“Mrs. Mason”
It used to be the three of them walking everyday: Mr. and Mrs. Mason walking in their sharp clothes and their adorable dog Oscar in front of them. Mr. Mason in his ironed khaki pants, button up shirt, top hat, and loafers. Mrs. Mason, a Southern Belle converted into New Englander, dressed in black business suit pants, a white shirt with a cashmere sweater over it with an expensive looking broach right over her heart. She walked with a cane, but more out of style than physical need. Oscar, their toy poodle, trotted just in front of them, his well groomed fur making him stand out amongst the other mutts in our neighborhood, his leash attached to a bright red collar, and his nose pressed to the pavement. Everyday, around
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I wandered out of our alley and went up to her and said, “Hi Mrs. Mason, quite the storm we’ve had, huh?” To which she replied in her Southern accent, “You know, Ben, besides for the storm of 78’, this must be one of the worst, maybe the worst storm I’ve ever seen.” I was so shocked to see her outside. Never before had I seen her outside in such brutal conditions which really attests to how strong of a woman she was. Sure, I’d seen her walking outside in the freezing cold when I glanced through my bedroom window, but never had I seen her out in such atrocious weather. Reflecting back on it, though, I shouldn’t have been so surprised because this was who she was. That was her routine. Still, Mrs. Mason keeps walking around, always chatting with our neighbors and mailman, giving lost Brown students directions in sweet Southern accent, and keeping up her fashion.
“The Turtle People” “You can’t be climbing into their yard with Nerf guns! You’ll damage the fence and we’re not paying to get that fixed,” he yelled at me after catching me about to climb up on our neighbor’s fence. “Who’s yard,” I replied smartly, trying to avoid all suspicion. “You know who I’m talking about, the turtle people,” my dad replied, clearly annoyed at my lies about intruding into our neighbor’s yard with my friend Henry. The turtle people are two Brown Reptilian Studies professors who live
As I begin to read Lydia’s story, I recall the days that led up to the named storm, Hurricane Katrina. It was the year 2005. Most of the people I came in contact with were tracking the storm and wondered if the storm would come our way. We spoke of how we would prepare for the storm. I was afraid because my husband was on the road and I was alone to take care of my five-year-old child and my home. Lydia was brave as she rode out the storm.
The day was dark. I could feel a storm approaching. The gentle sunlight glistening through the clouds, now covered by a heavy mist. Drop. Drop. Drop. The coldness of the water tinged my face. And the earth shook, as a large boom erupted from the sky followed by a light crackle. By now, I was soaked, like that night. I continued walking through the deserted streets when a large flash erupted from the sky. Oh, great lightning, today was getting better and better. A woman and her young child was running towards their car to seek shelter. The walk was a long and dreadful one, I found myself looking at the place I left 15 years ago. The house was still dark and foreboding as ever, the shutters hanging off its hinges and the roof in a state of disrepair.
Although John knew that they “could expect a storm,” he left Ann to go help his father. The storm is representing that alienation physically “isolating her”. Ann wants a more affectionate and passionate relationship with her husband, but he is too “simple minded” to notice what she wants, John thinks he’s giving her everything she need in life by working so hard.Which adds to Ann’s sense of isolation.Ann was eager and hopeful at first that her marriage may turn around then she became bitter, resentful, and lonely.“I knew we were going to have a storm - I told him so - but it doesn’t matter what I say. Big stubborn fool - he goes his own way anyway. It doesn’t matter what becomes of me. In a storm like this he’ll never get home. He won’t even
Shirley Ardell Mason also known as (Sybil) was quietly living in Lexington Kentucky, and had ran a art business out of her home in the 1970s. She later died on Feb 26, 1998 from breast cancer due to declining treatment. There was a movie based on Shirley Ardell Mason Life called “Sybil” which came out in 1976, her real name wasn’t used in the book or movie because she wanted to protect her identity. The movie depicted on what Shirley had gone through as child, which included physical, emotional, and severe sexual abuse of the hands of her mother who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Due to Shirley’s trauma as a child she was diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder also called dissociative personality disorder, which consisted of 16 distinctive personalities in 1973 diagnosed by her therapist Dr. Cornelia Wilbur. Shirley Ardell Mason was born on January 25, 1923 in Dodge Center, Minnesota. Her parents Walter Mason and Martha Alice Hageman raised Shirley in Dodge center where they were well liked by others.
McKnight Malmar’s story, “The Storm”, is a suspenseful short story about a woman, later in the story revealed to be named Janet, coming home to an empty house with no sign of her husband, Ben. The story is told in third person limited point of view where the reader follows Janet who has to process her husband being gone, and finding the lifeless body of a woman while alone in her isolated home during a thunderstorm. The story starts with Janet being excited and relieved to come home to her husband, where she imagines a kind, almost platonic Ben to welcome her home by kissing her cheeks and touching her shoulders (Malmar, Pg. 1). Through the progression of the story, Janet uses her time alone to shift her happy thoughts of Ben into doubt and reason. During the storm, Janet is able to see her life with Ben as the abusive relationship it truly is.
Morning brought the peace of a warm sunny day to the small town of Tributary; such a contrast to the violent events of the day before, still there was a sense of mourning in the air. The town folk spent much of the day recovering lost property. Everyone felt fortunate to have found their missing belongings. Everyone except Corvida Bratleigh! Rather than being thankful her playhouse was undamaged by the tornado, Corvida was angry that her playhouse was in Nikki Fernandez’s garden! The playhouse was hers, not Nikki’s and she was going to make sure that Nikki did not step one foot in her lovely little house.
Karly Segrave was a fifteen year old girl when Hurricane Katrina Hit. Her mother worked at St. Tammany Parish Hospital, so when it was time to evacuate she stuffed everything she could into a backpack and went on her way. Most of the employees at the hospital brought their familys with them, so space was limited. Karly slept under her mothers cubical for three weeks. “At first it was fun,” she watched movies, played games, and had tons of people to talk to. Then days turned into weeks and the hospital begun to run low on food. She began to realize that it wasn’t all fun and games.
It had been raining intermittently for the past four days and by late Saturday afternoon, another storm was approaching the rural southern town of Wrongberight. Clemmy Sue Jarvis since birth has lived in the town and had a simple philosophy concerning weather. As long as she was six feet above ground instead of six feet below, she did not care what it was. Today as she lifts her petite frame into her rusty Ford pickup, she is preoccupied with what she hopes to accomplish this evening. Absorbed in though she pulls out of her driveway and heads south on Flat Bottom Road along the edge the Dismal Swamp towards the isolated home of her dearest friend Estelle
It is pretty strange when Tretheway has not been ridden out the storm at that time, yet her ability to extend that empathy to the local residents is undeniable. Thetheway refacts all the deaths and “bodies washed away” (65) through the lens of witnesses – her family and the whole community – with emotional depth and
Mother and daughter had to face extreme weather: snow in the mountains, heat, flash floods, and washed out bridges. An encounter with a persistent tramp led Clara to shoot him in the leg. On the way Clara sprained her ankle in Pennsylvania and Helga wrote to their sponsor requesting a few days' extension of time so that Clara could heal. There were times when Helga had to think if it was a right think to take such a risk
It was the year 1922 and life hadn’t been this good in a while, times had taken a big change for the best. In Manhattan, New York, there were extravagant parties every weekend; the whole city shows up and doesn't leave until they see the sun. There was once this wealthy family living right in the middle of the roaring twenties. There was a mom, a dad, an older sister named Alice, and a younger sister named Anna. Alice loved to go to all of the huge parties, meet new people, and not come home until the morning. Every time Alice would get ready to go out for the night, Anna would watch her get ready as if she was picturing that was herself. Anna looked up at her sister and wanted to do everything she did. Alice had been talking about this party for a long time, and the night
It was a quite a normal fall day out here in Louisiana. The year was 1930, my daughter and I had been out working in the barnyard. “Lauren, work faster the guest will be here soon for Thanksgiving dinner.” I exclaimed to Lauren as she was cleaning the pigsty. Soon we were to have our family and friends come to visit us for Thanksgiving. I don’t necessarily like having guest, since they’re always a lot of cleaning do. Actually, cleaning wasn’t the problem since we lived in a very small house out in the country. The problem was food was very scarce for us, so we worked extremely hard. You see, out here in Louisiana it wasn’t easy to be wealthy so half of the town was what you would call ‘poor’.We can’t provide them with a lot of food,
As Pa opened the door, his ginger hair and bright green eyes entered my vision. How are his eyes still bright during this storm? He’s the boss of William and Rose. He complained that they haven’t worked in three days. I remember his exact words. “Charles good to see you!” He said to Pa, shaking his hand. “Good to see you too. Why have you stopped by Ry?” Pa replied. “Willy and Rose haven’t worked in three days, and I ain’t gettin’ my money! I’m sure you ain’t gettin’ any money either. May I borrow them for the day?” Pa looked back at William and Rose. They’re faces in fear. Pa nodded, let out a sigh and turned to look back at Ryland. “Yes you may. But please, keep them safe out there and bring them back at 5pm sharp.” I snapped out of my thoughts. “Pa? What time is it?” Pa looked at his watch on his left wrist. “It’s 4:49pm sweetie. Your brother and sister will be here shortly. Well, I hope so.” Pa walked upstairs to talk to Ma and left me sitting there alone, at the kitchen table. About seven minutes later, there’s a knock at the door. I answer it and see a dirt covered William and a dusty covered Rose. “Willy? Rose? Are you guys okay?” I ask as they start walking to the kitchen. “Yes, we’re fine. Just very tired.” Rose says. I look back at the white door and see that I’m still holding it open. Ryland then appears. “Oh, I was expecting your father to be at the door Kathleen!” He let out a little laugh, then coughed. “They both worked very hard today. Well.. just tell your father that they both have four dollars in their hands.” He says. “Will do. See you soon Mr. Masterson.”, I say as I close the door and walk to the kitchen seeing two tired, stressed hard
It was a pleasant fall Tuesday when Stephanie went to work. Her day normal consisted of writing reports, and filing paperwork for her office. She turned on the television to see if there was anything alluring in the news. “NEWS FLASH: MAN CONVICTED OF MURDER HAS ESCAPED PRISON.” The warning did not phase her, considering the jail was far from her office. She concluded that she was safe. By four o’clock, it was time for her to travel home from a laborious day of work. She arranged her things into her bag, and began her trek. Walking out the door, she was met with warm rays from the sun. It was an astounding way to end a strenuous
In Adrienne Rich’s “Storm Warnings,” the progressive structure details the storm’s advancement, the imagery illustrates the surrounding environment, and the calm diction presents the speaker’s state of mind, depicting an actual storm as it nears and the metaphorical turmoil the speaker is experiencing. People hear storm warnings, however, as the storm unfolds, one can merely brace themselves since the storm is inevitable and light hope within them.