“Blood Work”
“The woman on the VHS tape was my mom, although I barely recognized her.”
This story was one I never expected to write.
At the time I started on the story, I had just begun work on the Bamboo Ridge Oral History project and completed a class on auto-fiction. As someone who has been dealing with family tensions, anxiety over my family history of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and a long-standing conflict with my father over my name change, I thought about how an oral history format might translate to fiction. After tooling around with that idea, I decided to scrap the more experimental structure but kept the core of the narrative—a son finds a recording of his mother, discovering a side of her and his family that he never knew. Like many family secrets, not all the questions are answered, but solving the mystery isn’t what the “work” is about.
In my previous post, I discussed the structure and movement of the collection, and this story was me manifesting possibilities I didn’t think were possible. Like other stories in the collection, this one ends with a choice, as the only power we really have is over ourselves and our reactions to others. What happens after that choice isn’t as important, but I’m optimistic. This is a realization that I experienced as I wrote the story, and I hope is one that the reader experiences as well.
As this is the last entry in the series, I want to thank Jui-Lien Sanderson, who designed and typeset the book. I’m especially grateful for her work on the cover and for the hand-drawn mountain dingbat/element that accompanies each story title, forming a range of mountains that I hope evoke the Koʻolau Range.
The initial idea for the cover centered around a photoshopped childhood picture, the one that is visible above “Work” and that accompanies this post, but a collage made more sense. I looked through and gathered family photos and sent them along with the manuscript to Jui-Lien. A visual and multi-modal artist, she shared her thoughts and a composition that she had previously worked on, noting that she wanted something similar to evoke the idea of unresolved mystery and memory. The result fit the collection perfectly, and I am still in awe at how she captured the themes.
Also thank you to Misty Sanico, Lizzy Yee Zerez, and Christina Lee for designing and getting this series out into the world. Much of what Bamboo Ridge Press does wouldn’t be possible without them, especially Misty, so thank you.
It’s been just over a year since Blood Work and Other Stories was published. Thank you for reading and for being a part of its “bones.” It’s been an amazing twelve months, and I am so grateful for all the support and love the collection has received. If you’re interested in reading about what’s next and some of the lessons I’ve learned over the last year, check out the substack I just started. If you want to share your thoughts and/or talk story, shoot me a message via my website: www.donaldcarreiraching.com.
K, shoots then,
Donald
Talk story