Cat Lady on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat Lady on a Hot Tin Dolls House - Chapter Sevenb

THE FOURTH LECTURE 2/17/2066 - Eudora Welty "At the Landing"

After describing Welty's childhood In Jackson Mississippi and her Pulitzer prize for "The Optimist's Daughter," Professor Fuchs spoke of how Welty certainly never endorsed violence against women, but in numerous works seems to have treated sexual assaults as something like bad weather that one just had to learn to live with.

"At the Landing" was the shortest work of those Professor Fuchs assigned. In her lecture, she stated, "I gave you a break insofar as 'At the Landing' is only about eighteen pages long, but the story is rather difficult and sad. Also, while all the other readings for this class have centered on relatively wealthy upper-class women, Jenny, the protagonist of 'At the Landing' is a poor girl in a poor town where is seems nothing much is going on except fishing. Of particular interest is the attitude of everyone, apparently even of Welty, to what appears to be a gang rape.

"In 'At the Landing,' Welty writes that Jenny is 'violated' by a young man, Billy Floyd. Welty is generally vague in her terminology about sexual violence, but I think we know what 'violated' means here. In any event, this violation apparently did not reduce Jenny's love for Billy Floyd. But he leaves her after the violation. Later, Jenny waits for Floyd to return. Welty writes:

'She asked the fishmen to let her wait there with them since it was to them that he would return. They said it did not matter to them how long she waited, or where.

...

But after a certain length of time, the men that had been throwing knives at the tree by the last light put her inside a grounded houseboat on the plank of which chickens were standing. The branches hung down over and dragged softly back and forth across the roof. There were noises and fires all around There were pigs in the wood.

One by one the men came to her. ...

By the fire, little boys were slapped crossly by their mothers -- as if they knew the original smile now crossed Jenny's face, and hug there no matter what was done to her, like a bit of color that kindles in the sky after the light has gone.'

"No one seems much to care about what is happening to Jenny in the houseboat. The women in the fishing village do nothing. Moreover, Jenny does not seem to care as far as we are told," the professor said.

Professor Fuchs did not assign a paper to the class that week.

THE SEMINAR at the Talmadge Mansion on "At the Landing"

Emily Fuchs was not shocked any more by the calm reaction of the women at the seminar to things that she found shocking.

Emma, as usual, came through in saying bluntly what some of the conservative women were thinking. "To call a spade a spade, Jenny has a sad story as an orphan but she's pretty much naïve white trash living in the middle of nowhere. Being ravished is what you'd expect to happen to a naïve girl with no one to protect or control her. No one being too upset about it is hardly surprising either under the circumstances. I mean she moves in with a bunch of fishermen with nothing to contribute and nothing to do but wait for a guy to come back who is not attached to anything much himself."

"All I can say is yech, blech, sick, very sad," Codi said.

"Pretty much shows to me that Welty did not know about rape culture. The fact it happened in a rural area does not make it any better," Blake offered.

"I don't think it is reasonable to impose our ideas of what is proper on a poor society of over a century ago," Sophia offered.

Nora said, "Frankly, leaving out the fact that we can't appreciate the setting, I don't see that Jenny did anything different from what most women do. She allowed herself to be used as a sex object in order to survive. Welty does not draw it out but what support did Jenny have to live? So, she let herself be violated by Billy and when Billy took off there was nothing to do but find other men to support her. She became the comfort woman of all the fisherman in exchange I guess for chicken and presumably fish,"

Nora added, "Is a woman who marries who she has to marry because her family says so or she needs the money because her parents won't support her if she stays single any different morally? Is a man who has sex with his wife knowing she was economically forced into the wedding any better than the fishermen?"

"You are reading much into the story that isn't there," Emily said.

"Nobody said that you had to marry Woods," Virginia blurted out.

"STOP." Emily said, "let's stay with the subject of Welty and 'At the Landing.'"

"Anyway, I have to agree with Nora," Madison said, "as to life, even if maybe the choice is not clearly presented in the story. Sometimes we just have to cooperate to survive. Is it all that much different to do sex work we might not have wanted than to do other kinds of messy work?"

Crimson and Kimmy nodded in agreement with Madison. "Jenny is rather passive through the whole story," Crimson said. "She accepts what comes to her whether it is deaths in the family or men taking her. I guess a lot of women are like that. It just looks squalid in the setting Welty used."

"I suspect," Christine said, "that but for women like Jenny who just accepted what came to her, a lot of us would not be here today."

Blake replied, "But probably we would also not be here if every woman were like that. Humanity needs strong women, not just passive breeders. Are these bastard fishermen or Billy going to support Jenny when she's pregnant or Jenny and the child she'll eventually have?"

"For once" Avery said, "I have to agree with Blake. Jenny has drifted into a situation where she has no security. She's not like a wife who marries for money because she isn't going to get any money from the fisherman. Unlike the rich husband, Billy and the fisherman have used her for sex without agreeing to support her."

"And it is okay if Billy and the fisherman screw lots of other women as long as they continue to support Jenny?" Nora said perhaps intentionally taking a cut at Avery.

"I did not say that, but it is better to be supported than not to be supported," Avery answered.

Over dinner, it was learned from Nora that Robert Gelt and Niles Rogson were taking a huge limo owned by the Rising Sun to New Orleans that weekend and Gelt had arranged for them to have a four-bedroom apartment that overlooked several of the parades. "Robert, Niles, Woods, Donna and I are definitely going. There's room for you in the limo Emily."

"It would be great if you came with Nora, me and the others, but don't you dare go to Mardi Gras dressed like Emily Dickinson on the way to a funeral," Donna said. "I think I have some tops large enough for you and we can get you some cutoffs if you don't have anything at least slightly indecent to wear."

"Well, I don't know. I ought to prepare for next Wednesday's lecture and aren't you going to stay there until Wednesday?" Emily said.

"You really must go," Virginia said. "You'll feel very stupid getting back north and telling people that you skipped Mardi Gras to re-read 'Gone with the Wind.' Emily Dickinson herself said, 'The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.'"

"Rogson and Robert have to be back before Ash Wednesday too so we will head back the afternoon of Fat Tuesday. After parades and other activities Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Lundi Monday, I think we will have had enough. It's much less than a six-hour drive given the way the drivers for the Rising Sun drive. You should be back here by dinner on Tuesday in time to brood over Scarlett and Rhett and all those other charming libertines," Donna said.

"Well, in light of what Emily Dickinson said," Professor Emily Fuchs said coyly, "I guess I will have to go. But you will have to lend me some clothing, Donna, that fits a fat girl like me."

"Yes, sure, Professor," Crimson said, "You are fat like the Playmate of the Century. You try your best, but your face and the basic contours of your body can't be concealed by any clothing. You should hear what the guys in the class say they'd like to do with you when they get to the hall after your lectures."

"Yes," Emma said, "you pretending to be unattractive is modesty or a joke taken much too far. Even an old bag like me can see you are hot as hell."

"Yes, when I pushed him on the subject, Woods said he'd love to take you to bed. Of course, that was at the end of a long argument on a number of matters," Nora said. "I'm sure he loves your body at least."

Emily wished sometimes that she could stay out of all the financial and marital disputes of Virginia and her daughters and friends, but other times she thought it most exciting. I have been living in some melodrama, she thought and wondered how Nora's gambling debt problem had played out and what Virginia and Woods had decided after last Saturday's discussion in Memphis.

MARDI GRAS 2066

Emily did go to Mardi Gras with Robert Gelt, Nils Rogson, Woods Helm, Nora Helm, and Donna. As promised, the apartment faced one of the main parade routes with a large living room window. It was a second-floor apartment from which one could easily look down on parades. Two of the four bedrooms also had good views of the street.

The chat down on the drive from Yoknapatawpha to New Orleans Friday was jolly although it was obvious that Nora and Woods were avoiding interacting with each other.

Emily marveled at the huge levees and massive pumping stations that had been built to save the portions of the historical city that could be saved after the hurricanes and floods of the last thirty years had reduced the downstream parishes to a few spots of mud rising from a shallow sea. I'll have to go someday and see how all these massive floodwalls compare with what the did in Holland, Miami and Venice, Emily thought.

The shit hit the fan Friday night after Robert, Niles, Woods, Nora and Emily arrived at the apartment somewhat tipsy and tired from the combined effects of the drive, having dinner with a few drinks, watching Krewe of Excalibur and hearing some street music. (Donna had left for the hotel room she'd arranged for separately because she decided she did not want to be in the apartment.)

It was assumed by Emily that Woods and Nora would share the large room with the king-sized bed, and Nils, Robert and she would take the three smaller ones.

Woods asked Nora if Virginia had agreed to pay Nora's debt to the Rising Sun Entertainment Corp.

"Yes, she did," Nora replied.

Woods uttered a sigh of relief, "Well, then, everything is fine, we'll just make sure that we don't run into trouble on the Rising Sun roulette table again," Woods answered.

"No, I declined to take mother's money," Nora said with a cold smile. "Instead, I am going to sleep with Robert and Nils the next four nights. They've promised to fuck my brains out. You probably think there's nothing to fuck out."

"What? You think and talk like a headless child."

"Maybe, Woods, but you neither think nor talk like the man I could bind myself to. As soon as your fear was over -- and it was not fear for what might happen to me but what might happen to you - so far as you were concerned it is exactly as if nothing had ever happened. Your pretty, sexy little doll got into trouble and you feared supporting an addict but, as everyone here could see on your face, the second you thought someone else would be responsible for my mistakes, it was exactly as if nothing had happened at all."

Nora was taking off her clothing all the time she gave this speech and was fully nude when Woods said, "what about the children and what did your mother say when you told her you would be going to bed with two men with whom you aren't married?"

"The children will do just fine. They are six and four and, as you know damn well, have been raised the last three years by you and your indentured mammy to see me as a stranger. I will have you know that mother said that I was an idiot for losing the money on the boat but that having my brains fucked out for four days was better than staying with you after you refused to support me."

With that Nora, fully nude and radiating sexual desire, took Robert Gelt and Nils Rogson by the hand and led them into the larger bedroom, making clear that she couldn't wait to begin paying her debt. Although Nora slammed the bedroom door as soon as she, her lovers and all their baggage were in the room, loud moaning and "that's great baby, pound me like crazy, I need that so bad," and similar phrases could soon be heard in the living room.

Emily was shocked. Woods was not. He looked like he'd received a bill in the mail that he'd long expected.

After they silently stood in the living room for a few minutes hearing many of the sounds of Nora, Robert and Nils' copulations, Woods said, "you can have the room with a view of the street if you want it. I have some work I can do for a few hours before I go to sleep. We can go for breakfast without the others. When would you suggest for breakfast?"

After a pause, Emily replied, "I think I'd like not to spend too much time in the apartment tomorrow morning, and I want see more of New Orleans. Is 9:00 too early?"

"No, that would be fine," Woods answered. "We can check in by phone after breakfast with Donna and the others as to how much they want to be with us on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I suspect that since Donna decided to offer you the room that it had been anticipated would go to her, she also has plans for more vigorous activity than watching parades, eating Cajun food and sightseeing."

Woods pulled his bag into the bedroom closest to the door and said good night.

Emily went into the other room without a view, sat in the chair, and pondered. The beginning of Anna Karina goes "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," Emily thought. Nora and Woods have discovered an unusual way to be unhappy although I don't quite understand it. I guess Woods did think Virginia would pay the debt and he was right about that, but he wasn't right to push that if he wanted to save the marriage. I think he did not care or maybe he did not understand Nora.

Getting up early Saturday, Woods and Emily walked around the Garden District a bit. Emily mentioned Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire" and the "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin. Woods had read and seen "Streetcar" and said he would read "Awakening" soon.

Emily and Woods found it was not too hard to find a spot in a restaurant for breakfast at 10:30. "Perhaps most people are sleeping off hangovers," Woods suggested.

Woods called Donna and then Emily called Robert about 11:30. Robert said that Nora was still getting dressed but that they should all meet for dinner as planned. Donna said she would join them for dinner but complicated matters by saying that she wanted to bring her new friend Don with her.

Woods and Emily spent the day in Jackson Square and seeing the Old Convent Museum and other historical sites in New Orleans as well as the Gulf coast which now reached up almost to the New Orleans levees, although Woods had seen these places many times before. Wood did take a few business calls while they looked at antique stores on Royal Street.

When they all got to dinner, Don proved to be a tall muscular black man. Both Donna and Nora radiated sexual energy during dinner. Robert, Nils and Don all looked like they had not slept the prior night.

Mainly, the dinner party focused on the excellent food.

Woods was in no mood to talk to Nora but chatted with Don who proved to be an accountant at a New Orleans firm.

Emily made small talk but mainly listened to the small talk of others and enjoyed her shrimp creole. She had had a very nice day seeing New Orleans but was getting tired and wondered how she would sleep that night.

As it happened, Emily slept very poorly. Nora was at it again with Robert and Nils while Woods was playing bizarre 20th Century Russian music on some device he'd brought. Woods kept the volume loud enough so that he could not hear Nora's exclamations of ecstasy but that did not help Emily much. She heard both the dissonate music and the loud sex.

Sunday, Emily got up early and went out alone. Dressed in a long-sleeved blouse and comfortable jeans, she was more modestly dressed than most women. Still, Emily felt she was getting a lot of male attention. Only a few of the remarks were crude, though, and generally Emily could not help enjoying much of the appreciation.

I guess I have been underrating my attractiveness to men even if I have to agree with that Jones jerk and other people with whom I generally don't agree. But is the fact I'm turning a lot of heads something to be proud of? They don't know me. They just want to stick their members into me.

Sunday night, everyone had dinner together again. Nora, Robert and Nils and Donna and Don went back to the respective beds for more sex. Emily and Woods walked up and down Frenchman Street to listen to as much music as they could. "There's no place else I've ever been where you can hear more great music just walking up the street. If you go in a bar, buy a drink and toss some money in the hat, you can have a music experience like nowhere else," Woods said.

Sleeping was difficult again Sunday night, but Emily managed to do it mainly because she'd slept so poorly Saturday night. She was dead tired and had had two glasses of wine on Frenchman Street.

Still, Emily was woken shortly after dawn with Nora panting out another orgasm as Nils grunted and released whatever he had left. As Woods and Emily left for breakfast about 8:00, Nora seemed to be having another loud orgasm and Robert was saying "oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck" loud enough to be heard in the hallway.

After breakfast, Woods went to a coffee shop where he thought he could work. Emily walked about some more and watched Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale and Krewe of King Arthur before walking far enough away from the parades that she could re-read "Lost Laysen," Margaret Mitchell's only published work other than "Gone with the Wind," written when Mitchell was only 16.

That night, Emily resolved to stay in the apartment. She watched Krewe of Orpheus from the living room apartment window. It's been a lot of fun seeing the town and watching the parades from street level but tonight I'm just going to turn on the TV. If it doesn't drown out whatever Nora is doing, I will have to live with it, Emily thought.

Woods did not seem to be in the apartment, but, yes, Nora, Robert and Nils seemed to be going at it again. Just how much sex can one have? Nora thought as she sipped the Chablis she had brought as she stood in the window and watched the parade with the window wide open. She wore only a North Liberal Arts College T-shirt and a pair of jeans both of them tight enough to display all of Emily's curves as well as her sometimes erect nipples.

Emily did not initially realize it but the streetlight at her level illuminated her perfectly. She looked like some super sexy Juliet gazing down below as 100 Romeos paraded by. Some of the Romeos noticed Emily in the open window and began waving, whistling, making gestures to throw beads up to her, and screaming "show your tits."

Emily was tipsy enough to show her beautiful full breasts but not so tipsy as to risk having a picture taken of her that would show her face and breasts. Although she sensed someone had entered the living room, she assumed someone was just going to the bathroom as she quickly lifted her T-Shirt so as to display her breasts while covering her face with the shirt. Emily pivoted quickly as several bead chains flew into the room.

Emily's naked breasts went directly into the hands of Woods who had been standing behind her. He began to work his fingers over her breasts in a most interesting way that seemed to raise the dramatic hunger in her pussy exponentially. She lowered her T-Shirt only enough to look him in the eyes and whisper "let's go to my room."