeared out of thin air.\u201d He cleared his throat and extended a hand. \u201cSorry. Mike Jeffkins, owner and managing editor of Martial Comics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen shook his hand. \u201cGwen Brookes, shift manager, Central Mall food court. That\u2019s in British Columbia, by the way. I take it we\u2019re in New York?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBaltimore. You said you could explain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen thought about showing him her work but felt it would be out of place. Instead, she started telling him the story of how she\u2019d been drawing a comic and discovered the pendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stopped her. \u201cIs that what you have in the case \u2014 the comic?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen nodded. \u201cIt\u2019s probably not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be the judge of that,\u201d Mike said. \u201cLet\u2019s take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She laid her sketch pads on the desk, and he began to read. She watched as his fingers traced the lines just above the paper. He was feeling the flow of the panels as she had laid them out, with the lines in each leading into the next, bringing the eyes along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He read through the entire volume one and started on volume two which opened with the flashback to Fran finding the pendant. Mike looked up from the page to the pendant hanging around Gwen\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is where you found the pendant?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was drawing this panel,\u201d she said, pointing at the panel where Fran dons the necklace, \u201cwhen I saw it in the grass. But everything in these were drawn in the order you just read them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see the improvement in your confidence. The lines are bolder and flow even better than in the earlier pages. But,\u201d he said, \u201cif you found it then, how did\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing I\u2019ve learned, the fae exist and are fickle. They must\u2019ve thought it would be a kick to make my silly story true.\u201d Gwen shrugged. \u201cI try not to think too hard about it. Besides, this thing rocks. Do you have any idea how useful it is to just teleport<\/em> where you want to go?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1998:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martial Comics was bought out by one of the big publishers, and Fran was killed off in their massive team-up and cross-over series. Without responsibilities to her comic, Gwen found herself idle. She decided to take some local classes. Basic household maintenance classes included fixing leaking faucets, changing light fixtures, switches, and plugs. She learned basic automotive maintenance, gardening, and how to groom dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wished she hadn\u2019t learned how to groom dogs when she teleported to a muddy dirt road somewhere in the Midwest. Before her stood a shivering husky puppy, his coat matted and caked with mud providing no protection against the cold rain. She carried the poor, bedraggled critter down the road to a veterinary office \u2014 with no groomers on staff, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time she finished getting the pup clean, dry, and in the care of the vet, she\u2019d missed her dinner date, and her new dress was ruined. After returning home to trash the torn, stained dress with piles of dog hair all over it, she removed the necklace and stuffed it under the jumble in the kitchen junk drawer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she woke in the morning, it was back around her neck. She left it at home on the nightstand while she took the four-hour drive to the coast for some much-needed relaxation. She was flying down the highway when it materialized around her neck again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locking it in a fire safe didn\u2019t work. The bank\u2019s safe deposit box didn\u2019t fare any better. She tried shipping it to a paranormal investigator halfway across the country, but before she got home from the post office, it was back around her neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She looked at it in the mirror. \u201cWhy won\u2019t you leave me alone?\u201d she asked. \u201cI\u2019m sick of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2011:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen had begun approaching it like a job a few years prior. Five days a week she would teleport somewhere three or four times, until she inevitably ended up somewhere she didn\u2019t expect. Once there, she did whatever had to be done and teleported back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d talked more than one person down from the figurative ledge, and a young woman from a literal one. She coddled infants while their overwhelmed mothers got a break, tended toddlers while the day-care workers located the source of smoke or held off a non-custodial parent, and helped teens deal with their angst in healthy ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d changed countless tires and repaired switches and outlets in everything from single-wide mobile homes to mansions. She had to stifle her laughter after fixing a dripping faucet in a multi-million-dollar home led to the owner being so relieved he cried. The faucet stopped dripping, but now he is<\/em>, she thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On days when she wasn\u2019t teleporting here and there, she sought out mushroom circles and sat in them in hopes that the fae would return and take the burden from her. When that didn\u2019t happen, she resigned herself to her burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The publisher that had killed off Fran decided to bring her back in a teen dramedy, and Gwen was invited as a writer. The new owners of the publisher were fans and wanted her pure vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire run of Fae-touched Fran<\/em> was re-released under a renewed Martial Comics banner, providing Gwen with more royalties in a year than she\u2019d gotten from the original Martial Comics in twelve. She maintained her simple lifestyle though, and the money she didn\u2019t need went to charity at the end of each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen had just finished helping a farmer get her tractor running in Iowa and tried to teleport back home, only to find herself in a hospital room. Red tape with the letters \u201cDNR\u201d in white was stuck to the headboard, the heart monitor, and the chart on the wall. In the bed next to her lay a grey, pallid old man with a familiarity she couldn\u2019t place, until he opened his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMike?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGwen,\u201d his voice was just above a whisper and wavered as if it took all his strength to talk. \u201cI was wishing you were here, and now you are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pulled a chair next to the bed, sat, and held his hand. \u201cI\u2019m here, Mike. I\u2019m sorry I haven\u2019t written or called in so long. I didn\u2019t even know you were sick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just as bad,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter my brother died last year, I\u2019ve been so alone. I thought about calling you a thousand times but thought it would\u2019ve been weird.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo weirder than me popping up out of nowhere twice in your life.\u201d Gwen sighed. \u201cMost of what I do amounts to little more than I did for you \u2014 holding a chair so you didn\u2019t fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou did more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, sure. I\u2019ve helped a few people at least with bigger things. Most cases, though, it\u2019s nothing more than a couple minutes of simple assistance.\u201d Her vision blurred behind tears. She knew why she was there and hoped it would be more than a couple minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you understand,\u201d he said. \u201cHolding the chair wasn\u2019t what I needed, Fran was what I needed. Without it, Martial would\u2019ve gone bankrupt long before the big boys swooped in and bought it out. You saved me, in a very literal sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wish I could do something now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are. I sat with my brother, hard as it was, to make sure he didn\u2019t die alone. Now I won\u2019t die alone, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t. I\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw the show, thought it was pretty good.\u201d He closed his eyes, and a slight smile crossed his face. \u201cThey were smart to put you on the writing team for it. I knew it was your work in the first two minutes of the first episode. It wouldn\u2019t be the same without you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks, Mike. Your opinion means more to me than anyone else\u2019s. You saw my raw talent and took on an untrained kid.\u201d Tears began to trek down her cheeks unbidden. \u201cYou saved me, at least<\/em> as much as I saved you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFine, kid. We\u2019re even. I\u2019m glad you\u2019re still doing it,\u201d he said, \u201cbut for the life of me I can\u2019t figure out why. I would\u2019ve given up on teleporting years ago if it meant I\u2019d keep getting flung to the ends of the earth to help strangers hold a ladder or whatever. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy am I still doing it?\u201d Gwen patted his hand. \u201cI tried quitting, more than once. The longest I got was five weeks. It\u2019s not even about the teleporting. I knew I could help people, and yet I wasn\u2019t. That made me despise myself. So, I decided to keep doing it as long as I\u2019m able.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad, because it means you\u2019re here now. I never told you this, but I always thought of you as the daughter I never had. Every success of yours made me proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know the entire crew at Martial called you \u2018Dad\u2019 behind your back, right?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew. It felt good, like maybe I was important to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEver since that first meeting you\u2019ve been important to me,\u201d Gwen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike winced and let out a long breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just tired,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll let you sleep,\u201d she said, holding his hand in both of hers, \u201cand I\u2019ll be right here holding your hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gwen held his hand and listened as his breathing slowed and eventually stopped. She didn\u2019t release his hand until the doctor came in and turned off the monitors. She felt the weight of the pendant against her chest as she made her way to the nearest restroom to teleport out unseen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stood in her living room trying to decide what the pendant was to her now. It had started as the best thing ever, turned into a curse, a burden, and now, she realized, it was as natural to her as breathing. The Helping Hand, she decided, just \u2014 was<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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