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The Gift
Margaret visits a train station to reminisce about the past, but she is about to learn that another hand from the past has shaped her present.
ebook
First published September 21, 2011
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About the author
Doc Coleman
14 books43 followersDoc Coleman needs to update his bio. It doesn't look like he has touched it in a couple of years. I know this, because I am Doc, and I just looked at this bio and said, "Man, I need to update this thing."
Doc is really proud of his book The Perils of Prague. It has gotten really good reviews. You should take a look.
He also is in a recently published anthology called Paradise Found: Tales from the Library. It has some really interesting looks at adventures in the Paradise City, where all the afterlives meet.
You can see Doc's latest books over at http://DocColeman.com. For news and information about Doc’s projects, check out the blog at Swimming Cat Studios (http://SwimmingCatStudios.com).
When Doc isn’t juggling projects, making a living, or mainlining podcasts, he is a gamer, an avid reader, a motorcyclist, a homebrewer and beer aficionado, a fan of renaissance festivals, and frequently a smart-ass. He lives with his lovely wife and two Maine Coon cats in Germantown, MD.
Doc is really proud of his book The Perils of Prague. It has gotten really good reviews. You should take a look.
He also is in a recently published anthology called Paradise Found: Tales from the Library. It has some really interesting looks at adventures in the Paradise City, where all the afterlives meet.
You can see Doc's latest books over at http://DocColeman.com. For news and information about Doc’s projects, check out the blog at Swimming Cat Studios (http://SwimmingCatStudios.com).
When Doc isn’t juggling projects, making a living, or mainlining podcasts, he is a gamer, an avid reader, a motorcyclist, a homebrewer and beer aficionado, a fan of renaissance festivals, and frequently a smart-ass. He lives with his lovely wife and two Maine Coon cats in Germantown, MD.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 31, 2011
Excellent short story about love, both lost and found.
The Story
In the sunset of her years, a woman discovers she has had no secrets from her husband nor from her first love.
The Characters
There are only three absolutely lovely characters in this story—Margaret, Andy, and Henry—with one being much more ephemeral than the other two.
My Take
I didn't even make it to the end of page two before I was crying! This is such a romantic story of friendship and devotion as we eavesdrop on the memories of this long-lived couple. The secrets revealed. The tenderness that is shared. The depth of love that grew over the 50-some years they have had together.
The Cover
The cover is absolutely perfect...too perfect. Under this dome is where one of the great tragedies of Margaret's life occurred. It just makes me want to cry again at the juxtaposition of such loss and beauty.
The title truly is the summation of this story, a true Gift of love.
The Story
In the sunset of her years, a woman discovers she has had no secrets from her husband nor from her first love.
The Characters
There are only three absolutely lovely characters in this story—Margaret, Andy, and Henry—with one being much more ephemeral than the other two.
My Take
I didn't even make it to the end of page two before I was crying! This is such a romantic story of friendship and devotion as we eavesdrop on the memories of this long-lived couple. The secrets revealed. The tenderness that is shared. The depth of love that grew over the 50-some years they have had together.
The Cover
The cover is absolutely perfect...too perfect. Under this dome is where one of the great tragedies of Margaret's life occurred. It just makes me want to cry again at the juxtaposition of such loss and beauty.
The title truly is the summation of this story, a true Gift of love.
April 24, 2019
Beautifully written!
This story did not end quite the way I had expected. Very poignant and beautifully crafted. Doc is an excellent writer and I've enjoyed every story of his that I have read.
This story did not end quite the way I had expected. Very poignant and beautifully crafted. Doc is an excellent writer and I've enjoyed every story of his that I have read.
January 7, 2012
I enjoyed the characters in this little romantic short story, and found them very believable. It actually reminded me of an episode of the old sitcom MAD ABOUT YOU, where Paul and Jamie find some old letters in the bathroom of their apartment, and they turn out to be romantic letters between a young woman who lived in the apartment, and her boyfriend away at war. As it turns out the boyfriend dies and she marries someone else -- but never really forgets the one lost to war. As a pastor, I also related to the experience of one who has lost a loved one truly feeling like they can still see and/or talk to them. I have encountered this many times in counseling the bereaved.
I'm afraid I was not as enthusiastic about the writing style of the story. On the technical side, there was an overuse of the exclamation point, and if one of the characters had used the word "daft" one more time, I think it would have driven me daft. Overall, I found the use of language unimaginative. A more serious flaw was that the story lost its drama about a third of the way through the story when the present husband returned and revealed his knowledge. It was like reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery and having Sherlock solve the mystery early and spending the last 2/3 of the book telling Watson how he solved it. There was too much telling and far too little showing. I also thought that more should have been shown about the old woman's present relationship with her husband. It seems to me that when a person clings to a lost romantic relationship for so long a time, it's because there is a problem with the present relationship, or lack of it.
I'm afraid I was not as enthusiastic about the writing style of the story. On the technical side, there was an overuse of the exclamation point, and if one of the characters had used the word "daft" one more time, I think it would have driven me daft. Overall, I found the use of language unimaginative. A more serious flaw was that the story lost its drama about a third of the way through the story when the present husband returned and revealed his knowledge. It was like reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery and having Sherlock solve the mystery early and spending the last 2/3 of the book telling Watson how he solved it. There was too much telling and far too little showing. I also thought that more should have been shown about the old woman's present relationship with her husband. It seems to me that when a person clings to a lost romantic relationship for so long a time, it's because there is a problem with the present relationship, or lack of it.
September 22, 2011
My Parsec Award nominated short story is now available as an e-book. It is a story of a woman reconnecting to her past and discovering new secrets, and new happiness. I hope you'll give it a look.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews