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Blue Bayou #15 – Touch Tones – The L Word
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Nellie’s House on the Bayou – Bette
I like nature just as much as the next denizen of West Hollywood. I don’t know that much about it. I know there’s a Web of Life, the bee people are afraid is unraveling. I know that most birds migrate, that salmon jump upstream to spawn, and that the ice caps are melting. If pressed, I could probably come up with more facts, but that’s all they’d be – facts, not experiences.
Big difference, and now, it appears I’m getting ready to have one.
”Mother,” I begin, as I lift my arms over my head to be doused some more with bug repellent, ”I’d like to sit in front of this fan, answer some emails, make a call to Tina, and then, go back to New Orleans for dinner.”
”Who said that was the plan?” Nellie enters the guestroom, balancing a drinks tray on top of the cast on her arm.
”You have to ease this one into things, Nellie, but she’ll come along.”
I frown at my mother.
”Nice boots.” Nellie gives me an approving look from head to toe.
”They were mine for many years.” Mother frowns back at me, her own warning.
To prove how much I do love them, I scuff them lightly on Nellie’s hardwood floor.
She looks down to get a closer look. ”Is that blood splatter on the tip there, Bette?”
”Where?” I follow her gaze down.
Nellie pours our iced tea. ”I don’t drink anymore before I drive the tours, but I can make y’all something stronger.”
”Bette can drive the boat. Rest your arm.”
”I don’t want to talk about that,” Nellie snaps.
”I can’t drive a boat!” I wave the lingering cloud of mosquito spray away from my face, and cough.
Nellie takes a long sip of tea. ”Oh, it’s easy.”
”Yes, you can.” Mother dismisses me. ”Just don’t hit the alligators, and you’ll be fine.”
”Alligators?” I look suspiciously out the window.
”A child could do it!” Nellie sells it. Then, she waves her broken arm at us. ”Which is why I’m not quitting, which is why I’m not retiring, which is why I’m not selling my swamp tour business!” Her voice ends just south of a shout.
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I love your stories BB and the way you write them but there is no doubt that the brilliant pictures make them very special.
Look forward to reading and seeing more of Bette’s Bayou Adventures soon.
As a filmmaker I write to picture, and here I can happily populate my stories with them as further entertainment for you.
I do wonder though – what’s in that bug spray?
Blackbird
Stupid question maybe, but do you mean by Red Mist, the deep anger, hidden in most peoples heart? The anger that can consume you if you don’t do something about it, before you hurt yourself or other people, like Bette almost choked that woman.
But Bette’s mother is right, she and Tina will love her anyway, with or without her hurt and sometimes madness.
Most people fight their demons and come out stronger than ever, sadly that is not always the case.
Great update!
Stupid question maybe, but do you mean by Red Mist, the deep anger, hidden in most peoples heart? The anger that can consume you if you don’t do something about it, before you hurt yourself or other people, like Bette almost choked that woman.
But Bette’s mother is right, she and Tina will love her anyway, with or without her hurt and sometimes madness.
Most people fight their demons and come out stronger than ever, sadly that is not always the case, not everyone is able to find their innerpeace and live their life in total harmony. You need to live your life the best you can, what makes you feel satisfied and good about yourself and to others. Life is not simply, but give it all your best and don’t give up.
Great update!
Bibi, Yes, by showing us the knife wound, followed by the comment about Bette’s knife fight, then her question to her mother about revenge, and her mother pointedly asking, “You saw the red mist, didn’t you? When you had that woman by the throat,” The Red Mist is the sub-text of this story, and is definitely about the devastating effects of Bette’s anger.
The primordial setting of this story, in a place that appears to be removed from evolution, inhabited by symbols for our human reptilian brain, our amygdala, further underscores the conversation about ghosts trapped between two worlds, causing Bette to think about her own restless spirits and finally her confession/realization.
In her flashback to her childhood dreams, we get a chilling feeling of her desperate loneliness – when she believed her mother was trying to reach her in the static between the stations of her radio – if only she hear her mother’s voice again. That futility turned inward became a deep rage, fueled by a lie she never truly believed.
Bette, as written in the On Air series, was a character with a lot of impatience, denial, and explosive anger. By bringing her mother back into the story, in my envisioning of Season 7, I’ve given Bette not only the source of her rage, but the path out of it.
The mother character embodies a feminine archetype that goes far, far back into human history, and she appears first over a thousand years ago as Durga, a warrior who fought alongside Kali in fierce battles against demons. Kali, represents pure rage, and the ancient, unevolved reptilian brain that sits at the base of our craniums, and informs our limbic system. But Durga is the archetype in Buddhism and earlier in Hinduism, of Fierce Compassion. This is where I’m pointing us as who Bette’s mother is, and who Bette might become with more consciousness: Mindful of her rage, and focusing it in ‘right action’, no longer blindly striking out.
In the Christian Church, Fierce Compassion, is an archangel with a tremendous sword (Justice), and is a great being who will cut the heads, arms and legs off anything that threatens the purest parts of who and what she is devoted to protect.
To me, and from your comment I believe you agree, romantic love alone will not resolve Bette’s inner demons.
Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting!
Blackbird
Thank you for explaining your motives and inspiration for this incredible story!
Nice update BB!
trying to leave ya a comment but sure it won’t work. i like this story and i love drama so bring it on.
I so love this Bette and Tina. Bette’s mother is a hoot too. Thanks
Via email to me –
Comment: Ah, Bird, I think this was a favorite chapter. There was just something special about the way you wrote the emotions in this one, and the special connection between Bette and Mary that exists between mother and child in spite of all the years of distance and separation between them.
I love the ‘T’ stitched into Bette abs, a little memory for her.
The red mist that appears within most of us at times… and how we learn to tame it. To me it seems that Bette has matured quite a bit as she acknowledges it’s existence within her and takes responsibility for its appearance. The fact that it bothers her to me shows that she is taming it.
I loved the way you wrote about Mary’s articles self. It was heartfelt. Her way of being with Bette is so loving. I love it.
I love Nellie’s character and the way she explains God to the boy.
Great chapter my friend! Thank you!
bearski
buggs666
Submitted on 2015/09/05 at 10:59 am
Wrote:: Trying to leave ya a comment but sure it won’t work. i like this story and i love drama so bring it on.
Thank you darling! I have spoken sometimes of their
work in writing this seventh season
virtual, giving a wonderful version of our series,
and turn it at the same time a source of culture, talking
Hindu goddesses “Durga and Kali”, was fantastic
comparison and significance of Durga, you’re done with Bette’s mother.
And I am an admirer of your photos are great! because in my
spare time I am shooting.
The complete constellation.
THE RED MIST is this the hurt and betrayal that BETTE is feeling towards her mother or father for haqving lied to her when she was younger?Is BETTE’s mother really hiding from the mob still?WHY all this cloak and dagger stuff when she should just tell her.A lot of mystery surrounds the mother and her friends.thanks
” By bringing her mother back into the story, in my envisioning of Season 7, I’ve given Bette not only the source of her rage, but the path out of it.” How lucky Bette is! She gets a chance to see her mother and ultimately improve her life. People that lose one or both of their parents a a young age are not so fortunate and wander through life ,sometimes successfully, but often with this large hole in their hearts that’s never filled..They are completely unaware of the root cause and are constantly seeking that unconditional love of a parent that no one else can give -leading to so much angst and emotional garbage.
I absolutely love your writing. It’s so thought provoking. I had a conversation recently about death and dying and the fate of the “soul” when the physical body ceases. Having held the hands of a number of people, some ‘good’ others not so great, as they draw that last breath, I hope I was the recipient of some of their goodness! But who is to say.? That probably only happens in the movies ,right?
My personal ‘Red Mist’??? Sometimes I can tame it, but awareness is key. Maybe if I had Bette’s Boots,…please keep writing! Thank you!
I wish to thank everyone for their comments, both short and more revealing! I’m excited this story touched many of your own personal experiences, thoughts, and musings. Thank you for sharing with me, and all the readers who pass by here.
A few stories back is, “Radar Love” (http://bit.ly/LesRadarLove) #9 in Touch Tones, and it just received a comment from Kiwipit. What she said brought back to me how I set up Bette’s emotions, and the cracks that appear in “Blue Bayou” in “Radar Love’s” curiously metaphysical opening. If you have 4 minutes, you won’t be disappointed by reading Bette’s thoughts again, as she stares at the ceiling that early morning in Santa Fe.
The day before that opening morning scene in “Radar Love” is in the story titled, “Blood Moon Rising.” In “Blood Moon,” Tina reveals her own early life trauma to Mary Windhorse, and sets up the sequence in “Countdown”.
Many of you, and quite obviously me included, are intrigued with Bette Porter – a woman of previous high heel shoe towering fame – now in cowboy boots. It’s pretty clear that these aren’t just any cowboy boots. These have ‘changed’ Bette, haven’t they?
The night that Bette arrives in Santa Fe is #8 in Touch Tones’ story, “Flexibility” when Bette gets her cowboy boots, and has her adventure with the snakes in the canyon. That was a story I had a wonderful time writing.
Naturally, Bette’s mother had interesting plans for her that night, as she always does.
I won’t edge too close to Robert Frost, and say that Bette’s road is “the one less traveled by.” For me, that’s an overly used trope for the brambles of self discovery. What I hear for Bette, when I listen to my writer’s voice on the subject, are the strains of Grace Slick’s psychedelically infused, “White Rabbit”, drawing me back to wonder about looking glasses and hookah-smoking caterpillars and finding myself thankful that Bette has ‘magical’ boots to wear on her journey.
Blackbird
Name: ssgogo93
Via email to me:
Comment: I love the way you paint a rich scene with such compact, yet colorful and humorous dialogue. No wasted words between characters, only those needed to convey the story line, and at the same time adding depth and richness to each character. In a short exchange between mother and daughter, I was reminded so much about Bette’s childhood and the demons that still haunt her. Well done Blackbird.
Name: Lillian May
Via email to me –
Comment: It was important to bring back Bette’s mother; she is the cause of Bette’s Red Mist; so she can guide Bette out of this mist into a world of mediation to deal with frustrations. Is the boots like the red shoes; tap 3 times & make a wish…like a security blanket…like how you brought them into the story line. Anxious to see where the ghost will play a part of this story frame. Brilliant having the wound stitched with the letter T for Tina; instead of a tattoo so to speak. Love the no nonsense depth of each character. Anxiously awaiting for the next chapter…