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.”
samantha Neugebauer 