THE FOREVER WISH OF MIDDY SWEET by Terry Kay
Terry Kay is the product of an age that encompassed Pat Conroy and Anne Rivers Siddons. They were authors who lived in the South, loved the South and wrote about the South. They were a strange trio who wrote in truly distinctive styles. Now Conroy and Siddons are gone and only Terry Kay remains to write new stories. THE FOREVER WISH OF MIDDY SWEET is his latest offering.
Kay writes in a way that invites different interpretations. There is much more to his classic TO DANCE WITH THE WHITE DOG than the story of a man, his dead wife and a dog. Just as there is more depth to THE BOOK OF MARIE than the story of one man’s search for the one that got away.
MIDDY SWEET can be read as a love story between two people that began in high school and comes full circle some fifty years later. But in my opinion that interpretation is only one view of a complex and puzzling relationship. I read the story and became convinced Kay is telling a story about a stalker, a women who puts her interests above all others.
Middy Sweet and Luke Mercer were high school sweethearts. After graduation life took different turns than they expected and the couple ended up married to other people. Luke’s marriage was happy and produced a daughter. Middy’s was not and resulted in no children. Luke had a career as a teacher while Middy served as a trophy wife to a man who was emotionally abusive.
After her husband’s death Middy recalls her idyllic romance with Luke. She learns he is a widower living in the town of Creel, Georgia. This is where they had gone to high school and she had been her happiest. Now she wants that happiness back and she will do whatever it takes to recapture the love she had once known. Luke Mercer is in her sights and she does not intend to let go.
Luke, as created by Kay, is a man who goes along to get along. He is no match for Middy or her plans for their future. Although he has found a routine that suits his needs Middy comes on like a twelve alarm fire and does her best to change all that. Luke wants rest and relaxation while she wants fire and passion.
It is in the spaces between his words that Kay reveals the true story. Small mentions of Luke’s thoughts describe a totally different scenario than that which is playing out on the streets of Creel. Observers see a man being pursued by a beautiful woman and a love story for the ages finally being completed. Luke and Middy both know that all is not as it seems.
You can wander through THE FOREVER DREAM OF MIDDY SWEET and have a warm and wonderful visit, or you can peel back a layer or two and see a more believable story unfold. It is up to the reader to decide.
THE FOREVER WISH OF MIDDY SWEET is published by Mercer University Press It contains 328 pages and sell for $24.00.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
