Some of my stories are inspired by real life events, my latest soon to be released, ‘The Couch: When Size Matters’ is directly related to a real life event, mine. Protagonist Gerald Hart just purchased a brand new, very expensive couch. He’s absolutely in love with it. Proud to the point of worship. When discovered that his girlfriend Davita has invited her morbidly obese friend, Charmaine to dinner, a real issue ensues. Gerald does not want to risk a morbidly obese person sitting on his new couch and is quite adamant about it. Davita is stunned and in turn advocates for her friend to be treated like anyone else in their home. This is where my real life situations inspired this short story.
My late cousin, Lattice Shaw had been morbidly obese for most of her life which I believe attributed to her young demise at only 56 years old. Growing up my family had concerns about Lattice visiting and sitting on furniture. What I didn’t add to this story is my cousin’s notorious body odor. I’ll cover that issue later in another story.
At the time, Lattice and I were fairly close. When I got my first apartment in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, other than my sister Carol, Lattice was one of the first people I invited over. At first it was an honest invitation, but then I thought about her weight, and then her body odor. As kids growing up she had always left an odor everywhere she sat and to be quite honest it smelled like straight up ass! At 23 years old I scraped for my first apartment, even by 1988’s standards. John M. Smythe was a very well known, good quality furniture store at the time in Chicago. They gave me one of my first credit cards and I purchased a gorgeous, brand new couch. I didn’t want my cousin stinking it up and breaking it down. But I had already invited her. It was a real dilemma.
My boyfriend at the time, James, was already aware of the stories of Lattice stinking and breaking down furniture across greater Chicago. Even one of her best friends banned her from riding in her car, saying Lattice was wearing on her shocks. It went viral throughout my family and hurt Lattice’s feelings badly.
There was so much anticipation on the evening she was to visit me. I felt my couch was sturdy enough and it ended up being true. It held her, but she did leave her unpleasant scent behind. James and I tested it, smelling where she sat. The odor was unbelievable. I was so annoyed I never invited her over again. More recently, a former co-worker, a morbidly obese gentleman I had become friends with had an opportunity to visit me. Once again, I had purchased a nice couch, an expensive one that I caught on an incredible sale at Macy’s. It’s in my living room now as I write this, and soon I’ll be getting another one. But when the discussion of this gentleman visiting me became more serious, I admit I was concerned. I didn’t want him to sit on my new couch. I eventually made up an excuse. He never visited. Call it what you want, but it’s the truth. It took me another few years to develop this story.
Now, as this story is about to be published it makes me think about our society and how materialistic we are (not excluding myself) and how we think about and treat overweight and morbidly obese people. Was I wrong for not wanting my cousin or colleague to sit on my couch? In my heart I don’t think so, but I don’t think they would’ve agreed. It’s best to be honest with a person, but there’s no easy way to tell someone you don’t want them to break down your furniture or stink it up. I guess it’s a work in progress, for many of us.
The Couch: When Size Matters (Coming Soon)