“Objects may be closer than they appear.” Look in the rear view mirror on the passenger side of almost any vehicle and you will see this warning.

Many times in my writing I’ve used a reference to viewing life through a rear view mirror. It usually refers to characters (or real life people) looking back in  a sometimes desperate search for the “good old days,” times wrapped in the comfort of knowing what happened. Looking toward the future is always a bit riskier because we don’t know what’s going to happen.

Here is the point: Romanticizing the past is not always a good thing, but ignoring it is not good either.  Linda Phillips, a character in my work-in-progress novel, tries to build a mental, illusionary wall to shield herself from the past, but, as the title Cracks in the Wall indicates, the past can find a way to intrude on the future. The events of her past may seem distant in her rear view mirror, but those influences may be closer than they appear.

Stacey Burns tried to move forward in her life, to put the past behind her, but something slipped through her wall, an object that was closer than it appeared, and it killed her.

May, 2016-Going on seven years since she was murdered. Her killer must be convinced by now that he/she is not going to be caught. Her death is receding in the murderer’s rear view mirror. One can only hope that the police are closer than they appear for they surely don’t appear to be any closer than they were six and half years ago.

Duke