Hidden Clues

I include subtle metaphors or nuanced clues in all of my novels. It is not necessary for the reader to notice the references or to understand them in order to follow the story. However, identifying and discerning the veiled hints of information can enhance the intrigue and suspense of the story while enriching enjoyment of the novels.

My first hint is revealed in the first paragraph of the first page of the first chapter of volume one of my first novel. Those clues provide notions of the strange character, Unole (ooh-new-lay).

Read the following carefully:

Chapter 1, Journey of the Wind.

"Kneeling beside the modest monument, a headstone selected to befit the small body buried deep beneath its shadow, the calloused veteran of the Vietnam War had just compared his scribbled notes to the chiseled epitaph. Having arrived at the disappointing conclusion of his investigation, he closed his dime-store pocket notebook and crowded it into the breast pocket of his rumpled shirt, next to a nearly empty pack of unfiltered Lucky Strike cigarettes. Just as he began to stand, an uncanny sensation gave him warning; someone had crept up behind him."

Here is a logical analysis of the information:

1. It can be assumed that the scene is in America.

2. The date is sometime after the beginning of the Vietnam War.

3. The veteran could be expected to have keen attention to senses and a conscious situation awareness,

4. The headstone is small.

5. The deceased, assumed to be a person, is small, probably a child.

6. There is a shadow of the headstone that covers the grave.

7. The veteran is reading the epitaph.

8. Since the usual arrangements of graves in the United States have the epitaph on the west face of the tombstone and the grave lying east of the tombstone, the veteran is facing east.

9. The sun is behind the veteran.

10. Because the tombstone casts a shadow over the grave, the sun must be in the mid-afternoon position.

11. Since the shadow does not cast at an angle to the grave, the sun must be due west. Thus, the season is either spring or autumn.

12. The veteran sensed that someone came up behind him. In the next paragraph it is confirmed that a peculiar stranger came up behind him.

13. Now the conclusion can be drawn from the information.

    1. The stranger who approached from behind should have cast a shadow across the west face of the tombstone and on the ground beside the veteran.

    2. The alert veteran did not see a shadow and did not hear anyone approach. The veteran only sensed that someone had crept up behind him.

    3. Therefore, the peculiar stranger did not cast a shadow.

14. The reader may then ponder the character, Unole, who casts no shadow. Unole will appear many times in the major storyline of both volumes of the novel.