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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2016 What Slides From the Pain Chamber Megan D. Henson University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2016.184 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Henson, Megan D., "What Slides From the Pain Chamber" (2016). Theses and Dissertations--English. 37. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/37 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the English at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--English by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Megan D. Henson, Student Hannah Pittard, Major Professor Dr. Andrew Doolen, Director of Graduate Studies WHAT SLIDES FROM THE PAIN CHAMBER _____________________________________ THESIS ____________________________________ A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Megan Denise Henson Director: Dr. Andrew Doolen Lexington, KY 2016 Copyright© Megan Denise Henson ABSTRACT OF THESIS WHAT SLIDES FROM THE PAIN CHAMBER A collection of short stories and one novella featuring women’s issues, fairy tales, a coming-of-age story, and a pregnancy that turns out differently than expected upon delivery. KEYWORDS: Coming-of-age, Fairy Tale, Women’s Issues, Eating Disorders, Pain WHAT SLIDES FROM THE PAIN CHAMBER By Megan D. Henson ____________Hannah Pittard______ Director of Thesis __________Dr. Andrew Doolen____ Director of Graduate Studies _____________April 19, 2016_____ Date For Michael ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The following thesis, while an individual work, benefited from the insights and direction of several people. First, my Thesis Chair, Hannah Pittard exemplifies the quality of fiction to which I aspire. In addition, Gurney Norman provided instructive and supportive comments and evaluation during the thesis process. Also, thank you to Randall Roorda for introducing me to environmental literature so that I may continue to find my voice among nature writers and offer compelling stories. Next, I wish to thank the complete Thesis Committee: Hannah Pittard, Gurney Norman, and Randall Roorda. Each individual provided insights that guided and challenged my thinking, substantially improving the finished product. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements………………………………………………...iii Abalone……………………………………………………………...5 Heart of Eve…………………………………………………………9 Reflection…………………………………………………………..10 The Savior………………………………………………………….29 Creation Story……………………………………………………...32 Screams…………………………………………………………….34 What Slides From the Pain Chamber………………………….…...36 White Starlet………………………………………………………..41 Opal………………………………………………………………...44 Let’s Take the Long Way Around………………………………….48 Arienh……………………………………………………………..135 Girl, Sick with Story……………………………………………....143 The Sybil…………………………………………………………..148 Vita………………………………………………………………...153 iv Abalone The Count had a wife, three daughters, and one son; but the tuberculosis swept through and death stole the Countess with its cold, strange hand. The Count hurriedly took a black slave woman from Trinidad to look after the children. The slave woman took great pleasure in scaring the children in the Count’s absence with stories of the soucouyant—the vampiress of the French Caribbean. “The soucouyant,” she said in her heavy accent while the children gathered around her by the fire, “lives on the outskirts of town as an old woman by day. At night she sheds her skin and preys upon the people of the town. The sunlight turns her into a ball of flame, thus she must return home and don her skin before dawn. This constant changing in and out of her skin causes her to become very wrinkled.” She pauses. “I bet it’s the soucouyant who killed your mother. You say she was vomiting blood?” The children nodded, wide-eyed and tearful. “Ah, maybe your mother had already become a soucouyant by the time she died.” The children could not sleep at night and the eldest daughter went to the Count and told him what the slave woman said. The Count grew furious and raped the slave woman to punish her and, so, she became pregnant. The seasons passed and the slave woman went into labor they day of the winter solstice. The Count summoned the mid-wife. The birth of the child was met by the mid-wife’s screams, for the baby had skin as white as snow—the daughter of a black woman--thick, black hair, crimson 5 lips, and fangs dripping with blood. The Count tried to seize the child, but before he could grab it the baby turned into a crow and flew out the window. The Count burned the slave woman at the stake and began hunting in the deep, black forest for the crow girl so that the forest floor became littered with the carcasses of the crows he shot with his bow and arrow. Yet, all of his daughters died of tuberculosis, and when his son grew old enough the Count taught him how to hunt. They hunted together in the forest for many years while the tuberculosis continued to massacre the town folk, and the Count went mad, convinced the blood-sucking crow girl was the soucouyant prophesied by the slave woman; and it was this monster that caused his daughters to drown in their own blood. He could not reconcile the fact that the crow girl was also his daughter, and that violence begets violence. The puncture of rape, the puncture of fangs. So the Count executed every old woman in the town in the hopes that he would catch the soucouyant in her day skin, but the illness continued. It seemed the town was in a veritable hell and had been for years. Unable to sleep one night, the Count’s son, who was now quite grown, ventured out for a moonlit walk. He found himself by the stream in the forest and halted so that he nearly fell face down in the dirt and had to steady himself by grabbing a tree trunk. Before him, bathing in the stream, was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She had long, thick, black hair—so black that the moonlight shone on it like an abalone shell or labradorite. It covered her buttocks. Her arms were thin and looked like white porcelain. But something was wrong. It took him a long time to come out of his erotic trance and realize what it was: it was freezing; 6 there was snow on the ground, but this fair maiden bathed in the stream without even flinching. In fact she seemed perfectly comfortable. The young man tried to figure out what to do. He could take her very easily. She was all alone. Then, he decided, watching her step out of the stream with long, white legs, the build-up—the anticipation—was sometimes the best part, because it made the taking all the sweeter. He would come back tomorrow night. And the next if he had to. He would wait to take her until she turned toward him enough so that he could see her face, for though she seemed lovely, her face could be hideous, as he had seen many a fair maiden smile only to reveal rotten teeth. Quietly, he retraced his steps, his virile member throbbing almost in agony. The Count began to notice that his son was distracted. Their days of hunting together only brought strained conversation, and his son seemed tired. The Count decided to spy on him. Sure enough, that very night, the Count watched from the window as his son left the palace. He rushed down to follow him into the forest. Soon, he stopped, finding his son watching a beautiful woman bathing in the ice-cold stream. The Count realized with glee that this was the crow girl, and his son’s fatigue was probably the result of this soucouyant’s bloodlust. Yes, yes, his son probably didn’t remember her attacks, as women were known for their sneakiness, and this girl could make any young man forget everything but her beauty. The Count quivered his arrow, took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and let go. The arrow struck the girl through the heart and she fell.

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