Friday, January 7, 2011

Magpie tale #47



 



There it was in the clearance section,the black soapstone sculpture
of a mother and her children. At least that's what I saw...motherhood.
I picked it up and as I held it in my hands it had a wonderful coolness about it and its smoothness was a tactile sensation that I was enjoying, until a young woman interrupted my lovemaking by her sudden and rude shoving of her cart, in haste, to get closer to the clearance shelf ,banging into my body causing the sculpture to slip through my fingers and fall to the floor. I watched as  the"children" broke off and skidded across the aisle. I stood there in shock, then turned to her,my eyes flaring flames of indignation.
"I'm sorry" she said halfheartedly, continuing on her hunt to the clearance.
I bent down and picked up the "kids" and held the pieces in my hand in front of her.
"I have been waiting for this to go on clearance since before Christmas,"I said ,my teeth clenched.
"Maybe you can glue it...they might even mark it down further,"she, actually, said.
I stood back,leaned my body away from her, hand on my hip and looked... at what kind of idiot would say that to me. She was about 25: fur coat, manicured nails,Coach purse in hand, her cart filled to the brim...that kind.
I put the broken sculpture pieces back on the clearance and pushed my cart away...but not before taking one last look at the idiot in the fur coat. And then I saw her pick up the pieces and put the sculpture into her cart while explaining to another woman that it was four naked people entwined...a dominant female with three submissive males at her feet. And she went on to say, that she had been waiting for it to go on clearance since before Christmas...and how wonderful it would look by her whirlpool tub... all it needed was a little glue.
I guess motherhood is not all that its cracked up to be anyway, I said to myself as I headed to the checkout.

23 comments:

  1. Wow, such different interpretations of one piece of art. I like the mother and children one best.

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  2. Very interesting! Love what you did.

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  3. Great story - and funny about the machinations of the young woman. I was interested by the folks who didn't see PEOPLE in the sculpture. But I've seen ones like this before...

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  4. Ha Suz, what a storyteller.......
    I like it!

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  5. Oh, this is so tragic-comic! First, how you interpreted the sculpture, versus the woman's interpretation. Then, how she managed to Win that piece from you. I want to laugh; I want to cry!

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  6. Great write and I love your two versions of this art piece. I have been fascinated in how others saw this; I saw people too.

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  7. Suz you nailed this with the different interperations of this piece and how we all look at life so uniquely....Great Magpie...bkm

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  8. Suz,

    I do like the ironic contrast! Nice tale.

    Trulyfool

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  9. Ha Ha! Welcome to my world!! Loved this since I've witnessed it hundreds of times. And you know the Coach purse was a knock-off or she wouldn't have been in the clearance section to begin with!

    You've made my evening!

    Rick

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  10. Suz,
    You do run into some clueless people. How do you restrain yourself? ;)
    rel

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  11. Heehee...sounds like an episode at my TJ Maxx!

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  12. I see the mother and children in it too...and I agree with Tess...this is TJMaxx to the max!

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  13. Great flash, we seem to be among the few who saw that this was a soapstone African carving, likely Shona. Mother and children, I believe, is the title of the particular piece. I once sold art sculpture for a gallery, nice work - terrible job. Regardless - I wanted to express how much I liked the write, hopefully fiction.

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  14. I like how you created a story around this piece. Mine is a bit simpler, But somewhat similar.

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  15. You're too kind ~ I think my cart would have "accidentally" rammed her in the butt and I would say "oops ~ that's okay ... you can soak your boo boo away in the whirlpool tub while admiring your new entwined naked people after you get them glued."

    But that's just me ... moody sometimes. lol

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  16. I love all you guys..you had me laughing good

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  17. sooooooooooooo good! i'm off to read more of my favorite writer!!!

    hugs, suz!

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  18. Oh my gosh. Don't you just hate it when things like that happen. Those smartie younglings sometimes just break my heart as they have no clue.

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