anotherinterviewwithdb

Another Interview with David Blaine

By Atonia Walpole

David Blaine, a character of my own creation, is as strong with me as any characters Himself has created. Jo has her Marshall, Beej has her Jake and I have my Blaine. He is an evolving character who continues to surprise me. I don’t always know where he’s going. To illustrate, it surprised me that at the end of the last story “The Kurdish Affair” that he walked into Sir Brennan’s office. He claims he hates Sir Brennan’s world and yet he’s gone back there again. I think Sir Brennan has become sort of a father figure for him. His conscience is bothering him over the Fadi affair. Perhaps Julian’s lack of conscience and allegiance to any cause or country also has had an affect on him.

It is his relationship with Christine that interests me. I think we can understand where she is but he is a different matter. Getting him to talk about her may prove difficult. He can be difficult.

A: Good morning, Blaine. I’m glad you came.

B: G’morning, Atonia. What is this about?

A: I wanted to talk to you about the latest story, about the direction your character appears to be taking.

B: Smiles – Which direction are you referring to?

He takes off his leather coat and sits in the only comfortable chair I have in here.

A: You see more than one. The character has evolved over time. I think with the death of Ali that you have matured and become stronger. You have established your home base with the children and with Billy…and yet…that wasn’ t enough for you. There’s Christine.

B: Ah, Christine. I need Christine and I am very glad you introduced me to her.

A: You speak of her as a need. Do you see her as a woman on her own and not just someone who is there to fill your needs?

B: Of course. She is a woman who stands on her own. She is strong…she has to be to put up with me.

A: I wonder. She’s fallen in love with you. How long do you think she’s going to be satisfied with a week here and there? She wants to meet your children.

B: I see where you are going with this. I love Christine and we have created this little world around us in France. It is our world where nothing else in life can touch us. No…I have not brought my children to her.

A: Why?

He fidgets and runs his fingers through his hair.

A: Are you determined to keep these two worlds separate? You said in the last story that you were neither one thing or the other as though you were two separate beings inside one. You’re continuing that separation with Christine. Are you afraid of combining your worlds?

B: I have been married twice. The last was a mistake. If I had not married her and tried to…I clipped the wings of a beautiful butterfly. I do not want to do that with Christine. She is perfect as she is and if I brought her to England, joined her with my household…I am afraid she would not be as she is now.

A: I can see that. She would become a mother to your children and not your exotic lover. You would have to share her, and then there is Billy, who might not appreciate her.

B: I prefer to keep things as they are with Christine.

A: I’m just saying, that may not be enough for her as time goes on. She wants more and more of you…more than you’re willing to give.

He looks at me with eyes that give away nothing. He’s very good at that. He doesn’t like for me to probe about his relationship with Christine. He lights a cigarette and I find him an ashtray. It’s the first really cool morning this fall and I have the windows open. It’s a cloudy day and breezy. I’ve turned on a couple of lamps and some music which I always have playing softly in the background. I’ve an extensive library on my computer. This morning it’s classical – Debussy. He’s not really a classical music sort of guy but it’s not distracting. He’s distracting enough.

B: I give her all of me when I am with her. I hold back nothing.

A: What I’m getting at is that the time is so brief. Have you thought about what this does to her? She lives for the hours with you. More and more her life is going to become unbearable when you are not there. She told you it was suspended between your visits and three months is a long time.

B: You are not going to move me to France, are you?

A: I hadn’t thought of it. She’s very important to you, isn’t she?

B: Yes, she is.

I have my own thoughts about that. Blaine grew up without parents to love him. All his life he’s searched for someone to love him. Ali filled that need for many years. Ali was both mother and father to him and also his lover. I know deep down inside of him he still grieves for Ali. He found his mother in Margret Langston. He hasn’t seen her in a while.

A: I have no plans to move you to France, Blaine. You have established roots and a good home for your family. How is it working with Billy since he moved back with you? That was another surprise move you made.

B: I would say it is working out well. Billy is his own man and has taken a job with emergency services. He still looks after me but that is his nature. He is not in my employ and I do not require it of him. It is good for the children to have him back. Lyssa adores him and, of course, he is with Willy as it should be.

A: What does Willy call him?”

B: He calls him Dad.

A: What does he call you?

B: Daddy; it is what Lyssa calls me.

A: And you do not want to introduce them to Christine.

B: Maybe…someday. You know, when Mandi left it affected Lyssa. I do not want that to happen again. Whatever I do away from them is for me only. That is the way it is, Atonia. Do not try to change it.

A: All right, if that’s the way you want it. I feel for Christine, though. I imagine what it must be like for her when you leave and the house settles and she knows you are not in the next room.

B: She knows I will return. Are you trying to make me feel guilty? It will not work. I do not leave her behind when I go. A part of her is with me always. There are days or hours when I miss her strongly. When the feeling gets unbearable, I go to her.

A: What about her feelings? She misses you, too, and she cannot go to you.

B: You wound me.

A: I don’t mean to. I’m coming from Christine’s perspective.

B: Ha, but you are Christine.

A: Um, not really because I wouldn’t put up with what she does. I wouldn’t let you go.

Smiles- B: Well, it is a good thing then because we would have a problem.

A: Something else I wanted to ask you about. Julian fascinated you in Nantes and yet you didn’t find him fascinating in the filthy jail where you found him. That said, you still had sex with him. Are you that complicated?

B: Nantes was a new experience for me and the whole atmosphere…the steampunk thing. He was a part of that and therefore exotic and attractive to me. He was not attractive when I found him; but that aside, I was not liking him. I am easily seduced…you know that. Is that complicated?

A: Would you have shot him if he’d tried to run?

B: Without a doubt.

A: Why did you take that job?

B: You wrote it.

A: That’s your answer?”

B: Because I had known him. I wanted to know how he ended up in Kurdistan. I wanted to know who he really was.

A: Would you do it again if someone asked you to help him?”

B: No. Do not write it or you will find I will not cooperate.

A: I won’t. I suppose I should let you get back to your interview with Sir Brennan. I have another story to finish that doesn’t involve you.

B: You are writing two stories at once?

A: I wasn’t until you distracted me and I’ve left them hanging to tend to you.

He’s taken my mouse and clicked to see what I’m writing. Leaning over my shoulder he smells of leather and the scent he wears. I can feel the warmth of his body…distracting.

B: You are writing a disaster story. I pity your characters.

A: They don’t all die. Besides, I’ve healed you quite nicely.

B: You took your time about it. I will leave you to your dirty deeds.

He grins and gives me a warm kiss before leaving. The room smells of him. I can relate to Christine…

We didn’t bring it up but he once said he destroyed every one he loved. Maybe that’s one reason he keeps Christine out of his day-to-day life, keeps her separate and special. He’s afraid of destroying her. However, there are different ways to destroy. By the very act of trying to save her from him…I hope it doesn’t come to that. It will depend on him and what he ultimately does with her. As you can see, I do not always control what he will do.

ON TO SEEDS OF FEAR

BACK TO THE KURDISH AFFAIR

BACK TO EXIT THE PAWN

BACK TO VICTIM OF LOVE

BACK TO TOOL FOR VENGEANCE

BACK TO EUROCLYDON OF HOPE

BACK TO IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE

BACK TO TIME LIKE WATER

BACK TO REGENERATION OF THE HEART

BACK TO A SHORT CONVERSATION WITH DAVID BLAINE AND HIS AUTHOR

BACK TO THE VELVET TRAP