The Not So Shoddy Lands, Fiction Fragment

To: RAsolo@email.com
Subject: You’ll Never Believe What Happened

Dear Riley:

I had the weirdest experience at work today.

We were working with that horrible photographer. You know the one I mean. That is to say, he’s a good photographer. His pictures are amazing. But he’s such a pain to work with. He’s the one who sent me out to buy four different colors of green bulbs until I found the “right” green. Who does that? Green is green, right?

Anyway.

Our prima donna artiste decides he wants the backdrop moved two inches. Two inches. We had to pick everything up, move it, then rearrange all of the props, redrape the drapes, and on, and on. For two inches!

I mean c’mon, it’s a pair of sandals. Millions of people are going to see your photo … for the 10 seconds it takes them to turn the page. Maybe a few foot fetishists will cut it out and put it on their wall. Not really the market I would be aiming for.

So, there I was, waiting and zoning out.

Suddenly everything was shapes. Everywhere I looked were circles and triangles and lopsided hexagons. The tabletop. I knew it was square. It’s a tabletop. But it was also a parallelogram because of the angle I was looking at it.

And shadows. Everything had shadows. Yeah, I know everything has a shadow. But who really looks at them? Suddenly they were everywhere.

I snapped out of it in a few minutes. Maybe some of the catering food was bad.

Stay chill,

Christina

~~~

To: RAsolo@email.com
Subject: You’ll Never Believe What Happened, Again

It happened, again. At work, again.

I was in a meeting with that woman from accounting. The one who dresses like a fashion icon for a job in an cubicle. If she’s trying to impress people, she ought to just pin dollar bills to her shirt.

Anyway, she was yapping on, and suddenly the coffee service in the middle of the table reminded me of a still life class I haven’t thought of since college. The shape of the cups were a reverse of the shape of the urn. There was asymmetrical balance. The sugar packets were a focal point. I can’t believe I remembered all of those terms.

I shook my head. Looked at the drapes. I started to wonder how they were woven. Was the color goldenrod or mustard?

I snapped out of it after a few minutes, again.

Good thing.

I mean really, who looks at the world that way?

Stay chill,

Christina

Afterword

Written as a response to “The Shoddy Lands” by C.S. Lewis.

I post this as a huge fan of Lewis’ writing and thought. I stopped rereading the Narnia series when I realized I was no longer seeing the words. My eyes were simply sliding over the paragraphs as my brain replayed what happened next. Mere Christianity, The Great Divorce, & The Screwtape Letters have influenced my approach to religion.

But this one? Nope.

~~~

Added 2 Feb

Shoddy is in the Eye of the Beholder by Katherine Schaefer, A Google drive doc.

I admit to a bit of text envy. The author presents an complete story. Something I am still struggling with. Generating words? Sure. Producing plot? No so much.

In the case of my story above, I can see the ending. Clearly the main character needs to have an epiphany and a change of heart. I couldn’t see a way to approach it that didn’t come out as, ‘The spirits have done it all in one night!’

But I digress.

Now that I’m done making all about me, go over & read the other one. Author did an awesome job.

~~~

Update. 4 Feb. Title changed. “Fragment” added to be a more accurate description. Came up with this while drafting the post for 25 Feb. Adding to this post & 27 Jan are one of the few instances where I have gone back to make a change. Usually, I try not to adjust backwards. That way lies madness.

Onwards!
Katherine