Tuesday, August 12, 2008

trial by story

I busied myself with a verbal dustpan and brush.—Hugh Laurie

So, that short story? The one I’m sending out on my birthday? I’m a little upset with it.

I fished it out of a file folder last Wednesday, and it skidded to a stop at the edge of my desk. Sat up and began swinging its feet, fixing me with a wicked little gleam in its eye.

It said, So. I’m back.

And I said, “Yeah, I guess so.”

And you’re getting rid of me. Shipping me out. Letting who-knows-who flip through and see if they like what I have to say.

I felt uncomfortable. “That’s the deal.”

If they want me, I could end up anywhere, between any other stories or weird pictures of sculptures or strange poems. Maybe bad ones. Uglier ones. It kept swinging. And if they don’t want me?

“I’ll find somewhere else. You don’t have to worry.”

I tried to push it to one side, maybe to reread later, but it clung to the edge. Very stubborn, for being just six pages.

So where am I going?

“No idea.”

None? It was offended.

“Zero.”

A pause. Am I going out like this?

I squinted at the first page, which was much worse than I remembered. “I don’t think so.”

What are you going to do?

“Well… Read everything through a few times. Maybe highlight the best sentences and then take a hard look at the rest. Or, maybe I should highlight the worst sentences and just focus on those.”

It gasped a little.

“It’s a standard procedure—don’t worry. Or maybe I’ll just rewrite completely, sentence by sentence.”

It sounded more than a little shocked. You’d make a twin and send that instead?

“It could happen… I guess.” I was losing confidence with every interchange. And so I thought I would reread it then and there, if I moved fast, but it dodged me. So I stomped away to research markets instead. I found a single lead. Managed to come back and read the story later… but it still had a bitter look about it, and now it just mutters about me under its breath.

I don’t care anymore. Nineteen days, and then it’s going, whether it feels like it or not…—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/12 at 06:13 PM
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