One of the things I need to do is clearly define the characters … as they show up … clearly so I can write about them. This is one of the things I enjoy about writing fiction – that sometimes, characters just walk into my stories and begin to tell me who they are. But I usually need to know more than they tell, hence, character development. As this project begins, there’s only one significant character, and that’s Bill Andrews.
Bill Andrews: Sixty-two years old. Married four times. First one was just a case of too young. Second lasted ten years, always trouble, ended due to infidelity (first hers, then his). Lost third wife, Sheila, who he saw as his soulmate, to cancer after many years; the fourth, much younger Beverly, divorced him after he retired. Forced retirement from a job he loved, lives alone in Pacific Grove Mobile Community. Good looking, younger than his years. Likes music, guitar, younger women with no attachments and marijuana.
Sheila Andrews: Bill’s third wife. Born-again Christian, converted him and gave him what he sees as “the best years of his fucked up life.” One daughter, Heather.
Heather Andrews: Daughter by Sheila. Opinionated and rebellious, always clashed with her Mom over her strict views. Had a close relationship with Bill because he’d listen to what she had to say. Furious when he began dating his fourth wife, Beverly, six month after Sheila’s death, they hardly talk.
Beverly Andrews: Bill’s fourth wife. Twenty years his junior and movie star gorgeous, a secretary where he worked. Could be seen as a gold digger, since she stopped working and started traveling as soon as she married Bill. When he retired and wanted to travel with her, she quickly divorced him and took a substantial chunk of his assets.
Jessica Andrews: Bill’s second wife of ten years, a struggle held together primarily by Jessica’s determination to make it work. Eventually, she had an affair with their marriage counselor, which Bill responded to by having one with a woman from work. Divorce.
Linda Kindler: The self-appointed psychic of Pacific Grove Mobile Home Park, sixty-three and in-love-at-a-distance with Bill, who puts up with her New Age crap because she loves the music, meaning the sixties music he loves.
Sam Johnston: The founder of the band Bill plays lead guitar in, The Older Boys, and the closest thing Bill has to a real friend. African American and recovering alcoholic, he’s tried to induce Bill to trying AA for years and almost thrown him out of the band for coming to gigs high.
Gus and Anna Costanzo: Gus and Anna are in their eighties, residents in Maple Woods Rehabilitation Center and Nursing Home. Gus is recovering from surgery for a brain tumor (malignant) and has been told he’s only got six months. Anna is fighting memory loss and has difficulty walking. Though Gus assumes he’ll go first, Anna will be hit by a car, killing her immediately. Bill stays in the rehab wing of Maple Woods because he has no one to take care of him, and meets the Costanzos in the dining hall. Gus gradually becomes his mentor.
