Literally Reruns – Time and Chance Happeneth to All Gods by Leila Allison

Long-time friend of the site and excellent writer David Henson has sent us a submission for the Sunday Feature – thank you David. The lovely Leila has been the mainstay of this feature for such a long time that it is brilliant to see her with her own Literally Rerun.

“Time and Chance Happeneth to All Gods,” Leila Allison’s story of friendship and impending loss, never hooks or slices as it brings the reader a smile and lump in the throat. It’s one of Leila’s earlier pieces and exemplified the steady stream of quality writing she has provided Literally Stories.  Questions for Leila:

Q1: I love the line “Unlucky shadows; fortunate blackberries; and such things contain a special foretelling that heralds the sway of human events.” Do such metaphors as the line refers to typically come to you organically as you’re writing a story?

Q2: The ending works well as is, but tell us: Did Fran make the putt?

***

Time and Chance Happeneth to All Gods

Q1: I love the line “Unlucky shadows; fortunate blackberries; and such things contain a special foretelling that heralds the sway of human events.” Do such metaphors as the line refers to typically come to you organically as you’re writing a story?

A1: First thank you David for bringing this back. It is greatly appreciated. 

Oddly, for any other character the answer would be yes, they just come about as I go–but not so in the case of “Holly.” He has a highly structured way of thinking of his own invention, so whenever I have to convey his thoughts, I must do so the way he would. Thus there are elements of “luck” and “tells” that are singular to him. It’s mainly OCD gone awry, an attempt to control a world he does not understand–Yet the lucky/unlucky tells he “sees” always come true.

Q2: The ending works well as is, but tell us: Did Fran make the putt?

A: Oh yes. She nailed it. This was a part of a longer related group of works, and at the end, she lived to see Christmas, which was Holly’s “bet”–a connection in which the result of a mundane event is the same as the conclusion of something greater in the future. Hell, after giving Fran “cancer of the everything” I owed her that much.

Thanks again!

Leila