The funny thing about this story is it started out negative, but I made something positive out of it. Because of this experience that was initially negative, I developed an admiration for my favorite writer of all time, Sir Michael Crichton. I draw a lot of inspiration from Sir Crichton, and he's one of the main reasons that I got into writing in the first place. I have reviewed What You Don't Know (Lulu Wang), to help me construct this story.
It was October 20th of last year. An early Friday evening, my cousin Gabbi's older friend, Kristina was coming to visit Gabbi. But, on her way into the neighborhood, with the radio blaring, she started to play with her hair. Kristina rolled down the driver side window as she drove. But suddenly, a few locks of Kristina's long, lovely hair became trapped in the seatbelt behind her head. She jerked the steering wheel of her black Honda Pilot to the left a little, and shot right off the road. Kristina's car smacked into a telephone pole right beside the road. And, as fate would have it, that specific telephone pole provided power to my family's house and a whole bunch of people in the neighborhood. About a week before, I had bought both of the "Jurassic Park" novels by Michael Crichton. I hadn't gotten around to reading them yet, and now it looked like I would finally have the time. Ten minutes later, I walked out the front of the neighborhood with my dad. We were heading out to see the damage done to the pole. Dad was holding a flashlight, because the sun was just starting to set. "Jesus!" I exclaimed. We were creeping down the right shoulder of the road, and the cars were flying past us at what seemed to be almost fifty miles an hour. "Hey, slow down!" Dad yelled at one of the drivers. Finally, we reached the crash sight. Three police cars were parked behind the Honda Pilot, and there was an old fire truck on scene, putting out the flames. The pole had come down right on top of the car's hood, and crushed it. Both of the front car tires had snapped off the front axle, and the front grille had melted off the car, due to the intense heat. Just then, a PECO truck arrived at the crash site. "Excuse me, sir, but when do you think the power will be back on?" Dad asked one of the men. "We're gonna have to get a new telephone pole in here, because this one is wrecked. The new pole won't be here until Sunday" one of the men answered. Dad and I sighed deeply, and started walking back home. When we got there, Dad notified the Pa State Police of the situation. "Yeah, the cars are just flying past that crash site. Yeah, way toooo fast. Uh, I'd say, like fifty miles an hour" Dad explained. "Well?" Mom asked impatiently when he hung up. "they're going to create a police checkpoint on that road to slow people down" Dad reported. "Good" Mom replied. Then, Dad walked outside, and started up our generator. I started reading the first "Jurassic Park" novel right about then. I thought it was really good, and excellently crafted, though I did grow just a tad bored during the parts of Ian Malcolm's speeches about Chaos Theory. I was pleasantly surprised to read the parts that were cut out of the first movie, like the subplot of dinosaurs escaping the island, and the whole river raft sequence. I couldn't really sleep that night, because I had my window open, and all I heard was the sound of thunderous, humming generators. When I woke up the next morning, and had a small breakfast of snack food, I started reading "The Lost World". I was a little shocked to see how much of the great second novel hadn't been used in the second movie. For example, certain characters from the book didn't exist in the movie, some scenes from the book never happened, etc. I still thought it was a good book, though. It was very fast paced, and very exciting. After I finished the book, and the power came on the next day, I was interested in Michael Crichton, so I googled him on my computer. "Christ almighty, why do the good always die young?" I moaned. Michael Crichton, 1942-2008. I was thinking of a way that I could fondly remember Michael Crichton in my own way, while at the same time being a way that everyone else could remember him by. So, I whipped out my computer and got to work. I went to Google, and created a document with the title "Crichton Everlasting". And of course, I started the story with his wonderful birth into this world. You know something? His legacy lives on to this day. And it's not just through the hardcore fans of "Jurassic Park", either. Every time that I sit down to construct an idea for a novel, I always use the same set up for the different chapters, or "sections", which mirrors the way Crichton constructed both "Jurassic Park" novels. I understand it's easier to show you than to tell you, so let me give you an example. Joining Forces " Order collapses in simultaneous regions. Survival is now unlikely for individuals and groups" - Michael Crichton Pa State Police Detective Indiana Carter pulled into the underground parking garage for his apartment building. One of the things on his mind was those rogue rookie traffic cops that had been all over the news. Indiana knew all four of those guys personally. Their names were Brett Goodman, Frank Sweet, Percy Winston, and Michael Terrence. Michael had died just the other day during a shootout with famous mob boss Donald Corleone. Just as Indiana got out of his car, he noticed three people against the far wall of the parking garage. It was none other than Brett, Frank, and Percy. 'Do you have any idea how hard it is to prosecute a cop?" Brett said. Indiana turned to face them. "Well, actually, it's not so hard nowadays, but I gather that's not why you're here". "That's right" Percy added. "You "heroes" have killed a dozen people this week. So, what are you going to do next week?" Indiana asked. "Kill a dozen more" Brett answered. "Is that what you guys are all about? Being heroes?" Indiana asked. "All our heroes are dead" Frank answered. "We're the first generation that's learned to fight" Brett put in. "We're simply ridding society of killers that would be caught and sentenced anyway if our courts worked properly. We began with the criminals that the people know, so that our actions would be understood. It's not just a question of whether or not to use violence. There simply is no other way, Inspector. You, of all people, should understand that" Brett went on. "Either you're for us or you're against us" Percy said. "I'm afraid you've misjudged me" Indiana told them. Slowly but surely, Brett hung his head a little in disappointment. Then, Brett, Frank and Percy started up their Indian Chief motorcycles all at once. Going single file, they tore out of the underground parking garage.
3 Comments
Qaadir.M
10/1/2018 05:54:16 pm
This was a very cool read! The little snippet of your novel you included was really interesting, if it ever gets done lemme have a copy! I'd definitely say you managed to make a light out of a bad situation.
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Colin
10/1/2018 06:11:29 pm
Very well constructed scene, when you added the part about the novel it really grabbed my eye.
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Ani Tapia
10/1/2018 06:51:58 pm
I liked how you made a good outcome out of a bad situation.
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Matt McShane
I will use this work to explore the written word. Archives
December 2018
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