Introduction

Three lives are bound by a single book . . . and the cleansing waters of Molasses Creek.

Having traveled to the ends of the earth as a flight attendant, Ally Green has finally returned to the Lowcountry to bury her father as well as the past. But Vesey Washington is still living across the creek, and theirs is a complicated relationship?he was once her best friend . . . and also part of the reason she?s stayed away so long. When Ally discovers a message her father left behind asking her to quit running, it seems her past isn?t through with her yet.

As Ally?s wandering spirit wrestles with a deep longing to flee again, a young woman on the other side of the world escapes her life of slavery in the rock quarries of Nepal. A mysterious sketchbook leads Sunila Kunari to believe there?s more to her story than she?s ever been told, and she?s determined to follow the truth wherever it leads her.

A deep current intertwines the lives of these three souls, and a destiny of freedom, faith, and friendship awaits them all on the banks of Molasses Creek.

??Seitz has written good stories in the past butBeyond Molasses Creek exceeds all of them.??Jackie K. Cooper, The Huffington Post

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Excerpt

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

– Michelangelo

PROLOGUE

Ally

When I was a girl, I would lie on the banks of Molasses Creek with soft green grass beneath my back and look up into the sky, dreaming of being there. In my upside down world, the clouds were pieces of land that I would hop to, and the vast blue sky was the river, the ocean that would beckon to transport me far, far away. That vast blue sky has taken me to all sorts of foreign lands since then. Sometimes the most foreign place is home.

I’ll be flying in just a few minutes, cloud-hopping back to a city I never thought I’d see again.

I close my eyes and imagine myself feeling weightless again, my body traveling at 500 miles an hour yet perfectly still. Someone clears a throat. I open my eyes and see a woman before me in uniform, standing at a podium. She’s holding out her hand. “Oh, yes,” I say. I reach in my bag and pull out my wallet. Through the airport window, a jet leaves the wet runway and rises into thick gray rain.

I hand the uniformed woman my driver’s license, and she looks at me to see if there’s a match. “My hair’s a little different now,” I explain. “And . . . I’m a little older.” So much about me is different now. I wonder if she can read it in my face—the years, the tragedy, the love, the moments of hope. I smile at her, but she doesn’t return it. They’ve gotten a lot stricter with flying these days, and that’s not such a bad thing. I don’t mind waiting a few minutes longer to take my shoes off and have them search my belongings. There’s a poor old lady up ahead of me, hunched over. They have her to the side and are patting her down. Really? Her? Never in a million years. After flying as many times as I have, you get an eye for these things.

The woman hands me my license back and the young lady behind me reaches to hand her a passport. “Charleston is very nice place,” she says in a foreign accent. You can tell she’s worked hard on her English. That warms my heart. I take a deep breath and move to the conveyor belt. I set my shoes in a gray bin along with a lightweight jacket and carry-on bag. The top of the bag is open and when I set it on its side, a large, tattered book peeks out. My heart flutters and my mind spills over with images, sketches of my life, as if I’m having one of those near-death experiences and life is flashing before my eyes.

I blink and move forward. Did I remember my pencils? Yes, I did.

I shuffle along with everyone else, barefooted, until I pass through the metal detector. Oh, the things I’ve seen people get caught with over the years—guns, drug paraphernalia, tiny switchblades in unusual parts of the body. Some people are flat out crazy and criminal.

Criminal. Crime. Why would anyone ever return to the scene of the crime? For closure? To find that part of them that was lost there? To make things right? I’m going back for all of these reasons. I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d see the day.

The airport is fairly empty this time of the morning, but our wait isn’t long. A cup of coffee and a People magazine later, we’ve entered the plane. It’s a Boeing 737. I look into the cockpit to see who’s flying us. I’m looking to see if a certain old lover is there, but that would be too much of a coincidence, even for me. I nod at the pilot, a fifty-ish gentleman I have never seen before, and carefully eye the flight attendant. She’s about thirty-five, a little heavy in the hips, blonde hair, nice looking. Back in my day she never would have gotten a job here. Back then, getting and keeping a stewardess job was as hard as making the cut on American Idol. But not today. Times have changed. Part of me wants to relieve this lady and do her job for her. I could take care of this entire plane, all these passengers, all their needs, without blinking an eye. I’m not too old, no matter what they suggested. So what, my back went out and I dropped a cup of coffee on a passenger. It happens. My heart just wasn’t in it anymore and when your passion leaves you, well, it might just be time to move on to something else.

To be honest, flying turned painful emotionally as the years went on. I was always torn between wanting to fly to the other side of the world and keep searching—or going back to see him. A woman is lucky in life if she finds true love. Twice as lucky if she holds onto it. Three times the luck if she loses it and it comes back to her even stronger than before.

I’ve got to go back. I can’t believe I’m going back. I left in the first place because of him, and now, I can feel this strong pull within me—he’s pulling me. He’s leading me, telling me I must go return to the scene of the crime, where my whole life changed in an instant. It’s now or never. No more wasted time.

I close my eyes as the plane rumbles to takeoff. I’ve never been much of a praying woman, but this time, I hear the faint mumbling of the young lady beside me. I turn to look at her, a pretty girl, obviously nervous about flying today too. Her eyes are closed and fists clenched. We all have our fears, don’t we? Our own stories. And our reasons to go back to the place that changed us. She catches my eye. I take a deep breath and give a reassuring look. I squeeze her hand like I’ve done a thousand times with passengers, then turn to the window as the plane lifts off the runway. My heart lifts along with my stomach, and I say a little prayer to the clouds for the both of us. Great white bird, take us over the river. Make us brave and remove our fears.

I think of his rugged face, those dark eyes, those sweet lips smiling for me. I know what I promised you, but you know me, Vesey. You always have.

Sometimes stepping back in time is the only way for a girl to move forward. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

1. In the prologue, Ally admits, “Sometimes stepping back in time is the only way for a girl to move forward.” Is this something you’ve experienced in your own life? Do you agree or disagree with the statement?
2. The themes of “coming home” and “escape” are threaded throughout Beyond Molasses Creek. Discuss each of these concepts with regards to Ally and Sunila.
3. Both Ally and Sunila long to be free in their own ways. How does this search for freedom affect their lives? What brought them to a “captive” state in search of freedom? Is all captivity imposed, or is it possible to keep oneself in captivity?
4. Education is important to Vesey and later to Sunila. Why? How can education be a world-changer?
5. Beyond Molasses Creek confronts diversity and prejudice in both the American South and in Nepal. Have you ever witnessed discrimination against a person because of their race, religion or beliefs? What changes have you seen in your lifetime with regards to discrimination?
6. Ally is an artist and keeps a sketchbook to chronicle the world around her. Is it possible for one person’s art to become the lifeline to another? Do you think art is made for oneself or for those around us?
7. How does the setting of Molasses Creek and the South Carolina lowcountry in this book contribute to both the harming and the healing of those who live there?
8. Discuss the relationship of Ally and Vesey when they were children. How and why does it change as they get older? What outside influences affect that relationship? What about internal influences?
9. In many ways, Beyond Molasses Creek is the story of transformative Love and Loss. Whose love in this book has the ability to transform? Is Love or Loss the victor?
10. Ally spends many of her latter years traveling the world and collecting stone statues for her garden. Discuss the symbolism of this garden. Can people (or stones or something other) become gods in our lives?
11. Sunila’s character explores the age-old concepts of genetics vs. rearing. How do her genetics play into her survival in contrast to her upbringing? Have you ever seen someone thrive because of some internal strength even in the midst of poor circumstances?
12. To which main character do you most relate—Vesey, Ally or Sunila? By the end of the book, which secondary character became most dear to you? Ally’s father (Doc Green), Margaret, Graison, or Mr. Assai?
13. Did the dream/theme of the elephants and the white bird fly right over your head or do you see the symbolic importance to the book? Several characters in this book “cross over”. Discuss.
14. Doc Green named his cat “Kat” or “Kathmandu”. Why would he do this after what happened there? Do you ever keep painful reminders of your past close at hand?
15. Discuss the importance of lying and truth-telling in this novel. Ally catches her father telling a lie. Or does she?

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