Good, Bad, Ugly
One of our friends snapped this photo. Probably Andy, or whatever girlfriend he had along that day. We’re standing in a parking lot. Don’t know why. He’s got an arm around me. I’m wearing his corduroy blazer. He liked for me to wear that. Said the color went with my hair.
Gosh, we look so happy. Young, and dumb—but happy.
We were happy. Not because of anything in particular we were doing! In those days the guys just circled tirelessly in their cool cars, blasting music with their 8-tracks. Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf—stuff you never hear anymore, even on the golden oldies station. To save my soul, I can’t recall what we talked about.
I think what made him and me happy was just that we’d gotten so close that year, like family.
Maybe better than family. In my experience family wasn’t always so great. Especially Bernie, who used to rub up against my boobs and say creepy things when Momma wasn’t around. Back when I was a kid, Momma used to be beautiful. Here’s an old picture of her. Will you look at that! That’s when we were close. But by this time, Momma just looked tired and frazzled. She seemed to want me out of the house.
Still, I knew what family ought to mean. It ought to be your source of comfort and support. In a family that’s working right, those are the people you can show your real self to. And everybody loves one another, you know, just for being who they are.
Even if you’re just somebody who rides around town listening to music.
The oldie I associate with
I have read this twice and still love it as much as I did the first time. Some great writing here.
Great writing, very well developed and confident. Will you be sharing more of your fiction (or non-fiction) Steve Gallup? I should like to recommend this for Staff Picks
I really like her manner of speech, its easy going and engaging, felt like we could be on a porch somewhere exchanging life stories. Though life may not go exactly to plan you can always find happiness somewhere, everyone has regrets and makes mistakes but there are always memories you can cherish - this is a perfect example!
Smoothly written, and as Warren says, bittersweet. The narrator is looking back at the point at which her life started to get complicated - something we all do, I'm sure. The ending left me with a nice feeling - sometimes choices can fall out of your control, sometimes your life can veer out of control. What you get might not be what you expected, but with the right attitude, it can be just as good.
Nicely written, and a slightly bitter-sweet tale. Engaging though.
You evoke a nostalgic feeling with ease, which is fantastic. Feels very true to life and mature, with a strong voice behind it.
I liked your idea, but i feel at some points the images are vague. For example, you start a really vivid image with the narrator holding her mother's photo, and when you are just about to give your reader an image of her mother, you suddenly return to previous thought. If you revise it and smooth the transition from one image to another, I think this can be a really engaging story. Overall,I liked the way you used the setting, with the music, and the photograph reminiscing.
Fantastic story. I'm not sure I agree with you Paul Clayton that it's to do with the world being sometimes meaningless. I think it's more to do with the death of youthful idealism, and accepting a different kind of love on a more pragmatic basis. Great stuff Steve Gallup, I just added this to Staff Picks. Please upload more!
A thoughtful, pleasing, tale, well told, about life on this sometimes meaningless world.