Plot

This Plot Summary is going to be very vague because I have not started my story yet, as I am having a writer’s block.  I also missed class on the day you discussed this and just found out in class today that this was due (I looked back at your email and saw that I overlooked this part).

Here is a very vague outline of what I think will be my story:  If you gave us a specific structure, I am sorry that I missed it.

 

The protagonist, Margaret wants to abandon her past because she hates where she comes from.  Meanwhile, she tries to better herself by becoming more educated in order to fit in with her husband Roberto’s peers as well as her new upper middle class community.

Margaret is increasingly frustrated that she is hitting roadblocks with her education completion and realizes that she will never quite be who she wants to be.  She feels lonely because she distanced herself from everyone in her past yet she does not quite click with her new “friends”

Margaret hits a low point when she goes to a gala honoring Roberto’s Neurology Department.  She sees that Roberto shines and is so well liked by his peers.  She also notices that the women that he spends most of his time with are actually really the woman Margaret wants to be but will never be.

The next day, Margaret learns that an old friend from her old neighborhood in Philadelphia has died.  As she contemplated going to the funeral, she finds herself thinking of her old crush that was more like an obsession all through high school.  She also feels the need to surround herself with old friends.

Margaret attends the funeral and is welcomed by old friends.  There is a bit of a distance between them, but there is a strong bond through nostalgia.  Margaret’s main mission is to hunt down her old crush Mark at the funeral.

Margaret hunts down Mark and does her best to get close to him and tries her best to seduce him (which is not difficult to do).  A large group of friends go out to the local neighborhood bar after the funeral.  Margaret has plenty of drinks and stays glued to Mark, who is also married but his wife is at home caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s disease.  Mark tells Margaret to finish their conversation as the bar is closing at his brother’s apartment (which was empty because he was working a night shift as a cop).

Margaret and Mark end up hooking up and sleeping together.  Right away, Margaret compares Mark’s body to her husband’s body and is disappointed and disgusted.  Mark is very aggressive and cold in bed and it takes him what seems like forever to finish.  Margaret leaves right away and spends the night at her parent’s house before she heads back home to Westchester, NY in the morning.

Margaret is self loathing and anxious the whole ride home along the NJ Turnpike.  When she arrives home, she sees Roberto, her family, her home, her life in a very different light…

*** I am still working on the ending!!!

Scene- 7/11

Roberto was heavy eyed and yearning  for a coffee.  He had about five minutes of extra time to run into 7/11 and grab a coffee before he got on the highway headed for work.  He whipped his navy blue Subaru Outback into a parking space and noticed a long line with one cashier as he opened the brown steel and glass doors. He was instantly nauseated by the pungent scent of hot dogs; which to him, was too much to handle at 7am on a hot August morning.  He looked at the only cashier, a lanky teenage dark skinned black boy with an old school box haircut , who had to wait on a long line of straight faced, tired people that fed into the candy isle.  “Fuck it, I don’t care if I’m late.  I need coffee”, he thought to himself.  He rushed over to the coffee pots and grabbed a 16 oz gold paper coffee cup.  He welcomed the nutty aroma of the coffee as the steam crawled up his nose.  He instinctively swung his navy blue tie around his left shoulder as he poured his coffee.  He then walked to the back of the candy isle to join the line.  “OK, there are only about 6 people in front of me.  God, hurry the hell up people”, he thought to himself.

Just then, he heard a young woman’s voice pleading, ” Ma’m, sir, excuse me… Ma’m…” .  Roberto turned around and noticed a middle-aged light skinned (“Or was she maybe Puerto Rican?”, Robert wondered to himself) black woman directly behind him turning back to look at a teenage Asian girl.  The young Asian girl, who was a petite girl dressed in a McDonald’s uniform, was holding a bottle of anti-freeze in her hands and addressed both the woman directly in front of her and Roberto with an urgent tone, “Can I please cut in front of you if you are not in a hurry? I am going to be late for work!”  She raised her eyebrows and rocked her  hips back and forth as she spoke.  The middle aged woman in front of her put her hand on her hip, scowled her eyebrows and shouted “Like we all don’t have someplace to go!” She then looked at Roberto and said, “I guess some of us have all day to stand in this damn line because we have nothing better to do!”  Roberto noticed the panic on the young girl’s face.  She was flushed and holding the heavy anti-freeze bottle in one hand and and wiping the long bangs from her eyes that fell out of her pony tail with the other.  “I really don’t mind”, said Robert, shrugging his shoulders while looking at the woman behind him.  “Well I do mind! I am not letting people jump in line! Maybe I am running late.  Did you think about that? Probably not because you are only concerned with miss little cute thing here!”, exclaimed the middle aged woman.  “Relax”, said Robert as he waved his flat palm up and down.  “I was just trying to help her out”. “Well, why don’t you help me out.  Where she has to be is more important that where I have to be?’, asked the woman, with her brown eyes wide open, searing Roberto’s face.  “if I’m late I will get fired!”, commanded the girl.  “Well maybe your ass should get up and leave earlier in the morning! How about that?”  snarled the woman, before she sucked her straight white teeth.  “My God, what will it take, a minute for her to pay for that bottle?”, asked Robert, as he squinted his eyes, speaking to the woman.  “No, it will probably take about an extra hour!  This damn cashier they have working here is so damn stupid! He probably can’t even count to ten and they have him working here by himself!”

At that moment, another cashier appeared behind the counter.  “Next in line!” shouted the cashier.  Robert noticed that he was next.  He turned to the girl and pointed to the cashier and said “Go ahead, you go”.  The girl frantically ran up to the counter and slammed the anti-freeze on the counter.  “That ain’t fair!”, yelled the woman.  “No worries, this fine young man that has been efficiently handling the register since we got here will have us out in no time”, said Roberto, as he smirked and winked at the young black man.  As Roberto was inserting his debit card into the register, the young girl nudged his sleeve as she was scurrying out and said “Thank you!”  She then looked at the woman who was standing behind Roberto and said, “Karma is going to be good to everyone today!”  Roberto smiled at the young black man, as he took his receipt and said, “Well, some of us will have a great day!”  “Yea”, said the young man, smiling and nodding his head.  “Some of us!”

Characters

Character: 1 Margaret

Image: Irish American, fair skin with freckles, auburn hair, mid 40’s, petite but 20 lbs overweight

Desire: To be more educated, to have successful and happy children, to have more friends

Actions: Reads/self educates, enrolled in online college courses, joined a book club, joined the PTA

Conflict: where she comes from and who she wants to be do not intersect, she grew apart from childhood friends but does not connect/fit in with new “friends”, kids are not succeeding in school and having behavioral problems

Voice: Philadelphia accent, limited vocabulary, sarcastic, witty, dry humor

 

Character 2: Roberto

Image:Dominican immigrant, slender, short stature, olive skin, salt and pepper thinning hair, late 40’s

Desire: To connect better with his American born children, to retain his modest roots while suddenly attaining wealth, to convince his Dominican family and friends that his has not abandoned them

Actions: Learns more about American “organized” sports, tries to engage his children in his culture, Keeps abreast of American pop culture that his kids are into, visits his relatives in his old neighborhood, gets his hair cut and shops in his old neighborhood

Conflict:: Kids do not want to connect with his Dominican culture, guilt associated with being more American, old friends and family feeling abandoned by him

Voice: Dominican accent,  soft spoken, jovial

 

Dialogue

Alison was folding a pile of white t-shirts while she was watching the evening news.  She sat on her grey micro-suede sectional and placed each carelessly folded t-shirt on her brass coffee table, with the enthusiasm of a conveyor belt worker doing their third overtime shift.  Gary stared at her for a moment from the kitchen doorway.  He most admired her in her purest form: no makeup ,leggings  one of his t-shirts, and her sun-kissed caramel brown hair thrown up in a messy pony tail.  He approached her as if he were on his tip toes, but he was actually flat on his feet.  He sat down beside her, forcing her to readjust herself on what was a perfect position on the couch.  He wrapped his arms around her athletic shoulders and whispered,  “Happy anniversary baby”, as he kissed her cheek.  “Thanks”, said Alison, as she tossed another white t-shirt on top of the pile. Just then, Gary grabbed her right hand an placed a small, black velvet box in her palm.  “You deserved this ten years ago, but deserve this, and so much more today”.  Alison quickly opened the lid to the box which revealed a two carat, cushion-cut solitaire diamond, atop a yellow gold band.  “It’s nice”, she said, as she laid the box down on the coffee table.  “Come on”, said Gary quietly, “put it on your finger”.  “I know whose finger this would look great on’, she snapped.  “Face-time your mom and show it to her”, whined Gary, in a soft voice.  “She’s at work”, snapped Allison.   After a brief moment of awkward silence, “I worked on that ring for a long time.  It was either that or my head in a box.  I hope I got it right for you” he said, as he pursed his lips and laughed out of his nose.  Alison moved the ring to the side to make room to form another t-shirt pile on the table.  “Come on, try your mom.  She can take a minute to answer the phone.  She will love this ring”.   “What she would really love is your fucking head in a box”, snarled Allison, without taking her eyes off of the television.  “I can’t believe you would say something that is so hurtful”.  “Well I did”.  With that, Allison stood up and furiously looked around at both end tables and a console table.  “Where the fuck are my keys?’ “I put them on the door hook for you”.  “Please, do not do me any favors!”, said Allison, as she slid her feet into her slides and then slammed the front door behind her.

Setting

Theresa was walking across the parking lot toward the church.  She couldn’t believe that in her fifty four years of living, she had a reason to step foot inside of a Catholic Church.  She just wished that her first experience was attending a wedding rather than a funeral.  She noted that she was about to enter a rather modern church, that looked as thought it had been built withing the past thirty years, as evidenced by the absence of stone and morter from the days of old.  She was already intimidated by the massive weight of the brass door, adorned by jewel toned stained class, donning images of men, women, and children of biblical images..

Upon entering the church, she was amazed to see how the building disguised an endless ceiling, that she immediately thought of as a stairway to heaven.  The creme colored walls allowed the shiny mohogany floors and double rows of rectangular shaped pews filled with solemn faced people in dark clothes, to catch her eye.  The warm sun shining through the floor to ceiling stained glass windows gently adorned the creme colored walls with a kaleidoscope of jewels.  At the same time, the faint smell of earthy, warm, spicy smell of frankenscense welcomed her to this enchanting fortress.  At the very front of the church, a rectangular shaped large table was covered with a white cloth, topped with an amethyst, silk runner.  She recalled that table being called an alter.  Behind the Alter, there was a large, life size wooden cross topped with a statue of a man with his head wrapped in a thorned crown and large nails through his bloody palms and crossed feet.  She sat down in one of the hard pews and waited with anticipation for the coffin to make it’s way in for the ceremony.

Imagery – Prompt 5 (Scene)

Roberto opened the large metal and glass door of the art deco NYC building with one hand as he helped Margaret steady herself with the other.  It was not every day that his wife had to wear a floor length ball gown and four inch heels.  As they entered the Michelin starred restaurant, Margaret stared up at the grandiose white ceilings, embossed with gold. She admired the intimacy of the charcoal grey bottom third of the wall, with the room softly illuminated by dimly lit midcentury modern brass Sputnik Chandeliers and votive candles.  She wished that she and her husband were there to dine alone together; how lovely it would be to take pictures and document their night out at one of NYC’s most expensive restaurants on social media at her leisure.  To her dismay, she and Roberto were there to attend the celebration of Roberto’s Neurology Department’s first place ranking out of the top 100 hospitals in the nation, according to the latest survey by a reputable journal.  As the hostess led Margaret and Roberto to join their party, Margaret was preoccupied with the thought of Roberto leaving her isolated in a corner while he became engrossed in banter among his fellow physicians.  She caught a mirror on the way to the dining room and checked out her make-up. She strategically positioned her long, freshly dyed, auburn air to frame her face in order to disguise her aging, pale neck .  “Looks as good as it gets”, she thought to herself.

As they entered the private dining room, Margaret was mortified to see that she was the most overdressed woman in the room.  “What the hell, the invitation said black tie!”, she thought to herself.  “Oh why did I have to choose a floor length gown!  It is dragging on the floor! It only shows that I rented the dress and could not do alterations!” , all stormed through her mind.  All of the men were wearing black tuxedos, so her husband got it right.  The women, on the other hand, were wearing elegant, mostly tea length, evening wear.  “Oh well, I suppose it’s better than being under dressed.  “Don’t dwell on this”, she commanded to herself.  Roberto was attentive enough to Margaret to make sure she did not feel alone.  Margaret was endeared to see that while she was preoccupied with her dress, Roberto was proudly introducing her to everyone, as if she were his Helen of Troy.  Margaret knew that that was so typical of Roberto, as he is a natural optimist, with a heart like that of St. Teresa of Calcutta.  She accepts the fact that she is quite the opposite.  She takes ownership of being a natural pessimist, and while she does have a heart, it is not a heart like St. Teresa of Calcutta.

Margaret stood beside Roberto, upright, gut sucked in and smiling.  She listened to the faint melody of the champagne glasses hitting the butler’s treys and savored the fulsome, gamy smell of the tiny venison, liver, and blood sausage hors d’eouvre. Meanwhile, Roberto delved into a secret neurological jargon with his peers.  To the relief of Margaret’s feet, cocktail hour was over and the head of the Neurology Department asked the guests to go to their assigned seats.  Margaret was seated to the right of Jan, a Pediatric Neurologist, and her husband Don, a Financial Analyst.  There were two other couples at their table: Meena, a fellow Neurologist, and her husband Jaspreet, as well as another Neurologist from the department, Kevin and his wife Katie.  Jan enthusiastically shook Margaret’s hand and told her how she had been dying to meet THE Mrs. Roberto.  Jan was in her mid-40’s, she had silky, deep mohogany shoulder length hair tucked behind her ears.  Her chestnut brown eyes were so striking against her flawless, milky complexion.   “WASP”, Margaret said to herself.  “Ivy-League WASPY woman”, Margaret assumed.  “Nice to meet you as well! I have heard so many nice things about you too!”, exclaimed Margaret, lying through her teeth.  Margaret and the other woman exchanged greetings from across the large, round, white linen covered table.  Margaret awkwardly asked Jan if she had children, since she really could think of no other common ground.  “Yes”, said Jan, “a second grader and a fourth grader… and you? I heard you have a basketball team of your own! Do you work?”  “Four”, said Margaret, holding up four fingers of her fair-skinned freckled hand.  “And no, I no longer work.  I was a Respiratory Therapist what seems like a life time ago”, said Margaret, rolling her aquamarine blue eyes.  “Oh, I can only imagine you can not work.  How could you?” said Jan, as she picked apart her bread.  After a slight moment of silence, Jan immediately leaned over Margaret to tell Roberto that she was interviewing a Fellow to join her in July.

As Jan and Roberto were conversing, Margaret took notice of how little makeup Jan was wearing.  She looked around at all of the women sitting at her table and noticed that none of them had been wearing much makeup.  Their eyes had not been outlined by charcoal; rather, they were accentuated from their passionate gaze while exchanging ideas or sharing monumental accomplishments.  Margaret grasped her napkin off of her lap and managed to raise it to her mouth in spite of Jan and Roberto’s head continuing to occupy the front of her body.  She pretended to wipe her mouth as she discreetly wiped the lipstick off of her mouth.    She lowered the napkin back to her lap while covertly covering up the deep mauve that caused a crime scene upon the virgin white napkin. Roberto lovingly placed his hand upon hers.  Margaret appreciated his warm hand that cast off a green complexion against her pale pink skin.  She then looked at him, engaged in his conversation with Jan, and admired the sincere happiness that emoted from his ingenuous, big, round brown eyes.  She caught sight of the skin on the back of his neck and felt an infantile need to sniff the small patch off warm, oily, olive skin that was exposed above his white collar.  “I need just one hit”, she thought to herself.  Under the smell of cologne she longed for the familiar smell of musky oil mixed with a hint of what smelled to her like a baby’s saliva on their morning pajamas.  She could just imagine the scent penetrating her body through her nose and then nourishing her empty chest.

At that moment, Jan’s head was forced back to position, thanks to a white-gloved waiter serving Margaret from the left a small white plate topped with a sparse portion of mixed greens.  Roberto nudged Margaret with his elbow and joked, “Let’s see what million dollar lettuce tastes like!”  Margaret rolled her eyes and smirked at him.  As she sat in a rigid, upright position, she took delicate bites, and shallow breaths with her fork in her left hand, knife in her right hand.  She inconspicuously watched the way the others at the table held their forks.  Kevin stood out to her as he cleaned the back of his teeth with his index finger and then licked it.    She then looked at nothing but her plate.  As she ate, she immediately imagined what Jan’s mother must be like in comparison to hers.  She imagined Jan’s mother holding her as a baby, probably smiling with Chiclet white teeth, a sandy blond bob, and pearls around her neck.  She then thought of her mother in contrast, holding Margaret as a baby, feeding her a bottle while a lit Marlboro Red dangled from her lip.  Immediately, Margaret fast forwarded to Jan most likely moving in to her dorm at Princeton, her mom helping her move in of course.  Then she switched over to herself, twenty five years old, filling out financial aid forms to attend the Respiratory Therapist program at the local Community College.  Just then, Margaret began to imagine all those who failed her as a child as life size bobble head dolls that she could punch over and over again while watching their bobble heads furiously shake from side to side.  “How cathartic that feels to punch those faces”, she thought to herself.  Margaret then put down her utensils and pushed her olive green velvet chair away from the table as she excused herself to Jan and Roberto.  Margaret lifted up her enormous dress as she headed for the ladies room.  “These damn Spanx are going in the trash”, she said to herself.