Charlie Alice Raya

book 3/2, shaping

entanglements & silence

16 December 2024

You came to conquer.
I came to create.
You came to rule, oppress, dictate.
I came to unearth and empower.
You came to profit, exploit, degrade.

I came to see humans
and nature
thrive.

I am a creator of worlds.
I make them alive.

You only know destruction.

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 3/2, shaping, entanglements & silence

In the second part of book 3, personal entanglements take centre stage. It is a textbook case of what happens if we can’t, for whichever reasons, talk with each other openly. 



Meanwhile the teams complete their final draft for the town, and there is a wonderful chapter with Alice, Andy and chicken. Mind you, Daria bursts the bubble, but Raiden has the idea that gets them back on track – with chicken.

After days of all-teams meetings in the atrium, the plans for the town are finally complete, and Leo’s team send them out far and wide to countries who might be interested in hosting the town experiment.

In the evening, the teams come together for a final and memorable winter party before the winter break.

And then there was silence.

Christmas Eve falls into this silence for Alice.

But the Christmas chapter starts with Andy in a setting we haven’t seen him in before. With his scene a chapter unfolds which is woven from five different stories and allows glimpses into many more.

I dedicate the Christmas chapter to everyone who has trouble with that night or with all Christmas days. And I hope that the many layers and the very different stories, can bring some soothing and some smiles to many.

After Christmas, Alice, still on her own, is faced with the fact that no one has made an offer for a town site.

The New Year passes, the teams begin to return, and still no offer. That’s when a big question begins to loom above all their heads: Where do we go from here?

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Other topics get some space, too, such as fame, property, racism, poetry, upbringing, family, belonging, Christmas, homelessness, trauma, childhood, composing, silence.