Be Warned: These are the scribblings of a writer unruly, unsupervised, and largely unrepentant

Monday, December 3, 2018

Character Showcase - John Paul "Sigh" Deverell


            John Paul is the youngest son of the infamous True Deverell and his second wife Olivia. His youngest sibling is fifteen years his senior, so he has nieces and nephews who are older than him and this has often caused "J.P." to feel left out— an afterthought in the family.

            As a boy growing up, he was usually alone with his games and books, since the others had little time for him and were seldom home. Eventually he decided he was better off on his own in any case. He was used to it, knew how to cope for himself, and didn't get entangled in other people's troubles. His mother tried to make him polite and gentlemanly, but any attempt she made to involve him with children his age simply made him feel awkward and even more different.

            His father, anxious not to "make a mess" of his last son too, decided long ago that he had better let his beloved wife, Olivia, take the greater hand in rearing this child, while he would take a more distant role. His first wife had been a terrible mother, but Olivia was very different and he enjoyed seeing the special pleasure her son brought to her life. For once, he thought, he could relax, content in the knowledge that his second wife was a warm and loving mother. He would not have to prevent this one from pecking her child to pieces.

            But eventually, as J.P. proves to be remarkably clever, plowing through his school and university career with accolades aplenty, his father— who always wished he could have had a formal education himself— finds it difficult to be close to his son. He fears he has left it too late to make a connection, and that, while thinking to do the best for his son, he has shut himself out. About his other sons, he knows everything, for in many ways they are just like him. But when it comes to J.P., he knows almost nothing.

            True Deverell is immensely proud of his youngest son's accomplishments, but his well-meaning plan not to interfere, has left J.P. thinking that his father has little to no interest in him. Occasionally he secretly wishes he could be more like his rowdy siblings, if that might get him some of his father's attention. But he's now thirty and has settled into his role as the grumpy solitary of the family. At least he has not caused any scandals yet, although, born with the Deverell name, he knows most people have a preconceived notion before they've even met him.

            He is studious, somber, never reckless and not very sociable. Most of the time he finds other people to be annoying and frustrating, their company largely incommodious. Women have passed in and out of his life without making much impression, but that's fine with him. He does not want to be involved too deeply with anybody.

 
            Females were, in general, hysterical creatures; it was well documented. As engines ran on coal and steam, woman ran on smelling salts, screaming fits and accusations.

            He did not intend to commence the cost of keeping one himself on a permanent arrangement at any time in the near future.

 
            His one good friend, Jacob— dear to him since their schooldays together and, strangely enough, the complete opposite in personality— died suddenly last Christmas. This has left J.P. alone to run the business they started together and he has thrown himself into it, sparing little time for a life outside work. Despite his plan never to get entangled in anybody else's strife, he has also taken on the responsibility of caring for Jacob's widow and children.

            This Christmas, Jacob is about to pay a visit to his old partner, to thank him and to point out that underneath that grim, "scrooge"-like demeanor, J.P. Deverell is actually a kind and generous man. He just does a very good job of disguising it— even from himself.

            J.P. has also managed to hide how very much he misses his friend, but memories, ushered in by Jacob's mischievous ghost, will change all that.

            He doesn't believe in magic, either at Christmas or any time of the year, but there is something in the air tonight. And it's looking for him.

            This year a reluctant, unsociable hero will take an unforgettable journey, aided by the spirit of Christmas ("Bah Humbug") and the arrival of a Snow Angel, who is waiting to knock seven bells out of him.  


            Angels, he was about to learn, can do that to a man; they are not the dainty, ethereal creatures one might imagine.
 

            So join poor, unsuspecting J. P. Deverell on a path that will wind through the past, the present and get a bit of kick from the future too. He doesn't generally like company, but I'm sure he wants to tell you this story. That's one thing he did inherit from his father - a talent for story telling. Even his heroine doesn't know for sure how much is true.
Is it really all her fault, or was it his suddenly jolted memory that finally brought them back together? Or was it the magic of Christmas?

 
 
 
 

Images used here: Photograph of snowy tree - Author's own. Painting "Yes" by John Everett Millais (1877)

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