Lemon: In the Country Dark
- Mike Mallow
- Apr 21
- 2 min read
"LEMON" Chapter title meaning: A lemon theme runs throughout the story as a physical manifestation of bitterness. The old adage, "When life gives you lemons..." also applies.
Besides splitting Hit into two chapters, there were two chapters added to In the Country Dark after its initial draft was complete. Both chapters take place after meetings with Oscuro and act as a bridge for Cabel and Troy to process the events and prepare for the scenes that come next.
This was the first of the two chapters added, and it was written not long after the first draft's completion – maybe a month. This is a dialogue-heavy chapter, but the conversation is maybe my favorite in the whole book. It shifts from serious to humorous to goofy almost haphazardly - the way casual conversations often do.
Then there's the titular fruit.
(My publisher and I have a running joke that I include some type of citrus fruit in each book. In Heartspark and Fairchance, it was oranges. This book has lemons, and Burning Without Knowing shifts to limes.)
Having the benefit of a finished draft, I realized there were several places in the story where I could go in and insert lemon metaphors, particularly in the later part of the story. Plus, the lemon in the last scene of the book provides a pivotal clue to Cabel's psyche in those last moments. If I remember right, that lemon was always in the story, but this chapter gave its existence new meaning. Same for the lemon conversation in the hotel later. "We make our own lemons." Lemons are such a theme that I had considered making the book cover a picture of a lemon.
The 33 Restaurant is based on a real restaurant in Franklin where I used to work. Fireside Cafe (RIP). Troy's meal order, grilled cheese and a small fry, is an inside joke that only three people in the world would get.
Tamara was a late addition to the scene. I don't beleive she was even in there on the first pass. She came about solely so Cabel could deliver the tagline for the book "There's not always lanes on these country roads." Tamara is named in honor of Tamara Keith, one of my favorite NPR reporters. It maybe isn't fair. I adore Tamara Keith, and I despise Tamara from the book. In preparing for this post, I skipped over her part because she makes my blood boil – and I created her. I made sure she got a comeuppance in Burning Without Knowing.
The moment with the job application is something I've seen in businesses. Someone with a reputation applies for a job, and the owner trashes it after only reading the name. I've seen it more than once.
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