"Every story is flawlessly told, the reader brought to the knees again and again by luxurious moments of intimacy and estrangement. ... And did I mention hilarious? Don’t let these wonderful stories pass you up. Margaret Malone is a name that will soon be up there with the best and brightest."(By the way, People Like You is already in stock at Atelier26 HQ and can be ordered now. All orders ship within 24 hours!)
Today we direct you to Malone's story "The Only One," which appeared this spring in Portland's own best online cultural review, Propeller Quarterly, and may be read in full on the Propeller site.
Told in the voice of middle-schooler Sylvie, "The Only One" is a perfectly turned coming-of-age rumination about puberty, adolescent intimacy, family dysfunction, and a child's existential loneliness in the wake of her parents' divorce. An excerpt:
I HEARD my mom on the phone with my dad. They were planning my trip to see him when school’s out for summer in a few weeks. Well, you can’t let her eat whatever she wants. You know how she puts on weight. I know you’re her father. I know that. Well, that’s your choice. It’s none of your business. I’m not answering that. When they were done she called me to the phone from my room, saying, “Your father wants to talk to you.” The word father out of her mouth like spitting out a bug.
I WAS SUPPOSED to meet Glen Bell outside by the ticket booth at one o’clock. All week I kept thinking I’d get up the nerve to tell my mom I had a date that wasn’t really a date that was just a movie but I knew she’d say no so I never said anything. Then somehow it was one fifteen and my mom was driving me to the nursery so she could buy dirt for some new project she had going in the backyard and I realized I’d just stood up the only boy who’d ever asked me out. Why adults pay perfectly good money for dirt is one of those things I will never understand.
“Soil,” she said. “Not dirt.”
“It’s dirt,” I said. “It’s free. It’s everywhere.”
I pictured Glen Bell with his little brother waiting at the movie theater. How long would he wait? Would they go to the movie without me? Would he just go home? I got an icky feeling in my stomach. I thought about opening the passenger door of the car when my mom stopped at a stoplight and then jumping out and running to the movie theater, but I’m kind of a slow runner. My mom would’ve definitely caught up to me in her car before I made it very far. Plus my most defining trait is that I’m not very brave, so I never would have done it anyway. If I were more brave maybe I would’ve just told my mom the truth and demanded she allow me to meet Glen for a movie. If I were more brave maybe I would’ve told my mom I knew Dad left because she told him to. That I knew she made the choice for all of us.
