A-Z challenge: Margaret

Margaret is the one that nobody writes about. Almost incidental to the trio of Gef, Voirrey and James. Her silence is only matched by the photos of her: an austere looking woman wearing what looks like her best dress. Would she have chosen to live her life on an isolated farm?

Newspaper reports mention her annoyance at the troupes of sight-seers making a nuisance of themselves. She has the appearance, which may simply be how the materials present her, of being private.

Or perhaps I should say that's how I've interpreted the materials.

***

Margaret, married to James, mother of three. Younger than her husband. Feeds Gef. Born on Isle of Man.

Feels that she has to dress up for photos. Is irritated by the intrusion of others into the families life and property. Price refers to the meticulousness of the house interior being down to her.

She is proud and wishes to make an impression. She supports her husband, or, maybe, she humours him or turns a suffering eye to his shenanigans.

Price writes in his book (The Haunting of Cashen's Gap)

"Mrs. Irving belongs to a type that you would guess at first glance to be 'psychic'; she herself believes firmly in her own powers of intuition, and has gifts of seeing more than ordinary mortals see with the outward eye."

***

I think that my first impulse to have Margaret have a silent presence is one worth exploring. In many ways this story has been reduced to a three-hander with Margaret on the outside looking in. The further back we go, the more she is reported as saying.

Am I writing a play about actual events or about the reported events?

***

Some days I am simply unable to think much about what I am going to write. The urgency of writing for a daily post, does tend to to produce writing fit to the time available.

The more I read, the more I think, the more I write. Or, more likely: garbage in, garbage out.

Tomorrow: Nightmares.