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    The Things We Fear Most: Stories
    The Things We Fear Most: Stories
    The Things We Fear Most: Stories
    Ebook63 pages1 hour

    The Things We Fear Most: Stories

    By Gloria Vanderbilt

    4.5/5

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    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIndependent Publishers Group
    Release dateAug 24, 2018
    ISBN9781550963625
    The Things We Fear Most: Stories
    Author

    Gloria Vanderbilt

    Gloria Vanderbilt is an American artist, writer, and designer. Her artwork can be found at GloriaVanderbiltfineart.com. She is the author of eight books and has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Elle. She lives in New York City.

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    Reviews for The Things We Fear Most

    4.5/5

    272 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Oh Pablo, you woo me in English, if only I could comprehend you in Spanish. Alas.
    • 5/5
      This is simply one of the most beautiful, readable books of love poetry in the world. Even people who hate poetry will love Neruda.
    • 5/5
      The most beautiful love poems in any language.
    • 5/5
      I am truly, deeply in love with this selection of poems. Anyone who is a fan of all of the shades and colors of love and poetry, itself, should consider picking up a copy.
    • 5/5
      Lovely. Simply lovely.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely gorgeous sonnets.
    • 5/5
      I came across a bookstore end-cap, beautifully set up and displayed for Valentines Day.(read: lovey-dovey red and pink books, hearts, flowers, and time for your sugar coma)It reminded me of this book because when it comes to romantic poetry, Pablo Neruda is the man...and well, this book was one of the items on display.This was a reread but still as beautiful as the first time I read it. In Spanish and English bilingual presentation, this is a wonderful mix of sex on ink and paper, subtle, tender as a look, sweet as a first kiss. It's a blend of meanings and words: passionate, risk, feeling, deep-searing, timeless, a whisper, something wild. Something for everyone.
    • 5/5
      Neruda has had some of the strongest influence on how I think about language when I'm writing, and it all spawned from this bright pink book that I bought in Boulder, CO during an ill-fated ski trip during college. Turns out being somewhat "duck-footed" makes it difficult to ski. But despite the absolutely horrific cover design, I loved what I read...and I was doing a lot of reading while everyone else was skiing. I have since read other translations that I liked better, but this is still the one that started it all for me, so it holds an oddly special place in my heart. I even used an equally bright pink highlighter to mark this book up, so I can tell you that, at the time of my initial readings of this book circa 2000, my favorites were numbers 11, 17, 27, 39, 40, 45, 78, 85, 89 (morbid as it is). I couldn't name as many favorites at this point, but I'd say half would remain the same and half would be something different. Which ones? I'll never tell.Neruda uses words and phrases that always gave me the impression that I was momentarily understanding the way another person saw the world with their eyes. I always felt there is a deep empathy imbedded in the language. That is what I love about Neruda.

    Book preview

    The Things We Fear Most - Gloria Vanderbilt

    Formatting note:

    In the electronic versions of this book

    blank pages that appear in the paperback

    have been removed.

    The Things

    We Fear Most

    s t o r i e s

    GLORIA VANDERBILT

    Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

    Vanderbilt, Gloria [date]

    The things we fear most : stories / Gloria Vanderbilt.

    ISBN 978-1-55096-129-4

    I. Title.

    PS3572.A42828T55 2011 813'.54 C2011-902937-5

    eBooks

    ISBN 978-1-55096-696-1 (pdf)

    ISBN 978-1-55096-362-5 (epub)

    ISBN 978-1-55096-695-4 (mobi)

    Copyright © Gloria Vanderbilt, 2011, 2016

    Cover photograph by Allison Saathoff

    The stories in this collection are works of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

    Published by Exile Editions Ltd ~ www.ExileEditions.com

    144483 Southgate Road 14 – GD, Holstein, Ontario, N0G 2A0

    PDF, ePUB and MOBI versions by Melissa Campos Mendivil

    Publication Copyright © Exile Editions, 2016. All rights reserved

    Exile Editions eBooks are for personal use of the original buyer only. You may not modify, transmit, publish, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the content of this eBook, in whole or in part, without the expressed written consent of the publisher; to do so is an infringement of the copyright and other intellectual property laws. Any inquiries regarding publication rights, translation rights, or film rights – or if you consider this version to be a pirated copy – please contact us via e-mail at: info@exileeditions.com

    In loving memory of S.L.

    CONTENTS

    The Hour Between

    The Eyelet Lace Dress

    My Little Mouse

    Murder

    Interior Design

    Hazel Kelly in Full Pursuit

    The Woodbox

    Lures

    An Egg

    Burne-Jones and Mickey Mouse

    Green Dream

    Later, Mary ?

    Cartoon Characters in Search of a Modus Vivendi

    The Gold Dust Twins

    My Darling from the Lions

    The Things We Fear Most

    Acknowledgements

    The Things

    We Fear Most

    THE HOUR BETWEEN

    I was gathering tulips in the garden, finding happiness in beauty as my love lay in the grass beside me. Muffled at first, then unmistakably intruding into our lazy conversation – sounds of bees – no, something else. A voice that sounded like mine, but it was his, far and away, coming from a face distorted as by a mirror in a fun house. But it is not him, it’s mine too, struggling to prevent a quarrel that fast accelerates into a roller coaster speeding over the top, on down, crashing, unable to stop.

    It took four men to place it in the bay window of our dining room – an aviary. We marveled at the delicacy of line conceived by a master builder, a castle of lacy wire arabesques painted white for lovebirds to inhabit. But touching, there was chill, a bitter taste of steel. Later my love found paroquets from Uruguay, yellow as butter and black of eye. Close, close, home he brought the pair, yellow, so black of eye, he set them free to inhabit the aviary, standing, his arm around me, kissing me as the paroquets nestled on the perch.

    I knew about it from the beginning, and sometimes wondered if anyone else did? The hours between light and dark – to be feared, because the day has ended and what night may bring has not yet happened.

    The bell tower chimes five as I stand in the snow turning the key into the lock. Streetlight filters into the dark house, spirals of snow hiss on panes of glass melting into nothingness. Far down the corridor the white aviary stands outlined against the bay window. Snow appears to be swirling into the house, bursting into sun-drenched crystals, and everywhere the sounds of birds making love. I hasten towards our garden of Eden, but sudden – silence. Then laughter. Has he gone to another rendezvous (that may or may not happen)? Holding my breath I wait for the hour between to end, but I can’t. Pressing forward I peer into the aviary – no birds yellow there, no

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