Brian Gotta

I had the honor of doing a book reading from my novel, Him, last night for the Carmel Valley book club. Below is one of the passages I read and my notes about the section (spoiler alert):

I was having a dream. I was back in the Big House, in the Den, looking through the place where the sun comes in, down at the Big Yard. I was high above. People were walking in carrying bunnies and laying them on the grass.
There was a bunny that looked like Camille, one that looked like the Mean One, the Man she lived with, and the man whose grass had no dandelions. The women who walked Shiloh and Bear were there. The man who covered Him when He was sleeping, Grace, and many more.
The bunnies all began digging and they dug holes so big they could crawl inside. They all disappeared, and the only things left were piles of dirt all over the yard.
I knew He wouldn’t like that because He always told me not to dig, and now all these bunnies were doing it. By the time I thought about running outside and stopping them, it was too late.
But then He was there, and He was carrying small trees, bushes, and flowers. One by one, into each hole, He planted something beautiful. When they were all filled, the Big Yard had been transformed into a wonderful garden.
I sat, my tail brushing back and forth on the ground, waiting for Him to turn and tell me to come.
But He did not want me to come. He wanted me to stay.

“I liked this because of the play on words with “come” and “stay,” which had been used throughout the book. This time they mean something different. Scout is expecting to “come” to Tom, which shows he will follow his best friend anywhere, even into death. But Tom loves Scout so much that he wants him to stay and be happy without him. All the bunnies were the people and experiences that Scout had known to that point. Some good, some bad, but when Tom planted the garden, that signified the totality of Scout’s life to that point. The dream is Tom telling Scout it is OK to let go, and to let Zoey become the most important person in his life.”