The Gnome Stories by Ander Monson

Author:Ander Monson [Monson, Ander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-64445-111-3
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2019-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

It Is Hard Not to Love the Starvationist’s Assistant

The job description was accurate: Assistant Needed for Commercial Body Modification Project. Sherilyn was excellent at assisting, having done it most of her life. She was certified to assist the nurses who would visit her grandparents in their home, where they would eventually die—together, in flames, probably though not conclusively one last act of rebellion against the world that had always, in their view, conspired against them. She had assisted dozens of her friends with their writing in college—plagiarism, really, though no one called it that then. Had driven getaway for her high school boyfriend’s second vandalism spree (two hundred plus broken windows, flares shot up over the water like fireworks trailing into glitter, all the parking meters downtown winched up from the concrete then left there like used toothpicks for giants), and admittedly it was sort of under duress, if that’s what you’d term their love, though she would have rolled on him in a minute if she had somehow been caught. Still, she could be counted on to show up on time, appropriately attired, prepared for almost anything, at any time, and to see whatever through. If she were a boy she would have been a Boy Scout, peppered with pins and multicolored badges, having mastered Webelos and on her way for sure to Eagle. Which is why she kept getting hired for these jobs. Her references: impeccable. Her work record: spotless. This was a kind of genius, she told herself, to be the supporting cast, even if you never got to call yourself a protagonist.

She had little respect for the body with its interlocking systems of fluids, its hormonal bursts and spurts. Where had it ever got her, she thought, and she was happy to help tame it when she could, she said at the interview. Her job was to be professional, to maintain lists, to watch the Subject’s food intake, to monitor the Subject’s weight as it slowly—then increasingly quickly, accelerating as the body began to burn its fat reserves—dropped, approaching the contractual goal. She would also be responsible for administering small electric shocks to curb undesired behavior, and occasionally for doing other things as needed. The need for discretion went without saying.

The Starvationist was a behaviorist at heart, with a bit of the dietitian’s training and a strong streak of the dominatrix. Her fashion reflected this—chokers, leather strips, keychain handcuffs that her Assistant assumed must be a joke, and a complicated strappy mask she wore in all official Encounters with the Subjects. The look was a put-on mostly. She called it her game face, and it always struck Sherilyn as odd. When she asked, the Starvationist told her that it reassured the supplicants, I mean the Subjects. That’s half of it, she said. They wanted to be reassured, to feel that by someone’s holding them they could assert control. This is exactly what they lacked, and she gave it to them. So you had to look the part.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.