The Trouble with Being Born: A Novel - Softcover

Deshell, Jeffrey

9781573661416: The Trouble with Being Born: A Novel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1573661414 ISBN 13: 9781573661416

Verlag: Fiction Collective Two, 2008

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Novel, memoir, and anti-memoir, The Trouble with Being Born depicts the lives of Frances and Joe, husband and wife. Told in their own alternating voices, they recall their lives, separately and together, and the divergent trajectories of their origins and aspirations.

Frances's story moves in reverse: beginning with her dementia in old age, her narrative moves backwards into lucidity, through a cruel and loveless marriage, the birth of her son Jeffrey, and into a childhood that she recalls fondly as a time of innocence and belonging.

Joe's memories begin in childhood, a bewildered boy struggling with poverty, racism, and isolation, and we watch him grow into a manhood fraught with wrong turns, rage, betrayals, and disappointment, caring in the end for the woman he has long mistreated.

The Trouble with Being Born is a stark meditation on memory and the struggle–both necessary and impossible–to remember.

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�ber die Autorinnen und Autoren

Jeffrey DeShell is the author of the novels In Heaven Everything is Fine, S & M, and Peter: An (A)Historical Romance.

Auszug. � Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN

By JEFFREY DeSHELL

FC2

Copyright � 2008 Jeffrey Deshell
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57366-141-6

Chapter One

Mother

Sunshine ... everyone open your books ... I did my best ... hair ... my hair ... hands on my head washing ... don't yell ... stop yelling ... who is this Frances is this your son ... ditto cabbage head ditto ... mother ... we'd better get back ... stop it Joe ... a pinwheel in the light ... cotton candy ... he called me pretty ... handsome ... I have to feed the chickens ... I don't believe so ... how much do you weigh ... three hundred pounds ... counting ... Fulbright ... he chased me on a horse trying to knock me down ... hotdog ... sunshine outside ... it hurts ... where is my mother ... breast ... three times seven is twenty one four times seven is twenty eight ... Jay brought over some of Ted's clothes ... maybe you could ... leave him alone ... I hoped we'd have a sister but your dad ... mistakes ... washing dishes I'm so tired ... blond boys next door playing with yellow trucks ... shame on you shame on me ... Aunt Helen ... don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me ... skating ... toes cold I have to go to the bathroom ... Chinese chicken salad ... don't like coke ... Lucky Strike means fine tobacco ... too fat ... peas milk and purple juice ... it hurts ... stooped shoulders ... he was ashamed ... of me ... Billy Graham ... Steve ... alone ... don't eat it if you don't like it ... pork chop fried chicken mashed potatoes ... outside ... sunshine ... and ... can't ... remember ... John Elway ... south girls won ... what to cook tonight ... so many flowers red and white carnations yellow daisies blue columbines ... he was allergic to dust ... always a good boy ... red Jell-O ... no thank you ... no thank you ... Doctor Mastro ... you should eat something in the morning ... how much did you spend ... my brother offered me a ride back to the house on the tractor ... why did he make Star scream ... stop it you two stop fighting or I'm leaving ... Dominic and his girls ... maybe you could try computers or something ... it took me hours to fix dinner and you gobble it up in five minutes ... let me stand up ... horse pills ... make the coffee ... her hands on my head a little water running down my neck ... white linen ... Archie Bunker ... does she recognize you ... Frances Patterson 11145 Route 6 Barry Illinois ... is that you ... Wal-Mart Kmart King Soopers Safeway ... I love you too Jeff ... what is her name ... ouch ... ouch ... playground duty ... mimeograph machine I like the smell ... a hateful face ... she always cleans her plate ... you need to write a thank-you note ... what have I done ... five is aqua blue seven is pearl white three is pale rose ... I don't like to drive the blue car ... Auntie Virginia was here ... I looked up Budapest on the map ... why didn't they put his picture with the description ... I'll get the wooden spoon ... I smell funny ... I'm tired of spaghetti every Sunday ... our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name ... no I don't want any wine ... they have a big motor home and they drive everywhere ... I finally bought a new coat it was on sale ... I'm tired ... oh a run in my stocking ... your hair used to be so curly ... we'll have to take out a loan for tuition ... I don't know Joe I don't know ... the new riverwalk down where Ted's shop used to be ... this is what a gimlet tastes like ... a lump in my breast ... can you remember what day it is Frances ... Folger's is almost a dollar more ... Columbo sure is smart ... this sweet corn is tasty ... April May June July ... Jimmy wants to be a fireman and drive a firetruck ... I looked at the teacher's directory and I didn't recognize anyone but Mrs. Anderson ... Mrs. Haslett at the Minnequa Bank ... your scout trip back east ... why did you tear up my flowers you old mean man you mean old cabbage head ... you're very welcome Frances ... we don't have the money ... did you remember your trombone ... good night sleep tight until we meet again ... I'm hungry I'm always hungry ... I can't remember what that thing is called ... my underwear is sticky ... move down the hall ... the woman who smiles has apples on her desk ... cereal has gotten so expensive ... visit my cousin Harry ... my brother's wife had red hair and died soon after ... Mrs. Tate across the street ... all he talks about is the war ... I like the chicken tacos here ... I know where you've been you smell ... Jeff writes books ... blue is hot and red is cold ... come here Star come here little doggie ... father was exhausted from digging twelve hours a day ... the only boy in my elementary education class ... Flo and I took the Greyhound all over ... the television is broken ... my leg hurts ... where is her baby she had it yesterday ... I like that colored man on 60 Minutes ... Babe would buy all those fireworks it took hours to set them all off ... my mother will be angry ... a house exactly like our house ... I did my best but I made mistakes ... I'm right here stop yelling ... Pueblo is hot and dry ... where is my lipstick ... I can't find anything anymore ... life is just a bowl of cherries ... don't drive so fast ... I don't want to ... my girdle is tight ... who are you ... nuttier than a fruitcake ... my doll had black hair ... fried chicken ... I never cared for Johnny Carson ... sprained both of my ankles ... those kids with their drugs ... ask Mrs. Elizando if you can please borrow four eggs ... I'll go in early to put up the bulletin board for Thanksgiving ... I have to give Jeff his allergy shot ... home made vanilla ice cream at the church ... Aunt Helen didn't like him at all ... move over here move out of the way ... what are those flowers called ... it hurts ... left breast prosthesis ... .new carpet and new furniture ... hello Frances ... color the map so that the states next to each other are different colors ... Jay bought these dresses for me ... brush your teeth ... I'm hungry ... it hurts ... the chickens scared him and he fell in some pooh ... who was that on the phone ... are my parents dead ... what is that ... please stop ... do I look okay ... go back downstairs ... amber necklace from Turkey ... my birthday ... out of the way ... I wish you were dead cabbage head ... we will come rejoicing ... took me to the movies ... he was being nasty ... stand up straight ... say you're sorry Larry ... this restaurant is expensive ... I don't understand computers ... Mexicans blacks and women ... I don't think he's well ... I thought my husband paid you ... how many times are you going to read that paper ... would you like something to eat I have sausage baloney pepperoni and Zoelsman's bread ...

Chapter Two

Father

"Frankie. Frankie. Go down to Summit and get me three shorties from Giarantano's, wouldja? Here's a buck. Come back and I'll give ya a quarter. You and your brother can go to the movies or something." "Yes sir." "That's a good kid. You dress nice. You hurry, maybe I toss in an extree nickel. For some soda pop. But don't let nothing happen to the shorties."

Jazzy. Me and Babe can go to the pictures after he gets home from violin practice and we eat. I hope Mama's feeling better. She ain't been the same since she had Dorie. Ange can't make the gravy like Mama. I'm hungry, too.

I like going to Giarantano's for the booze. When I walk back with the paper bag, everyone knows where I've been, and everyone knows I can be trusted. Even though I'm just a kid I look like a big shot. There goes Frankie Fruscella, he's...

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