Re: Gatsby: Clementine & Irene
"They're real terrible for your innards." That was what Clementine had to say 'bout corsets, her medical training loud enough that she couldn't ignore it. But that dress, it looked real fine on the woman with the pale skin and hair all copper, and Clementine, she whistled low and slow, South and syrupy. "Pretty as a picture."
And Clementine, she knew folks made up things in their minds. They decided on a woman's thoughts, her actions, her desires. They tied her all up in a bow and called it gossip, and Clementine had grown in the center of a town made for stories. From her momma, she'd learned how to make those stories shine. See, her momma was taint and tarnish, and that was deliberate. Womenfolk, they'll always talk, her momma said. If a woman's pretty, and if men pay attention to her, womenfolk will always paint her real scarlet red. No point in purity, and might as well have fun and be what they say. But her momma, she did it theatrical, and she did it in style, and Clementine laughed real hard at her momma making her think any 'bout purity. "No, honey. My momma ain't pure. She was Cleopatra seducing Marc Anthony and not giving a good damn who knew. Better still, she was proud. Strutted herself like the county's best chicken. I meant the city. Momma was a film star. Not real fine, but good enough. Pretty as a picture, too, and she lived every damn moment like she was the leading lady of the whole damn town. Her entire life was one big spotlight, sugar, and the films she loved, they all looked like the view out that window."
Clementine's hands settled on Irene's shoulders, like boundaries weren't a thing for acknowledging, and she turned the woman back toward the window. She'd slept with this woman, even if she hadn't been any woman at the time, and Clementine, she was a whole lot better at touching folks she'd bedded with, than she was at touching folks normal. Irene was heaped on up with the former, and Clementine's chin went to Irene's shoulder a moment, finger motioning from that red-clad collarbone and to outside. "She liked these movies, all black and white, real romantic and set in a world like this one. Some years later, but close enough. The one we're going to see, it ain't so different. But this view at this window, it's like looking out at some screen gone color."
Might not make all that much sense to Irene, but Clementine was real tickled by it.