The reason is simply because it is impossible to detect what is going on within.
During my churchgoing years at home, in New Jersey, I would see, at every Mass I attended, a trio--two women and a man--who were obviously siblings, living as adults, and not married. I found out they were The Doyles. They did not live exactly in Highland Park, NJ, but on its periphery, somewhere between it and Edison. Yet they attended St. Paul's 5PM Mass every Saturday. My father and I were there, but I would notice them, not only because I was keenly observant--still am, girls!!!!!!!--but because they fascinated me. One especially fascinated me--a tall, angular, short haired woman, the hair going gray, and colorless cats-eyeglasses. Because she seemed the most spinster like, I dubbed her "Miss Spinster." But I wondered about them all--how they spent their lives outside of church, what did they do, how they could be content with such an existence. I should have written stories about them, but I was buys writing other things at the time--screenplays, and a musical! --so I did not have the chance to do so. Still, when I look back, I think of the Doyles, who are probably gone by now, and buried.... where? And how did things end up for them? Especially Miss Spinster!
The spinster can conceal a lot, which is why I say they are the deadliest among the human species. One of the best examples, character analyzed above, is Miss Adela Strangeworth, the protagonist of Shirley Jackson's brilliant short story, "The Possibility Of Evil." She goes about her town, knowing everyone's secrets, and writing anonymous letters to them, telling these folk what she knows. Eventually, she does get a comeuppance, but I wonder if she learned anything......??????????
Then, there is Karen Black, as "Julie," the first segment, and really a favorite of mine, from the 1975 telefilm "Trilogy Of Terror." It is based on Richard Matheson's short story, "The Likeness Of Julie," which I am trying to track down, and read, because, in the story, Julie is not an adult woman, but a young college student. Karen Black here plays a spinster English teacher--and why must all spinsters be English teachers? Can't they teach math? --who is not all that she seems. Think of this as a mixture of "Fatal Attraction" and "Misery," but the spinster angle is maintained throughout, and its lethality is shown in all its glaring glory, with Miss Black speaking hardly above a whisper.
4 comments:
Oh I just read about a lady who remade Old Maid!
She calls it “Bold Made” and replaces the spinster with accomplished gals like Curie and Austen and RBG
Victoria,
Is it sold on the market yet? That
sounds like an interesting game, or
variation thereof.
It IS on the market!!!
Victoria,
I will have to try and track it down!
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