David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "best-of-2015"
A Spool of Blue Thread
A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD starts Abby and Red Whitshank worrying about their son, Denny, who is nearing forty with seemingly no ambition, although,according to him, he has finished college. Abby takes him at his word, but we're not so sure. Is this guy just slow to mature or is he some kind of con man?
The Whitshanks have a lawyer daughter, Amanda, who has a thirteen-year-old daughter. She's having marital problems, with a husband similar to Denny. Jeannie, the youngest daughter, works with Red as a carpenter, and there's a youngest boy, Stem, who seems to be the family favorite.
Our first twist comes when Abby starts to become forgetful. For instance, she calls the family dog Clarence, when her name is really Brenda. And the neighbors find her wandering around the neighborhood in her pajamas, during a rain storm. The family wants to put them in an assisted living facility, but then there's the seventh member of the family, the house, which was built with lovely craftsmanship by Red's father junior. So Stem and Nora, his beautiful, languid wife, move in with them. But then Jeannie tells Denny what's happening and he decides to move in, too. That's when we arrive at another twist. Stem is not really Abby and Red's son. He's not even adopted.
Okay, then the flashbacks start. We find out how Abby and Red got together. She was going with, Dane, a bad boy type, but then she noticed what a nice boy Red was during a fracas with a neighbor, and it's all over but the shouting.
The next section deals with how Red's father Junior wound up with his wife, Linnie. He met her when she was only thirteen, but she was with two senior girls at the time. They have sex before he finds out how young she really is. Her father wants his head; Junior hears there's construction work to be had in Baltimore, and that's how he learns to be a master carpenter, eventually owning his own construction business. But it's during the Depression, so he isn't able to save much, but he does get a commission to build the Brill house, the seventh member of the family that Red and Abby still live in. The way he cons his way into buying the house will remind you of Denny. Somewhere in there, Linnie shows up in Baltimore. She's been in love with Junior since she was thirteen. She's eighteen now and she tracks him down like a bloodhound. We're not sure if Linnie and Junior ever do get married, but they have two kids, one of them Red.
There's another twist that made me want to cry, but I'll let you read that for yourself. Believe it or not, Red agrees to move into an apartment and the family hunkers down to moving him and Stem, Nora and their three boys start packing up to return home. Denny decides to leave, even before they get Red moved in. His sisters give him holy hell, but he insists he's got to help his landlady board up her house during a hurricane; he only has a tight window to avoid being stuck in Baltimore with his family. But all is not what it seems to be; it never is with Denny.
The blue spool of thread plays a role as does a French horn; Denny insists he's a changed man and some readers will believe him. He's decided to become a furniture maker; it's the family business after all. So . . . do you believe him or is forty too old to change your spots?
The Whitshanks have a lawyer daughter, Amanda, who has a thirteen-year-old daughter. She's having marital problems, with a husband similar to Denny. Jeannie, the youngest daughter, works with Red as a carpenter, and there's a youngest boy, Stem, who seems to be the family favorite.
Our first twist comes when Abby starts to become forgetful. For instance, she calls the family dog Clarence, when her name is really Brenda. And the neighbors find her wandering around the neighborhood in her pajamas, during a rain storm. The family wants to put them in an assisted living facility, but then there's the seventh member of the family, the house, which was built with lovely craftsmanship by Red's father junior. So Stem and Nora, his beautiful, languid wife, move in with them. But then Jeannie tells Denny what's happening and he decides to move in, too. That's when we arrive at another twist. Stem is not really Abby and Red's son. He's not even adopted.
Okay, then the flashbacks start. We find out how Abby and Red got together. She was going with, Dane, a bad boy type, but then she noticed what a nice boy Red was during a fracas with a neighbor, and it's all over but the shouting.
The next section deals with how Red's father Junior wound up with his wife, Linnie. He met her when she was only thirteen, but she was with two senior girls at the time. They have sex before he finds out how young she really is. Her father wants his head; Junior hears there's construction work to be had in Baltimore, and that's how he learns to be a master carpenter, eventually owning his own construction business. But it's during the Depression, so he isn't able to save much, but he does get a commission to build the Brill house, the seventh member of the family that Red and Abby still live in. The way he cons his way into buying the house will remind you of Denny. Somewhere in there, Linnie shows up in Baltimore. She's been in love with Junior since she was thirteen. She's eighteen now and she tracks him down like a bloodhound. We're not sure if Linnie and Junior ever do get married, but they have two kids, one of them Red.
There's another twist that made me want to cry, but I'll let you read that for yourself. Believe it or not, Red agrees to move into an apartment and the family hunkers down to moving him and Stem, Nora and their three boys start packing up to return home. Denny decides to leave, even before they get Red moved in. His sisters give him holy hell, but he insists he's got to help his landlady board up her house during a hurricane; he only has a tight window to avoid being stuck in Baltimore with his family. But all is not what it seems to be; it never is with Denny.
The blue spool of thread plays a role as does a French horn; Denny insists he's a changed man and some readers will believe him. He's decided to become a furniture maker; it's the family business after all. So . . . do you believe him or is forty too old to change your spots?
