Beam Us Home (this world misses her...)

[AlienGirl]

Today, May 19, is the anniversary of the death of my favorite writer, James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon). In 1987, her bedridden husband decided he was sick of the pain, and she could not imagine living without him, so they drank a last glass of really good wine; and then she shot him, lay down on the bed next to him, and shot herself. They were found holding hands. She left behind a suicide note she'd written thirteen years earlier.

I remember hearing the news. I was in junior-high art class, doing something with clay. The radio announced the death. Nobody else in my class had ever heard of her, and no one else cared. I had been a fan since I was nine and read "Painwise" in an anthology. I always had the feeling that if I could just sit down and ask her what it all means, and how to survive it, she would know.

I encourage you to go read the story "Beam Us Home." Here is an excerpt:

"It's such a mess," she heard him whispering. "It's such a shitting miserable mess mess mess MESS MESS—"

He was pounding his hand on the car side.

"I'll hose it," said Dog, but then she saw he didn't mean the car.

"Why does it have to go on and on?" he croaked. "Why don't they just stop it? I can't bear it much longer, please, please, I can't—"

Dog was scared now.

"Honey, it's not that bad. Hobie, honey, it's not that bad," she told him, patting at him, pressing her soft front against his back.

Suddenly he came back into the car on top of her, spent.

"It's unbearable," he muttered.

"What's unbearable?" she snapped, mad at him for scaring her. "What's unbearable for you and not for me? I mean, I know it's a mess, but why is it so bad for you? I have to live here too."

"It's your world," he told her absently, lost in some private desolation.

Alice as a child, saying goodbye to her beloved Africa

Tucker

[miss_american_pie]

1. ...

:hug:

[AlienGirl]

2. Kicking, so people will see this

:kick: