Perfect Lady
by Ann Bogle
I want to write a story about a woman who lies to men about her height. I've been urged to write about my first experience with the thoroughbreds—exercising early behind the tracks at Saratoga. I've been asked to write a story about a female character named November Chaunce.
I promised a Tea Party member that when I got home from the fresh-water hurricane that had blown in across the Lake that I'd write an essay about why I am a liberal; we had taken refuge in his boat parked at Fletcher's and talked of gay marriage (all of us in favor of it) while his Republican cohort had rubbed my unresponsive arm, unresponsive though the Republican was rich. I preferred the Tea Party member who was married but cuter. He worked as a caulker, a tub and basin man. He had sold marijuana after he'd lost his license to a DUI. Then he'd lost the right to vote. He complimented my pretty feet.
I vote at a Recreation Center after voting for years at the Presbyterian Church where I was baptized and after that at a Lutheran Church that used to be a Methodist Church where I also went to Alanon. I want to write about the woman in the Alanon meeting I called “Perfect Lady,” who, though not the oldest or most senior, was the figurative leader. I told them, “I feel lucky.” A cloud of smoke seemed to rise behind my head. She cross-talked, “We don't say ‘luck' here.”
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Author's Note
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Other stories by Ann Bogle
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- She cross-talked, “We don't say ‘luck' here.” -
Enjoyed this piece, Ann.
Thanks, Gary and Sam. My other reader -- away from Fictionaut -- doesn't like "Perfect Lady" as the title. "What I Promised" was another choice. He also feels the story (if it is one) should go longer. He said, Lydia Davis would stop where you stopped, but Rosellen Brown would start there and write 600 pp. I felt momentum in it yesterday, but bridged it. It's a list of writing tasks framed as paragraphs. The question (for me) (for you) is whether there is a need to know these things: why I am a liberal addressed to a Tea Party member who lost the right to vote OR my experience of the race horses OR about the woman who lies about her height OR about a woman named November Chaunce. The tasks of promised writings started to mount without my having interest in them except as a list. I considered describing Perfect Lady in more physical detail. It's 244 words on my word processor. I might take it up six.
It's a strange, little piece, Ann, but I like it just the way it is. It's not a clean narrative, but it has enough hooks to make it compelling and interesting as is.
Perfect Lady is right.
Makes me want to write.
About her.
faev
Thanks, Joani and JLD, for the guide.
LOVE this. I've met my share of perfect ladies at meetings. Great story, Ann. *
The stream of consciousness writing, with the personal interjections (He complimented her pretty feet.) makes this extremely interesting. I like it a lot though push to shove I can't explain why. Maybe it's the honesty pouring through the piece that makes it so good. *
Thanks, Jack and Susan.