A Sirius Point

Now that my mother (the only person that reads this blog) has finally finished Order of the Phoenix, I can finally post the article I wrote for my local RWA chapter's newsletter.

SPOILER ALERT: I hereby give fair warning on the rare chance that someone else is reading this blog who 1) is not my mother and 2) hasn't yet finished the fifth installment of the Harry Potter series. Here it is:

Crushes are an integral ingredient to a happy marriage. Flirtations, fantasies, hopeless pining, in small doses, keep the neurons jumping, the senses hopping, the blood singing, the pelvis…well, you get my drift.

Of course, there’s a fine line between an invigorating crush and donning the scarlet A. Fortunately for me, I don’t find other men, aside from my True Love and Reformed Rake (code name: husband), all that enticing. Other real men, that is.

No. I have the tendency to pine for fictional characters, usually from books. The lust fires are fanned if a character comes to life in a movie version of the book. Jude Law portraying Inman from Cold Mountain is positively delicious. Jude Law the man? Eh. And Wolverine from comic book fame gets my heart pumping. Add Hugh Jackman to the mix and you may see drool dribble down my chin.

To the average person, this may seem a tad abnormal, but I’m a romance author. Falling in love is what we do.

A couple of months ago I revisited an old lover. Mr. Darcy. I re-read Pride and Prejudice, watched the Colin Firth movie version, pressing the slow motion button during the oh-so-not-Jane-Austen lake scene, conversed in the Queen’s English and pretended my four-room condo was Pemberley. A week later, the courtship ended.

Of course, my husband has crushes, too. In fact, we have a List. Some of you will know what I’m talking about. This wish list contains names of people with whom one hopes to spend time naked, ideally before one starts to sag. Should the opportunity for such a liaison arise, one’s spouse will turn a blind eye to the shenanigans. It’s a one-time deal with only one person on the List. In our marriage, I have to cheat first. This rule, I am sure, is a remnant of our early religious educations about Eve in the Garden, but that is another story.

Last month, the top three names on my list were: 1) Jemmy from Moll Flanders (it helps that Daniel Craig plays him in the movie), 2) Kisten Felps from the Dead Witch Walking series and 3) The Incredible Mr. Limpet.

My husband won’t tell me the names on his list. He says he doesn’t want me to worry.

My latest crush, however, has moved beyond the bounds of propriety and into that dangerous Scarlett O’Hara brand of adultery. I believe it’s called delusional obsession. I’m not sure why this shift in my brain has occurred. Perhaps it’s the Seven Year Itch. Or sleep deprivation. Then again, there’s always a chance I’m just plain crazy.

All I know is that this crush trumps all others on the List and were it possible, I’d be right up there with ole’ Hester herself. But it’s not possible. You see, I’ve fallen madly in love with Sirius Black, recently escaped from Azkaban Prison.

He’s the perfect romance hero – a man on the run, accused of a crime he did not commit, reckless, loyal, broken and in need of a woman to save him. The trouble is, there is no woman. No romance. Would it have killed J.K. Rowling to give Sirius a little nookie between his imprisonment and ultimate fate?

I’ve read Order of the Phoenix three times hoping that the story will change. It hasn’t. I brood, I moan, I sigh. Sadly, I haven’t given up ice cream yet so my waistline is not at all benefiting from this pining.

I re-write Sirius’s tale while I’m washing dishes, vacuuming, and in lieu of sleep. In my version, Sirius and an unnamed Muggle woman from Somerville fall madly in love and defeat the evil Voldemort before making wild wizard love and walking into the sunset together. “Dina,” my husband says with a bemused yet worried frown, “He’s dead. And hello? NOT REAL.”

I knew my infatuation had become a problem when my husband emerged from the bathroom on Saturday night wearing a black and white striped jumpsuit, Azkaban scrawled across his chest, and a hopeful expression on his face.

Clearly, something needs to change. So before I start psychotherapy, I’m making time on my schedule to write again in hopes that a creative outlet will solve the problem. After all, lust fades. Until then, Sirius stays at the top of the List and maybe I can convince my husband to don the Azkaban costume again until I move onto the next crush.

Dobby Happy

My 20-month old son has no comprehension about his mother's obsession with Harry Potter. He has no idea that the Potter universe exists. I don't read the books to him and he is not exposed to the movies or promotional toys. He does know, however, that I've named the black dog on my Martha's Vineyard Black Dog coffee mug. When I point to it, he says, "Sirius Black," in that endearing toddler slur. Still, this doesn't explain his channeling of Dobby, the house elf.

Like most toddlers, my son is obsessive compulsive and likes to clean. The sight of a broom sends him into spasms and he actually looks forward to trash night. Lately, after his afternoon nap and snack, he tugs my pant leg and points to the rag bag. I oblige him and he spends a good hour or so scrubbing the walls and floor, chanting "Dobby happy" over and over. If I make him stop cleaning, he bangs his head against the wall, so I give him the cloth back and he tunes out the world, wipes the walls, and whispers, "Dobby happy, Dobby happy, Dobby happy..."

Harry Potter and Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman. Prisoner of Azkaban. Sizzling.

Maybe it’s the Eddie Vedder/Viggo as Aragorn/Jim Morrison beard thing combined with the dirty grimy bad boy posturing and rock’n’roll swagger, I don’t know. I’m smitten.

Always have been, really, but I’d forgotten. My first Gary Oldman movie was Sid and Nancy, which I originally watched because of my fascination with Sid Vicious, with whom I was not, thankfully, in love. Sid Vicious seemed a good symbol for my obsession with dark despair, somehow even trumping Heathcliff in my adolescent mind (not sure why). I even named my leather jacket Sid. Heck, for a while, I even called my mother Sid. Luckily, she understood that I was being affectionate.

After I watched the movie, though, I fell in love with Sid Vicious because Gary Oldman portrayed him. The real Sid, I suspect, was more like Frankenstein’s monster in both looks and intellect. I found every Gary Oldman movie I could, rarely falling in love again as Mr. Oldman tends to choose some shady, if complex, characters, Sid included (shady, that is – certainly not complex).

But that man can act! He has the very rare gift to lose Gary Oldman and become the part. Johnny Depp can do that as well; unfortunately, Johnny is too hot to ever really lose the Deppness, but who can really hold that against him?

One of my favorite Oldman characters is the pimp from True Romance (great movie) and although Dracula was horrible, I can't think of a better Dracula. Then there’s Prick Up Your Ears, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, JFK, Immortal Beloved…so many more. But Sirius Black. Sigh!

Speaking of Azkaban…I’m a little late coming into the Harry Potter craze but I’m tearing through the books now. Just waiting for Netflix to deliver Goblet before I start reading Order of the Phoenix. Escapism at its best.

On My Nightstand: High Noon by Nora Roberts (another great author of escapist fiction)

Quote of the Day: “I sit like a night alive with witches.” (Ben Hecht)

Daily blessing: October is almost here. No more humidity.