10 Sorry Tales - Mick Jackson

One of my favourites...

I've had this book for about 3 year's,  it's a firm favourite amongst my collection.  The collection of stories appealed to me initially for a number of reasons.  I love short stories, I have a rather dark sense of humour at times and, as much as I hate to admit this, I loved the cover art! I always hate admitting when I'm drawn to a book because of a cover but honestly this book is worth reading  whether the cover appeals to you or not! 

I don't really want to give too much away because with short stories you often need to interpret them in your own way. Among the characters you'll find 2 sister's who enjoy the quiet life,  a boy who fell asleep,  a hermit (wanted) and a retired man with a rowboat whose story actually moved me to tears. 

There was one Tale however, that really struck the emotional cord with me and I do want to share my interpretation of it. 'The Lepidoctor' tells us the story of Baxter, a young boy who is my brother's age or there abouts (my brother is now 12, quite the age gap!). Baxter shares my love for treasure hunting,  he frequents junk shops and jumble sales on the look out for special item's and one day stumbles upon a set of instruments used for the repair and resuscitation of butterflies.  Yes, butterflies. They are the tools of a 'Lepidoctor' and they are extremely rare.  

Now, the reason this resonates with me is because I have Lupus, characterised by a butterfly like rash and the symbol,  used worldwide by every Lupus charity,  is a butterfly.  Lupus is difficult to diagnose and very difficult to treat. It cannot yet be cured and there are few doctor's who can recognise the symptoms of the disease (not all doctor's are like 'House' - although according to him, it's NEVER Lupus). 

Perhaps I was just emotional when I first read this story but the idea of a set of tools designed specifically to 'fix' the 'broken' butterflies was a powerful metaphor for me. The wall of butterflies in this story symbolised, to me, a wall of different Lupus patients.  We're all different,  different colours,  sizes. We're from different places, display different symptoms but we're all fundamentally the same. We're all butterflies and we've all been put on that wall. Poked, proded, analysed, studied by people who frankly, for all their knowledge, don't have a clue (just like the trusty explorer in this story). Baxter is a hero, one brave person who bothered to investigate,  to try, to experiment (with cough sweets!) And he succeeded. The butterflies lived, mended and patched up, they survived.  

Tell me, Lupus friends,  aren't we all looking for a Baxter? A medically qualified adult version of Baxter please. To fix us so we can carry on and play with all the other butterflies and seek to disprove the doubting explorer's who just kept running test's 'to see'. Not that I suggest we all hunt down our explorer's as the butterflies do, remember we're speaking metaphorically here. 

So, did Mick Jackson intend to touch the heart of Lupus patient and reassure them that, no matter how delicate,  how complex, there is a tool for the job? That we can at least carry on? Um, no, probably not. But that is the joy of literature,  interpretation. That is why we value authors, books and imagination. 

This collection of 'short' stories speaks volumes about human nature, the good, the bad,  the ugly, the desperation and the struggles. It is a beautifully formed piece of humorous melancholy and it really does deserve to be on every bookshelf.

To find out more about Lupus I suggest St Thomas Lupus Trust (UK)  or the LFA website (USA). Mick Jackson is an Author from the sunny southern coast of the UK, I am yet to read any of his other works but they are on my wishlist!

Thanks for reading! ♥

*added 28/04*

A serious fan girl type moment, imagine my joy when I tweet out my blog link to Mick Jackson and Lupus UK and I get a reply from Mick! and he's heard of Lupus! I was genuinely so happy, this totally made my day.

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Reply Tweet from Mick Jackson!!