Consequences & Redemption

This week was a good writing week. Hardly any distractions. Lots of rainy days. What else to do but write, right?

This week I wrestled with the chapter in my book when Dr. Johnson had to oversee his first state ordered execution. Can you imagine? How it works in North Carolina, most executions are carried out in the early morning hours. The Secretary waits by his phone for the warden to call him and tell him all things are ready. Then the Secretary calls the Governor on a special hotline to tell him things are ready, and the Governor will then give his nod. Then the Secretary calls the warden back to tell him to proceed with the execution. Before those phone calls were made, Aaron was sitting by the hotline to Governor Martin's office hoping it would ring first telling him there had been a stay of execution. The number to this hotline was only known by Governor Martin himself, so when that line rang about midnight, Aaron's spirits jumped. He quickly answered the phone. To his surprise, it wasn't the Governor on the other line. It was someone he didn't know. Someone who should not have had that number. But, what this person told Aaron helped lift the burden of what he had to do. Aaron, to this day, still thinks of that caller as an angel. He also, still doesn't know who that caller was.

This chapter was a tough one to write. It's about people suffering and consequences of actions. It's also about redemption.