Capote is God: a fiction exercise: revised

She has no idea why she’s taking this so personally. When she was a young teenager, In Cold Blood was in The New Yorker. Leanna and her mother devoured it as they had Light in the Piazza and so many other books. When Madeline was young is based on and pays homage to Light in…

Made up for the horrible play,Light in…the musical, that everybody else loved. Leanna’s boyfriend still imitates her screaming into his ear “the levees, the levees, how the hell can people enjoy themselves…those drunken lush asshole women behind us, from the Peachtree state as they keep saying, should have some empathy for fellow Southerners.”

Later Matt told her that people might be pretending to have fun because they had bought the tickets months earlier or were on a long anticipated vacation Leanna didn’t buy that. She had been in Torquay, England and had to take a bus 30 miles to Plymouth to buy anInternational Harold Tribune when Flight 800 had gone down on Long Island in 96, two days before her birthday. She had known five people from two separate families, who were killed, and that might have been the reason she became depressed. And angry at the British people in Torquay for thinking it not important.

The Englishmen she had been traveling with thought her a bad sport to become depressed. Even watching the English people with bad teeth line dance hadn’t cheered her up, and usually that was an instant mood enhancer.

Leanna listened to herself. With a mind like hers who needs friends? Well, everybody, and somehow Leanna has been obsessed with the idea that she would have met Capote had he lived. She can’t remember the first time she read Breakfast at Tiffany’s but will never forget reading his Christmas with Aunts stories. It amazed her that he had aunts. She had been very young then, and somehow couldn’t imagine writers outside of context.

It doesn’t matter where a book is placed. It only matters that people read it. No it doesn’t. It’s not new, it’s 40 years old and Capote has been dead for over 20 years. No wonder people have no understanding of or respect for history.

When she crosses the street she’s almost run over by a Chinese restaurant deliveryman on a bike. Asshole,” she silently mouths, and then feels guilty because he’s probably illegal and sleeps on the floor in a room with 20 other men. A second later, she’s angry because he wasn’t looking. Neither was she, but she had the light, and that should count for something in New York, home to the most amount of pedestrians.. It never does.

Tower is closing? There are huge signs all over the store. Makes sense when she thinks about it. But still, it was an institution for a decade or so a decade ago.

A Target or Nordstroms would be nice. She’s still never been in either. Lincoln Center would be a great area for either. Leanna feels guilty because she should be dreaming of some home spun store. New York for and by New Yorkers. Novel concept. Leanna’s friends, even Matt totally rational human thought New York had been invaded by non-native very very rich people who were determined to remake New York into an image imprinted on their brains of what New York should be. A boring shell of itself.

The Eurotrash back in the 80’s knew their place. They hung at Le Relais on Madison between East 63rd and 64th, and other Upper East Side restaurants with bar scenes occasionally scurrying to different parts of town.

Leanna has grown up with modern New York. At first the changes were exciting. Then they were too much. But she still has the natives reverence for blocks that haven’t changed since the 20’s. Or really any person who loves good mixed architecture. The Upper West Side can have five distinctly different styles on each block.

When she gets home she looks at her 2004 copy of In Cold Blood One of the ways Random House had celebrated its anniversary was by reissuing it, in its original type face. Just as the 40th Anniversary edition was issued this year.