[stylist] short story

[Jacobson, Shawn D]

Bridgid

I see your posts.

Shawn

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via stylist
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 10:04 AM
To: 'Vejas Vasiliauskas'; 'Writers' Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] short story

Are people getting my post to Stylist? They are not showing up for me, so curious if anyone else is seeing them.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vejas Vasiliauskas via stylist
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2015 7:17 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] short story

Hi,
We haven't written short stories in quite a while, so I decided I would post one that I wrote for class last year.  I then expanded upon it a bit later to improve on it.  I've attached it and, for these who can't read attachments, will try to paste it in the bottom of the e-mail (if the whole thing doesn't go through I'll send a part 2).
The assjgnment was to create a character and write about them.  
My title comes from the fact that millions of families look fine from the outside but not from within.
The last thing I have to say is that I hope I created a good character even though my family aren't like this.  However, I knew someone for many years who is like this character, and the way he talks about his family gave me a pretty accurate idea.
Any suggesttions welcome.
Vejas
A Typical Day for Millions
by Vejas Vasiliauskas
  Carl pounds on his front door, wanting to be let in.  If he wanted to, he could pull out his key, but he doesn't feel like it.  It is 4:00 PM on a cold September evening-colder still because he misplaced his coat, though what he will probably say if asked is that one of his daughters took it.
Usually he doesn't get home until 6:00 but there is a sports game that he desperately wants to watch.
His wife, Anna, comes running to open the door for him.  "Hi, Carl.  I didn't know you were going to be home early."
He ignores her and runs into the TV room.  His daughter, Malena, is watching cartoons, and another daughter, Dana, is playing with trucks.  Carl, who has always felt that cartoons are stupid, snatches the remote from Malena without even saying hi and switches the channel to the game, then yells, "QUIET!" His daughters, frightened, run away and Carl smiles with glee.  He plops down on the couch, flips off his shoes, and even goes so far as taking his socks off, creating added stink in the room.  
He spreads his large body on the whole couch, to make sure nobody else can sit there.  If his pals are there, he'd move for them to make room, but he has that luxury of being by himself.
Anna comes over.  "You forgot your chips, Carl," she says, handing him 3 bags of jalapeno chips.  Carl just grunts in response and begins crunching on the chips loudly.
Two hours later, the game is over, and it's time for dinner.
"You made me spaghetti, didn't you?" Carl asks.  "Because you better have."
"Of course I did, sweetie," says Anna.
"And did you use parmesan and mozzarella cheese like I said?" 
asks Carl.
"Of course.  What else would I use?"
"Well, you could use cheddar, if you wanted.  That would be interesting."
Anna is surprised at how helpful her husband is being.  That's rare these days.  "Really, Carl? That sounds amazing!"
Carl repeats it louder.  "You could use cheddar if you wanted to." Then he adds, "But then, I'd have to kick you out of the house!"
Anna stiffens, and Carl smiles.
Carl lumbers up to get a cold beer from the refrigerator.  He comes back to the table and begins eating.
The conversations begin.
"Mommy, I'd like to be a goblin for Halloween," Malena says.
"Really? That would be wonderful."
"Can you get me a costume?"
Before Anna can respond, Carl, probably influenced by the bubbles in his beer, lets out a long, loud burp.  He doesn't excuse himself; he only does that out in public.  And if any of the females said "Excuse you", then Carl would definetly have made sure that their head would be added to the next batch of spaghetti.
"We have a rock concert today, honey, remember?" Anna asks.  
"You've been looking forward to it all the time."
"Of course I remember!" Carl says, insulted.  "One of my pals is in the band.  Hey Anna, you really overdid the sauce.  It's disgusting!"
"It's really not that bad," Malena says.
Oops.
"I said, it's DISGUSTING!" repeats Carl.  "But since you like it, I'll..."
He interrupts himself, then pours all of his sauce on his daughter's head.
When Carl and his family arrive at the concert, they decide to join a mutual friend, Stanley, who is also there.  Stanley, who has known Carl for a while, shares his love for music, but has always been stone-cold sober.
"Hi," Stanley says to the family.  Then he turned to Malena.  
"What happened with the spaghetti?"
Before Malena can respond, Carl answers for her.  "Oh, it was nothing.  She spilled it on herself by accident, and you know, there was no time for her to shower, so she's just like that." He turns to Anna.  "Can I get you anything to drink, honey?"
Anna knows this isn't sincere.  But she loves it anyway.  "Could you get me a root-beer?"
"Of course! And I must not forget my 2 BEAUTIFUL daughters!" Carl is really overdoing it.  "Would you 2 lovely ladies desire rootbeer as well?"
They do.
During the concert, Anna becomes emotional about the lyrics of one of the songs, for personal reasons.  She tries not to, but she eventually does, cry.
"What's wrong, honey?" Carl asks, putting his arm around her.
This isn't the Carl Anna knows from home.  At home, he would have called her a "sissy", and much more.
Carl gets his wife a tissue, which she uses, then clumsily drops on the ground.  He even goes so far as to pick it up for her.  At home, if Carl dropped his own tissue he'd probably step on it, smashing it into little bits for Anna to pick up.
When Anna and Carl get home, they update their blogs.  They actually have rival blogs.  Anna's is called "Housemaid Married to a Pig." There, she pours out all of her woes.  She states everything Carl did that day, and how unfair life is.  She used to have supportive friends who read the blog whom she would e-mail, but they all got tired of the fact that Anna always complained and never followed their advice or did anything to better her life.  Anna also can't spell (or won't spell-check), which gives Carl more ammunition.
There are usually four or five comments on Anna's blog during each entry.
Since she has lost friends, most of them are usually from sympathetic Google searchers that don't know her very well.  
There is also always one comment from Carl himself, criticizing her even more.  Anna, whose only ability on the computer is to write the blog and read e-mails, has never seen these comments.
What Anna doesn't know is that Carl has a blog too.  It's called "Pig Democrat." He always waits for Anna to finish so he can comment on her blog, and then he updates his blog.  He always makes sure to spell-check because he wants to make himself seem intelligent.  Carl will not only write about how bad Anna is, but he will also write about casual things, such as the weather, and get into political debates.  He is basically open to any political debate with a friend.  He allows any friend to disagree with him on his blog, though he always has a comeback for it and always tries to make that comeback twice as long.
Anna thinks to herself that it didn't used to be this way.  Carl used to be a lot nicer, and sometimes he still is.  He has often apologized after making comments, but he has never been willing to change, always making excuses for himself and siting depression for his anger.  She thinks part of this behavior, which started last year, has to do with the fact that his back is constantly giving out-and then she thinks sympathetically of what the poor man must go through every day.
This is just a typical day for the poor family.  Little will Anna know that tomorrow, her life will be thrown upside-down again; Carl will be killed and smashed flat like a pancake after crashing his car, and she will become sad, not able to think for herself.  She will then feel a sense of longing for the life before.  She will miss her provider.


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