21 Sept 79
Sex scene carries me to p. 201. Completely wiped out. Trying to read Eleanor Clark’s The Ball. Really in the mood for Edgar Allan Poe. Dinner with friends last night after T’s successful presentation – drank too much but didn’t get crazy. Still, angry at my lack of self-control. Gears shift so suddenly. The closer T gets the greater my terror. Well, we will lay new patterns down. Think T was proud of me – I was proud of him. But there’s too much going on. I am starting to feel voiceless like the people in my novel.
26 Sept 79 –
Hooks Lane chapter in crisis – not satisfied with it at all. Leave it and keep going.
T said we must go to Philadelphia to see his mother. She was so depressed she went to a therapist who told her, “You have no support system.”
Left Kentucky at 3 PM got to Phila 1:30 AM. Drive thoroughly pleasurable. His mother in very bad shape. Dreading upcoming weddings and her ex-husband’s family. We helped I think – T said he was very proud of me.
Home to find Mary Ellen haunting the place – she can’t go back to that house and Jan doesn’t understand. Tried Catholic priest but nothing has worked. The little dog’s rash is worse and whole house a frightening mess. I feel exhausted. My youngest sister Avril calls very depressed – “Mr. Honesty” Dave has been lying to her and seeing another girl. Why am I not surprised? Says she wants to move too. Maybe Maine to be closer to Mom & Dad? I say she needs to rise up & denounce these rotten creeps. If she decides to go I can sell my Queens Chapel house!
My lack of $$ starting to sting. After IBM and car insurance I have $150!!! Must sell the car, no other way.
T had nightmare he married previous Bad Girlfriend Christy then saw me thru chain-link fence realized he’d made a terrible mistake!
Much better evening than day. Ran a little, tomorrow we’ll do more. Shrimp chow mein, red pears, white wine.
T got two letters from old girlfriends “checking in” to change his mind about marrying me. He says, “Alysse, you saved me from second best.”
27 Sept 79
Tremendously depressed about Speechless. How does anything ever get written? I’d ask somebody’s opinion but who do I respect? I can’t think of anybody unfortunately. Part III far too short. But I can’t “pad.” My house party at the Kimball’s now seems dumb. Phila trip screwed me up.
Maybe just write gothic from scratch. Something crazy.
Helluva eye opener reading adolescent diaries: how did I survive? Maybe I didn’t! Can one EVER tell the truth? Keep going back to my time in Massachusetts and molester Uncle Burt. Ugh. Aunt Nina let me read Mom & Dad’s letters (I WAS TWELVE) but told me not to let them know because “it would ruin their Christmas.” Uncle B lectured me about responsibility while copping a feel. Ulterior Motive Ranch.
29 Sept 79
Cheered up by finding complete synopsis of Bride & Wolves I can use! A little manic but not as extreme say as The Big Sleep. Complete with Evil Psychiatrist. I’m dropping him – Lover Ned’s all the evil I think I need.
Mon 1 Oct 79
Thoroughly enjoyable day lounging about reading Lofts’ Queens of England. Made 15 chap plan – finish Bride in 2 weeks!!
Wonderful dinner with the Macafees last night – dull food but they told me Toss is WAY more physically affectionate with me than he ever was with other girlfriends! Hehehe. Milestone sex.
Tues 2 Oct 79
Reading Cookson’s The Girl for gothic insights. Thomas Hardy she is not. She is even more depressing than he ever was.
Only got thru 10 p breaking my schedule as usual. Should I bring Kitten back from the dead? Can’t decide. Feel I am laying the foundation for the whole rest of my career. Shouldn’t be hard to earn $10,000 a year! Right? I feel better already.
Good long run with T last night. Received 16 novels from Detective Book Club.
Thurs Oct 4, 79
Workday blown by farewell lunch party at Goldberg’s hotel. Tomorrow there’s a wedding at 2! Can’t believe 2 glasses wine gave me this sour headache.
Should read no more of my diaries. Think my parents skipped their own adolescence. EX Ferrars’ In at the Kill a BIG disappointment. She should lose her membership in Detective Club for that one!! Boresville. #2 was Lucky to be Alive by Alice Cromie – another DUD! Makes Dorothy Eden look like Shakespeare. Starting to worry about modern publishing. Is my taste fatally out of whack with the rest of the world? That’s scary. I like to think I’m writing a “thriller”. Wish I had jewels I could sell.
6 Oct 79
Bride shaping up well, a “loose bag for anything” I want to throw in (Woolf.) 6 chaps so far – think I can get 60,000 words without too much trouble.
Think I am jealous of this house – we painted 6 to 9. Toss definitely runs himself too hard. Chase elected him to ANOTHER position as well as law review editor.
Last night I made dinner – fillet of sole in sherry, sour cream & chives with broccoli & salad. Jan showed up for dinner – luckily there was plenty – both praised my cooking extravagantly. Wine flowed. Discussed celibacy of clergy. I blame greed – church wants to own everything, like Ma Bell. Jan wants to spend the night (Mary Ellen’s at her mother’s) so he can watch Foreign Correspondent (he and Mary Ellen don’t approve of TV so have to use other people’s). He offered to help paint.
Dinner – running – bath – reading – lovemaking – satisfying routine.
Then today the wedding – can’t believe I survived it. Ex girlfriends Christina, Mindy & Cindy all there commenting on my lavender lace dress. Had only my burnt sienna leather jacket to wear over it. (Couldn’t afford to buy anything new.) Toss criticized the dress as “an old lady dress” on the hanger but admitted it looks nice on.
Waiting for our ride while drinking sherry T said my face with makeup was “over defined.” I began to feel alarmed but too late to do anything about it! He said I sometimes dressed and made up as if I were 10 yrs older and had flaws to cover instead of “being a very beautiful woman” but he was afraid to tell me about it because of my feelings about my parents (their criticism I guess.) He said, “at least you don’t powder yourself any more like Marcel Marceau”! (I explained stage makeup is OBVIOUSLY different.)
I said I was sorry he felt that way and particularly sorry he chose THAT moment to bring it up! I’m sure Mindy, Cindy & Christina were satisfied we were on the “outs”.
Endlessly long super religious wedding. I was in a stew. I don’t even wear eyeliner! I wish he had given me some money but would I have used it on clothes & makeup? Probably not – I prefer writing and “staying alive”!
So much emotionalism in the service I cried and he apologized. He said he was so proud of me and wanted everyone to feel the same. No more makeup for me. Financial savings!
At the dull reception (bad jitterbug music) he formally introduced me to Christy who was COMPLETELY different from what I expected – at least a foot taller than Toss and very elegant (no makeup, alas.) After I came out of the ladies, T said Christina asked him to dance but he declined; “She had her chance.” He could NEVER have married her – a Professional Virgin. (She teaches at a Catholic school.) Impossible.
Had to go shopping at Kroger’s after wedding for food – we were feeling better but he couldn’t stop justifying himself. Something about how “physically perfect” I am but not “psychologically perfect”! Made me sorry I’ve been honest with him – my parents are normal compared to his parents! I told him he’s lacking in charity.
That shut him up.
What is to become of this young, earnest couple? Life is short, marriage long. This engagement going on too long? I tell Toss I think we are separated by a thin membrane from understanding each other. This is me – trying hard to see you – on the other side. I am beginning to accept parts of him I wouldn’t have recognized in a police lineup.
Alysse Aallyn 
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