Short Story Wednesday: Two Christmas Stories by Lorrie Moore

 

In May 2024, I read several stories in Birds of America by Lorrie Moore. The first few stories were confusing to me, and it took me a while to adjust to Moore's style of writing. 

Here are some general themes I noted when reading the stories in Birds of America. 

• First of all, each story features birds in some way. Sometimes just one offhand sentence, sometimes a brief scene. I liked that. 
• The stories usually focused on relationships and the people tended to be quirky. 
• Most of the stories, maybe all, were somewhat depressing, sometimes sad. But in most of them, there was also humor.

There were two stories in Birds of America set at Christmas, and I left those to read in December. I did not get around to reading them until this year. 

"Charades" is set on Christmas Day. The family has gathered at their parents' home. Therese is the oldest and has gotten an appointment as a circuit court judge; Ann is ten years younger and in law school; Andrew is the middle child, and an electrical engineer. Therese and Andrew both have spouses, and Ann is getting married soon to Tad. Their parents are in their seventies. They are playing charades. Therese has a plane to catch at 4:30; Ann is irritated because her sister did not schedule a later flight and spend more time with the family. Mostly the grown children just seem to bicker with each other. That seems like a fairly normal Christmas atmosphere for a family of only adults (there is just one very young grandchild). My description makes the story sound really dreary, but it left me with a good feeling nevertheless.

"Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens" is more a cat story than a Christmas story, but it ends on a happier note than "Charades" did. It begins in November and ends on Christmas Day.

Bert, Aileen's cat, died on Veterans Day. Aileen is deeply affected, and begins drinking heavily. She has a loving husband and a beautiful child, and neither her friends or her family understand the level of grief she is feeling after Bert's death.

Her husband eventually convinces Aileen to see a therapist. She finds a therapist who guarantees she will be cured by Christmas. 

Favorite quote:  Jack, Aileen's husband, says...

"Life is a long journey across a wide country... Sometimes the weather's good. Sometimes it's bad. Sometimes it's so bad, your car goes off the road."

I still have three stories left to read in Birds of America. They are longer stories, each about 35-40 pages.