The author has a story to tell in Quicksand, a story that is needed in our society regardless of the period of history. We see more and more marriages of various interracial individuals as time goes on. I wish the thinking of some in our society would consider these intermarriages as an opportunity for love, hope and understanding for all people, regardless of color, religion or love for each other. Marilyn Randall tells a very good story of Natalie, a sixty-three-year-old white woman who has had no real love interest in her current life. Natalie had been married, but for the last six years in name only, as her husband had cancer and her life was devoid of physical contact for years. Two years after the death of her husband, she went online looking for possible encounters with other men with similar interests to hers, with no real idea of what she would get in return.
Natalie wrote children’s books and was an artist. She figured that she needed someone in her life to love, hug and cherish. She had loved her husband very much and she missed that love. Her online meetings of hers were numerous, but all gave cause for concern about scams that she knew existed and that she had been warned about. She was especially interested in one that she had heard of. He was a black man a little younger than her Natalie. She had never thought about dating a black man, but she thought, why not? Natalie lived in Washington state and Randy lived in Orlando Florida.
Over time they got together and became immediately interested in each other, physically, mentally and sexually. They seemed perfect for each other. They first stayed together in Washington for a while, and Natalie eventually went to Orlando to meet up with Randy’s family and friends. Randy was used to other races avoiding him and giving him the “why should he be with a white woman?” The few who accepted it made life great, but too many were wrong to see a couple of mestizos together and enjoy each other so much. This happened no matter where they were; vacation trips, shopping, at a park, neighbors, and most family and friends, would not tolerate this couple together.
But they made the most of it until Natalie discovered Randy’s terrible temper. At first it was just mild words and actions, but when she got physically hard on Natalie to the point of hurting her, she decided to walk away from him. After almost every time they broke up due to a fight, within a few days they missed each other so much that they reconciled again over the phone and eventually got back together, until the next fight. The distance between Washington and Orlando is quite long and she needed to plan to go back and forth to “make peace”.
The love between them was deep and meaningful. Everything they did together went well until they had another fight. When the fights got too physical, Natalie claimed that she had had enough and that it was over. How many times she did this, I can’t even remember. If it were me, she would have said goodbye to a person who hit me and gave me bad bruises, but in this story it was different.
I enjoyed the basic story. The book is laced with poetry that describes each chapter that way and then tells it a different way in a regular writing style.
