Wow, was chapter thirteen something or what? I have to admit, this was actually one of the harder chapters I've written for the story and while it wasn't so much the subject matter that was difficult for me, it was just keeping my mind focused. As I tried to write this chapter, I kept being bombarded with heaps of personal drama that proved to be distracting and brought my writing process down to a crawl. I actually wrote chapter thirteen FOUR times, differently because I found a passage that I liked and felt was worthy of adding to my blog. I literally write like Michael Jackson himself is going to read it.
And in my head the last thing I'd want him to say is, "Tiffeny, this is bullshit." If it's not good enough for Michael to be in it and read it. I toss it. I threw out over sixty pages writing this chapter. So it was a lot of work, but I enjoy the work and challenge. Writing is my hobby and I love the end result.
That being said, let's delve into my mind.
Chapter Thirteen opened with Kathleen Meraux reading her husband the Riot Act after he'd consented to let Vylette, Lorraine, and Vinnie spend the night in New Orleans with the Jacksons after Latoya had went to great pains to makeover the girls into more society ready ladies. (Not to mention Michael and Marlon footed the bill for the whole affair.)
What ensued was a heated argument that left Vylette wanting to immerse her mother in the Jacksons' world of leisure and excess.
And so began the construction of the grand show being put on for the Ladies Christian League.
By now, you should know how anal I am when it comes to the details.
And this was no different.
I searched for the crystal punch bowl and and flatware:
The punch was red instead of white. (That's eggnog in that bowl pictured)
The "feminine" plates which I'm sure were much more fancy than anyone had seen before. With the matching cutlery that I just imagined up.
The Pecan Coffee Cake. (SEE IT EBONIE?)
Cucumber Sandwiches, the ones with the rounded slices on the bread.
Strawberry Sandwiches
Not sure what this is, but it inspired the chicken salad and crab salad.
And of course, the most important part to this entire charade was the dressing of the key characters.
Shirley Temple is the mainstay I use when modeling clothes for Vinnie. This is sweet, cute and feminine for a 10 year old. Not like the Prosti-Tots we see now.
The first two dresses were the inspirations for Vylette's and Lorraine's outfits. Lorraine's is the one to the far left, with the color varied to shades of blue and green, while Vylette's is in the purple family with a warm beige trim . I went through a dozen dresses, before I settled on this. More elaborate dresses with appear and be worn by the girls as they move into society.
Then there's the matter of the rings. I specifically wanted Vylette with a ring that reflected several colors at once, and I almost gave her a black opal. But I was reading how a black opal was supposed to be bad luck. And come on, my story is in LOUISIANA. Voodoo capital of the world. So, I changed it to a moonstone. I think that's safe. Moonstone from the Moonwalker.
Vylette's ring. Michael has wonderful taste, via me, doesn't he? (Frankly, all the jewelry I pick, I would personally wear should I own it. Wait till y'all get a load of the wedding ring Vy will get. It'll knock you on your ass! HINT: If you've paid close attention to Michael Jackson's real life friends, you've already seen the ring!)
The ring Lorraine mistook for an engagement ring and would up beating Marlon's ass about. An octagonal diamond flanked by baguette sapphires and diamonds. (Pinterest is a God-send)
(I'm still hunting a gaudy number for her real engagement ring, but that's in the future.)
The men were turned out wonderfully:
Michael's suit is REAL. He actually wore it while going back and forth to court. The only spot of light in that dark time is that I have dozens of suits Michael wore that I can use to dress his character for RIH. And he was wearing a leather vest. The texture of the vest looked like ostrich skin to me, so I ran with it.
For comparison, a handbag in the black ostrich. I spent entirely too much time in my youth on Style Network.
For Marlon, he's not afraid of color or mixing things, and I dressed him like the gent to the far left. Brown and grey are neutrals, they GO.
In a daring move, the Jackson crashed the Ladies Christian League meeting, which was unheard of and they became the first men to attend a meeting.
During the meeting, a rather spurned Mary Povah began to air her grievances and was immediately reduced to cinders by Michael Jackson.
When I first came up with the character of Mary Povah, there was only ONE way I saw her and one person who immediately jumped to my mind to portray her.
If you're familiar with the 1985 film, Anne of Green Gables, you'd know the lady in pink as Mrs. Bluett, the disaster with two sets of twins whom Anne Shirley almost got stuck with when Marilla Cuthbert revealed she wanted a boy and not a girl.
This IS Mary Povah. Skinny, overwrought, nervous, high and mighty and pious to a fault. Pinch, unattractive...everything. Right down to the goddamn high collar dress! An overbearing woman who would produce mealy mouthed children like Ulrich and Hannah.
Doesn't she just LOOK hateful?
By comparison, I modeled Beatrice Wilkes, Steven's mother, after the nicest woman I could think of:
Seriously! Who the hell is nicer than Aunt Bee from Andy Griffith? She'd older, plump with the white hair piled up just as I wrote. Doesn't she scream baked apple pies and sweet tea?
And lest we forget, this is Kathleen Meraux:
I don't know who this lady is, but God bless her family that she existed and took a photo for me to find 80 years later.
The chapter closed out with the Jacksons saving the soup kitchen, providing enough money to fund it well into 1935, and Michael leaving a note mentioning it was time for another Love Lesson! Oooh!
Chapter FOURTEEN is nearly complete and will be up soon! Thank you for reading!
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