The Lady No One Could Stand
She wasn’t pretty. In fact, she had a somewhat disheveled look to her. Who knows what her job was at this prison I worked at, but she came around to transact some sort of business in my department now and then. Everyone avoided her as much as possible. “She’s mean and hateful,” they would say. “She’ll bite your head off. Better to leave her alone.” Indeed, she looked the part. Her furrowed brow, her prominent eyebrows, the narrow hollow eyes, the set jaw all gave her the look of someone you better leave alone. She never had much to say and what she did say was short and curt, in a “better leave me alone” tone. No one could stand her, but I couldn’t understand why someone would want to be such a mean and disagreeable person. Every time she would come around, she would pique my curiosity, but I also felt a pity that someone could choose to live a life so full of bitterness. Being a little off-center myself, I naturall...