Wind slapped her cheek, stinging. Sidda appreciated hard feelings. She liked sharp feelings, sharp slaps and rude awakenings. Soft glances and daintiness made her weary. She lived within soft edges, and the occasional corner made her tingle.
Sidda twiddled a bent, crinkled card in her hand. She'd found it on the sidewalk: an advertisement for Le Royale. She flipped it over with her thumb and finger, then flipped it back. Over, back. The edges curled and split.
Lu rounded the corner. He threw a glance over his shoulder, to make sure Ms. Li hadn't followed him. His fingers dug into his pockets, pulling at the skin beneath the thin cotton. His shoulders twitched. He glanced at the sky, blue today. Slush crowded the sides of the sidewalk.
Sidda leaned back on her hands. Her fingers dug into the slush, melting the watery snow so it dribbled through her gloves. She glanced at the sky, grey earlier.
Sidda didn't feel Lu step on her hand. The pressure felt good: the numbness felt.
"Oh!" Lu gasped. He knelt beside Sidda, then hesitated. "Uh, are you okay? I mean, uh, are your fingers okay?"
Sidda's lips curled. "I couldn't feel it, anyways," she drawled. Lu's brow wrinkled. Her accent startled him. Unfamiliar.
Lu noticed the card beside Sidda. He wrestled a hand from his pocket, and slid the card into his coat pocket, for later.
Sidda stood, embarrassed now. Lu stood with her, and nodded tersely. Sidda turned. Lu hesitated, then turned back towards his shop. Dead leaves swirled in the breezes around their heads.
So its my day off. I was kinda pissed that the weather was actually decent today, you know, because recently I've had to go out on that damn boat in such shitty weather and now it's nice, on my day off. So with my time off I decided to clean the shithole I live in. I mean a cleaning has long been overdue so I thought I might do something good for myself. Then some little fuck pulled the fire alarm. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it's a sign that I should never try to do anything to better my life. Just accept my life sucks and keep on truckin. God damn it. So anyways I have to go outside into the cold while the fire department takes forever getting to the building and then some chick was saying they have to go through every floor. Wonderful, I got to be out in this damn cold all day long now. Anyways I went and picked up a 12 pack and headed over to the park to kill time. So I'm trying to find a place to sit and there's this one bench thats getting a lot of sun so I decided to head over there. There was some chick sitting on it also with some papers. She was thin but still good looking. I thought that maybe if I was lucky I wouldn't have to pay to get laid. So I sat down next to her and she threw me a dirty look, like I was a walking corpse or something. Nothing new to me but I shot a glance at her papers and saw she was writing poetry. You've got to be kidding me. That little defenseless chick lives here and squanders her time away with art. Honey needs a reality check because here that won't get you anything. All art really is just a waste of time and energy. It doesn't make a difference. What, seeing some painting or reading some novel is going to change my life. Yeah you can count on that happening. I'll quit my job and starve to death because my paintings suck. Thats a very noble lifestyle. Whatever, if all that chick does is write then maybe in a month I will be able to pay her for some pleasure. So I guess art is good for something.
ReplyDeleteFanny Mae woke up to a clear, snow-free day. It was still cold outside, so she bundled up and walked outside. There was no time to waste today, it was a beautiful day to walk around town and find a job. Fanny Mae was walking and found herself by the city park. She looked around at the dead trees and her eyes eventually fell on two people sitting on a park bench. One of them was a very creepy looking man who was hovering over the girl sitting next to him. The girl looked very uncomfortable, and was trying to ignore this man by concentrating on the papers in her hands. She suddenly looked up, waved at Fanny Mae, and bolted off the bench towards her.
ReplyDelete"Hey!"
"Hi?" said Fanny Mae
"Sorry I just had to pretend like I knew you until I got away from that guy. What a creeper! Anyways, my name's Sidda, what's yours?"
"I'm Fanny Mae Lewis."
"Nice to meet you. Man, I was so uncomfortable back there," Sidda said "I knew he was just like any other guy, only thinking about one thing!"
"Ain't that always the case." Fanny Mae muttered.
"What?"
"I just have experience in that area, I guess."
"You've been in some bad relationships?" Sidda asked.
"Well yeah, just one. My ex husband."
"Oh...I'm sorry..."
"Yep... He beat me. He would come home drunk, get really angry for some stupid reason and hit the livin' daylights outta me. I got bruuses all over. I would always tell myself it was just the alcohol and he really did love me. I mean, we'd been together since high school. I know it's cliché, but I was a cheerleader and he was the football quarterback.We were so happy." A smile spread across Fanny Mae's face, but she quickly wiped it away.
"Wow." Sidda said, rather speechless.
"Oh dear Lord, I am so sorry. I just spilled my whole life story to a perfect stranger. I reckon I just don't talk to a lotta people, especially in this new town."
"Oh, no its perfectly alright. Why did you move here anyways? This place is horribly drab."
Just as Fanny Mae was about to open her mouth, she noticed a large mass of people standing outside of Jupiter Apartments. She and Sidda ran to the scene and inquired as to what was going on.
"Some stupid ass kid pulled the fire alarm, scared us all half to death. You know the insurance on this place probably sucks." said a tall man with a rather large nose.
Relieved that there was no real fire, Fanny Mae wandered from the chaos down Rouse Boulevard, where a fire truck passed by with its deafening sirens. She eventually turned down Dublin Street and then on to Church Street found herself outside of the Jaguar, when she heard a noise.
"Psssst, hey you wanna job?" said the man standing in the frame of the front door.
Fanny Mae looked at the man and then up at the lopsided Jaguar sign. What is this place? she thought, I guess its like a restaurant or something. I do need a job, maybe I should check it out.
The second I placed my size 5 foot on the cold, icy concrete outside Jupiter Apartments, I knew I wouldn't be delivering any noodles today. It was a deceivingly nice day. The sun was shining, but those roads patched with ice and snow would be treacherous. The segway was not ready for those. Lu would understand.
ReplyDeleteThis morning's alarm clock was that of a ring more persistent than the routine sirens through the night. Somebody pulled the fire alarm, bringing all the residents of Jupiter Apartments together on Rouse Street. The culprit was identified when his mother made him confess that he was responsible for the wake-up call. That little boy around the corner was either crying for attention that his mother probably deprived him of, or he had become as bitter as the rest of the folks in this town and wanted to give everyone an early morning scare. Whatever the cause, he needed his meal at 1 PM, on the dot. However, I would not be making a fresh batch of noodles just for him. No, he will be receiving last night's fried rice.
As we all stumbled back to our rooms, a couple of my neighbors caught my eye. Sidda, or maybe it was Sydney, looked uncomfortable. Well, she always looked uncomfortable. But she had not yet tamed that lion-esque hair this morning, and she appeared very aware of that unfortunate situation. I could probably count on my child-sized hand the number of words we had ever exchanged. Then someone shooved past me, obviously, I think the proper term would be "pissed off", by what happened. It must have been that man with the standoffish demeanor, at least, distinctively moreso than the already cynical population here. If I had no fingers, I could count the words we had ever spoken to each other.
Once I got back to 404B, I slept for a couple more hours. When I woke up, I realized I was overdue for my monthly attempt to reconnect with those I had left behind in China. The coming and going sirens assured me that it was a very fitting day to stay in and complete this task. I searched for a pen and paper, and wrote, almost habitually, "Dear Shan, Please don't throw this away..."
The whine of a siren woke Greta and chased the dreams from her mind. She pulled at them fiercely, knew they were important, but they fled and she was left with memories instead: slapping raw fingers against frozen glass until the old man answered: he knew her grandmother, following the red-orange burning cigarette to a dressing room painted green, a yellow flourescent that soured Greta's skin and stomach.
ReplyDeleteThen words, hours of words, a book of words, and only the tiniest sliver of a life.
She'd come home through the cold and dark to a colder, darker apartment. Distracted, she'd watched roaches scurry across the blue rectangle of light from the window and crawled into am unfamiliar corner to hide.
Now Greta pulled herself from the corner, encased in the cacoon of her comforter, but uncomforted.
For a moment, she stood before the one window, then she raised it and leaned out. When she opened her eyes against the wind, Greta found a woman staring up at her from the alley below. She held papers in her hands and words in her eyes, Greta thought. For a moment, the woman held Greta's startled gaze, the she moved down the alley.
Greta withdrew inside. She had some sorting to do: of belongings, purposes, emotions, memories.
There is a lot of attention to detail in every entry which is a nice quality to have, and enjoyable for the reader to experience.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that might enhance the work even more so would be to include the relationship with Sidda and her mother since her mother was mentioned in the first blog, I think that would help develop Sidda even more.
The imagery is very distinct. I also like the mystery of the character. The reader always wants to know more about her. I think finding out more about her past could develop her character.
ReplyDeleteAttention to detail allows the reader to really get sucked into the story.
ReplyDeleteRevealing Sidda's history gradually will create tension, thus getting people to come back for more.
The unknown drives Sidda. Develop that.