- Too Close and Not Close Enough - By chance, the narrator (late thirties) sees Sadie in a London. Sadie has an interesting job. They catch up on the school days. The narrator has changed her name from Juliet to Sadie. At school Juliet copied Sadie's fashion sense. They were best friends. But Sadie's angry now because she feels her identity's been stolen. While they sit in a cafe there are flashbacks showing how dependent Juliet was on Sadie, who was adventurous with drinks and men. Juliet rejected Sadie after Sadie want them to got out looking for men. There's a page and a half listing and describing the girls Juliet befriended after, many of them outsiders. At the end Juliet-Sadie tells Sadie that "The name thing. I guess it's an apology". We never learn about the narrator's previous 20 years.
Not a strong start. - Other Esther - When Esther was 3 her mother dies. Her father finds a ventriloquist's doll among the mother's stuff. He becomes adept. He teaches a class - people forget to channel through their puppets, it becomes rather a therapy session. He treats Esther and the puppet (named Other Esther) equally. Many years later, Esther runs off the doll, treats it like a child, stays in a hotel. People think it's art or a TV stunt - "It's not easy to care for a ventriloquist's dummy. They can't keep quiet, and you can't make them. They talk continuously, out loud and in your mind." "'Do you love me?' Esther asks. There is no reply".
A good story. - My Mother Bred Me for Timidity - The first-person protagonist, Willa, is meeting festival organisers (who she's researched) with the aim of getting a performing art commission. They're a bit brash/american. She's the only one not having meat. She stands up and cuts her tongue dramatically (but not deeply) with her non-meat knife. There's cheering.
- What would You Have Said? - A new boss who sounds open to new ideas starts "quiet Wednesdays" at work - more relaxing. One employee, Bo Fielding, doesn't like it. When profits improve, the boss increases the one day to 5. Bo and others protest noisily and get ejected.
Doesn't work for me, though Bo's a fun character. - Ways of Living - Colette (75) and Rose have known each other for 60 years. Colette married Rose's brother Ernest. Colette discovers that Ernest's lovely letters to her were written by Rose. Looks like they're still friends. I like the style.
- The Handover - 5 uni friends, female, have stuck together via whatapp and Facebook, meeting in IRL too. All have kids except for Gina. At a meeting she turns up saying she's resigning, bringing her replacement Rachel. After a while the others find Rachel annoying. It's suggested that they each bring substitutes to the next meeting and there could be a vote to see who stays. Short (6 pages) and don't really develop what could have been an interesting idea.
- Some women carry silence in their pockets - A woman finds a miniature version of his late mother in her pocket. They talk - "We've become the versions of ourselves we only are with each other". They go shopping, the mother hiding. They picnic with the narrator's father - it's his birthday. The narrator's recently split up. The mother was for years depressed. We learn that nobody else sees the mother.
- Get Away from Earth Awhile - When Andie learns that her oldest friend Leah is getting married, she ends the friendship. On the day of the wedding (maybe) on a hot day she strips to her underwear and sits in a tree. She strokes her discarded cardigan as if it was a cat. Her afternoon job is auditioning clowns. A woman about her age with her mother sit nearly and ask if she wants an ice-cream. The mother climbs up beside Andie. When Andie gets down, the mother stays. It's a nice view.
- Should a Catastrophe Occur - Ruth with her 2 adolescent daughters visits a synagogue, claiming to want to reconnect with her faith. The conversational tone seems inappropriate in retrospect once we learn via a daughter that the father has recently died. Ruth has checked the solidity of the building. She goes down to the basement to store emergency supplies in a broom cupboard, gets seen, and refuses to come out.
- Parched - Ricky (female), the boss of a jewelry design company lives with a male games designer. It's covid time. She cries during a Zoom meeting. 3 women, crying, knock at her door and silently walk away. She follows them to a meeting of crying women. She starts using an app to meet other women who want to cry. She's well reviewed. She meets the support group coordinator who "speaks in a firm but slow voice, as if she is a trained athlete swimming an easy breaststroke but could switch to a powerful front crawl at any moment." She takes on more difficult clients. One of them has the effect of stopping Ricky crying. The boss gives her an exercise to help her cry again. She wonders "if crying is out of her system, what's left inside? Just arid, barren space and emptiness" On a Zoom call with a colleague she laughs and cries for 40 minutes.
Doesn't entirely work for me though I like the concept.
Two of these piece involve women who make a scene by refusing to leave a refuge. The same idea is used in "Rite of Passage" a story in a book I've just read - "Exercises in Control" by Annabel Banks (Influx Press, 2020).
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