I have a theory about addiction: Every addict must have one person to shit on. This isn’t necessarily a deliberate thing, but it does seem to be a player in the fabric of existence. Even the death of a lone junkie in an alley will hurt someone somewhere. It’s one of the few items in the Universe that strives for balance.
Susan Jean Defelice’s Roxxi shows the lengths that the Universe will go to secure the situation. One of the odd things about the ever-echoing effects of addiction is its way of intruding in the lives of persons susceptible to vicarious experience, because they feel that their own lives are empty stories. This can happen to a caregiver, such as Mrs. Lombard in this story. Roxxi gets something comparable to good news and Mrs. Lombard gets a strange hurt inside; thus the balance of pain is maintained.
Q: Do you believe that Roxxi inadvertently sucked the life out of Mrs. Lombard, or was there intent?
Q: This is a beautifully told, but bleak, tale. Did writing it affect your emotions?
Susan’s Responses.
Q: Do you believe that Roxxi inadvertently sucked the life out of Mrs. Lombard, or was there intent?
Roxxi had been using people and drugs to relieve her pain for so long she’d become very ill. Because she is so entrapped by her habit, I believe there was no malicious intent. It had become her way of surviving. But somehow Roxxi triggers Mrs. Lombard’s self-examination of her role as a care provider for most of her life, and she was burnt out so much so that she was having little breaks with reality, such as during the chicken truck passage. It didn’t hit home with her until Roxxi’s demands pushed her there.
Q: This is a beautifully told, but bleak, tale. Did writing it affect your emotions?
That is kind & thank you! It felt liberating looking at uncomfortable feelings we have about ourselves and others, realizing the near impossibility of changing people let alone ourselves a lot of the time, even knowing logically that old behaviors aren’t serving our health anymore. Of wanting to break free and fly away, yet the tether to familiarity is strong and requires a lot strength to break. It felt good putting words to some confusing feelings.
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literally stories 
Thank you for your great answers, Susan. And I encourage all to take the link to your story, and while there, have a look at Susan’s other works
LA
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Hi Ladies,
I love this feature of a Sunday!
Not only do we get a reminder of some of our amazing writer’s work, we also get a peek into their thinking and thought process regarding their story telling.
It was very interesting to read the thoughts on how emotion can be used when writing.
All the very best.
Hugh
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