Free The Book Club by Maureen Mullis

 
THE BOOK CLUB
     
    by
    Maureen Mullis
     
    SMASHWORDS EDITION
     
     
    Published by Maureen Mullis at Smashwords
     
    Copyright 2011 Maureen Mullis
     
    Visit the author at her blog: www.maureenmullis.blogspot.com
     
     
     
    All rights reserved. Without limiting the
rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
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publisher of this book.
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the
author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author
acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various
products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used
without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not
authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark
owners.
     
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    * * * * *
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
THE BOOK CLUB
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    It wasn’t that she didn’t like the book club,
Diane told herself as she vacuumed the living room in readiness for
that evening’s meeting. It was just that she felt herself in a rut.
The same women month after month, the same dull conversation after
the book had been discussed and the desert passed out. Why, even
the critiques of the books they read were sounding the same.
    Finished cleaning, she sighed, stood and
stretched. How she hated housework, and on this beautiful early
summer morning she begrudged having to do it for a bunch of women
that she was beginning to resent.
    By that evening, as the hour for the group’s
arrival drew near, Diane’s resentment had grown. Sinking into an
easy chair she contemplated not answering the door when they
arrived. She didn’t think she could take an evening of their
mind-numbing ranting again. The kids said this, my husband did
that, I tried a new recipe, blah blah blah. Folding her arms Diane
felt her head would explode if she thought about it anymore.
    The doorbell rang. Choking down her
resentment Diane rose and opened the door to find sisters Louisa
and Sandy on her porch. Their pale red hair looked like cotton on
their pallid scalps, their slightly plump bodies’ mirror images of
one another. They stood with expressions that seemed to match her
own.
    “Hey,” she said and moved back. “Come on
in.”
    Sandy stepped in first followed by Louisa.
Both of them had their books tucked under their arms. They took
seats and sat staring uninterested at Diane. The tug of etiquette
nagged at her causing her to try to put her guests at ease.
    “Ready for our discussion tonight?” she asked
a little too brightly.
    “Actually, no,” Sandy answered, her watery
blue eyes turning to Diane’s. “I don’t think I’m going to be coming
to book club anymore.”
    Diane’s eyebrows rose in surprise as Louisa
chimed in. “Me either. It’s not fun anymore. In the beginning the
club was. Fun, that is. It felt like being part of something
special.”
    Sandy nodded. “Now it feels more like an
obligation. You’re right—it isn’t the same.”
    “I feel the same way,” Diane told them. “I’ve
been peevish all afternoon getting ready for tonight and wishing I
could be somewhere else.”
    “Then let’s go somewhere else,” Sandy said
tossing her book on the coffee