I liked to run about and to climb trees and to dance. The dancing became rather more formal, of course, and some of it we learned from vaudeville and from films, and some from the people that papa knew. 

Papa was a traveler-between-the-worlds himself, which is how he’d come to bring home a wife from Oklahoma. Mama was the one responsible – or mostly responsible – for our dark good looks. Ireland meets the Cherokee Nation, with maybe a side-excursion to Mexico and (it was whispered) Africa. She was the sort of “mysterious half-breed” who could pass for nearly anything, and did, just as I have. Italian or Armenian, some said, or (I laughed when they said that) Japanese, for those who’d never seen one, or Indian, as in Indian-from-India. So it went, in those days: you’d best pass for something that called itself white.

***

As I begin revisions on The Shape-shifter’s Tale, I will be posting character interview excerpts for the main cast of the novel. This week’s excerpt comes from the interview with Sophie, the narrator’s great-aunt.

Weekend Writing Warriors offers eight-sentence excerpts from a variety of writers; see the other excerpts here.