.. vim: set syntax=rst nosmartindent spell spelllang=en_us: ### Viv ### note: the hierarchy for sections is ####, ++++, ====, ----, ~~~~. The gilded cage epoch +++++++++++++++++++++ Viv goes to the library with her daughters ========================================== * Genevieve is married, rich, mother, and utterly bored. She had begun a career as an attorney at one time, but she and her husband moved to another town for his career. She doesn't meet many other folks. * She feels like a prisoner in a fancy prison. She wants freedom instead of comfort and status. * Adelaide shines at motherhood. * Adelaide has some physical deformity or scar, but she dresses so impeccably she never shows it, and never seems discouraged about it or ashamed about it. * Viv and Adelaide become inseparable. * Viv and A talk about sex. Viv says G wants it less than she does. * A says she makes it a point to pull out the nice lingerie. * Viv says how that’s not the same as wanting to have sex though -- that’s another instance of A having to make everything almost perfect. Then she sees A’s face and A is clearly hurt. And Viv feels awful. * A is hurt for several reasons. She only has mostly has sex with her husband because he complains otherwise. A feels sad her marriage is mostly for show. * Viv tries to apologize and change the subject. Adelaide in the hospital ======================== Viv is in the hospital with her closest friend Adelaide. Adelaide asks how the office party went and Viv says how it went, and also points out how silly it all seemed. * At the dinner party, somebody asked where Genevieve is from and she replied and they wanted to know why she doesn't have an accent. * And then they assume all this stuff about her political views. Viv says something later to Adelaide like "they're not wrong about my politics, but I'll never admit it." Viv and Del could talk about how they met, in the park, and Viv can be candid about how she felt at the time. She is home with her daughter and she feels isolated. So she puts on nice clothes and goes to the park. At the park, her daughter fusses, so she picks her up. Next her daughter promptly vomits all over her. Her daughter is an innocent child, but looks just like her husband. That day, a mother, Adelaide, married to a associate of her husband, is also at the park. Adelaide helps Viv clean up. In the hospital, Viv says something like how Del made the last few years livable, while she plays happy homemaker. Adelaide says something like how she keeps going backwards through all her life's memories. It feels like she's searching through papers for a note she wrote down somewhere. Maybe a phone number. Adelaide says she knows it's pointless, but she keeps searching for something that will make this make sense. She says it feels involuntary. Like there's a part of her brain screaming that somehow something is going to happen at the last minute and reset everything to how it should be, but only if she figures out what happened to mess everything up. "Do I need to apologize to the stray cats that I didn't foster?" She tells Viv "live your fuckin life because this... " at this point she glanced over at the door, "this is at the end." Then Adelaide says "live your fuckin life, Vee.” Numbness epoch ++++++++++++++ .. include:: fuzzing-edges-with-joe.txt .. include:: ranting-to-joe.txt Garrett reaches out ==================== In this one, she can tell he is trying to have sex with her. Maybe not so much because he wants to have sex, but because he wants to repair their relationship and rebuild some intimacy. She goes along with it. At one point, she notices he is actually really engaged, not going through his foreplay checklist like he usually does. Then she is a little apprehensive. She realizes she is getting very emotional. During, she is getting really sad. Sad that she isn't who she wants to be with. Sad that she is lying to her husband, who is generally a very good person. She cums, really hard, and her guts hurt after. He talks about how he feels optimistic. They talk. She describes feeling like her life is a waste. She talks about how they met in law school. At some point, Garrett gets angry. "I don't think you are capable of contentment. I don't think you can be satisfied. Nothing is ever enough for very long." Viv thinks to herself about how Garrett married her because Viv does a lot for his image. She had spent all night charming their guests, raising money for the campaign. Being on. And so he fucked her as a reward for being so well behaved. And now he’s sleeping, or reading, or working, and she feels this colossal loneliness and emptiness inside. Fighting over their lives ========================= Viv wants to go to an art opening for her low-life friends on the same night that her husband Garrett wants her to attend some benefit so he can network. They argue and it turns into a fight about how unhappy she is with everything. Viv goes alone. This is how she meets Mas. Affair epoch ++++++++++++ Joe's show =========== Viv meets Masanobu at Joe's show. She sees Mas's stuff as well and loves it. Viv meets Mas at his studio. She sees his stuff. She sees something new. Mas and Viv talk. She says she feels unwanted at home. Mas says he wants her. Viv says that hearing him say that feels really good. Mas and Viv see each other again. .. include:: in-bed-with-mas.txt They fuck in his studio. She is totally smitten with him. A dealer has been mentioning for years how he has some collectors that are very interested in one piece she has -- a painting by Judith Greene -- that was one of the first things she ever bought, and she bought it way before Judith Greene made it big. Viv sells the painting to the dealer on the condition that he get Mas an exhibition in his gallery. He paints more. She sets up another gallery show for him. This time she goes out of her way to pull in everyone she can to be there. Some writers talk about what he is doing as really new. His stuff takes off. She helps him plan a show in California. She reads about it. It is a huge hit. The heartbreak epoch ++++++++++++++++++++ Mas calls Viv at home ===================== She is thrilled at first. This is so bold for him. They talk and she says how happy she is, and how he is such a brilliant artist, and she knew he just needed to get in front of the right people. She talks about how she has been clipping articles about his show. Then he tells her he is going to Japan. And he says he is not coming back. She won't accept it. She says she has to see him before he goes away. They meet in an airport because he has a layover. They meet at an airport bar. She says it doesn't feel right that he is going away. He says he doesn't love her. He barely even knows her. He says something like how they were both lonely and grabbing onto each other. He says she is the saddest person he has ever known. The night after Mas flies away, Viv goes to a bar. * This is the same night as the "I clocked out early tonight" short story. Viv gets grabbed by an older guy, she tries to get free from his grip while he laughs, she trips him and falls on top of him, and starts punching his face until she gets pulled off of him. She breaks her hand during the incident. She goes home and tells Garrett what happened at the bar. He starts off sympathetic but then is quiet. She says that he is more worried about how this will affect his fund raising if word gets out than the fact that she was attacked. He says it wouldn't help if the papers describe his wife as fighting in bars. They walk away from each other. Time passes and her hand slowly heals for the most part, but not all the way. Viv doesn't forget about Mas. She wonders if she is just unable to find contentment with anything. Viv realizes she and her husband lead divergent lives. His biggest concern is his career and it depends on him looking like an upstanding member of society. Viv knows that a divorce would really mess up his image. So she plays the hostess and then sneaks off to get high with Joe. Viv sees Joe again ================== She gets high and watches him paint. This time she explains how she has always had these three rules for her life: 1. Be almost perfect 2. Get hers first 3. Don't complain about the ending She says she broke rule #2 when she married Garrett and stayed home and supported him. And she broke it again when she sold her fucking Judith Greene to get Mas in that show. Joe says that her rules are the saddest thing he's ever heard. Viv mentions that she wonders if her husband married him for cover. Like she is an ornament. Her background added a little bit of an edge to his image. She describes how one time she visited him at work and saw how there were several young guys at his office that looked up to him. And one seemed to hang on his every word. But when Viv watched Garrett interact with him, she realized it was nearly mutual. They loved each other. "The whole thing reminded me of gay romance in a sailing vessel. Shit -- Garrett does like to sail with those guys! "I'm not sure if he's actually gay or not. I mean this is a guy that chases goals set in front of him with such intensity that I don't think he would even notice if he were attracted to men. It would seem like a distraction. The anger epoch +++++++++++++++ Garrett and Viv host a fundraiser while Joe gets arrested ========================================================= In the middle of a dinner party with a bunch of VIP's, Joe's ex-girlfriend calls Viv and tells her he got arrested. Viv is outraged. She surprises herself with just how mad she gets, and how protective she becomes. She is scared for Joe. Ironically, people at the dinner party are the folks pushing the police to be tough on crime. Viv contacts somebody who she worked with years ago, a mediocre criminal defense attorney. Viv had let her license expire, but she writes the documents and then gets her old friend to submit them. By eavesdropping on her husband's friends, Viv discovers a crooked behavior where the police are essentially robbing small-time drug dealers, and the prosecutors drop all charges as long as she doesn't share what she discovered. Viv keeps her own name out of the documents and uses her old friend's firm for everything. She feels like a total badass when Joe is released. Joe thanks her profusely and says he is leaving town immediately. Numbness epoch #2 +++++++++++++++++ The prosecutors ultimately discover Viv's role after she gets charges dropped in another case. They tell Viv's husband how Viv had been seen with Joe before his arrest. He confronts her about Joe. Viv says that she's been fucking him for years. Viv embellishes the truth to hurt him. She can tell he is hurt, beyond just worried about his career. Her husband says something that is similar to what Mas said about her. Loving her was the biggest mistake of his life because she'll never be happy. She's got a hole in her heart and everything leaks out. She's a vampire. Viv feels like she's defective, like she hurts people who care about her. Her husband and her barely speak for the next few weeks. He comes home one day and says it is over. Freedom epoch +++++++++++++ Viv moves out. She discovers her husband replaces her very quickly. Her daughters ignore her. She looks for a new way to cure her boredom and to make money. She does more legal work with the guy she contacted after Joe's arrest. The pay is laughably bad, but she loves it. She humiliates some slum lords in court. She digs back into the details surrounding Joe's arrest. She discovers rampant corruption. She prepares more documents to challenge other sentences. At night, she sits outside and stares at the stars. She visits Adelaide's grave and says how she has this recurring fantasy where she sees Mas driving the opposite way. She imagines stomping the gas pedal into the floor and smashing into him, killing them both. She says how she thinks Mas really never loved her but just used her. She misses Joe. She misses Mas. She misses Adelaide. Viv runs into Mas again ======================= It is after they lost touch. She says something like she feels incomplete without him now. He says they were friends, and they were more than friends, and it wasn't a good idea to continue. She says something like "You could have at least said goodbye! Do you know what it was like for me, waking up, trying to call you, to see you, and you're just gone?" He doesn't reply. Viv says something like how he used her. He played with her heart and used her to get into the galleries. She says something like he's a whore. He fucked her and she paid him for it by launching his career. She says something like, "At least a whore is up front about it" and then he says how she was a dishonest tramp from a small town, and he treated her like she deserved to be treated. .. include:: viv-blinked.txt She visits Adelaide's grave =========================== Viv says she feels like a dog that doesn't understand her owner is never coming home. She keeps waiting and waiting. Viv tells Del she is mad at her for getting sick and dying. And extra mad for keeping her pain secret all that time. Viv says she misses Del. And she misses Mas too. Even though he probably was just using her. She misses Joey as well. She wonders if this is all some punishment for betraying her husband. Characters ++++++++++ Genevieve (Viv, Vee) ==================== She's "me", the protagonist. She was a free spirit. Then got married. She's older now and bored. Viv has three rules of adultery: 1. Be the almost perfect spouse. Don't give your husband any reason to suspect anything. 2. Get yours. This ain't the time or place for generosity. Those were Dell's last words after. 3. Sooner or later, we all get what's coming. Her Husband Garrett =================== Genevieve admires him. He's a decent person. He just is kind of controlling and obsessed with his career and social status. He loves Genevieve, but there's a "Henry Higgins / Eliza Doolittle" subtext as well. He loves how she is something he can mold. He needs (or thinks he needs) an attractive wife to succeed in his life goals. He's maybe gay, maybe just too motivated by his goals. He looks at Viv's relative lack of ambition compared to him with contempt. She wants to relax and enjoy life. He wants to conquer everything. Her lover, Masanobu Shohei Ooka Tamura ====================================== I'm taking the name from that book Fires on the Plain, about that WW2 Japanese soldier that is told to kill himself, but doesn't do it. His name was Private Tamura. The author's name is Shohei Ooka. This is the fellow she meets in the down below. She's out thrill-seeking and finds him. She falls for him, hard. Then he decides he can't see her any longer. Of course she's fuckin wrecked by this. Joe === Joe and Viv have known each other since they were kids. He's Genevieve's dealer. They've hooked up a few times, but really, he's kind of an old-fashioned guy, and not the type that can just be friends. So instead of that, they get high together in his dingy old house and she talks about frustrations. Mostly, Genevieve talks Joe out of stupid ideas and listens to him talk about his failed attempts at romance and listens to his weird music. Joe's ex girlfriend =================== Genevieve works with her to help find Joe. There's a scene where Viv says "you really DO have awful taste in music". Setting +++++++ I'm thinking this is in some time before smartphones, maybe even when dial-up internet was just getting started. So, the middle 1990s or so. Timeline ++++++++ * Viv meets Adelaide * They become best friends * Adelaide dies, telling Viv that it just isn't fair. * Garrett ignores Viv, becomes very focused on career * Viv smokes more often with Joey * Viv meets Mas * Viv and Mas sleepe together * She helps his career by selling her Judith Greene paintings * Mas has a show, sells some work, gets a lot of positive press, starts getting more attention. * They meet again, and then Viv feels elated. They go at it in his studio. * Viv tells Garrett she is done. Garrett wants her to * Mas avoids Viv. * Mas and Viv meet up again, and Mas says how they can't see each other. This is the scene that I wrote named something like "Viv felt herself getting angry". * A few days later is the moment when Viv goes to Prehistory, gets drunk, and beats up the Charles Bukowski character. * Viv hosts the fundraiser party for Garrett's campaign. She gets a call from Joey's ex girlfriend explaining how he's been arrested.