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Her Name Was Jean

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I had forgotten I once upon a time taught an adult education writing class until I saw the writing prompt "Write about the strangest character you have ever met". This was back in 1981, and it all came to my head in a rush. 

Her name was unknown to me. She slid into class quietly. An older woman, I was young, so she looked ancient. My first and last impression of her was gray. She looked gray in every direction. Somber, sad, pathetic, a walking apology. She never volunteered to read any of her poems. They were brilliant; I did not realize that until after class When she slid them onto my podium on the way out. She was silent the first six weeks of class, every Monday night. She contributed nothing. If I asked her a direct question she ignored me. Her name is Jean; I know that now and nothing else. She is a mystery. I do know that she walks to class, I see her arrive early, sometimes ahead of me. It is winter, a blizzard, a horrible awful terrible day. She is walking in a thin dress. It is after class. I pull my car up and insist that she get in. She does but makes no sound. I feel like I am returning a ghost to its crypt. We get to her house and I walk her to the door. The door flies open. A personality-plus woman about the same age runs out and hugs me. “I know who YOU ARE” She says. “Come in! Come in!” She is a delight. I sit down at the coffee table. She runs to get me a glass of water. My eye hits the glass of the table. There are pictures of me teaching class. Picture after picture after picture. Which would explain the flashes of light I see from time to time.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2021




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Date: 5/19/2021 8:20:00 AM
What an extraordinary experience. I want to know more about this Jean woman. Particularly liked "...returning a ghost to its crypt." Fine writing, Caren.
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Caren Krutsinger
Date: 5/20/2021 2:38:00 AM
Thank you Hank. It is a true story of course; they are all true stories in one way or another - anyway they have touches of truth, whether my story or someone else's. This was MINE.
Date: 5/19/2021 5:13:00 AM
Sounds a very strange lady Caren, maybe she'd had some traumatic experience sometime in the past. Tom
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Caren Krutsinger
Date: 5/19/2021 5:51:00 AM
She had., Her mother (a school teacher) allowed her and her twin to be put into the special ed class which they did not need. Also, at age 4 her father died. She sat at the window waiting for him every night for years because their mother did not want to tell them he was dead. Their mother was the strange one. I learned all this from Joan, the lively one who started babysitting for me along with Jean who sat in a corner laughing.

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