Happily Ever Never
Maddy rethinks her brand (And some early experiments with Midjourney)
Maddy had started to think happily never ever had become her brand. Readers expected it from her, not only in her books, a few of which had even become moderately successful movies, but also in her personal life.
It was true that she had remained single into her forties, largely by choice. But part of the reason was that she just hadn’t met the right person. She’d dated, even cohabited with a few of her partners. But in the end, none of those relationships had seemed quite right.
Her longest lasting relationship had been with Ralph, her cat who had lived to a ripe old age of twenty-one years. As she looked at his urn, sitting on the mantlepiece, she decided she would write a happily ever after in his honor. Ralph may very well have been the love of her life.
She’d make it a fantasy story. Human meets cat-person. They’d hiss at each other, and by the end of the book, they’d be curled up together on a pile of soft cushions, madly in love and in it for the long haul. When Maddy thought about it, that just about described her life with Ralph.
“What do you think, Muggins?” Maddy asked the little orange ball of fluff curled up in her lap. “I think Ralph would have liked that story. I think he’d have liked you too.” It had been a year since Ralph had died. Maddy’s year of mourning over, she was ready to commit again. So much for happily never ever.
I wanted to create my own image to go with this, but for some reason, Midjourney did weird things with my prompts, especially with the kitten. Here are a few of my attempts. You can see why they’re not suitable. I asked for an orange-furred kitten, and it kept add these orange blobs to the image.
Completely unrelated to this story, I had better luck with an attempt at a female Elf warrior. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show her ears, so you can’t tell she’s an elf. I’ll have to work on this image as well.
Happy reading, everyone! As always, comments are more than welcome, whether about the story or my early attempts on Midjourney.
I often wonder what humanity would be like if we lived like the dogs and crows I see on my walk. The dogs are in a very social environment and they run up to you wagging and smiling. If you rebuff them, they turn away and then run up to the next person, always letting go of the negative experience and person and expressing joy toward the one who loves and appreciates them. No resentment, no left over anger. And the crows? Have you ever watched them when one of them is afraid or hurt... they all, literally all of them within ear shot, come 'running' to help. They don't even hesitate. Ah, what a wonderful world that would be. By the way, I find your experiments interesting but I do see the orange blob. Interesting addition.... hmmm 🤔
I’ve been (ultimately unhappy) married to men 3 times. Never for very long BUT my longest and VERY BEST were with my amazing black Lab mix, Poohbah the Wonder Dog, for 16 years. And then my rescue kitty Violet, a beautiful tuxedo, for very close to 16 years. For life on earth, 32 years of love without bounds is unbeatable. I am blessed 💖