Jacob's Hope

#lightsonforjacob

With my main character of The Whisperer of Storms being clairvoyant, I did a great deal of research on psychic abilities.  In doing so, I learned a little more about their vital role in locating missing people.  My interview with a clairvoyant taught me how they use their sixth sense, which sometimes heightens their other senses, to find people.  One such instance was a plane crash.  Under hypnosis, "Rita" pointed to the crash site on a map, which was within 30 miles of the wreckage.  The smell stayed foremost in her mind...the scent of death.  She also talked about knowing the location of a missing boy who had drowned.  Shortly after, the police recovered the child's body from that very location along the river.  Rita once received a letter from a woman who read about her in the paper.  She had told Rita she shouldn't be doing those things.  I sat there in disbelief as she told me this, "But you do it to help people."

To help people...to give them hope.  That was the reason why I named my heroine Hope.  She found a few missing children in her story.  I always focused on those she could save. There were a few she couldn't.  I never wanted to go there.  The hardest part of writing was putting myself into the parents' shoes.  Feeling their fear, anger, despair.

We took a short family trip last week before school started.  We drove through St. Joseph on Thursday.  My husband reminded me that Jacob Wetterling had lived near there.  I watched a group of boys walking along the street, wondering if they felt safe now that so many years had passed.  Imagine my surprise when I got home on Saturday night to learn they recovered Jacob's body.  I was a few years older than Jacob when he disappeared.  After 27 years, he's finally home.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.  May they eventually find the closure they need.

Veronica