Chapter Three of The Twelfth Window is simple, really. For one, I used it as a chance to introduce another character, Amanecer, to the story. For those that understand Spanish, it basically means “to be the dawn.” Dawn. I purposely named several characters after my high school friends… with prior permission, of course. It’s also a nod to the Latino community. Their wonderful culture and peoples made me decide to learn Spanish. I’m now fluent in the language after having taken seven years of language instruction… but I digress. I’ve also used Chapter Three as a way to show Lisa’s life as a normal 13-year-old and the concerns that a girl her age would have on the afternoon of a school dance.
The other character I introduce here is Monty Ray, Lisa’s crush. Monty Ray looks good and is popular. This points to the human soul’s original proclivity to sin. Lisa is not popular and envies Sarah’s position. This represents today’s Christian’s position in the world (oftentimes). It does not mean that the world in itself is bad; just that all too often one has to curry favor with people on the inside to get anywhere career-wise. I also meant this to echo the sentiment in Israel that led to that nation telling Samuel to ask God for a king, because everyone else has a king. This comes up in later chapters, too.
While I have you here and since Chapter Three is so short, I’ll move along to Chapter Four. It opens with another retreat scene that I meant to represent the Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she was to bear a Son. This is the most concrete and tangible announcement of the arrival of Christ. Not long after that, a new student shows up at Lisa’s school, to her class. [I think that] the arrival of Jesus to the world is like the New Student. Think back to when you were in school. Remember the arrival of a brand new student, not knowing (or honoring) the social rules, ready to make friends there, and having left friends behind. Lisa’s reaction to this arrival changes her instantly. While writing the book, I felt a little guilty about portraying Christ allegoricially as a handsome person, but a Muslim man was the only person to tell me that Jesus was the most beautiful man that ever walked the earth. That statement stuck with me, and it shows throughout the remainder of The Twelfth Window.
