Unfinished Business

This week we are up to the ninth story in Aberrant Selected, entitled, A Perfect Mirror. This story I wrote to conclude a bit of unfinished business, business that was around fifteen years old. I first came up with this tale when I was homeless in Melbourne, in a Salvation Army hostel. The hostel had a building attached to the main residence and I often sneaked in there late at night to write, and to sleep, because I could not afford the price of a bed for the night. One time, while in this outbuilding, I decided to write a story where a main character was both homeless and in safe shelter, or relatively safe shelter. To give myself a better grasp of this apparently incongruous concept I pretended to be living in safe accommodation and then, to better imagine living completely wild, I would move to the other side of the outbuilding and pretend I was living completely in the wilderness. Unfortunately though the story did not get completed at the time as I spent most of that night moving from one side of the outbuilding to the other, living in my imagination, but to little effect.
     Throughout the proceeding fifteen years or so I would often think of this tale and feel guilty that I had not finished it, especially as it seemed to me to be a very good idea. Eventually I took the bull by the horns and wrote the story and still am extremely pleased that it came out so well. Mind you, I invariably finish what I start so it is no surprise that the story was eventually written. The actual writing of the story was fairly straightforward and I am still surprised that it took fifteen years to write. Well, I guess, better late than never.