I read Full Stop by Alecia McKenzie. The story is about Granma Scottie and  her grandchild Carmen sending letters to each other. Grandmother Scottie sends her letters without commas or full stops. She believes in god and thinks she is safe from everything evil cause of her faith. Scottie has raised Carmen and her brother because their mother could not afford it by herself. When Carmen answers to Scottie`s letters she always sends money for her to different things. Carmen`s brother rarely writes to Scottie or sends any money.

When you read the first letters  that Grandma Scottie and Carmen sends to each other i feel  that Scotties character is really strict, bossy and stubborn. When Carmen feels so understanding, kind and helpfull. Sometimes I get a feeling that Scottie uses Carmen for advantage because she always makes a new excuse to ask for money. I think there is something mean about Grandma Scottie.

Carmen doesn`t keep any contact with her mother even though her mother sends letters to her. Scottie calls Carmen`s mother a snake but still hopes that they would be in touch. In the last letters Carmen`s mother shows up to her place and tells a version about how things went when Carmen and her brother were little. I find that story very strange because comparing it to what Scottie tells it is completely different. I can`t tell wich one is the truth but I have to say that Carmen`s mother`s story sounds quite truthful to me. Somehow Scottie`s story  just doesn`t sound like things would have gone that way.

It might be even the reason why Carmen`s brother doesn`t write to Grandma Scottie. Maybe he knows the truth about his mother and Scottie. Or then he just doesn`t want to write because he can`t afford sending always money.

Written by sskk