Kaitlyn K Character Interview Tear Sheet
Character: Ed
Book/Short Story: The Angel and The Captain
Inspired By A Real Person: No. Ed is completely made up, although his hair is similar to Archie Bunker on All in the Family.
Q: Ed, welcome. What is your full name?
A: I have no idea. You seldom give your characters last names, which means we can’t answer questions like this. All I am known as is Ed.
Q: Very well. You are, of course, Angel’s father. You left when she was three and you didn’t see her again until about halfway through the book, over 20 years. Did your first meeting with Angel go as you expected?
A: Biscuit. I’ve always called her Biscuit. No, it didn’t go as I thought it would but I had no expectations. The Captain had warned me not to and he’s a smart man so I took that advice.
Q: You want a long way for a 15-minute meet and greet, didn’t you?
A: I know. Twelve hours on a bus one way. 15 minutes with my daughter and son-in-law, which is 15 minutes more than I thought I’d ever get. Then twelve hours back. It was worth it, though. It was my daughter. I knew nothing about her and wanted to know something, anything. I’d already paid a great price up to that point, and I would have traveled a week for a curt nod from her.
Q: Your time waiting for Angel and the Captain to arrive at the park isn’t covered. What happened?
A: Shrugs. Not much. I had about an hour to kill, so I wandered around. The meeting spot was easy to find. The Captain made sure of that and his directions were good.
Q: Oh. We were hoping for something more exciting, frankly. No matter. At the end of your first meeting, you and Biscuit hugged. How did that feel?
A: I didn’t want it to end.
Q: Were you sad on the bus ride home?
A: Oh, no. I was…(stops to think a bit.)…well, I was content. I had no idea at the time that I would ever see her again, much less have a good relationship with her. I’ve always scrambled, my entire life, and never got anything and I figured I’d scrambled for a few minutes with my daughter and that was all there’d be. I didn’t have a whole lot of self-esteem then and I figured that was all I deserved.
Q: You got sober. What brought that on?
A: I had no choice. Well, yes I did. I had a choice to become a drunk and I chose that. We all have choices and I decided to choose to become sober. Or try. There were no guarantees.
Q: And then you got a job and your own apartment. How did having your daughter and son-in-law over feel?
A: Rubs his beard with a hand. Oh boy, that was scary. Hell, I’d never had my own place before, on my own, I mean. Myrna and Biscuit and I had our own place, of course. But we were getting on pretty good and they wanted to be there, so I figured it would go well.
Q: Eventually, you came to terms with your ex-wife Myrna. That wasn’t easy, was it?
A: No, it wasn’t. I was working an armored truck when we met and was planning on joining the service. Then I got Myrna pregnant and she said no, she wasn’t marrying a soldier. So that was that, my only dream taken away and once the door to a dream closes, that’s it. It’s like a cell door shutting on everything you ever wanted. Actually, it is a door slamming shutting on everything you ever wanted. It’s the worst feeling. Utter hopelessness. But nobody forced me to leave and nobody forced me to take a drink.
Q: Ed, any final thoughts?
A: Well, I turned into a good man. I wanted to see if I had good in me and I did. But that’s the way it is, sometimes. The biggest obstacle is sometimes the person in the mirror. At the end of the story, I own an auto parts store and have a good relationship with my daughter and son-in-law. I had to overcome myself to earn those, but I did.
Click here to read a preview of The Angel and the Captain.