Jul 2, 2009

Why I Live at the P.O.

Come the Fourth of July, I can't help but think of Eudora Welty's 1941 short story,
"Why I Live at the P.O." It's one of my very favorites.
Here's the beginning:

"I WAS GETTING ALONG FINE with Mama, Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again. Mr. Whitaker! Of course I went with Mr. Whitaker first, when he first appeared here in China Grove, taking "Pose Yourself" photos, and Stella-Rondo broke us up. Told him I was one-sided. Bigger on one side than the other, which is a deliberate, calculated falsehood: I'm the same. Stella-Rondo is exactly twelve months to the day younger than I am and for that reason she's spoiled..."

If you haven't already, read the rest here

(which I'm pretty sure no one will...but anyway...)

5 comments:

Muscato said...

Such a fabulous, fabulous story. Ever since a certain Simpsons episode, the phrase "Coming, Eudora!" has become a catchphrase in my circle...

And doesn't every family have a Stella-Rondo?

jason said...

yeay! you read it.
And indeed....every family does.

larry said...

she's a great writer! like her...

Ur-spo said...

I remember this story for school; we had a recording of it; I thought it hilarious to the point I was choking.

jason said...

Ah, urspo....I did my own interpretation of it for class,
complete with voices.

They especially liked my Papa Daddy.

Though I seemed to make him sound a bit too much like Foghorn Leghorn. My reading it was the only way they seemed to get the humor.