Looking back over the year so far, by far and away the most profound experience I’ve had came at the closing supper of Crafting {:} a Life, where my friend Elmine read a story, fresh that day from her intensely creative mind, titled The Oodlanders.

I am not one to break down in tears. And I am certainly not one to break down in tears in public.

But I did that night as Elmine read.

I’m still gutted where I listen to it now, on this web page where she’s posted an updated reading, along with the downloadable text.

In the afterword, Elmine wrote:

Though real life events may have been the inspiration for writing this story, it is of course a work of fiction. Any resemblance of its characters to people known to me is purely accidental. Or not.

Or not.

Indeed.