Notes for: "The Little Boy and the Dove: A Story of Hope and Healing" & "An Absence of Cathy"

Background

Tim Morse, M. Ed. is a survivor of two suicides. In Early January, 1984, his father took his own life.  In August, 1988, his first wife took her own life.

Deeply affected by these losses, Morse, an author and entrepreneur, has decided to publish on the Web two, short narrative works to help others who struggle with this sudden, unexpected type of death. The first is the short story "The Little Boy and the Dove: A Story of Hope and Healing," which was written as part of Morse's graduate program in education while at the University of New Hampshire.  The second work is titled "An Absence of Cathy," and was written when Morse was encouraged to submit a story to his prep school advisor at Phillips Exeter Academy at Morse's 10th reunion.

Each year, on the third Saturday in November, as America looks to the National Survivors of Suicide Day, Morse hopes that this Web site will indeed become a source of hope and healing by presenting narrative works for suicide survivors. 

The first story is a fictionalized account of a young boy who attempts to break out of his loneliness in the aftermath of his father's suicide. Morse wrote the story as project for a methodology course to teach social studies concepts to elementary school children. Prior to its Web publication, here, the manuscript has not been previously published in any form, and was not utilized in any classroom setting. 

The second story is more of a memoir, and was sparked by a simple invitation for Morse to commit to paper his passion for story-telling. Morse had previously sought publication for this piece, and had received positive feedback from a former editor at Reader's Digest magazine, but was advised that the format was not suited for publication at that periodical. Again, until publication on this Web site, the story has been read by but a handful of friends and associates.

Vision:

It is the hope that these two stories will be of at least some benefit to those who have been impacted by the death of a loved one by suicide. Morse hopes that through the power of story, readers will be given "permission" to access difficult and painful feelings and be able to bring them into the light.

Depending on the response to the Web site, Morse plans to publish these and other stories in a physical medium (i.e., book publishing), and to encourage other authors to consider submitting short stories that may be edited and included in an anthology for suicide survivors. 

Currently there are several excellent works available which walk survivors through how to cope in the event of a suicide by a loved one. However, with a few notable exceptions, Morse has not located much fiction/narrative of this kind.

May God bless you as read and, perhaps, share these works with others.

  
The Little Boy and the Dove - Page 1