Runaway Bay - Chapter 4
Galveston
Amy and I both find this to be a remarkable image. It’s as if they gave the photographer the assignment: “Family portrait, but with the trauma leaking out everywhere” ...
The dead space above their heads. Cutting off Geri on the side. Mike’s haggard look. The expressions on each face. (Well, except Krista who is too young to know better.)
Amazing.
“Galveston is where our young family died.”
Amy closes Chapter 3 with these words. Earlier she had written:
In the summer of 2020, I returned to Galveston with my mother and my youngest daughter. As we drove along the seawall, a splash of color caught my eye. It was a memorial for three children who had died at the spot. The site was marked with three teddy bears tied to short crosses.
When she got home from that trip, and told me about these bears, I asked her if she had taken a picture of them. She hadn’t. The next time we were together in Galveston, we drove to the spot where the bears had been, hoping they were still there. But someone had removed them. On a subsequent trip, she took this photo of a cross on the beach.
A couple of words about this website of “bonus material” for Runaway Bay:
Amy didn’t create it … Thomas did. You may have already guessed that the “I” in the captions isn’t Amy, but me - her husband.
( She doesn’t really like websites. Or QR codes for that matter. Or bulleted lists like this one - a dead giveaway that she didn’t write this part. )Therefore I don’t mind making the shameless plug - if you are enjoying her phenomenal book, would you be willing to put a review on Amazon? As Amy’s “publishing partner” the one surprising thing I’ve seen is this: people love her writing, and even volunteer their time to email or text her with their responses … but getting them to post a quick review on Amazon is a whole ‘nother level of hard.
( Here’s the link, if you’re so inclined https://a.co/d/9BbaoX2 )
Thank you so much!
Amy and I celebrating our 35th anniversary in Phoenix, Arizona.