by Doug Langille
# Salmon Crossing
# Salmon Crossing
A contemporary fantasy about a mute girl who uses her gifts to save her fractured family and a dying town.
1. A mute girl uses her gifts to save her fractured family and a dying town.
2. Lily, a tween left mute from a fall, lives with her mom Mary in the dying pulpmill town of Salmon Crossing, run by troubled widower Mayor Clyde Dickie, his constable son Ted, and Councilman ‘Frenchie’ Leblanc, whose blueberry enterprise employs most of the remaining townspeople. Mary’s husband Jake was paroled after 10 years for the killing of her accused rapist: Frenchie’s boy Alan; Ted’s interest in Mary doesn’t sit well with Jake and in the midst of the confrontation, Lily screams and an explosive fire at the derelict pulpmill threatens to destroy the town.
Theme: Suffering from incessant hallucinations, a small-town mayor uncovers a hidden family secret. That is the main theme of the story and you can go anywhere with it. It should be a horror or a mystery or combination of both.
Town: Salmon Crossing, Nova Scotia, pop 6000->600, founded on gold. last industry closed. sawmill.
Barra River. The Narrows. The Falls.
Mayor Clyde Dickie, widower, alcoholic
nightmares. insomnia, waking apparitions. legacy of Dickies running town founders.
wife Effie.. died of stroke last year
kid: Office Ted Dickie. if town dissolves, he’s out
rival: Councilman Gilles “Frenchie” LeBlanc
wants to oust mayor. hates him. fight over dissolution and merger with county. owns large berry crop operation. over-extended in market. needs town to fail to lower taxes.
Single mother, Mary Parsons, works part-time at small grocer. threatening to close. trained mechanical engineer with no job. has to support lily
mute daughter Lily.Lily is 14, a child of rape.
husband Jake went to prison for killing Mary’s rapist. Jake gets paroled. fell out of a tree when she was 9. no injury, but no longer talks.
Frenchie’s little brother Alan was accused of rape. Really was Clyde’s son. Mary never saw her attacker
end:
ted kills jake and goes to prison
fire destroys frenchies cropland and bankrupts him
fire threatens town and clyde sacrifices herself to save town and lily. ultimately, mary succeeds
frenchie ends up as mayor of town he didn’t want, plans wind farm on field land
truce with mary and she agrees to help him
lily talks
Light Up My Room
By Barenaked Ladies
A Hydro-field cuts through my neighborhood
Somehow that always just made me feel good
I can put a spare bulb in my hand
And light up my yard
Late at night when the wires in the walls
Sing in tune with the din of the falls
I’m conducting it all while I sleep
To light the whole town
If you question what I would do
To get over and be with you
Lift you up over everything
To light up my room, my room
There’s a shopping cart in the ravine
The foam on the creek is like pop
And ice cream
A field full of tires that is always on fire
To light up my home
There are luxuries we can’t afford
But in our house we never get bored
We can dance to the radio station
That plays in our teeth
If you question what I would do
To get over and be with you
Lift you up over everything
To light up my room, my room