Gordon: Prompt of 19 April 2009, 500 words—A Chapter of Loathing
A garish coloured novel lay on the table amongst a sprawling bundle of books and papers and a devastating letter. Catherine picked the novel up and yelled at the top of her voice: “I hate you.” There was terror in her words and given forth with a venom she had not realised was possible for a human to express. Her emotional level was at breaking point. The questions were racing through her mind in a torrent of “whys”, “hows” and “what if only” that all had no answer and no possibility of answer. Her reputation had been destroyed forever. She felt a tightening in her stomach that almost reached the level of pain and her breathing was intense and rapid. Her heart was racing and she felt a heightened strength that almost reached to dizziness.
Exhausted, she sat down, bent over and cried great sobbing tears.
With emotional release came a profound tiredness and resignation. Her resignation became translated into hopelessness. Catherine thought long and hard. What can I do? Who will help me? Should I sue? All that work wasted? Does it all matter? What if it is really a dream and completely made up?
She picked up the newspaper chaotically spread on the floor. Carefully she put the pages together again, matching the folds and the edges so it looked like it had never been read. As she closed the front page over the others she noticed a headline that struck her with dramatic force. It read: “Author sues for defamation.” It was in large black bold print. Immediately she opened the paper out and read the story over and over again. It was as though she could float herself into the character of the defamed author. She could hear herself standing in court saying to the judge: “It is not just.” “The story was wrong.” “I did not copy.” “I wrote the book myself.”
In that moment she felt terribly alone and living in her head. The world around her was closed, grey and fuzzy and out of focus. Her beautiful kitchen view out the windows took on a green blur and the glasses and cups and cutlery on the sink had a presence but no definition. She suddenly jerked her head up, stood tall and walked quickly to the phone and rang her lawyer friend.
Months later, her fury had long subsided to a deep seated hate for the editor who wrote to her saying, “Chapter 2 was copied and we are pulping all copies of the book.” Sitting in court, she felt justified. Opposite was Ted Brand, the focus of her loathing and as they all stood to hear the judgement she could only glance at him. Then came the verdict: “There is no case to answer, copyright has not been breached.” Again, tears flowed, but this time, it was tears of release and the muscles on her face could only offer a small forgiving smile which only for a second hid her loathing.
Gordon MacAulay
19 April 2009
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6 comments:
Gordon this is a great well constructed story and you used Czatherine as the main character and told the story from her POV. Well done. I am quickly with Catherine facing an impossible number of questions to herself. Its a very dramatic beginning.
I'm not sure about "was it all a dream?" the book? surely not.
The introduction of the paper threw me initially, I thought it linked back to earlier in the story. Maybe it should be A paper rather than the paper. I loved the detail of the folds etc of the paper but I don't feel it is relevant to the story.
I loved the discription of her surroundings when all is lost and she feels so alone. Great read and well kept to the POV distinction.
I love the questions that the story raises, Gordon. It's obviously a complex issue, and to handle it (without trying to answer all the questions) in 500 words is a wonderful thing.
You really capture her torment in the first section. We've all been there, over something or other.
I have learned that a short story usually happens over only a few hours or a day or two at most. I'm not sure how that challenge could be solved in this story. Maybe it ends with the phone call to her lawyer, leaving us with the clear likelihood of her having a victory in court. A few more words could have been used to speculate about why the editor/enemy did what he did.
Why did she yell at the book rather than at the letter?
I love the twist on "chapter of loathing".
Previous comment from Heather.
Kerry said:
Great story Gordon. You keep the reader tightly in Catherine's world, her anger, confusion and relief. I felt a hesitation in the flow at the newspaper paragraph - why is it important that it looks as though it had never been read? I felt your entry to the final paragraph was also a bit abrupt.
It's a shame you don't do the prompt more often, nice contribution.
A Response from Gordon
Thanks for all your comments--they are great.
For Sue, the word dream may have been a bit misleading--the emphasis was on the 'all made up' and this was a reference to the anger, not the book.
To Heather, I chose her yelling at the book to show how our actions, say of writing something, become the cause when we take responsibility for them--not other's responses. I wanted Catherine to be responsible--at least that is why I left it there as it fits with the end of the story. Not sure what to think about the time delay issue--it seems like an unnecessary restriction on a short story. It might make the writing easier but it would not really work for this story. Part of the point was for Catherine to be all het up about an issue that in time resolves itself. The editor was after the compensation implicit in the case--seemed obvious to me at the time.
Kerry-the abruptness was really a result of running out of words. I had decided it must be less then 500.
20 April 09
From Rick,
Gordon I thought you really captured the sense of loathing through Catherine. You left us with a visceral connection to Catherine and showed her emotional and physical reaction to her threat. "tightening in her stomach", "breathing was intense and rapid", "heart was racing" and "dizziness" put me right in her shoes.
I'm still a bit confused around the newspaper article. At first I thought that she was reading an article about herself, but that wouldn't make sense if she was then influenced to sue based on another article of a defamation suit. Maybe it was that the newspaper was chaotically spread on the floor. It might make more sense if it was sitting there unread and unopened and she turns to it in some attempt to get her out of her loathing.
I love your ending. She is vindicated, but loathing will take much longer to subside.
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