I’m getting married tomorrow. My mother calls, at ten minutes to midnight, to ask whether or not I am going to wear a dress. She’s drunk and the slur of her words pelts me through the phone line like wine-soaked gravel. “The bride’s outfit is supposed to be a surprise, Mom,” I say.
“Oh, just fucking tell me,” she growls.
Liz Beth is lying next to me in bed with her ear plugs in and her eye cover on. She has no idea that I am even on the phone. Once Liz Beth surrenders to sleep, I am all alone. Her sleep takes her away from me like a lover. We are getting married tomorrow, and then, technically, every time Liz Beth sleeps, she will be cheating on me. Sometimes she dreams about sex, and I know it’s not with me, because she never tells me about it in the morning. I’ve watched her have an orgasm in her sleep, without even touching herself.
Liz Beth sleeps and I watch her, and then I realize that my mother is still on the phone, breathing, waiting for me to answer. “Pink taffeta,” I say. “With a hoop.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” my mother says, all aggression gone from her voice. She giggles. “You are too much. I’ll see you tomorrow, sleep tight.” And then she hangs up and I know that she has already forgotten about it, her evil twin has been snuffed out. When she drinks, my mother is like Liz Beth when she sleeps, she’s gone from me.
I consider waking Liz Beth up, but Liz Beth woken up is no Liz Beth at all, but a wild creature that I hardly recognize. She growls and bites. Besides, Liz Beth needs her rest. She wants to look good tomorrow. Her parents aren’t coming anyway, so what does she care about dresses and suits? But my family will be there, not because they aren’t embarrassed–they very much are–but because they will have to be supportive or risk blemishing their own vision of themselves. Just the same, I haven’t told them that this will be an alcohol-free event because I’m afraid that then they won’t come. Liz Beth thinks I’m being ridiculous, and I think that she doesn’t really understand the depths of other people’s misunderstanding.
Gianna De Persiis Vona’s work has appeared in Mothering Magazine, Curve Magazine, as well as on-line. She is the co-author of The Dictionary of Wholesome Foods: a Passionate A to Z Guide to the Earth’s Healthy Offerings, published by Marlow & Co in 2006. She writes The Green Zone, a weekly environmental column, for the North Bay Bohemian, and teaches high school English to recalcitrant teens, and creative writing to far more willing adults. She lives with her girlfriend, her gorgeous sons, and two corgis in a very, very small house in Sonoma County.
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13 Responses to “PINK TAFFETA • by Gianna De Persiis Vona”
Comments
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May 1st, 2008 at 4:20 am
“I think that she doesn’t really understand the depths of other people’s misunderstanding.” Indeed that is a hard thing to fathom… I liked this very much.
A good start to the month.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:20 am
Pulled me right in and makes me want more.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:36 am
Sounds like this couple needs a cat
May 1st, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Lovely. Love the title, and the story, it’s really in the moment, and I can feel her emotions and see her life before, with her parents, and now, with her lover, and what it might be later, all in such a short space. Well done.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
soo….hm
It was good, and i see its well recived and it used language well. Unfortunatly i’m just plain confused, i’m not really sure what that was about…i will try again after some sleep, it its obvious please excuse my stupidity.
And they’re gay right?….or is she schizofrenic?
May 1st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Hi Gianna,
a very wry, but sensitive piece.
Great writing.
Cheers
Mark
May 1st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
pulled at my strings!
May 1st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Enjoyed this one!
May 1st, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Felt like this was just tapping the surface of a bigger piece. Would like to see more.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 am
I really enjoyed this piece! It was beautifully written and had such an honest tone. Loved the comparison between the mother drunk and the girlfriend asleep. The sense of lonliness really came through, and in that single moment we come to know the complicated dynamics of so many different relationships.
Great writing. Appropriately subtle.
Alison
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
A great story. Felt her solitariness.
May 4th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Thanks for the feedback. How refreshing to feel read!
- Gianna
May 12th, 2008 at 12:24 am
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