story: Uglypuss 

author: Margaret Atwood (pre-The Handmaid’s Tale)

year: 1983

where: london, black coffee

note: this story is featured in the phenomenal collection, Bluebeard’s Egg. It also has an intriguing POV swap near the end.

a line: “Tonight, she feels dingy, old. Soon she will start getting into the firming cream; she will start worrying about her eyelids. Beginning again is supposed to be exciting, a challenge. Beginning again is fine as an idea, but what with? She’d used it all up; she’s used up.”