Identity
“So tell us, Molly, who are you and what do you bring to our practice?”
Molly sat quietly for several minutes.
She had acquired so many titles and skills over the years: obedient daughter, loving granddaughter, straight-A student, oldest sibling, responsible babysitter, loyal friend, college graduate, wife of Sam, successful lawyer, former lawyer, mother of Jake and Jim and Jenny and Jay, dog walker, chief cook and bottle washer, laundry matron, gardener, sometimes decent home chef, dutiful caregiver, church volunteer… The list went on and on, the scope and depth of her life’s resume and all of her many accomplishments overwhelming Molly as she considered the best way to answer.
“Molly?” the interviewer’s voice interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to the room.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she stood and left the room, “but I really just don’t know.”
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Written in response to this week’s Six Sentence Stories challenge, hosted by Girlie on the Edge. Each week writers are challenged to spin a tale in just six sentences.
This week’s cue is IDENTITY.
Click on the link right here to join us. Read some great stories and link up to share your own!
Featured image by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
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6 Comments
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I hate those kinds of questions in job interviews! Who are you? What are you ? What are you passionate about? Gimme a break. Once again, so glad I’m retired!!
Great six. brought back memories. Good job.
LOL. Yeah, absolutely the worst questions. Thanks, Paul.
Nice Fabergé narrative.*
Trickier (imho) than it looks. To make, what effectively is a long list into a story, without having it, (the information in said list), become monolithic, and therefore crowding out the sense of narrative and therefore dull is the art.
Like, you know, mashed potatoes and roast beef, when you have the gravy*** to go along with it. I mean, sure, you make the potatoes into a bowl for the gravy and the meal is centered, but then, in order to enjoy it, …the gravy must run free!
What you’ve done with this Six is the same thing. The craft shows in your establishing the scene. But it’s the gravy that’s the focus of our attention. But… but! it cannot merely sit there, surrounded by mashed potatoes. It wouldn’t be a meal.
(I have a theory about how you managed this. Rhythm. Though cadence might be a better word for the way the words are presented. One of the classically difficult tricks, “this and that and this and this”… in the wrong hands…ayiie!)
Splendid Six!
* not a real term in rhetoric**
** I think, but surely it should be lol
*** and that’s real gravy, none of that au jus stuff…
Clark, once again I am floored by your feedback. Rhythm and cadence in writing – this is a HUGE thing for me. I choose (or don’t choose) words for exactly this reason. If I don’t like the sound or the feel of them, I move on to a different word or combination. I appreciate so much that you see the storytelling in the list. It’s an amazing feeling from this end of the words to say “whoa – this reader GETS me.” I thank you.
You sat us at the table. A little zig and then the zag, lol
Have to agree with what Clark said about cadence. There was a definite control thing going on. Well done, madam.
I thank you, madam, and refer you to my reply on Clark’s comment. 🙂