Rose Marshall was sixteen years old the summer that she died...
We're halfway down the road that runs from Sparrow Hill to the Last Chance Diner; we're halfway between the beginning and the end. And that means it's finally time for me to tell the one story Rose has that's been kept private up until now—the story of the way it all began, and the night that Rose Marshall, high school girl with her whole life ahead of her, became Rose Marshall, hitchhiking ghost.
It's June, and this is the story of the way Rose Marshall died.
Issue 54 of The Edge of Propinquity is live, and with it, the sixth of the Sparrow Hill Road stories is available. "Last Dance With Mary Jane" takes us back in time to 1945, where a teenage girl named Rose is about to lose her way forever. This is the ending that began everything. This is the real story behind the Phantom Prom Date, the Girl in the Diner...the Spirit of Sparrow Hill Road.
There are a lot of stories trapped and tangled in the twilight. This is only one of them. But it's the one I have to tell.
As Seanan's said before on LJ and in concerts, the song "Pretty Little Dead Girl" is intentionally inaccurate (or, as she puts it, "vile slander!") Note that it's not in the first person. It's not only the years that are different-- the song accuses poor Rose of luring men to race with her and killing them on purpose, when really all the poor thing wants is a warm coat and a cheeseburger!
The song's meant to be, as I understand it, the ghost stories the local high school kids tell each other about Rose. She's the town legend, passed down through the years. And like most such legends, the story has changed over time. The short stories are Rose finally getting to tell us the tale herself.
Fair enough. I'm a historian by nature. If I hear an urban legend with a date in it, I go tracking things down. "It's wrong, that's what," is a perfectly reasonable answer, and indeed the one I often get when I do it for real. :)
excited
June 15 2010, 22:13:53 UTC 7 years ago
June 15 2010, 22:38:09 UTC 7 years ago
As Seanan's said before on LJ and in concerts, the song "Pretty Little Dead Girl" is intentionally inaccurate (or, as she puts it, "vile slander!") Note that it's not in the first person. It's not only the years that are different-- the song accuses poor Rose of luring men to race with her and killing them on purpose, when really all the poor thing wants is a warm coat and a cheeseburger!
The song's meant to be, as I understand it, the ghost stories the local high school kids tell each other about Rose. She's the town legend, passed down through the years. And like most such legends, the story has changed over time. The short stories are Rose finally getting to tell us the tale herself.
June 15 2010, 22:49:40 UTC 7 years ago