Day One Hundred Fifty-Two: "You Don't Defriend Them" by Jeanne Holtzman

Hurt.

This story shows us a woman who is monitoring her ex-lover's facebook page. She sees when his profile pic changes, notes how he seems to have changed too. The simple way in which the reader sees the narrator react to the appearance of "gummi bears" on her ex-lovers Facebook page is enough to make this story worth the read. But the ultimate conclusion of course, that you don't dare "defriend" him...well, it's brilliant. This was such a unique read and extremely relevant in today's social media crazed environment.

And talk about the hurt. Every reader has felt this...THIS! What a surprise of a story.

Day One Hundred Fifty-One: "Black Dog" by Walter Mosley

Appearances.

A black man on trial for assault is helped by a woman who runs a local animal shelter. She is the daughter of parents who were Civil Rights activists and who have shown her that race is just a label. She steps in to defend the man after he is accused of attacking a driver who struck and almost killed a dog and winds up coming across, ironically, as more of a source of shame for him. The life behind bars is one he knew, understood, had spent nearly 30 years coming to grips with. But the new labels, the new chances, the newness period seem to frighten him.

I thought this story was well written and it has so many layers to it that my review here is only scratching the surface I'm sure. I'd read more of this author for sure.

Day One Hundred Fifty: "A Last Fling, Like" by Richard Yates

Conceitedness.

A young girl returns from Paris after taking one last trip before her marriage and shares her exploits with a girlfriend over coffee. This story was a combination of testing the limits of what women were allowed to do in terms of "finding themselves" particularly in relation to what was expected or allowed of men, and also, it was a great exercise in voice. The entire story was told in monologue, the narrator the only one speaking. There is clearly another woman in the story but the woman is silent and the reader is left to imagine or cringe at what the woman must be thinking. I quite like how Yates put these two women in the story and made me equally as interested in both despite never hearing from one of them.

As I suspected, I wasn't disappointed in Yates with this short story. I'd read more.

Day One Hundred Forty-Nine: "And the Greatest of These" by Louis Gallo

Loyalty. Selflessness.

An apparent homeless man shows up on the doorstep of a man's house but it turns out, the homeless guy is the man's wife's uncle. The story then becomes an observation by the reader of how the man takes in his wife's family, how he nurtures him despite clearly not wanting to. He wants his freedom and time alone with his wife but it's family. Blood. There is a reference to blood several times that reiterates this point. Ultimately, the story concludes with the husband and wife deciding that the uncle needs to go but then, there's a storm and the uncle is scared. They all three pile into one bed and everything is made better. The world, the night, is okay for a change. There is hope after all.

WHAT A WONDERFUL READ!!! I'm thrilled to have discovered this author. The description, the flow, the general atmospher of this story could not have been more real. Loved it!

Day One Hundred Forty-Eight: "Breathing" by Danit Brown

Separation.

A man struggles with fatherhood, with how to love and protect his young daughter and keep his sanity in tact while at the same time maintain his once tender relationship with his wife. He feels lost, alone, and useless as his daughter gets older and in his mind "favors" the mom.

This was a beautifully told story that I will not soon forget. There is a scene where the father shows up at his daughter's school when overcome with worry about her being abducted and him witnessing her defending herself on the playground. When he then tries to "save" his daughter and takes her to lunch at McDonald's, there is no way the reader of this story won't cringe and shed a tear at the same time.

Brilliant. Memorable. Heartbreaking.

Week Twenty-Two Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Forty-Eight: "Breathing" by Danit Brown
Day One Hundred Forty-Nine: "And the Greatest of These" by Louis Gallo
Day One Hundred Fifty: "A Last Fling, Like" by Richard Yates
Day One Hundred Fifty-One: "Black Dog" by Walter Mosley
Day One Hundred Fifty-Two: "You Don't Defriend Them" by Jeanne Holtzman
Day One Hundred Fifty-Three: "A Family of Breastfeeders" by Starkey Flythe, Jr.
Day One Hundred Fifty-Four: "This is a Voice from Your Past" by Merrill Joan Gerber

Day One Hundred Forty-Seven: "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" by Haruki Murakami

Divinity.

A man meets the perfect woman and she acknowledges that she too has met the perfect man in him. Yet, the two of them decide to part ways to "test" fate if you will, to see if they will meet back up without any acts of their own in order to convince themselves that they are truly meant for each other. Things happened at first too easily, too quickly. The rest of the story shows the reader what happens when people in love opt for a test of the future instead of opting for the here and now. A sad ending. It was what the narrator predicted from the start. Sometimes, as the story shows, we are determined to fail. We need to fail. Sometimes success is too much to handle.


A link to the story online is here:

http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/murakami-perfect.html

Day One Hundred Forty-Six: "Three Questions" by Leo Tolstoy

Lessons.

A king seeks out answers to three questions:

what was the right time for every action?

who were the most necessary people?

how he might know what was the most important thing to do?


He asks and gets very different answers and unsatisfied with the responses, he approaches a hermit digging in the dirt. The hermit refuses to give him any answers and this frustrates the King. He stays with the hermit and overtakes his digging, pleading with the hermit for words of advice. Still, the hermit does not answer but as time passes and events occur, the lesson learned and the answers to the questions are gained by the King. At the conclusion of the story when the King is spared his life because of a kindness he didn't even realize he'd given, the following quote sums up the moral of this story.

"Remember then: there is only one time that is important-- Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with any one else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!"

The following is a link to the story online:

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/6374/

Day One Hundred Forty-Five: "Back Windows" by Louisa May Alcott

Observation.

A woman sits and stares out of her back window at the world outside, at the children playing, at the adults who don't seem to notice or care what their children are up to, how they are neglecting life. This story is full of detail and reads almost like a list of characters more than it does a story--at least until the conclusion where this quote sums up the entire piece:


"I sometimes wonder if the kind spirits who feel an interest in mortals ever take a look at us on the shady side which we don't show the world, seeing the trouble, vanities, and sins which we think no one knows. If they love, pity, or condemn us? What records they keep, and what rewards they prepare for those who are so busy with their work and play that they forget who may be watching their back windows with clearer eyes and truer charity than any inquisitive old lady with a pen in her hand?"

This was a lovely and surprisingly fresh read for me. I wasn't expecting this from Alcott.



A link to the online story is here:

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/11301/

Day One Hundred Forty-Four: "Silver Water" by Amy Bloom

Broken.

A woman recounts the mental decline of her sister and how dealing with her sister's mental illness impacts her parents and their lives. This story was on one hand cold and distant but I got the feeling that the author wrote it that way. It didn't read as sappy or melodramatic. Instead, the story shows the reader how a family member's mental illness can sometimes numb those around to the harsh realities of the pain and confusion and desperation that pull the person any given moment. There was unpredictability in this story and in the writing itself. I very much enjoyed the voice and I thought it served the story and its subject matter well.



Here is a link to the story online:

http://producer.csi.edu/cdraney/2010/175/etexts/Bloom_Silver-Water.pdf

Day One Hundred Forty-Three: "The Blue Cross" by G.K. Chesterton

Wisdom.

A detective uses a different way of thinking, of reasoning, to search for a villain. This story read like a treatise in philosophy as much as it did in mystery. I quite enjoyed it though on a philosophical level and the writing was top notch.


A great quote from the piece that I wanted to make sure I posted here:

"The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen. A few clouds in heaven do come together into the staring shape of one human eye. A tree does stand up in the landscape of a doubtful journey in the exact and elaborate shape of a note of interrogation. I have seen both these things myself within the last few days. Nelson does die in the instant of victory; and a man named Williams does quite accidentally murder a man named Williamson; it sounds like a sort of infanticide. In short, there is in life an element of elfin coincidence which people reckoning on the prosaic may perpetually miss. As it has been well expressed in the paradox of Poe, wisdom should reckon on the unforeseen."

Here is a link to the story online:

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/15494/

Day One Hundred Forty-Two: "Listening to the Chocolate" by Rebecca L. Brown

Concession.

A woman contrasts chocolate with her lover, pointing out the satisfaction she gets and maintains from chocolate and not from the other. This story could have come off as a bit cliche or even trite but it didn't. There was a clear and unique tone to the narrator's rant that made this very readable and almost addictive...like the chocolate itself. By story's end, the reader is given a treat when the narrator turns the tables. Very nicely done and memorable.

The link to this story can be found here:

http://metromoms.net/2012/05/20/listening-to-the-chocolate-by-rebecca-l-brown/

Day One Hundred Forty-One: "Twelve Days Out of Traction" by Dave Shaw

Commitment. Deceit.

A conman stages fall after fall sustaining injury after injury and makes a living on the settlements procured by con-attorneys. Told from his perspective, this story was fascinating and it moved quickly. I absolutely adored how lovable this character was despite how much I know I should have loathed him. I simply haven't read a story like this and you could tell it was a well researched premise. Nice job by a writer I'd not yet read.

Week Twenty-One Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Forty-One: "Twelve Days Out of Traction" by Dave Shaw
Day One Hundred Forty-Two: "Listening to the Chocolate" by Rebecca L. Brown
Day One Hundred Forty-Three: "The Blue Cross" by G.K. Chesterton
Day One Hundred Forty-Four: "Silver Water" by Amy Bloom
Day One Hundred Forty-Five: "Back Windows" by Louisa May Alcott
Day One Hundred Forty-Six: "Three Questions" by Leo Tolstoy
Day One Hundred Forty-Seven: "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" by Haruki Murakami

Day One Hundred Forty: "What you Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie

Dignity.

A homeless Native American spots his grandmother's regalia in the window of a pawn shop, regalia that had been stolen from his family 50 years earlier. He asks the pawn dealer about it and discovers upon close inspection that it is in fact his grandmother's but the pawn dealer had paid a lot of money for it and he doesn't want to give it away. The pawn dealer and the Indian cut a deal. Then, the story takes off.

How can an Indian turn $5 into $1,000 in 24 hours? It's humorous and sad and heartbreaking and uplifting to watch this man struggle with his inner demons, his addictions, his status as a homeless man on his quest to scrounge up the money he needs. There is such humanity in this piece and the voice is so strong. I feel like I met this man and that I'd want to take him home. Ironically, he would never let me. The streets are his. As the character in the story says "Being homeless is probably the only thing I’ve ever been good at." He takes pride in this life and how he has navigated his way through it. There's something to be said for that kind of pride and certainty.



You can read this story in its entirety here:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/04/21/030421fi_fiction

Day One Hundred Thirty-Nine: "The True Story of Fresh Springs" by Gretchen McCullough

Recollection.

Two women are murdered in a town ironically named Fresh Springs and the search for the murderer results in an outlandish tale that is unbelievable while at the same time strangely convincing. The suspect is labeled "Superboy" and he is an instant celebrity in the community. As is the case in many murders, the killer is idolized and the girls who were killed have names that are soon forgotten. The small town gets caught up in the drama but because of the way the story is written, it's hard to discern what is actually happening and what is exaggeration. Perhaps this is an example of an unreliable narrator. Even so, the story worked for me and I could read this author over and over and over again.



The story can be found online here:

http://www.gretchenmccullough.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=72

Day One Hundred Thirty-Eight: "Home for Christmas" by Janhavi Acherakar

Relationships.

A young couple in search of their first home comes in contact with a real estate agent who is quite the character, quite the talker, who metaphorically introduces them to the world around them. Set in Dubai, this story was interesting to read for its regional effect, with spot on language that gave the story that extra thing that made it seem authentic and real to the reader. Perhaps a bit sentimental for my tastes, the story is nonetheless well written and full of rich detail. It's not every day I read a story set in Dubai and that alone made this worth the read.



Here is a link to the story online:

http://www.janhavistories.com/home_for_christmas.htm

Day One Hundred Thirty-Seven: "The Drop" by Alan Glynn

Convergence.

A man falls from a building and contemplates life, albeit briefly, and comes to the conclusion that there are no answers. He lands on the asphalt, is not killed, and he leaps up and runs away. A perfect metaphor for what happens when any of us fall on our faces. This was an extremely short story. Flash Fiction but...I figured it was perfect for today given it is National Flash Fiction Day.

Here is a link to this lovely story:

http://picadorbookroom.tumblr.com/post/23163826303/may-16th-is-national-flash-fiction-day-in-the-uk

Day One Hundred Thirty-Six: "Long Walk to Forever" by Kurt Vonnegut

Last Chances.

A young soldier returns home, goes AWOL in order to tell the girl he loves that he wants to marry her, to prevent her from marrying someone else. At one point in the story, the reader worries that the happy ending won't happen, that the stunt pulled by this young GI won't amount to more than just some embarrassment for him but by the end, we as the readers are cheering and happy and encouraged by a sense that somehow, somewhere, there are people willing to take these kinds of chances for what they want. Love matters. It's worth a shot. You can't quit!

Nice job and a Vonnegut surprise if I do say so, particularly as it relates to the topic. Still, well done and readable.

Day One Hundred Thirty-Five: "The Flowers" by Alice Walker

Reality.

A young girl walks into an unknown field on a hillside and gathers flowers. Just when she is ready to return home with an armful of flowers and other plants, she stumbles when she steps into the skull of a dead man. She stands back and observes that he was a tall man, had large white teeth and as she kneels down to sweep the foliage away from his face, she sees the noose around what was his neck. She immediately lays down the flowers and walks back home. Innocence lost if the little girl ever had it to begin with. What a nice story!

Here is a link to the story online:

http://theliterarylink.com/flowers.html

Day One Hundred Thirty-Four: "Taking the Plunge" by Armistead Maupin

Risk.

A young woman decides to leave her home in Ohio for San Francisco. Mostly, this story is a conversation between the girl and her mother but it still easily stood alone as a full story. This very short piece that serves as the first vignette if you will of the larger work "Tales of the City" is rich in details and I immediately found myself reading beyond the first story and into the second, the third, the fourth, and so on. I'm hooked on Maupin's style of writing. I could not be happier with today's story selection.

Week Twenty Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Thirty-Four: "Taking the Plunge" by Armistead Maupin
Day One Hundred Thirty-Five: "The Flowers" by Alice Walker
Day One Hundred Thirty-Six: "Long Walk to Forever" by Kurt Vonnegut
Day One Hundred Thirty-Seven: "The Drop" by Alan Glynn
Day One Hundred Thirty-Eight: "Home for Christmas" by Janhavi Acherakar
Day One Hundred Thirty-Nine: "The True Story of Fresh Springs" by Gretchen McCullough
Day One Hundred Forty: "What you Pawn I Will Redeem" by Sherman Alexie

Day One Hundred Thirty-Three: "The Beautiful, Beautiful Heron" by Gayetni

Lessons.

A young boy becomes infatuated with the thought of owning a heron. The only way he can get one is to trade 10 cigarettes for it. To get the 10 cigarettes, he must steal. There is a brief moment in the story where he is presented with a moral dilemma but he chooses to steal. He gets the bird, and strangely, by story's end, he is forgiven and the theft is forgotten. His reward-the bird without consequences. The lesson in all of this or perhaps, the warning?

You may get away with it once but you can't expect forgiveness twice. Overall, this story read like a parable but I didn't find it convincing or persuasive. It would have been more effective in my opinion had there been some sort of punishment for theft, even if slight. Even so, it was an easy to read story and that has merit on its own.

Day One Hundred Thirty-Two: "Anxious" by Susan M. Gilbert-Collins

Faith.

A girl calls her aunt on a weekly basis to discuss her anxiety issues, most of which are centered around the various ways she worries her family will die. Carbon monoxide poisoning, riding lawn mower accidents, lightning strikes, all of these are constant worries for this young teen and her aunt is the only one who can smoothe it over...until the little girl starts going to church and learns to pray. She begins praying to God, thanking him every time one of these terrible disasters does not befall her family. However, her method gets tested in a way that she nor her family imagined when her aunt, the one she confides in, winds up with cancer.

In a story that is compelling and well written, the question of what is FAITH and whether that can be sustained in the face of the actual tragedy instead of the anticipated one at its center. Overall, I enjoyed this story and the voice used. Nice job!

Day One Hundred Thirty-One: "Minotaurs on Holiday" by Paul Mihas

Florentina, a young woman who'd grown up in Buenos Aires, tells the story of her son finding and taking up with a stray dog. There's been a crime in the community, a drag queen murdered and left to die, and that story weighs on Florentina. The subtle comparison between the two people is woven throughout the story.

At the beginning, there is the following line which serves as a sort of overview of what this story is about at is center:

"Florentina was a woman who lived in lowercase letters. The drag queen had managed to die in all caps."


I thought that line was great and it made me interested in the rest of the story and to see HOW the author would tell it. The way he turned his phrases was perfect and insightful. I really enjoyed this story.

Day One Hundred Thirty: "Herman Wouk is Alive" by Stephen King

Collisions.

Two stories literally collide in an automobile collision between a depressed woman,her friend and their 7 children and two aging poets on their way to a reading. The reader sees the desperation and hopelessness in the minivan as the two women talk about their lives back home, the jobs and men they've lost, the worry over how their futures and their kids will work out and this image stands in stark contrast to the renewed hope of the two poets who, at an old age, have found each other again and are strangely happy, a bittersweet reunion complete with roadside picnics and reading to each other in the car as they travel.

The writing was great and the story was beautiful and ironic and cruel. Crafted perfectly to make these two worlds converge, King creates a memorable story about how you never know what is waiting around the corner but you always know that something has to be coming!

The website where this story can be found is here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/05/herman-wouk-is-still-alive/8451/

Day One Hundred Twenty-Nine: "Fla. Boys" by Heather Sellers

Coping.

A girl recounts time spent with her alcoholic father and how those experiences with her father shaped her own experiences with various boys in her life, experiences both sexual and nonsexual in nature. In a strong and irresistible voice, this story is alive from the beginning, full of vivid detail and wit and dialogue that is flawless. I could not get enough of it. The idea that shaped the story was perfect. You take what life gives you and you make it work. Sometimes it is painful, sometimes is is pleasurable, but it is always memorable.

I absolutely LOVED this story. I will not soon forget it!

Day One Hundred Twenty-Eight: "Spring Training" by Jennine Capo Crucet

Pressure. Comparisons.

A father attends a baseball practice with his son only to find out that the small kid from the team has turned into the biggest kid on the team in the off season. These are middle school kids subjected to their parents egos and it is fascinating to watch how this story unfolds. There is talk of steroids, the divulging of off season practicing tactics, embarrassing disclosures about high school romances. All of it though works to create a sad look at what it can be like for a kid with parents who go too far.

The writing in this piece was really good and it makes me want to read more by this author.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Seven: "Leaving for Kenosha" by Richard Ford

Explanation.

A man spends an afternoon with his middle school aged daughter. It's his designated night to spend with her following his recent divorce and this particular day, while seemingly routine, is anything but ordinary. The daughter's friend is moving away to Kenosha in order for her family to escape the devastation left behind after Hurricane Katrina. The girl asks her father to take her to visit her friend, to give her a card before she leaves. The dad battles Wal-mart for his daughter, drives into a rough neighborhood for his daughter, makes references to the "black" people around them and all of it sets up a situation where there is awkwardness in his love, misunderstandings without explanation, and the daughter gets fed up, wants to move away herself.

The reader senses that this story is one of escape or longed for escape...from New Orleans, from a marriage, from a life that needs fixing. The writing was wonderful and it felt real...almost too real. You hurt for this dad. He is trying very hard to "hang in there" as the story reiterates. He is trying. That's the point.



The story can be found online here:

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/03/03/080303fi_fiction_ford?currentPage=1

Week Nineteen Short Story Selections

Day One Hundred Twenty-Seven: "Leaving for Kenosha" by Richard Ford
Day One Hundred Twenty-Eight: "Spring Training" by Jennine Capo Crucet
Day One Hundred Twenty-Nine: "Fla. Boys" by Heather Sellers
Day One Hundred Thirty: "Herman Wouk is Alive" by Stephen King
Day One Hundred Thirty-One: "Minotaurs on Holiday" by Paul Mihas
Day One Hundred Thirty-Two: "Anxious" by Susan M. Gilbert-Collins
Day One Hundred Thirty-Three: "The Beautiful, Beautiful Heron" by Gayetni

Rounding out my week with a Burmese short story from 1964. Talk about awesomeness!

Day One Hundred Twenty-Six: "A Field of Rice" by Pearl S. Buck

Progress.

A man in a Chinese village challenges the newcomer in power who decides that plowing deep into the soil will yield a better rice harvest. In a story that serves as one enormous metaphor for how the abuse of power can come back to bite the one wielding it, there are flashes of brilliance in quotes like:

"Rice is as willful as woman...forget what it wants and it withers without harvest."

and

"Never slice the skin of the earth."

Overall, this story was a nice read but a little long for me considering what little actually came out of the story. Still, the writing was solid and the message clear. Progress is good but only if checked. Otherwise, destruction awaits and is inevitable.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Five: "Losses" by Libby Schmais

Compounding.

A young girl finds herself at dinner with a married man. The conversation is simple, he doesn't love her. He wants her to know that. He tells her to make it clear, to make it clear to himself mostly it seems but still, she is there and alone at the table in his presence and her night only gets worse. She discovers her wallet is missing. She goes with the man to his apartment and finds she still wants to be with him even though he doesn't want her. She doesn't understand how she feels even though she rationally knows what she should do, how she should handle it all. But it's too much, she is overwhelmed. She stays and they hug and it is enough...sadly.

I read this story as one of a girl on the verge of a mistake. She's teetering and is about to topple when the story ends. If I had to guess, I'd say she will fall. The losses otherwise are empty because without the actual experience, what is there after all to miss?

Day One Hundred Twenty-Four: "Hand" by Stephen Dixon

Self-destruction.

A college professor, angry that he didn't win an award he'd hoped to win, punches his fist through the window in his office and cuts his hand badly. The mental struggle he goes through as he deals with how to then explain what happened to his hand also what happened to his window is an interesting look into the male psyche. I rather enjoyed the back and forth, the "I'm just joking" mentality that keeps the man from truly owning what it is that he did. Even when he tells his wife about his hand, he doesn't tell her everything, the extent to which he let his anger and frustration push him into a corner that resulted in this act of violence, violence against himself.

There is a point when he reassures himself that it's all for the best, that he didn't expect to win the award in the first place but that is the only time during the story where it is clear to the reader that the narrator is fooling himself. Overall, I thought this was a good story, not great, but good enough to make me read more of this writer in the future.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Three: "Roughie" by Stewart David Ikeda

Momentous.

A young boy comes home from school to find his father in the backyard, about to shoot their family pet named "Roughie." The scene is set perfectly. It's chaotic, the boy's sisters are crying, neighbors are out watching to see what will happen, and the daddy is trying his best to keep his kids from seeing what he is about to do but the dog is in pain and maybe rabid so, there is no choice but to shoot. Shooting was the easy part. Hitting the mark was the hard part. The dog doesn't die at first and instead, the death is prolonged and difficult for the reader to observe.

Overall, this was interesting metaphor I think...sometimes, some action that seems so mindless and rational can fall apart when in close proximity to the actual act. For anyone who has ever had to shoot a dog to put it down, for anyone who has ever had to make a decision only to have it haunt you until you retreat from it, this story makes perfect sense. It makes too much sense--but being uncomfortable is what reading is about at times. This story, for that reason, was a success.

Day One Hundred Twenty-Two: "The Apparition of Mrs. Veal" by Daniel Defoe

Advantage.

A woman tells of seeing an apparition of a dead friend and finds that she can profit from the telling of her story. It sounds unbelievable but people are traveling from miles away to hear her speak, to entertain the possibility of the afterlife, the spiritual dark side. The dead woman's husband pleads with her to stop, questions her about her "visit" with the apparition but the woman won't budge. There is something powerful behind her testament, power in numbers as more and more people become interested in this tale of Mrs. Veal.

While this story for me felt like it floundered and I didn't find a clear plot to follow, I still enjoyed it. For a story written so long ago, this one was surprisingly relevant and current and had a theme that is still sort of original.

Day One Hundred Fifty: "A Last Fling, Like" by Richard Yates

Conceitedness.

A woman returns from Paris after having one last hurrah before getting married and this story is basically her telling a friend all about her trip while the two of them have coffee. Interestingly, the story is straight monologue and there is no real interaction between the two women in the story yet, the way Yates writes it, the woman across the table, the woman listening and no doubt disgusted and annoyed by her friend, is VERY present. I disliked the narrator. I'm positive Yates intended it that way. She is to be despised for her pettiness, her selfishness, and her inability to detect those things about herself.

As always, I enjoyed Yates' style and the subtle ways in which he tells it EXACTLY like it is.