To Those who Don't Make the cut

This post is about a character who is very dear to me, a character from the very beginning. Edwin (or at times referred to as Mr. E) was a rather insane man whose thoughts often drifted off into nonsense, while at times converging into perfect clarity. He had a pet toad (don’t ask me what its name was), and he told jokes that didn’t make any sense. He was a “drifter” who rode transports without paying for a ticket. He brought comic relief to tense situations and also served as the perfect “prophetic voice” for the story. His sincerity also provided bittersweet moments of resolution.

Unfortunately, as great as he was, Edwin didn’t add anything to the plot, and as the novel continued to shift, he didn’t add anything thematically either. He had to go. That doesn’t make him unimportant, just not part of this story. As consolation, I named a cactus after him. (I don’t really like living things, so my friend gave me a small cactus for my apartment.)

Maybe all of our unused characters have their own story somewhere, and they’re fantastic friends with wild adventures. I hope so.