Darkness Falls

The Characters

Protagonist Profile:


Profile of Rally Witts:

Rallendister Muchova Witts was born 30 years ago in 1995 to a pair of transplants, who arrived in Texas from East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. A blond-haired, blue-eyed hunk of a young man, he inherited his good looks from both sides: Karl, his father, and Ethlista, his mother.

Though Karl and Ethlista had come from East Germany, living in two separate towns in that country, they didn't meet until they matriculated at the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. They had both become Christians through the faithful preaching of the Word of God from the Trans World Radio broadcast location in Monaco. Karl felt called to preach. Ethlista was simply ready to leave Eastern Europe, starting a new life in America with the hope of finding a Christian husband at a seminary. She had finished her undergraduate work in East Germany and was now qualified to teach elementary school children with her college degree, as well as being able to attend seminary. How they met is another story for another day, but we may say that music brought them together. Ethlista played the piano, and Karl was drawn to the beautiful sounds.

Now, back to Rally, we find, that he had an aptitude for painting on canvas, paper, sidewalks, interior walls, floors, furniture, pets, pretty much anything he could lay his hands on from the ages of two or three. He virtually learned to walk, walked over to a box of crayons, and began adorning the walls of the hallway outside of his bedroom. Rally was a great success in Kindergarten. The twelve elementary grades were a bit of an impediment, but he had the nicest assortment of book covers among all of his classmates. Though Rally was painting all the time outside of his classes, he did manage to graduate with a 3.5 GPA. Finding out about SCAD in Savannah, GA, Rally moved halfway across the country from his parents. This did not sit well with his parents because their family was set-up to be close-knit, even in the extended family realm.

Rally finished his degree work at SCAD, finding a job immediately in Atlanta with a graphic arts firm that created advertising campaigns throughout the world. Rally was still a single man when he arrived in Atlanta, but quickly fell in love with the pretty street vendor, who sold him his lunch almost every day. Man, could she make a mean grilled cheese sandwich! After a year of lunch "dates," Rally asked Miss Jessie Fide, "Would you like to move into my apartment? You could cook for me full-time, since I make enough money for both of us. I could even pay you to do some light housekeeping. We're already good friends. I'm sure we could make it work. What do you say?" She nodded, wordlessly, but in the back of her mind, she wondered, Is that all? Or is he interested in fringe benefits?

Being a painter, Rally loves beautiful things. In time, Rally saw Jessie as more than someone who could help him with his career, but as someone who was interesting as a person, herself. He began to want to know her more intimately. Rally liked the acclaim his talent brought to him, and he really disliked being ignored. This effectively turned him into a narcissist, who used Jessie more and more until he went blind. This broke him in every way possible, changing his motivation from self to others. In the end, he desired to make the world a better place through beautiful paintings, whether created by himself, Jessie, or anyone else he taught, while meeting personal needs, even if he couldn't see the people he was helping.

Rally Witt and Jessie Fide become the story of redemption, changing sexual sin for a faithful marriage, self-centeredness for a lasting relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and knowledge and talents that originally benefit a self-absorbed man into a life of giving one's knowledge and talents to benefit others.




Protagonist Background Story:

Miss Hopeful smiled warmly as she surveyed her hive (neatly disguised as a Kindergarten classroom) of busy little bees, who all bearly breathed because each sweet little tongue was sticking out of the corners of their mouths, intently creating works of art on 16" X 20" sheets of white craft paper.

The vast majority of the classroom sported hands of red, yellow, orange, blue, green, and most often brown from the mixture of opposing colors with finger paints adorning all canvases, chairs, tables, floors, shirts, pants, dresses, faces, arms, legs, hair,...fill in the blank. A few of the children used paint brushes for finesse, but still painted on everything in sight.

All were typical kindergarten children, creating a cacophony of sight and sound, except for little Rally, sitting all alone at a small table in the corner of the room with everything around him still pristine and untouched by anything, that looked like color. The 16" X 20" sheet of white paper was apparently still white. The glass paint jars had no smudges of paint on the outside. No smudges of paint were detected on Rally, his work station, his clothes, the floor or the wall.

Miss Hopeful sidled up to Rally, asking him gently, "Are you able to find some inspiration for your canvas, Rally? The class is nearly finished, and you've yet to start."

"Oh, I'm finished with my painting, Miss Hopeful. I was done about ten minutes ago." Rally smiled.

Miss Hopeful's eyes became saucers. "Rally, how can you say that? All I see is a white piece of paper, and unused colors in the jars."

"Miss Hopeful, this is a flock of geese, flying formation in a snowstorm," Rally assured her.

As she giggle-snorted through her nose, Miss Hopeful said, "That is quite some imagination you have there, Rally, but I don't see any evidence that you actually put paint to paper."

"I think the lighting must be fooling you here in my corner, Miss Hopeful," Rally respectfully intoned, "Let's take the paper to the windowsill to see how it looks in sunlight."

Rally laid the paper on the windowsill, while Miss Hopeful gasped, "I see them, now, Rally. Such nuances of colors. Light grays, light blues, light amber browns, and just a touch of light yellows to enhance the features. I have rarely seen this level of finesse in an adult artist. How did you learn to paint this way, Rally?"

"I'm not really sure," he said. "I've been painting like this since I was two. I haven't had a teacher for painting. I just sort of do what comes naturally. I want to be a painter when I grow up."

"Rally, you are a painter, right now. I'm speechless." She stood there for a long while, shaking her head.





Antagonist Profile:

The Unrelenting Drive for Perfection is Rally Witt's real nemesis. As a painter of nearly flawless quality (actual flawlessness to the untrained eye), Rally was verbally programmed early in life to "Never rest on your laurels" because "There's always somebody out there ready to take your place."

Rally learned this and more from his second-grade teacher, Mrs. Karen Tumech. Every time the recordings that remind him that he is "not doing enough" to achieve his ingrained goal of perfection start to play, the specter of Karen Tumech stands before him, shaking a bony finger in his face, screaming, "You'll never amount to anything!"

The saddest part of living with Perfectionism is the fact that all humans are imperfect without the ability to be perfect on any level in this life.

Rally Witts is one of the most phenomenal artists in the HIStory of the world, yet he can never see his abilities, nor can he value them properly for being the amazing gifts that they truly are. His experiences with his second-grade teacher were at best debilitating, socially, and at worse crippling, mentally.

The resilience of Rally in his youth really must be highlighted right here. No matter how many times Mrs. Karen Tumech pointed out the minutiae of flaws in Rally's paintings, he always seemed to incorporate the pointers as teachings or core beliefs about himself and his skill, taking his art to the next level.

Rally Witts is the human epitome of perfection, but every hurtful criticism consistently takes him closer to that all-elusive level of perfection. Truly Amazing!

Whether Mrs. Karen Tumech is intentionally abusive because she hates Rally or socially-incompetent with the truest wish of good for a student she truly cares about, the results are the same. Rally grows into adulthood with an all-consuming drive to create perfect paintings to "make the world a better place in some way."

Amazingly, that goal would only be accomplished after Rally Witts lost his natural giftedness, being built back in a way the average human could never imagine.




Antagonist Background Story:

"WHAT DO YOU CALL THIS, RALLY?" Mrs. Tumech stormed.

Head hanging, Rally managed, "This is my painting of our family's home with part of the farm in the background. I've looked around. I think mine is the most detailed picture in the classroom. Don't you like it, Mrs. Tumech?"

"Is that how you're going to live your life, Rally, comparing your work to the efforts of others? You have such potential! Yes! Everybody else's pictures are rubbish compared to yours, but you still haven't done your best!"

"How could I do any better? Please. I'd like to know?" Rally whimpered, eyes filling, overflowing.

"The organization of your painting is all wrong!" Tumech railed, "Your house is in the dead center of the picture. There's no 'look room.' You need to follow the Rule of Thirds. Carve up your picture into three sections from top to bottom, and then from left to right. Imagine the intersection of those two sets of thirds as the four ideal placement points for any subject, directing the eyes through the rest of the picture. NEVER CENTER ANY SUBJECT! The only exception to that rule is the picture of a close-up, that fills most of the canvas, being used."

"Thank you, Mrs. Tumech," Rally moused. "I didn't know that. I will always try to remember. I want my paintings to be the best they can be."

"I believe that, Rally," she softened. "You've got talent. Every other student in this classroom has no talent compared to you. DO YOU HEAR ME?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Rally trembled with his arms holding himself tight.

"I'm hard on you, Rally," she whispered. "I've never seen anyone with as much talent as you have. I'm putting pressure on you like I would put pressure on a lump of clay on a potter's wheel as I make a ceramic bowl for the kiln. The bowl has to be able to take the heat of the kiln and not break under the pressure. Learn the lessons I am teaching you now, and years later you will thank me later in your career as a world-class artist of some sort."

"Thank you, Mrs.," boring a hole in the floor. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, but I can see you need a moment. Sit down, take five, and eat a snack," she almost smiled. "We'll take this up later."

Rally's second-grade teacher, Mrs. Karen Tumech, suffered much in her own youth, being cut from the same cloth as Mozart. Their parents seemed to have their children's best interest at heart, or possibly saw the potential for monetary gain from their progeny, but whatever the reason, these children, Mrs. Tumech and Mozart, really did not have the personality for teaching. Did Mozart try teach? History shows that he did, but did he cause as much trauma as Mrs. Tumech? Possibly.

Second-grade stayed with Rally for most of his life because Mrs. Karen Tumech traumatized him in the process of teaching him some invaluable principles of visual art. Her voice drove him to produce greater and greater levels of art, until he went blind.

When darkness finally fell, the voice of the tyrant fell silent.




Dramatis Personae:


Helpers

1. Name: Paul Smithers
Age: 52
Occupation: President of Smithers, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers
Relation to Rally Witts: His boss
Physical Description: Tall (6 feet), well-built, handsome middle-aged man


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2. Name: Carl Witts, Jr.
Age: 45
Occupation: Preacher, Pastor of Crossway Baptist Church (SBC)
Relation to Rally Witts: His father
Physical Description: 5' 7", a little on the paunchy side, great laugh, nice-looking


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3. Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Relation to Rally Witts:
Physical Description:


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Problem People


1. Name: Allen Harris
Age: 35
Occupation: Senior Partner in the firm of Smithers, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers
(until Rally shows up)
Relation to Rally Witts: Junior Partner, displaced by Rally. His main nemesis.
Physical Description: 5'8", good looking with brown hair and blue eyes


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2. Name: David Adams
Age: 38
Occupation: Senior Partner in the firm ofSmithers, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers
(until Rally show up)
Relation to Rally Witts: Junior Partner, displaced by Rally. Another strong nemesis.
Physical Description: 5'9", beady eyes (green), blond hair, okay looking


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3. Name:
Age:
Occupation:
Relation to Rally Witts:
Physical Description:


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Minor Character Profiles:


Helpers

1. Name: Paul Smithers
Age: 52
Occupation: President of Smithers, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers
Relation to Rally Witts: His boss
Physical Description: Tall (6 feet), well-built, handsome middle-aged man, knows he's in charge, easy-going, doesn't need to act like he's in charge.


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2. Name: Carl Witts, Jr.
Age: 45
Occupation: Preacher, Pastor of Crossway Baptist Church (SBC)
Relation to Rally Witts: His father
Physical Description: 5' 7", a little on the paunchy side, great laugh, nice-looking, has one goal in life "Leading as many people to Jesus as I possibly can before He comes in the Rapture or He calls me Home." Rally's greatest cheerleader, which balances the negativity of his Perfectionism trainer, 2nd-grade teacher, Mrs. Karen Tumech


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3. Name: Ethlista Witts
Age: 46
Occupation: Elementary School 4th-grade teacher
Relation to Rally Witts: His mother
Physical Description: Medium-length brunette hair, not quite on her shoulders; a little heave-set; pleasant personality, until she gets tired; supportive of Rally talents and career choice. She loves Rally to the depth of her being.


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Problem People


1. Name: Allen Harris
Age: 35
Occupation: Senior Partner in the firm of Smithers, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers
(until Rally shows up)
Relation to Rally Witts: Junior Partner, displaced by Rally. His main nemesis.
Physical Description: 5'8", good looking with brown hair and blue eyes


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2. Name: David Adams
Age: 38
Occupation: Senior Partner in the firm ofSmithers, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers
(until Rally show up)
Relation to Rally Witts: Junior Partner, displaced by Rally. Another strong nemesis.
Physical Description: 5'9", beady eyes (green), blond hair, okay looking


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3. Name: Jolese Banter
Age: 30
Occupation: 2nd-grade para-pro, assists Mrs. Karen Tumech, lead 2nd-grade teacher
Relation to Rally Witts: One of the leaders in his 2nd-grade class. He was taught to
obey her, too.
Physical Description: Brunette hair, green eyes, mostly slender, but slight paunch as she
enters her 2nd decade as an adult. Fairly gentle, compared to Mrs. Tumech, but
Jolese can get a little rattled when Mrs. Tumech gets in one of her moods. The
children feel the change.


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Protagonist Interview:


Jay O'Toole: "Rally Witts, thank you so much penciling me in to your busy schedule."

Rally Witts: "You are quite welcome. Always glad to share my life's story."

Jay O'Toole: "How has your life changed since it went from amazing to what is this?"

Rally Witts: "That was nicely worded, Jay. Life was beyond anything I could ask for or expect when I was a sighted painter, but since going blind my life has become truly indescribable as a painter, a potter, and a newly born-again man. I've been a Christian for nearly three years."

Jay O'Toole: "That's a lot, Rally. Can you unpack that for me?"

Rally Witts: "Be glad to. Before going blind, I was self-absorbed and pretty proud of myself as a painter with natural talent. When I had my physical sight, I didn't realize how spiritually blind I was. Losing my sight, and the depression and hardship it caused, is what the Lord used to bring me to Jesus as my Savior and King. I've had to relearn every aspect of painting without sight, by touch and with the aid of my new wife, Jessie."

Jay O'Toole: "How did the events of this story change you? Sorry, that question is kind of like the first. Maybe you wouldn't mind expanding on the process of change."

Rally Witts: "Losing my sight, dismantled my image of myself piece by piece because it happened over a period of about 18 months. It has been about five years, since I went blind. Rebuilding is still ongoing."