Short Story Wednesday: "Birdie" by Lauren Groff

 

Some serendipitous wandering around on the internet on the weekend led me to discover a new (to me) author that I want to read, and a short story by that author. 

"Birdie" by Lauren Groff

Four women who were friends in their youth come together again – after 20 years – because one of them, Birdie, is in the hospital, dying from cancer. The history of their relationship is revealed gradually and very effectively.

The four women have had very different lives. Sammie still lives in the small town they grew up in, and has a husband and five kids. Birdie was a freelancer, never married, her boyfriend left when she was diagnosed with cancer. Melodie is a real-estate agent in San Luis Obispo, still looking for love, who has had a lot of work done on her face. Most of the story is from Nic's point of view; she is a law professor, divorced, with a young daughter. None of them seem happy or comfortable in their lives. 

I don't know that their age at the time of this meeting is ever stated definitively, but it seems that they must be in their early 40s. They are telling stories about the worst thing they ever did. 

An excerpt:

Then the women were all looking at Nic, so she took a swig of schnapps and steeled herself and said, The worst thing I ever did was, I guess, what happened that summer just after we graduated, right before we all left home. I was babysitting for a couple who lived out on the lake, about six miles north of town. They worked at the opera. He was a set designer and she did costumes.

She was about to go into the whole story—the delicious old winterized camp that was painted a green-black, and its crisp white modern interior, the husband and wife like sleek seals, the toddler she loved like her own child, who slept with his hands curled near his ears—when she saw the other three exchanging looks and repressing their smiles, and that old whip of their judgment snapped out of the darkness of time and stung her. Nic cried out, What? What?

This story definitely benefited from a second read. I was very impressed with it on the first read, the characters seemed so real to me, especially Nic and Birdie. But the second time more I felt it more emotionally. The only tiny quibble I have with the writer's style was that she doesn't use quote marks, which seemed awkward to me, but did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

A sample of dialog in the story:

There was more air in the hallway, or they could breathe now, and they relaxed a little as they walked. I took a cab here, said Melodie. Me too, said Sammie. Nic sighed internally and said, I rented a car. I’ll drive us to the hotel. In the hospital’s lobby, they stopped to look out the enormous windows into the wildness of wind and snow, and it seemed so astonishingly huge and fearsome, some dark beast roaring at them, that nobody moved until Nic reluctantly said, I’ll go out and get the car and pull it up here for you. Both of the other women said, Great, thanks!

Laurie Groff is the author of four novels and two books of short stories. Her most recent novel is Matrix, which tells Groff's version of the life of Marie de France, a female poet who wrote in the late 1100s through the early 1200s. I don't know if I want to read that book or not, but if anyone has any recommendations related to this author, I would welcome them.

I read the story at The Atlantic online.