#539 The Store- Edward P. Jones

#539 The Store- Edward P. Jones

Al was a normal twenty year old. He had a job after graduating high school (he called it a slave) but that only lasted till now. He was living with his mother and in no hurry to get another “slave” anytime soon. But his brother made him feel guilty about being a drain, and his mother, as only mothers can do encouraged him to apply for a job as a corner store clerk.

“Each Monday morning, like a whipped dog that stayed because he didn’t know any other master but the one that whipped him, I was at the store’s front door, waiting for her to open up.”

He never did quit, and before long he got his own apron, got small raises and eventually got part ownership. He was responsible and a staple in the community, but as things are, that wasn’t enough. His relationship didn’t work out and the store was closing down. Thankfully sometimes hard work pays off, and its time to take the next step.

Jones does a great job at writing literature that sounds like a chronicling of real life. This could be a real oral history of a real corner store in D.C. It doesn’t bowl you over with excitement, or hit you with strong emotion, but it remains as something very real.

Rating: 9-8-8-8 Total= 33

#482 Foes- Lorrie Moore

#482 Foes- Lorrie Moore

Imagine being at a high-class function, and not only does the person you’re talking to seem oblivious to the sarcastic way you are talking but also seems to be diametrically opposite of your core political leanings. You try to bring the tense moments around with humor but they either don’t take the lifeline or they have no desire to be pleasant.

“Now would not be the time to speak of timing. It would be unlucky to speak of luck. Could he speak of people having things they didn’t deserve, in a room full of such people?”

Baker is an author of a recent George Washington biography and has been invited by a literary magazine to be at their fundraiser. His job as a famous writer is to sit at the table and charm the guests that are paying $500 a plate. He gets stuck in this heated discussion with a self-proclaimed “Evil Lobbyist.” Sounds like loads of fun.

I did find this description of Washington DC to be pretty on-point: “An ostentatious company town built on a marsh—a mammoth, pompous chit-ridden motor vehicle department run by gladiators. High-level clerks on the take, their heads full of unsound sound bites and falsified recall.”

Rating: 8-8-7-7 Total= 30