Mar 22, 2014

The Picture of Grayson Dorian

"How sad it is!" murmured Grayson Dorian "I shall grow old and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will always remain young. If it were only the other way! For that I would give everything! I would give my soul for that!"

But in a cruel twist of fate, that monstrous moment of pride and passion did not let him keep his unsullied splendor of eternal youth. As each sin of his life still brought its sure swift penalty along with it, but the picture remained exquisitely young and beautiful.

Mar 16, 2014

The Ironing Fairy

"I swear it is true!" – Jessica's look of disbelief didn't help, but Emma pushed on – "I would leave my dirty clothes before leaving for class and when I came back they would be washed, ironed and folded in my closet"

"But it had to be 'the Ironing Fairy'? Wouldn't it make more sense if it was your parents?"

Jessica turned and entered the parking lot.

"Drive all the way from a different state so they could do my laundry and not even say hi?"

"Then your roommate"

"I don't know, I never really got along with her" – the University had a program where you could room with someone with a disability and they would pay for a part of your tuition. Thinking back, Emma couldn't tell what her roommate's disability was, she had always looked normal to her.

They got out of the car and looked for Sean. They hadn't seen each other since college. Emma remembered how they had promised to stay in touch "I won't cry" – she said – "because this is not goodbye" – and then she cried anyway, for dramatic effect. She remembered making the same promise in middle school and high school but now she couldn't even remember her friend's names.

"How are you girls? Long time no see" – Sean waved from the entrance – "Should we get a table?"

They sat and ordered a round of drinks. These reunions have a way of becoming a nostalgic trip to the past. In their retellings, the four pillars of different colors that they used to sit by now represented friendship, the windowless classrooms in the basement with their underpowered computers now seemed like state of the art labs and all the professors had a new-found charisma and insight that they lacked while they were actually giving class.

"Do you remember John from intro to accounting? He was so into Emma" – Jessica had a wide grin

"But he was also super creepy" – Scott added – "they say that he would go into the girl's dorm to steal clothes"

"Unless he wasn't stealing" – Jessica filled Sean in on the Ironing Fairy

"You think that creep was doing my laundry every week?"

"He sure was into you"

"Well, crap"—Emma took a sip from her glass as the table fell silent

"All right, change of subject" – Jessica knew how to keep a conversation going – "Have you seen anyone from school?"

"Yeah! Of all people, I am now working with Cindy, Emma's old roommate" – Sean answered – "she is our floor admin"

"Really? How is she?"

"Not too great, she has really bad dust allergies and with the construction site of our new building so close she has been missing a lot of days. Even before the construction began she would get to her cube and clean everything thoroughly, I think she has a mild obsessive compulsive disorder and wants to have everything tidy"

"That poor girl"

Their conversation sucked the light off the day and they eventually walked to their cars. They agreed they should get together more often. Emma thought back to her nameless friends from middle school.