32 Comments
User's avatar
Rebecca Holden's avatar

"Home is now here". Gosh, Sharron! I've been looking forward to this post, and let's just say oh boy I'm not disappointed! 🙌

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Talk about an inflow of immigrants! Yeow!

Expand full comment
Marsha frederick's avatar

What a great end. Did not see it coming. Your descriptions are so detailed I can see it all in my mind. Thank you for generously sharing.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thank YOU for reading my tales. Except for the fiction of being threatened by aliens (!) , the landscape and the weather from Glen Orchy north across Rannoch Moor is as I describe it. The wildest, most barren place I , personally, have ever been.

Expand full comment
Jim Cummings's avatar

I love how you wrapped this up! I sensed that after part two, you were afraid that you wouldn't know where to go with it but you did a great job as usual, with elegant description and flowing language.

And as a bonus, the Highlands are still intact in the event that I ever get there!

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thanks, Jim! When you go to Scotland ( and I hope you do), you will meet cool people there from Poland, Nigeria, Ireland, England, just like in the US. MANY different accents to sort out. Now, you will have to wonder which are non-human... ha ha ha

Expand full comment
Kate Henry's avatar

Aliens are not the enemy .. unless there is a recipe book.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Urgh. Not sure I understand your meaning here. Not sure I want to.... ha ha ha

Expand full comment
Kate Henry's avatar

There was a TV show MANY years ago about people competing to be taken to the new planet. Documents left behind proves they were to be ingredients in a recipe book. I've remembered that for some 50 years. hahaha

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Yowza! Did I really need to know that? Now I will be thinking about it too... ingredients. eeeuw...

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

I love where you took this, Sharron! What a beautifully crafted conclusion to an awesome story. That final scene will stay with me for a long time.

When you started painting the scene with landmarks the story came to life even more for me. I once visited Scotland (Invergordon in the Highlands region), so this brought me back. Thanks for this!

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

I hope you know how interested I am in your comments. I learn from you. I think Hamish and Weelu were a good match. I DID have to change the ending to Part 2. I am so glad Substack lets us go back in and revise even after a piece has been published. Thanks Justin, as always.

Expand full comment
Justin Deming's avatar

Agreed, I love those characters. They were meant to find one another! I’ve gone back and revised my stories a time or two as well. Thanks, Sharron, that means a lot! 😊

Expand full comment
Tim Osner's avatar

It was good.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Great! glad you liked it, Tim! I hope you read all three parts!

Expand full comment
Tim Osner's avatar

I did.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thanks, Tim, for subscribing to 🍁Leaves. I hope you find a few things you like in my small corner of Substack-land. I am checking out both of your novels.

Expand full comment
Bill Adler's avatar

"With two miles to go, light began to fade, the wind picked up and scattered large heavy drops of rain, challenging their every step."

A wonderfully descriptive and satisfying story.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Wow! Thank you,, Bill. It was a long story and I am a beginner with this speculative genre, so I appreciate you reading all three parts. Sometimes we think our little stories are finished with one page, then we find the characters have more to tell and have to keep going. You know how it is.

Expand full comment
Alexander Ipfelkofer's avatar

Fantastic conclusion, a happy ending (of sorts). Unlike Carpenter's "They Live" where the aliens have enslaved us, living among us, their home. Love this. Well done, Sharron!

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thanks for reading it, Alexander. I thought the ending was weak, but I ran out of steam. It may need one more part...

Expand full comment
Alexander Ipfelkofer's avatar

We're always our worst critics. I found it ended with hope, which I liked. But there are definitely questions that remain! Have you seen District 9?

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

District 9? Nope. Film? Book?

Expand full comment
Alexander Ipfelkofer's avatar

Film from 2009, where aliens are forced into slums. With the Human/Alien cohabitation theme my mind jumped to that one. But there the aliens are less human-like.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Oooo! I will check this out right now. Thanks.

Expand full comment
Alexander Ipfelkofer's avatar

I remember it was good. I might misremember, though! :) Let me know what you think if you watch!

Expand full comment
Kate Henry's avatar

I enjoyed all three parts of this story. Thanks Sharron. ))) If the "others" are as gentle as Weelu, they have much to teach this world.

Commenters below recommended District 9 movie. Definitions say it is violent and very disturbing, so no thanks.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thanks for the warning!

Expand full comment
Jack Herlocker's avatar

Lovely series, Sharron! Very personal.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

So glad you liked the story of Hamish and Weelu. An odd, yet somehow correct alliance.

Expand full comment
K.C. Knouse's avatar

This read very much like one of your travelogs. Only these folks weren't tourists, they were refugees. Wee-lu picked up the language quickly and is very assertive. Reminds me of my wife.:) Love the unconventional ending. This 3-piece set really shines, Sharron.

Expand full comment
Sharron Bassano's avatar

Wow! Thank you, KC, for this kind comment and for the re-stack! I thought the ending was a little weak here, but I did like the two characters. It is a geography and terrain I am very familiar with. How I wish I could go back to Scotland just one more time.

Expand full comment