The Inspiration for Characters in Midheaven and more
In King's Beach, on the
shore of Lake Tahoe, I attended a party where, on one side of a large room, a
group of kids held a Bible study, while across the room other kids drank and
smoked stuff. And a girl stood between those groups, gazing left and
right, looking bewildered, before she dashed out of the house. I followed and
watched her run down the road and plunge into the lake.
I saw myself in that
girl, often torn between what appeared to offer pleasure and what felt good and
beautiful but required sacrifice. Together, the girl and I became Jodi, the
narrator of Midheaven.
Later, I was writing
feature stories regularly for the San Diego Reader, a major
weekly. As one assignment, the publisher sent me to spend a few days with
Mother Teresa's seminarians in Tijuana, and I found them to be among the
kindest and happiest people I could imagine. One fellow, especially bright,
gracious, and unique, was Dean McFalls. Even now, though he's had some
troubles, I think of him as an honest image of Christ in the real world, much
like the hero of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory.
Soon after I wrote the
seminary story, my cousin Patti's friend Dale, who helped in the nursery of an
Evangelical megachurch, got accused of exposing himself to children. The
accusation landed him in jail for over two years with no provision for bail.
When therapists interviewed the nursery children, all kinds of wild stories
came out. Bizarre and ridiculous tales about Satanic ritual abuse went public.
The church became a subject of daily ridicule in local and even national
media.
My Reader
editor suggested an article about the church, Faith Chapel. I attended a
service, decided to stick around, met lots of people, and found them nothing
like the vicious whackos the media portrayed.
One summer, I and my
friends Ron and Henry drove to Mazatlan in Henry's '57 Chevy. While camping on
the beach, we met a ten-year-old orphan I'll call Alvaro, a personable and
adventurous kid who decided we should take him across the border. He showed us
a certificate signed by the Mazatlan Municipal Governor that gave him
permission to travel to "los Estados del Norte," which he insisted
meant the U.S. After we told him the letter only meant he could go
to northern Mexico, he asked us to deliver him to Tijuana, where a sister
lived.
We reached the border
with the Chevy running on fumes. And we, young and innocent, hoped
to convince the border guards to provide Alvaro with a bus ticket to Tijuana.
Instead, the officers threatened to jail us all.
The memory of Alvaro, so
charming and resourceful he could have done great things given favorable
opportunities, convinced me to have him smuggle himself across the border and
get adopted by detective Tom Hickey, the hero of many books of mine.
Now, at thirty-nine,
Alvaro is an attorney and, along with his brother Clifford, at the heart
of The Answer to
Everything.
I get so attached to my
characters, sometimes I'm not sure if I am creating them or they are creating
me. In accord with this trait (or neurosis or whatever) of mine, early in my
work on The Answer to Everything, I realized it wasn't mine to
write, that I needed to turn it over to Jodi McGee, with whom Clifford Hickey
had gotten fascinated The Very Least and who narrated Midheaven.
All of which in turn led
to my considering Midheaven, The Very Least, and The
Answer to Everything three stories that should ideally be read in
succession or, for those who prefer ereaders, as a single long story I call
(simply enough) Hickey & McGee.
Ken
Some of Ken’s favorites are early mornings, the desert in
spring, kind and honest people, baseball and other sports played by those
who don’t take themselves too seriously, most kids, and films he and his Zoe can enjoy together.
He reads classic novels, philosophy, theology, and all sorts of
mysteries. On his blog, he offers some hard truths and encouragement about
living as a writer.
He has long been the author of novels, stories, articles,
poems, and essays. Lots of honors have come his way, including a National
Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship; Poets, Essayists
and Novelist’s Ernest Hemingway Award; Private Eye Writers of
America Best First Novel and Shamus Best Novel; and several San Diego
and Los Angeles Book Awards.
Buy links:
Midheaven
The Very Least
Amazon: https://amzn.to/30FEa91
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-very-least-ken-kuhlken/1129158286?ean=9781725909786
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