Self-Review – Getting Over It

It is Time to Look at Getting Over It

This story, Getting Over It is…weird. Yeah, that is one good word for it.

I wrote this story during the third quarter of 2016. It was for a mental health anthology that, alas, never came to fruition.

Background

I had wanted to write something or other to get into this particular anthology. But this is not a great effort from me. The truth is, the better story is No Trip to Jupiter. But even then, I may be damning with faint praise.

Plot

From the start of her junior year, the narrator starts watching a construction crew at her school, who are building a new school building. Quickly, she becomes obsessed with a hardhat who she names Curtis. She attributes wealth and status to a man who does not know she exists.

Eventually, the only way she can even start getting over it is to start on medication.

Characters Who are (Maybe) Getting Over It

The characters are the narrator; her Spanish teacher, Mrs. Murphy; a construction worker who she dubs Curtis; and the rest of the construction crew and her mostly unseen classmates.

Memorable Quotes

I have decided his name is Curtis. He looks like a Curtis, with his cute beer belly and his hardhat and boots and sunburn and scruffy cheeks. I think I love him.

But I should start from the beginning. It is my junior year, and this is the last year anyone will go to school in this actual building. A new school is being built next door. When we started the semester a few weeks ago, the foundation was already poured – I think – and the area was being dug up, maybe for the plumbing. I’m not sure. That’s when I spotted him. He was driving a back hoe and he was carefully moving dirt around. He turned the machine and must have seen me, because he smiled and waved. I think he even winked at me!

So you know we go from classroom to classroom and seventh period Spanish is held in a room with windows that look out over the new construction.

I get to watch Curtis every day, while he runs the back hoe or grabs a shovel and digs in with the other guys or eats a late lunch. He’s a nice guy; it’s obvious, because he is so much better than the other workers but he’s a good person so he lets them eat lunch with him.

Genre and Overall Mood

The genre is contemporary fiction. The mood is warped and should 100% give off a proto-stalker vibe. But the girl is young and I know my initial intention was to give her a crush that had gotten out of hand.

However, it is entirely possible that these days we would consider her potentially to be a danger to herself and others. After all, throughout the entire story, she never wavers from her own firm beliefs.

Nothing will crush or change her inner narrative or her overall world view. Never mind that she cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Perhaps she never could.

Rating

The story has a K rating. The narrator is weird and loopy but more or less harmless. More or less.

Takeaways

A good decade later, and I am unsure as to what, exactly, I was going for with this one. This story is odd and feels like it was poorly and hastily executed. It just plain does not have much of a point to it. Ah, well.

Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then I hope you will check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

And finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.