Review, Revision, Update and Edit
The episodes for Situationally Theirs could be considered, just barely, short stories. This episode, No One's Perfect, is under the suggested minimum word count of 1000, but does fit Edgar Allan Poe's definition of “something readable in a single sitting.” Other elements are setting, a single plot, a central theme, and creating a distinct mood (from blurb.com). Reviewing this aloud, this episode satisfies those elements.
I re-structured one sentence:
Original: 'Suddenly cold, she had stepped out of the sunshine as she rounded the corner to the back porch.'
Re-structured: 'She stepped out of the sunshine and rounded the corner to the back porch. Shivering, she said....')
No One's Perfect
Halo’s are seldom thought of as the purview of adults. A child asleep can be called angelic in one breath but in another when screaming and throwing a tantrum, there is not a halo to be seen. Although James had called Martha ‘his angel’, she did not feel the least bit angelic. Her normal kindness, that erased all errors from people other than herself, was well practiced. Miss Emelina, her sister Dez and all the staff that worked at the Beaufort Estate were all nice. That was the problem. Everyone was just too nice. No glaring faults. No bad behaviour. All the time. Not even Samuel.
Recovering slowly from her bad bout of the flue had left Martha feeling tired; on top of the tiredness was all the niceness. No one even got angry about the sudden call off of the party! She was angry at herself and even the flowers in her garden. “Why on earth do you have to look so cheery? I should just pull you right out of the ground and throw you in with the weeds.” Martha reached down and pulled out the weed happily growing beside the daffodils, accidentally dislodging one of James' precious flowers. She got down on her knees and patted it back in place. “I'm not even interested any more in planning a wedding reception, even though I said I would.” Somewhere a stubborn little girl had taken hold. When a basically good person is confronted every day with limits and expectations and then is sick on top of it, it’s just too much. The straw that breaks the camel’s back. Martha was at that point. She really was a good person - and a very tired person. Tired of living with the worry of a viral infection, tired of taking care of the ‘Housekeeping’ that seemed to have no purpose other than giving her a job, tired of feeling weak and unable to do much more than yell at the flowers, tired of James fussing over her like she was some poor sick thing and he was her saviour.
Tired of it all and she didn’t know what to do. She reached for some stray rocks and supported the poor daffodil at it’s base. Her knees were wet from kneeling on the grass. Getting up she felt one-hundred years old, every joint stiff and complaining. She stepped out of the sunshine and rounded the corner to the back porch. Shivering, she said “What do I do? Who do I talk to? James has gone for the day and I don’t want to talk to him anyway.” Just as she opened the back door, the phone rang. It was one of the old wooden, hang on the wall, phones with a real mouthpiece and a real ear piece. She and James had found it at an antique store when they were on their honeymoon. When they found out it was still workable, they decided it would be perfect for their cottage. “It’s probably Elizabeth calling. James only calls on my cell phone and I don’t think I gave Joanie this number - or maybe I did/?”
The phone was on the third ring when she answered it. “Hello? ….Hello?” All Martha could hear was a distant soft sobbing then a gravelly voice spoke “Martha, is that you?”
“Samuel? Where are you? How did you get this number?’
“Just come over here, Martha. Elizabeth needs you. She won’t talk to me and I don’t know what to do.” Samuel’s voice shook and cracked.
Martha would have gotten her coat on while she was talking, but the phone cord was too short. She needed to end the call and get going. “Samuel, just calm down. Tell Elizabeth…no, I want you to get the tea kettle on. Tell Elizabeth I’m on my way over and will be there as quick as I can. James is in his office. While you’re waiting for me, just keep Elizabeth safe.”
Martha hung up abruptly, scribbled a note to James and left it on the table. Forgetting how tired and angry she had been, she put a sweater and coat on, made sure she had good walking shoes on and left for Elizabeth's house. What was wrong didn’t matter. Her best friend was in trouble and she needed her.
“Time to stop crying, time to get her act together and
do something. Time to move beyond the pity party.”
~ Lisa McMann, author
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