U3A Writing: Vera
Mary Flatau's writing class assignment was to take a character created by a contemporary author and place him, or her, in a different context.
My name is Vera.
I need compassion.
I am so unhappy.
I am one of those people that cannot do anything right.
I love my son, always want to protect him, yet I ridicule him constantly.
He shows me no love, is cold towards me.
I struggled to learn to ride a bicycle.
My husband jeers at me.
I thought I would be able to escape from everybody, riding in the country, in the town, with my blond hair flowing in the wind.
But everybody laughed at me on this ungainly bicycle.
I gave it up! I did.
I love my family. I do everything for them, but I am just a doormat.
Nothing I try succeeds.
My hens don’t lay.
“Come on, sister,” all you need to do is cut their horny tongues to make them lay.”
They dropped down dead. Why did I not seek advice from ‘The Farmer’s Weekly’ instead?
Why am I not a chatty, lovable, laughing person?
I expect too much from other people. I am always suspicious.
My son expect to be perfect. He cannot fail. He only tells me what he thinks I want to hear. He is just as bitter as I am. Why have I made him so?
I only want him to give the best.
I don’t encourage his book learning; it is a waste of time.
When asked what he wants to be he says, “Engine driver.” He is lying. He is always studying literature. Why does he not want to do something that will bring in money!
The only person he speaks to is his cousin Agnes. I spy on them and hear him talking with ease to her about the Universe of all things, and the meaning of life. What does he know?
He is convinced that he is different, special.
He is. In 2003 he won the highest award for literature.
His name is J M Coetzee.
