Original Writing, Short Stories
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University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2006 A Very Brief Fall (Original writing, Short stories). Lindsay McNiff University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation McNiff, Lindsay, "A Very Brief Fall (Original writing, Short stories)." (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 866. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/866 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). Under this license, works must always be attributed to the copyright holder (original author), cannot be used for any commercial purposes, and may not be altered. Any other use would require the permission of the copyright holder. Students may inquire about withdrawing their dissertation and/or thesis from this database. For additional inquiries, please contact the repository administrator via email ([email protected]) or by telephone at 519-253-3000ext. 3208. A VERY BRIEF FALL by Lindsay McNiff A Creative Writing Project Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research through English Language, Literature and Creative Writing in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2006 © 2006 Lindsay McNiff Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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ABSTRACT This collection contains eight short stories dealing with dissociated characters who strive for connection. Their displacement has, for the most part, a relation to age, place and status. A written discussion of character motivation and endings follows the text, where it is suggested that the characters here are motivated by their displacement, and that integration is never fully achieved. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to gratefully acknowledge the following for the impact they had on this project: My committee: Susan Holbrook with admiration for her unwavering guidance, for all the time spent reading and re-reading, for her brilliant suggestions and careful edits, for helping me distil my ideas and shape the stories in this collection; Richard Douglass-Chin for his kindness and approachability, and for helping me pinpoint the smaller words that do not fit; Charlene Senn for her enthusiasm and for taking the time to be part of this project. Di Brandt for three years of vigorous guidance; John Ditsky for his wise instruction and continued confidence in my writing; David Adams Richards for teaching me to keep the ending in mind; Margaret Christakos for showing me how to read my own writing in my head and with my voice. My dearest friends: Rachel Eagen for her bottomless support and encouragement through every moment I have known her, for knowing more about most things than most people; Jenny Sampirisi for her sparkling insight and her measured, elegant words; Alex Zelenyj, the most sleepless writer I have ever known, a fiendish inspiration; Rachel Blok for the ice cream and nightmares, for her many years of friendship and wisdom, her clear and brilliant mind; Andria Kenney, my oldest and bravest friend, her stories have meant more to me than she knows; Kevin Durda for being there with patience and sympathy and a weakness for zombies, for his belief in me, for his own astonishing projects, so different from mine, that have made me want to see this project through to the end. Thank you to my extraordinary parents, Wendy and Bill McNiff, with every bit of my love, for their unflinching support, affection and concern. Thank you to my incomparable Mom for teaching me to recognize what is most moving and vital about each person I know; to my remarkable Dad for his little stories that have helped me to value every tiny memory, and for teaching me confidence and modesty, their heartbreaking balance. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v A Very Brief Fall: Epigraph 1 A Girls Night 2 Adult Dimension 12 Silent Sam 29 Coming Home 56 Blue Baby 71 Injury 85 Electric Clothes 96 He Might Have Worn Sandals 115 Artist’s Statement 130 Bibliography 154 VITA AUCTORIS 155 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I ’m still listening. I ’m taking it all down. - Barbara Gowdy Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A GIRLS NIGHT Deedee draws hard on her cigarette and scans the room as though she is looking for someone. Her friends left at least an hour ago and she’s not sure what she’s doing here. She remembers careening down the long staircase to the main floor of the bar and wishing explosive good nights to Carmella and Justine, who were both going home. We’ve had enough, Deed. Getting too old for this. This was cool though, we should do it again. Those stupid kisses on the cheek. Deedee hates herself for that. Why would she kiss the cheek of a girl she barely knows, a girl who once borrowed a pair of her pants and not only failed to return them but actually failed to mention them again, ever? Why would she stand there and wave like a jackass, her hand making duck motions and a big drunk smile on her face? She remembers an awareness of being there, alone, in the faintly misting rain with her big ugly purse clutched at her side because she’s forever humiliated by the big purse, so startling and spinsterish next to the cute little handbags with decorative clasps and edgy designs carried by the other females at the bar. Deedee always buys the wrong size of purse. What she believes to be a small, cute bag in a store only grows larger and uglier once in her possession. The cute little handbags, those truly cute bags, were all black for the most part and probably held only a few plastic cards and maybe twenty dollars, one crisp folded bill. What single girl spent more than twenty dollars at a bar when there were so many men sidling up from all angles with their Can I buy you a drinks and This one’s on mes and What are you drinkings. Maybe there’s a pack of cigarettes in those handbags too because what girl doesn’t smoke a little bit when 2 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. she has had a lot to drink? Deedee herself had spent at least forty dollars tonight, she realized an hour ago as she stood outside the bar smiling and waving goodbye, as she spied the ends of her hair frizzing into curls and wondered just how long she had been standing in this slight rain that never actually fell but just sat there in the air like a light fog. She showed the green stamp on her hand to the beefy but short bouncer and climbed the stairs again. Now she is back here in the bar, and the cigarette she squeezes between her fingers is the gracious donation of one of a group of girls who look too young to be in here. Deedee herself doesn’t smoke, at least not since one year ago next week. She is quite severely conscious of this and hopes that tomorrow morning when she wakes up both her mind and her body will have forgotten that she had filled up her lungs with the splendid toxins she had missed for the past year with something like a dull, almost unconscious passion.