Story 232: "Drive, He Said" by Jennifer-Oksana

[wendelah1]

This short story is post-col, so you know what that means. It's short, because I sense some readers need a break from long fanfic. It's a fic that got recced everywhere from The Other Side to crack_van. It's quite good, but I guess that goes without saying.

"Drive, He Said" by Jennifer-Oksana
Pairing: Mulder/Scully (but Wendelah does not classify this as MSR)
Rating: R (her rating not mine—I'd rank it Teen for language)
Summary: Where do you go when there’s nowhere left?

The link is to her Wordpress Blog. This fic is also found on her Author's Page at Gossamer. If you can, send feed back to the writer, then come back and tell us what you think. The nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

Read Drive, He Said.

Comments

[discordantwords.livejournal.com]

This gutted me. What a beautiful, haunting story.

I love post-col stories, and I love little short fics like this, because they can do such a great job at capturing a moment or a feeling without foundering under their own weight the way that longer epics can sometimes do.

The brief description of Mulder and Scully's last moments together was heart-wrenching and conveyed such a sense of deep regret and missed chances. Thanks for reccing this.

[wendelah1]

I reread to respond to comments, and damn but it gutted me too.

Longer, more ambitious stories are hard to pull-off, but I love that people try for it.

Not all well-known fics live up to their hype but this one does. It packs in a lot of emotion and history with a few well-chosen words. That's tough to pull off too. It doesn't seem as daunting to write short fic as a novel. More people try so more people succeed.

[badforthefish.livejournal.com]

I'm a sucker for post-col stories too and this was such a beautiful, heartwrenching piece. I loved this writer's streamlined writing style, which proves once again, in fanfic as in everything, less is more. She capture so well the emotional numbness of grief when the mind wanders and stops to consider the most irrelevant things - why bugs have yellow blood instead of red.

I’m tired and my head throbs to the bass of my heart. Such a lovely turn of phrase.

I'm definitely putting this one in my post-col favourite. Great pick Wen!

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I liked the observation about the bugs too, especially this line:

I wonder why bugs have yellow blood and then I realize it’s okay because would I want my view of America ruined by little crimson flecks like tears of blood and I decide that’s okay, no.

It really sounds accurately like rambling grief to me.

[wendelah1]

I'm glad you liked it, Fish!

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

I wish it wasn't so depressing, but it was very good and very sad. I read through twice and I still wonder when Scully died. Was it on the road, or was it back with Mulder on the East Coast. Also, I thought her appearance was weird. She was dressed in a way that some might see as kinda attractive and a little strange for post apocalyptic. This makes me wonder if it was a mental image, and we were viewing her consciousness rather than actual events.

[wendelah1]

Sorry. Without giving away the ending, I did try to warn readers it would be a downer.

As you say, it's impossible to say exactly when Scully died. We know when Mulder died, because Scully was a witness. But Scully was alone when she died. Probably somewhere on the road. Delirious. Crashed the car. We'll never know.

Also, I thought her appearance was weird. She was dressed in a way that some might see as kinda attractive and a little strange for post apocalyptic. This makes me wonder if it was a mental image, and we were viewing her consciousness rather than actual events.

This is her point of view but I get a different impression when I read her self-description.

Black Doc Marten boots, laced up to mid-calf. Bare legs that haven’t been washed or shaved in weeks. Legs that were ivory pale but now seem to have the faintest tan sheen. Tiny denim shorts, the sort they’d call Daisy Dukes– it’s too hot for anything else. Pale stomach, the tiny ring silver and dusty with grit and sweat. T-shirt tied underneath my breasts. Sleeves rolled up so that my pale arms show. Big black sunglasses that hide my bloodshot and weary eyes. Hair afrizz and amuck.

She's unshaven, sweaty and dirty. Behind the sunglasses, her eyes are bloodshot. She's beyond tired. She probably started out in jeans that tucked into her boots and turned them into cutoffs when she got to the heat of southwest in the clunker car. She started out with a shirt that was neatly tucked in and ended up with it tied up for ventilation. Her hair is "afrizz and amuck." Never mind that someone might, I don't think the language supports that she's seeing herself as attractive.

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Even with unshaven legs and messy hair she is wearing calf high boots (completely impractical for hot weather), short shorts, a shirt tied to show her mid-drift, and sunglasses.

If I saw Scully wearing these things, even if she was unshaven and unshowered, I would probably say 'Damn, that is one hot mess.'

It stands out but it probably doesn't mean anything. I just think she could pull that look off.

[tri-sbr.livejournal.com]

I liked it too, for many of the same reasons people already cited.

But, I'm not sure I have decided what I think happens in the end. Did Scully actually die? Or, is she hallucinating (because of heatstroke, or maybe because of going crazy from being the only one left)? I certainly like the dying interpretation better, since the misery would be over for her and she gets to be reunited with everyone (Mulder). Near the beginning, I thought she had survived because of the Scully-is-immortal possibility, and that probably made me think twice about her being dead at the end (even if the author was not going for the immortality angle at all).

I looked up the lyrics to Twilight Time, the song that plays in the biker bar when Scully arrives, and saw that it played in the s5 episode Kill Switch, where an artificial intelligence has gone rogue and where Esther and David (friends of the AI's creator) ended up transferring their consciousness into cyberspace so they could be together forever (the song was on the CD which turned out to be the kill switch for the AI - haven't watched the episode in a while, so thanks to the interwebs for remembering details). The song is appropriate both for the Esther/David scenario and for the sort-of parallel scenario with M&S in this story -- Scully following Mulder into the beyond and being reunited with him for forever, like Esther following David in the episode (their bodies were dead, but they believed their consciousness was together). (This does bolster the Scully is dead interpretation of the ending, despite my waffling above.) I thought the whole song was relevant, but the key line (repeated through the song) is probably "Together at last at twilight time." Maybe I am too stuck on the significance of the song in this story, but I can't imagine it was a coincidence that the author chose this song. (?)

On a different note, I found myself wondering why Mulder's dying instructions to Scully were to drive. The ending makes it seem like he knew how the reunion was going to happen. But again, something I'm still considering.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I found myself wondering why Mulder's dying instructions to Scully were to drive

I thought that Mulder realized that the end of the world was coming to where they were. ("I held his hand to the very last, listening to the sounds of encroaching anarchy and chaos.") I think he sent her out driving in hopes that she could still survive and find others. But it's not very clear. I think we're meant to wonder about it.

re: Twilight Time, in the last line Scully also quotes "Beyond the Sea", the song that was played at her father's funeral. I would say both of those songs can be interpreted as being metaphors for death.

[wendelah1]

I agree that the songs chosen indicate that Scully has died; that, and her seeing her father, who has died, and of course, Mulder, and all of the other people whom she knows are dead.

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

I was also thrown, because I thought she was a survivor because she was immortal. It seems to me her immortality was not a part of the story at all, which surprised me. I wonder if the implication (of her immortality) was intentional to make the twist more effective.

[wendelah1]

I don't think that Scully's immortality is considered a settled matter for all X-Files fans even now. It wasn't back when this story was written, for sure. But I can see why you thought she'd survived because of that. It's logical.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I'm late, I'm late, for this very important date. Not much to say, either, except that this story is a stunner. I read it long ago, didn't appreciate it sufficiently (I don't like sad), but it has developed over time a ringing resonance. Just got home from church, and, well, maybe believing in some form of heaven makes the ending so powerful for me.

IMO, short, controlled tragedy works better than long pieces. Because you tighten your gut, and that hurts after a while. In that regard, I strongly warn against Everyone Having A Good Time (?), although Sabine is a very fine writer.

Does anyone remember: is "drive, he said" some kind of famous quotation? Guess I should go find out. It sounds borrowed, which is not a criticism.

[wendelah1]

Hey, better late than never.

Does anyone remember: is "drive, he said" some kind of famous quotation? Guess I should go find out. It sounds borrowed, which is not a criticism.

I don't know how famous it is, but Google led me to this: Drive, He Said is the title of a 1964 book by Jeremy Larner and a 1971 movie directed by Jack Nicholson.

IMO, short, controlled tragedy works better than long pieces. Because you tighten your gut, and that hurts after a while. In that regard, I strongly warn against Everyone Having A Good Time (?), although Sabine is a very fine writer.

As is Shakespeare. I warn against Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello.

I don't know if I believe in life after death but I don't disbelieve. The ending is powerful to me because it's so understated. There's no long protracted death scene or declarations of mutual love or sex. Not that those can't work, but this works for me much better.

They've all been waiting for me, I realize as the next song comes up on the jukebox. It’s the Platters. It’s Twilight Time. The sea of people look at me expectantly, and then they part and there he is.

“You did it again,” I say in my best slightly-pissed-off voice.

“I’ve been waiting. It’s time to go,” he replies.

“Where are we going?”

“I think you know already,” he answers, almost smug. But I do know. “Are you ready?”

“No,” I reply nonchalantly. “But I think that’s the point.”

He nods. I realize I know the crowd already. I smile at my father as we all start moving to leave. He smiles back and salutes.

“Have you all been waiting?”

“Some longer than others,” he replies, handing me a helmet. “Let’s go.”

Route One oh One to the end of the world to the back of beyond beyond the sea beyond the shore beyond the stars where am I going and why doesn’t the radio work?

Love it. A truly unforgettable story.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

We agree. It is a beautiful story.

Don't condescend to me about Shakespeare. He wrote plays that didn't take days to complete. And recall that I have the a Shakespearean expert friend in Philly. She's an ex-nun who kept her ruler.

I don't know heaven, nor does anyone else. But it would be lovely to see someone there who looked like David Duchovney.

[mogster495.livejournal.com]

My heaven is full of smart guys. Say what you will, Duchovny is a smart guy :)