Melody Fiction: The Wrong Kind of Fantasy

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For you regulars around here, a new fictional face — Melody, Lyric‘s mother. (And a welcome to you newcomers! I hope you’ll stay awhile.) I’ve been working on her backstory some; I’m quite intrigued by the soon-to-be famous Melody Maker. I hope you are, too.

Melody put the phone down and gave the boss a sultry look. “Was that good enough for you?” she purred.

He swallowed and nodded.

Melody was pleased with the glazed look in his eye, with the way he was having trouble catching his breath. She’d wowed them both, the person on the other end of the pretend phone call and the boss. It hadn’t been hard. Men who called phone sex lines wanted to be encouraged. They wanted to do most of the talking. This was, after all, their own fantasy that they needed to hear come to life. They didn’t care if it was her on the other end of the phone. Not yet. Maybe one day, once they’d talked to her a few times, gotten off in a good way, and weren’t so drunk or stoned or high that they’d remember they’d talked to a girl named Melody.

Right now, she was disposable.

That was how she felt, too. Not strong, like she had that day she’d done that photo shoot. Not desired, like she’d felt when she’d seen the pictures.

No, she thought. For all those callers knew, she could be some fat dumpy housewife in curlers who was ironing as she spoke the come-on lines.

This outfit was billed as having the most guarantees for anonymous callers, but when she’d walked in and asked about working for them, she hadn’t realized she’d be one of those anonymous callers.

Melody Maker, as she now called herself, wanted more. She wanted to be known. To be strong. To be desired.

But mostly, she wanted people to see her, not simply hear her voice on the other end of a call. There was nothing special in that. In being invisible except for her voice.

“We’ll start you at a higher pay,” the boss said, finally coming back from the glaze she’d left him in.

“No, I don’t think so,” Melody said, trying to come off as being thoughtful when all she really wanted was to run back to that photographer’s studio and tell him she was ready for the more he’d promised her.

“I haven’t told you how high,” the boss said. “Don’t you want to know?”

“Save it,” she told him, patting his knee. She couldn’t help the glance, couldn’t help smiling to herself when she noticed that any effects of her phone call had returned in full force. “I think I’m meant for bigger than phone calls.”

She slid off her stool, smiling brightly as her breasts jiggled. The boss couldn’t take his eyes off them.

The photographer it would be, then.

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17 Comments

  1. Robin

    May 12, 2008 8:44 am

    Oooh, a woman who knows her own worth AND knows how to use what she’s got.BR/BR/I’m intrigued…

  2. Susan Helene Gottfried

    May 12, 2008 8:47 am

    Me, too, Robin. There might even be a book in Melody. I’m not sure yet.

  3. gautami tripathy

    May 12, 2008 8:49 am

    Very good, Susan. There IS a book out there somewhere wanting to come out. Go for it!BR/BR/A HREF=”http://firmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2008/05/child-to-love-read-write-poemmonday.html” REL=”nofollow”child to love?/A

  4. bunnygirl

    May 12, 2008 9:34 am

    Great vignette! I’m glad to see you working with Melody, since you’ve mentioned her in passing before. She sounds like one of those secondary characters who will, with very little encouragement, step forward and demand their own book! 🙂

  5. Julia Smith

    May 12, 2008 11:22 am

    Susan, I’m sure Melody Maker could handle a book of her own, absolutely. I love her name, that her daughter’s name is Lyric, and I want to know more, more, more about both of them. Thanks for this hit-the-ground-running intro scene.

  6. Susan Helene Gottfried

    May 12, 2008 11:36 am

    Julia, is this where I remind you that Lyric’s sisters are named Harmony and Allegra?

  7. FRIGGA

    May 12, 2008 2:25 pm

    Wow. Good piece. But I feel sorry for her. 😎

  8. Granny Smith

    May 12, 2008 4:22 pm

    Melody Maker. Does she have a singing voice? A CD with her photo on the cover would sell well perhaps. You must have made her real to me or I would not be giving advice on her possible future

  9. Jill

    May 12, 2008 5:03 pm

    And this is how she started?BR/I guess we are on the same track this week!

  10. Bethanie

    May 12, 2008 8:08 pm

    I like that Melody knows just how to manipulate these men. And she gutsy. I like that too.

  11. Thomma Lyn

    May 12, 2008 9:53 pm

    Melody sounds like a fun character! Excellent work, Susan. Her voice is coming across really well!

  12. Ann

    May 12, 2008 9:59 pm

    Go for it! 🙂

  13. Wylie Kinson

    May 12, 2008 11:49 pm

    Rah rah Melody Maker!!BR/BR/You know, SHG… I’m thinking you’re actually writing a soap opera, not a novel.BR/(that’s a compliment btw ;)BR/BR/Your cast of characters, the multitude of interesting anecdotes, situations, tours, relationships… Yup, this is WAY bigger than a novel!

  14. Susan Helene Gottfried

    May 13, 2008 10:47 am

    Oh, the aim is to have LOTS of novels about all these people. And more. Yes, I’ve got more in the wings.

  15. Bethanie

    May 13, 2008 12:54 pm

    ‘lots’ of novels?? Yippeee!! 🙂

  16. Winter

    May 14, 2008 4:44 pm

    Why do I get the feeling the name Melody Maker has nothing to do with whether or not Melody can sing? LOL

  17. A. Catherine Noon

    June 7, 2008 11:36 pm

    Wow! This was totally unexpected. I like how she knows her own sexual power and uses it to her advantage with no shame. How refreshing!

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