Darkness Falls

The Settings

Cultural, Political and Religious setting:


(1) What do your societies believe? Rally & Jessie live in a Judeo-Christian Society that follows the Ten Commandments to the letter. However, this couple is counter-cultural in that they live together without being married. They don't go to church because they don't see the point, living a life of practical atheism. Jessie often says, "Rally's skills provide for us. Why do we need God?"

(2) In what practices do they engage? They don't engage in any of the spiritual practices before the blindness; they do pretty much all of the spiritual practices after the blindness, because in their extremity, they were shown their need for God.

(3) What laws or rules of society are in place? The contemporary laws of the United States are in place because they live in the state of Texas.

(4) Who/what enforces the laws and rules and how successful are they? Every branch of law enforcement, (i.e. police, sheriff, state troopers, etc.) enforces the laws of the land. They are very successful. It's Texas, after all.

(5) What technologies are in use? Contemporary technologies are all in place. Some places still use landline telephones and fax machines, but cellphones, computers, laptops, earbuds, digital cameras are all pretty much universally used, but happily some folks in Texas still create amazing photographs with film cameras. Cars, motorcycles, buses, and other motorized conveyances are all in use. Indoor plumbing is nearly universal, although some outhouses do still exist.

(6) How does the setting impact your protagonist(s) in their pre-story lives? The setting acts like an environment in which the protagonist and his close friends live and survive in a very good way. This is much like the ocean, providing an environment in which the sea creatures live.

(7) How does the setting impact the plot of your story? The advent of AI had already started to affect the graphic design industry, even before Rally lost his sight. AI was breathing down Rally's neck to produce better and better quality. Loss of sight would be shown over the long haul to be a blessing, since AI operates from the place of perfection. It is not easy for AI to duplicate the overcoming of deficits. Just as pitch correction destroys the art of singing, AI painting destroys the art of human creativity.


Settings List:


1. Brightly Colorful, Texas - The Farm, where Rally Witts grew up was purchased by his parents just a few years before Rally was born is located about two miles east of the township city limits sign. Brightly Colorful, Texas is located on a spot between Dallas & Fort Worth, but 30 miles to the north.

2. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary - Where Rally's parents met

3. Broadway Baptist Church - Where the family attended church from Rally's birth through high school graduation. His parents kept attending church there when Rally moved to the East Coast to go to college.

4. Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) - Rally's college, where he met Miss Jessie Fide, and where they moved in together as roommates.

5. The Offices of Smithers, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers - where Rally was given his first job after graduating from SCAD. This necessitated a move back home for Rally, but half-way across the country for Jessie, since her parents lived in Savannah. The firm was quickly changed to Smithers, Witts, Harris & Adams Graphic Designers of Fort Worth, Texas.

6. BC Art Studios on The Farm was established by Rally's parents after he went blind as a place for Rally and Jessie to learn how to create world-class art with which to support themselves. Rally's parents believed that, even though he was blind, their son had the potential to be one of the greatest artists on Earth.



Setting Description:


BC Art Studios on The Farm was established by Rally's parents after he went blind as a place for Rally and Jessie to learn how to create world-class art with which to support themselves. Rally's parents believed that, even though he was blind, their son had the potential to be one of the greatest artists on Earth.

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It's so amazing how much sight does for a guy, Rally thought. So much for all of my brilliant paintings that I can never see again. So much for ever making another one of those. Jessie said I'm standing at the front door of my new art building. I should go exploring.

Opening the door without a sound, he thinks, That's well-oiled. The doorknob is substantial, filling my hand. Ridges & valleys is a nice touch to make it easier for me to grip. The metal plate of about 18", encasing the deadbolt and tongue on the door and doorjamb, helps me orient myself from outside to inside almost precisely.

He takes one step inside. Fresh wood. What an aroma! Gingerly jumping front and back and side to side a couple of times, Rally stops to touch the floor. It has to be a substantial concrete foundation covered with faux wood snap-tos because there is no sound of even one creak, and the flooring doesn't feel like wood. It's more like rubber. The wood I'm smelling must be on the walls. He reaches back to touch near the metal plate on the door jamb. Light switches. Most everybody will need that but me. Yep. Wood slats on the walls. Marvelous aroma.

Another tentative step forward, and he senses something to his left. Gently reaching with his left hand, Rally grasps the cold metal of a pipe. Moving his right hand around to take the place of the left, he uses the left hand to feel around on the pipe. A few inches closer to the door he finds a down curve elbow, and another pipe, which leads him to the floor where he finds a circular attachment with four screws that secures the pipe to the floor. A guiderail! He tears up. Let's "see" where this takes me.

1, 2, 3... he counted his steps. 20. Railing stopped. Since my strides are about 15" to 18" long, I'll bet I've gone about 25' to 30'. Wonder if that's length or width of the room...about? What am I supposed to do here?

Stepping forward slowly, feeling forward with his hands, he is soon introduced to a laminated surface. Crafting table? How deep is it? Does it reach to the wall? He leans over, searching for the other side of the table. Indeed. There is a wall here, and as I guessed, it's wood. The table is about two to three arm's lengths deep in this direction. How much in the other direction? He measures with his arm. It's about twice as long, five to six arm's lengths. That's a good-sized table for painting. Room for a canvas, paints, and multiple brushes. It could hold a Braille yardstick, too. "This is great!"

"We hoped you'd like it!" Jessie smiled.

"Are the three of you here?" Rally pivoted toward Jessie's voice.

"Yeah. We are son," his parents chorused. "How do you like it so far?"

"It's wonderful. We'll get so much accomplished in this studio." He wept softly as his family came in for a group hug.

"You've already found one of our guiderails," his dad triumphed. "Want us to tell you the rest? Or would you like to find everything on your own?"

"I think I'd like to find them on my own," he smiled. "I'll be ready for a cup of tea soon. Give me 15 minutes. If I missed something, you can tell me about it then. I'm mapping the room in my mind."

"As we expected," Mom gave him another squeeze. "You will need one of us with you often, but if you want to work alone, then we'll need to tag things with Braille labels."

"Thanks, Mom." Rally went back to exploring with his hands. He followed the table he had just "measured" to his left, finding shelves three high, filled with jars, and bumpers around the edge of this counter, just like the work table had. (I forgot to mention that.) Apparently, the family anticipated that glass jars, filled with paint, could easily be bumped onto the floor if one can't see them. So, taking the principle Dad had seen in a bar, that bumpers keep drinks from falling on the floor when a patron has "had a few too many," he applied the principle to the pursuit of art.

They thought of everything, Rally became overwhelmed. Continuing to his left, he found two more small tables and a two-sink corner station with an adjustable nozzle of 18" to 24", plus two ridged drying racks as "book-ends." Between the corner sink station and door were three dinner table-height chairs for seating guests or using in the creative process.

Finding the railing, again, Rally guided himself with his left hand while reaching out with his right for anything he might find in the middle of the room. Halfway across the room, this time he found the second "pipeline" guideline. He let go of the first guide to follow the second one to the right, another 20 paces, finding four tall drying racks for his paintings.

"Ready for tea?" Jessie asked. "It's been 15 minutes."

"For sure," he smiled. "Did I find everything?"

"Mostly," she took his hand. "I thought it would be good to rest and enjoy your tea for now. I can always 'show' you more later when you've taken your blinders off. Oops. I'm sorry." She snickered.

"Very funny," Rally gave her a mock scowl. "Make much money on the circuit?"

"I don't ever want you to see yourself as handicapped." She leaned in for a hug. "You're not disabled. You are differently abled. You have so much to give to this old world, and I'm going to help you do just that!"


Definitions List:


1. Sight - The very real ability to see, perceive, and operate in the visual world is critical to the visual artist's ability to create visual art. Sight takes on an entirely new layer of meaning when the protagonist is blind, but can't give up on his desire to be a world-class visual artist.

2. Oils - oil paints. The ingredients and consistency of oil paints require a much longer drying time than most other forms of paint. At times and in certain climes oil paints can take weeks to dry, fully. The texture of oil paint is thick with a 3D quality, which can have some benefits to a blind artist. Oil painting can be quite tactile, meaning that it is a better format for a blind person to create alone, but the clean-up for a blind person would require a great deal of help from a sighted person, since spirits or turpentine could be required.

3. Acrylics - acrylic paints. The ingredients and texture of acrylic paints require a much shorter drying time. Most acrylic paints are fully dry within 20 minutes to an hour. Acrylic paints aren't very much 3D until mixed with Gesso. Even with Gesso, acrylic painting requires more assistance from a sighted person, regarding the location of the movements and feedback, regarding what has been delivered by the artist's hands. However, clean-up is much easier for the blind person to do alone, since water is the only cleaning agent needed.

4. Canvas - the wood-mounted piece of cloth that receives the various forms of paint. Being a blind man, Rally Witt gravitates toward canvases of 24x30 and larger with 2-inch thick stretcher bars to keep the canvas from falling apart, due to the amount of pressure he may lean against it while painting.

5. a mahlstick - a long stick used for steadying the painter's hand, especially when painting the interior of a canvas, in order to aid the painter by preventing paint on the hand and giving the hand a place to rest. A mahlstick would have invaluable importance to a blind painter, like Rally Witt, since he could create a grid system on the canvas for greater accuracy in painting. A trusted assistant could use blue tacky paste, normally designed for affixing lighter items, like paper to walls for decoration, but in the case of Rally, blue tacky paste could be dolloped every one, two, or three inches to frame a grid space for painting in a tactile manner.