The house really scare me!! I think the emphasis on the boy's eyes reveals a lot about his true nature. Because the color blue is associated with cold, like his mother treated him, and with sadness over a lack of money or luck. It's also associated with confidence, like the boy knowing the winning horse, and with the mystical. And of course the money is never enough when exist the wish of having more. The most sad part is appear to me that nobody really loved the boy.
Well done. As always. Myself, being occasionally inclined toward the macabre peeking out through seemingly ordinary situations, I wondered if the mother's insatiable lust for prestige and status based entirely on money, had actually been made incarnate in the house; if the house itself, though inanimate, had become impregnated by the spiritual essence of greed, concentrated over the years, into a single essence which 'haunted' the house itself. Just as lust in whatever form it takes, can never be satisfied, always urging, then demanding, the person so obsessed, to go farther and farther into a never ending spiral - so did the spiritual presence never find satisfaction even though it happily took the sacrifice of a heartbroken child.
I realize, of course, that I seem to have omitted the special portion of the tale dealing with the boy's uncanny and perhaps supernatural insight into the racing world. I think - although I do not have any inkling that the author intended it - that the rocking horse had little to do with things, it was only a mechanism through which the boy entered a trance state, a state in which his psychic gift ( if it was a gift indeed ) was able to manifest, in the way that some mystics used chanted words or phrases to quiet the rational, active part of the mind and allow whatever input they seek from whatever source, to more freely enter their consciousness. Anyway- that is just my musing. Overall, a very interesting, if depressing. story.
Thank you, Julian. And I love what you've said about the house being impregnated by this attitude/desire.
On the horse, I think I've left out that he seems to have to try harder and harder to get his answers, so his stress of the situation denies him the luck he needs (until he becomes unlucky in the most severe way).
Yes, a depressing, morose tale indeed, but one that seems to stick with people.
Glad you enjoyed this one, and thanks as ever for sharing your thoughts!
The house really scare me!! I think the emphasis on the boy's eyes reveals a lot about his true nature. Because the color blue is associated with cold, like his mother treated him, and with sadness over a lack of money or luck. It's also associated with confidence, like the boy knowing the winning horse, and with the mystical. And of course the money is never enough when exist the wish of having more. The most sad part is appear to me that nobody really loved the boy.
All great points, Hedera, and I hadn't picked up on the colour of his eyes.
Yeah, poor Paul just gets used all throughout. Would his uncle even say two words to him if he didn't have this ability he could get in on?
And where is the dad through all of it? Is he working his hands off to try and provide, or his he away somewhere just not wanting to be at home?
Glad you enjoyed this one.
Yes I really enjoyed!!. I think that the father wasn't working at all. The boy was lucky in horses but was unlucky with that family of him.
Well done. As always. Myself, being occasionally inclined toward the macabre peeking out through seemingly ordinary situations, I wondered if the mother's insatiable lust for prestige and status based entirely on money, had actually been made incarnate in the house; if the house itself, though inanimate, had become impregnated by the spiritual essence of greed, concentrated over the years, into a single essence which 'haunted' the house itself. Just as lust in whatever form it takes, can never be satisfied, always urging, then demanding, the person so obsessed, to go farther and farther into a never ending spiral - so did the spiritual presence never find satisfaction even though it happily took the sacrifice of a heartbroken child.
I realize, of course, that I seem to have omitted the special portion of the tale dealing with the boy's uncanny and perhaps supernatural insight into the racing world. I think - although I do not have any inkling that the author intended it - that the rocking horse had little to do with things, it was only a mechanism through which the boy entered a trance state, a state in which his psychic gift ( if it was a gift indeed ) was able to manifest, in the way that some mystics used chanted words or phrases to quiet the rational, active part of the mind and allow whatever input they seek from whatever source, to more freely enter their consciousness. Anyway- that is just my musing. Overall, a very interesting, if depressing. story.
Thank you, Julian. And I love what you've said about the house being impregnated by this attitude/desire.
On the horse, I think I've left out that he seems to have to try harder and harder to get his answers, so his stress of the situation denies him the luck he needs (until he becomes unlucky in the most severe way).
Yes, a depressing, morose tale indeed, but one that seems to stick with people.
Glad you enjoyed this one, and thanks as ever for sharing your thoughts!