The Big Read IV: The Lottery and Other Stories -- Shirley Jackson "Elizabeth" and "A Fine Old Firm"

"Elizabeth":  Is this life?  Well, I'm depressed.

•  Her apartment reminds me of the apartment in "The Daemon Lover".  But this one has more of a presence -- it's almost a character:

...after more than four years in this one home she knew all its possibilities, how it could put on a sham appearance of warmth and welcome when she needed a place to hide in, how it stood over her in the night when she woke suddenly, how it would relax itself into a disagreeable unmade, badly-put-together state, mornings like this, anxious to drive her out and go back to sleep.

•  This story also reminds me of "The Villager".  Except the woman in "The Villager" was more successful, financially -- she wasn't living hand-to-mouth like this. 

•  This one feels really claustrophobic -- the rain keeping everyone inside, the crowded bus, the tiny apartment, the tiny office... and her dream of a "hot sunny garden, with green lawns around her and stretching as far as she could see".

•  I suspect that Robbie is gearing up to do what he did before -- to leave his partner and set up business (and "business", IF you know what I mean) with his new secretary.

•  Another Jim Harris.  This time he isn't causing any trouble -- Elizabeth is projecting all of her desires onto him.

•  Not a whole lot actually happened in the story, but I feel like maybe a lot is GOING to happen to her, soon.  And not anything positive. 

"A Fine Old Firm":  A meeting of the mothers.

•  Erm.  I feel that I might have missed something here. 

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Other reader/bloggers:

Patti at Fickle Words
Gail at Original Content
Heidi at Adventures in Multiplicity

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Previously:

"Flower Garden", "Dorothy and My Grandmother and the Sailors" and "Colloquy"
"Afternoon in Linen"
"After You, Dear Alphonse" and "Charles"
"The Witch" and "The Renegade"
"My Life with R.H. Macy"
"The Villager"
"Like Mother Used to Make" and "Trial By Combat"
"The Intoxicated" and "The Daemon Lover"
The Schedule