The Model's Downfall
Julie is sitting at the table in Marlene's kitchen, talking about some T.V. movie about a girl who becomes a porn star and a drug addict. Marlene is still wearing her McDonald's uniform and looking out the window at the house across the street. She takes a deep drag on her cigarette. She started smoking when she was in her thirties in an attempt to lose weight. It didn't work, but she kept smoking. She is watching the house across the street because she wants to see the man who lives there come home. She hopes he will spend some time outside this evening, maybe do a little yard work. She knows better than to wave or try to shout out the window at him. She just wants to see him.
"They showed how it could really happen," Julie says, "She started out as a model and one thing just led to another, you know. She got hard up for money and posed naked for this one magazine. Then she ended up in dirty movies, and she got on drugs and then she was a prostitute. It was so sad. It made you think. It really made you think about how it really could happen to anybody. It was very true to life."
Marlene's feet hurt from standing, but she keeps watching, shifting from one foot to the other. The man who lives across the street filed a restraining order against her after she broke into his house the third time. Each time, he walked in to find her in his kitchen, cooking him dinner. Now she thinks she may go someplace and call him from a payphone. She could act like she was someone else. She could act like she was from the phone company, disguise her voice. Maybe he will like her voice and they will talk and flirt a while, and then they can arrange a meeting somewhere . . .
Marlene flicks her cigarette ash into the sink full of dirty dishes. "True to whose life?" she asks.
Copyright 2002 by John Clinbrohf. Permission is granted to print single copies of this story to read or share with others. The story may not be altered in any way, and must include this copyright notice.
