Marie Aldwell's Daughter: Antigone's Waiting (Part Two) (517 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.91 on 13 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Ballare (View user info) at 2007-08-15 16:19:38 EDT
Marie Aldwell's Daughter (Part One): http://www.ubersite.com/m/110970
After her perfunctory visit with her mother, Antigone would rinse out her teacup, kiss Marie's papery cheek, and pick up her light rucksack from the vestibule. Bidding her mother goodbye, she would airily wave away any attempt by Marie to have her stay longer, citing urgent affairs elsewhere in the town.
Goodbye, then, mother, for now, Antigone would murmur, hugging Marie close for a moment. I'll return before I leave St. Marlin.
Without fail Marie would ask, But wherever will you stay for the night? Antigone, you are being simply ridiculous-
But Antigone would be out the door and lightly tripping down the stairs, lifting her hand in blithe farewell.
In fact, Antigone never stayed overnight with her mother: a lifetime of Marie's eccentric habits had imbued the old house with a permanent yet indescribable sense of disquiet, which Antigone associated with her own childhood. And that was something which she did not care to dwell upon, for having such a mother as Marie Aldwell was not an entirely agreeable experience.
Instead, she would go out to find her own lodging, wandering up and down the familiar, archaic avenues, peering now into the dusty window of the grocery, and now scuffing her foot along the rusted grate that led downward into the unexplored realm of waste management. So Antigone would drift, occasionally acknowledging a familiar face or tracing her fingers along a brick wall or pausing to gaze indifferently into a shop window.
Sporadically she would glance at her wristwatch, waiting for some indefinable event.
She rarely revisited her old associates, trusting they were doing well without her particular services, and indeed when she would catch the eye of a past patron they would invariably flush and glance away long before she would. Often she twisted her head about to watch them shuffle away, and her smile would be one of supercilious contemplation as they disappeared swiftly behind a door or around a corner.
They never spoke to her, these startled apparitions, and she made no move to reach out to them.
Often during these aimless walks, she would revisit to the only antique store in town, as always, delighting at the chime of the little silver bell that hung above the door as she entered. For hours, she could lose herself in the rows upon rows of broken toys and intricately carved wooden chairs and countless bronzed mirrors and a marvel of curios; tiny golden gear-driven animals that lurched along the tabletop, dusty bibles marked and jotted by an unreadable hand, grand square phonographs with elegant curving horns.
The proprietor of the antique store, one of St. Marlin Society's most upstanding, bureaucratic, and officious members, served to document the births and deaths and vocations and various other insignificant details of the general population. As the foremost authority on such things, he was therefore perplexed and vaguely offended by Antigone's peculiar presence.
Perplexed, for the reason that it had never been recorded that Marie had ever given birth to such a child; vaguely offended, as Antigone never contributed anything of worth to the community.
And it was not merely that Antigone refused to serve as a cog in the immaculate and well-greased machine that was St. Marlin; Marie's daughter was simply not like them. Her words and manner were too blasé, too careless; her clothes were too unusual, too snug, too fashionable; and there was something about the way she walked, the way she curved her lips, the way her skin softly brushed an arm or a thigh, that stirred unwilling thoughts - and other things - among the local men.
The old proprietor was no exception, and whenever he would emerge from the dark back room, summoned by the tinkling silver bell, to see Antigone's lithe form, he would hurriedly turn about and retreat, whereupon he would sit in the farthest corner of the back room and single-mindedly polish silverware.
On her part, Antigone seemed blissfully unaware of the disapproval of the St. Marlin Society, and delighted in poking about the musty store.
But every so often, she would restlessly glance at her wristwatch - waiting for some indefinable event.
She was waiting, of course, for her next client.
User Reviews
Submitted by azurefroz (user info) at 2007-08-24 10:29:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You can, however, forward all nude, lewd, and lascivious photos of yourself to sicosemen.at.gmail.com He'll appreciate them.
Submitted by sparkle_pink (user info) at 2007-08-16 22:09:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by zwerg (user info) at 2007-08-16 12:19:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2007-08-16 08:40:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Not a chore to read but not exactly a page-turner (yes I know there are no pages.)
Submitted by Hilarity_Ensues (user info) at 2007-08-16 07:13:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Angel likey.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-08-16 01:17:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by sir_cowman (user info) at 2007-08-15 18:51:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think i missed something. I'll re-read it sober.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-08-15 17:19:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
LOVE it
Submitted by FALLEN (user info) at 2007-08-15 16:38:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
yep.
Submitted by Ballare (user info) at 2007-08-15 16:33:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-08-15 16:30:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
one tiny mistake: she would revisit to the only antique store in town,
----
FUCK!
I don't think it's actually possible for me to write something without having some sort of shitty grammar or spelling mistake. I just noticed a few hours ago in part one, the ending was 'And her services were... quite usual' when it was supposed to be 'quite UNusual', so that's an epic fail on my part.
And this one I reread quite a few times, too.
Submitted by lover101 (user info) at 2007-08-15 16:30:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-08-15 16:30:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
one tiny mistake: she would revisit to the only antique store in town,
Submitted by haikumikoo (user info) at 2007-08-15 16:25:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Huh, you're pretty good at this whole "writing" thing