The Cherry Cola Book Club - By Ashton Lee Page 0,27
and did not wait to be acknowledged. “I just wanted to assure everyone here that I’m definitely not in the closet, so I’m neither.”
“Your contribution to our meeting is very amusing, Councilman,” Maura Beth said, as brief, muted laughter broke out. “But now it’s time for some real thought.”
“I’d like to go first, if you don’t mind,” Connie said. And as there were no objections, she took the floor but remained seated. “I just wound up a long career as an ICU nurse at a hospital in Nashville. I know I went into that occupation in the first place because I felt I could do all the vital, detailed things that nursing requires. But despite all this moaning I’ve been doing tonight about my husband and his devotion to fishing, I really do have an empathetic personality. One of the things I did best when our daughter, Lindy, was growing up was to stroke her forehead patiently when she felt bad or had a temperature. It takes that kind of touch and tendency to be a good nurse, I believe. And that’s why I think I’m a Melanie. Maybe a somewhat firmer Melanie at times. But still a Melanie.”
There was a ripple of polite applause, but Connie held up her hand like a school crossing guard shepherding children. “I had something else to add, though. There’s a sequence in Gone with the Wind where Scarlett tries to tend to the maimed and dying soldiers at the field hospital. But she just can’t stomach it, apologizes to Dr. Mead, turns on her heels, and runs away. She just doesn’t have the temperament for it. Reading that passage this time around, I had a frightening vision of a high-tech Scarlett working as a nurse in a modern hospital. I envisioned her going around to all the patients that annoyed her and pulling the plug on them in one of her ongoing hissy fits. I love that expression, by the way—even though I couldn’t find it in my dictionary.” She waited for the subdued chuckling to subside.
“Maybe you think I’m being too extreme in my observations about Scarlett. But remember, she told Mammy she didn’t want to have any more children because of what giving birth to Bonnie Blue had done to her figure. That’s not a life-affirming instinct. It’s completely self-absorbed. Melanie would never be capable of that kind of behavior—at least not as written by Margaret Mitchell. So, I think you can definitely count me in Melanie’s soft, sweep camp, and I’m proud to be there pulling people back from the edge.”
More polite applause followed. Then Maura Beth said, “I think we’d all agree with your analysis, Connie. Very thoughtful. So, let’s score one for Melanie. Now, who wants to be next?”
It was Becca who volunteered from her seat. “I don’t know about going around pulling the plug on people,” she began, “but I have to say that I’m a Scarlett. I suppose I have the sense of entitlement that she always had because she was born at Tara, but mine comes from a different source. I think I’ve earned mine through hard work. I don’t think our culture recognizes merit enough these days. This radio personality of mine, this Becca Broccoli I’ve become, materialized out of nowhere. I went to bed one night, knowing I had this fifteen-minute radio show to produce after a chance meeting with the program director of WHYY at The Twinkle. We were sitting at adjacent tables, raving about the food to our waitress, and he happened to lean over and say to me, ‘I wish there was somebody in Cherico who could teach my wife how to cook like this!’ And something inside just egged me on, and I flat out told him I probably could since I loved cooking. One thing led to another, and somehow we came up with the idea of my doing a radio show. Finally—something to do with my degree in communications. Anyway, the very next morning I woke up with a doable gimmick.” Becca paused for a coy giggle.
“I liked the possibilities of this character immediately, plus my married name has always been impossible for people to spell. I discovered that Becca Broccoli was a different side of me—she was the take-charge person I’d always wanted to be. Scarlett was like that from the beginning. When she wanted something or someone, such as the incredibly dull Ashley Wilkes, she went all out. What Scarlett wanted to be was mistress