Perfect Disdain

Prompt - Stop the Clocks (300 words): An epigraph is a short quotation from literature or history at the beginning of a book or chapter intended to suggest its theme. For example, this line from a W. H. Auden poem: “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.” As an epigraph, it leaves the foundation for a sense of loss, mourning, and a lack of help, which can play out within the story. Search for your own epigraph, whether it be a quote from history or literature, or an existing epigraph from a favorite book. Write a short piece and include the epigraph beneath the title of your story. Epigraphs do not count toward the overall word count and so can be used to great effect. By giving the reader information up front, the meaning can reveal itself as the story progresses.

*** 

“If you sincerely believed in God, how could you form one thought, speak one sentence, without mentioning Him?” ― Neal Stephenson, Anathem

    The summer I was 16, I discovered that Jehovah’s Witnesses didn’t like Catholics and also that I didn’t like riding in convertibles with the top down.  I spent that summer babysitting for the Monroes because Cindy was going back to school to finish her degree, and her husband Fletcher had to work.  I really liked the kids - Jason was an engaging and sweet 7-year-old and toddler Katie was easy-going and usually wanted to do whatever Jason did.  

    Cindy had to leave early for the University, so her mother-in-law picked me up in her candy-apple-red convertible. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny, and - unusually for Missouri in June - not too hot, and ... the top was down.  The wind was loud, and my long hair blew all around and got in my eyes. I mostly kept my eyes closed and tried to keep up my end of the shouted conversation. I think the elder Mrs. Monroe, was disappointed that I was unimpressed with her car.

    She dropped me off, and Fletcher left for work. The kids were watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and I plopped down and joined them - the adventures of Prince Adam were a bit of a guilty pleasure.

    The doorbell rang and when I opened the door, I found a very tiny, very wrinkled old lady on the doorstep.  

    “I’m from the local Kingdom Hall. Does your family go to church?” she asked in a friendly rasp.

    Did she mean me personally or the Monroes? I wasn’t really in the mood for this - the mother of another family I regularly sat for was always trying to convert me. My own religious situation was complicated, so I decided to go with the Monroes - maybe that would head her off. “Well, I’m just the babysitter, but I think the family is Catholic.”

    Her friendly expression soured as her wrinkles slid into a frown.  “Oh,” she said with perfect disdain. She turned to go and left without looking back once.  

     Huh, I thought to myself.  That was almost too easy.

--October 29, 2022

***

Note: This one is a true story. I fleshed it out very slightly for context and because I don't remember the woman's exact words when I opened the door. It would have been something like what I wrote, though.