The Girls

The Girls

Adult fiction
"I noticed their hair first, long and uncombed. Then their
jewelery catching the sun. The three of them were far enough away
that I saw only the periphery of their features, but it didn't matter--
I knew they were different from everyone else in the park. Families
milling in a vague line, waiting for sausages and burgers from the
open grill. Women in checked blouses, scooting into their boyfriends'
sides, kids tossing eucalyptus buttons at the feral-looking chickens
that overran the strip. These long-haired girls seemed to glide above
all that was happening all around them. Like royalty in exile."
It's the summer of 1969. Evie, protagonist of Emma Cline's The
Girls, is in a state of angst, alienation, and ennui. Her parents are
divorced, her father out of the picture. Her mother, desperate for a
new husband, is dating a series of gross losers. Her crush has taken
off with his pregnant girlfriend. She and her long term best friend
are drifting apart. In September, while her peers start at the local
high school, she's getting shipped off to boarding school to shape up.
Evie's first sight of the girls is not her last. They appear
one day when her bike has broken down beyond her ability to fix it.
They invite her to load the bike into their van and visit them.
Russell would want them to be hospitable.
The ranch Evie is taken to teems with people including a cluster
of young children left to their own devices. Russell is the leader,
the guru, the one whose every whim (including sexual) must be
satisfied. He teaches his followers to abandon the outside with its
emphasis on material possessions and vanity.
"We were, Russell told us, starting a new kind of society. Free
from racism, free from exclusion, and free from hierarchy. We were in
the service of a deeper love. That's how he said it, a deeper love,
his voice booming from the ramshackle house in the California
grasslands, and we played together like dogs, tumbling and biting and
breathless with sun shock. We were barely adults, most of us, and our
teeth were still milky and new. We ate whatever was put in front of
us. Oatmeal that gummed up in the throat. Ketchup on bread, chipped
beef from a can. Potatoes soggy with PAM."
Evie becomes a habitué of the ranch. The lifestyles and aspirati
ons of her family and neighbors seem cheap and superficial in
contrast. She desperately tries to please the enigmatic Suzanne with
whom she shares a volatile intimacy. She has no idea that her
adoptive family will perform a viciously violent act that will change
their future irrevocably before the summer is over.
On a personal note, last night the weather people were making all
kinds of dire predictions: torrential rain mixed with snow. I put
off my errands, covered my blooming daffodils, and hunkered down.
While I was sleeping they downgraded to interminemt showers. That's
what we got. It may have been gray outside, but it was sunny inside.
Joey cat was having a good day. He was even able to sit on his catio
and watch cat tv. I found a new way to perk up his appetite. If I
put a cat treat on his food he'll eat the treat and some of the food.
And the beautiful Mothers Day flowers Katie gave me really brighten up
the kitchen.
A great big shout out goes out to the best little cat in the world
with hopes and prayers for many more good days.
jules hathaway




Sent from my iPod