Betsy Zaubler Wins Susquehanna University Writing Contest

Betsy Zaubler

Photo by Sydney Zentz
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This story by Betsy Zaubler ’17  won the prose category of Susquehanna University’s 35th Annual High School Writing Competition and was featured in Vol. 35, the Fall 2017 edition of THE APPRENTICE WRITERDr. Glen Retief, Director of the Writers Institute, selected the  piece and commented: “The dialogic form was innovative, and the underlying emotional story sneaks up on the reader.”

TEXTS FROM SPAIN by Betsy Zaubler ’17

Remember when you showed me Las Meninas for the first time? Well, I saw it today. I guess I didn’t need to tell you that, but I thought you’d want to know. Hope the internship is going well. Oh and this is Lucy. I got a Spanish number.

Delivered

I wish you could’ve seen Las Meninas. Pictures don’t do it justice. But anyways, I’m heading to Barcelona tomorrow, and I thought you’d want to know because you always told me you really wanted to go to Barcelona, so I’ll bring you back something, if you want. So yeah, text back. Or not, whatever works.

Delivered

I went to the Reina Sofia today but the Guernica was too crowded. So I waited in a cafe until the museum was about to close, and oh my God, Andrew. I’ve written hundreds of papers on it and I kept thinking about how we had that night class, and how Professor Grayson turned off the lights and it was so dark we couldn’t remember who was sitting next us. And then first all you could see was the white and then claws coming out of the door and then the faces. The faces.

Delivered

I was supposed to go to France today. I decided to stay in Spain.

Delivered

I went out till 4:00 a.m. And I’m walking back to my hostel by myself. And I’m lost. And I found this postcard on the street. And it was blank. But I don’t have a stamp. So I thought I’d text you and tell you about it because that was the next best option. And there aren’t any stars in the sky. No moon. No nothing. And isn’t that sad? Wouldn’t it be sad if all the stars died? If they all died and we didn’t even know it?

Delivered

I hope I’m not texting you too much. I’m trying not to text you too much. I just have a lot to say. But if you don’t hear from me for a few weeks it’s cause I’m going off the grid for a little. Nothing major, just some hiking in the Pyrenes. So yeah, I guess I’ll give you the space you wanted.

Delivered

You’re not going to believe me, but I went hiking every day for the past week. I can’t believe I didn’t want to come on this trip. I wish I didn’t have to leave.

Delivered

Sorry I’m not texting you as much. Well maybe that’s a good thing, I don’t know. But anyways, I went to Figueres today, and I saw the Dali museum. And I felt like it would never end, like it would go on forever. And I’m dizzy just thinking about how I kept going around in circles, like I was trapped in this massive circle and everyone else in the museum seemed to know how to get out of it but me. I’m texting too much, aren’t I?

Delivered

I’m sitting in Park Güell. I come here almost every day now, and I look out and can see almost all of Barcelona. And the sun is setting so everything looks red. I know I need to stop texting you. I keep picking up the phone to text you. There’s something about the distance and the time. You were always so distant.

Delivered

So I’m just trying to figure out where we stand. I’ve been here for almost two months and I’m coming home in next week, and I’m not sure if you want me to come to New York. I’m just trying to figure out what you want. Can you please text back?

Delivered

I took a Flamenco class the other day. The teacher said I was good, and she has this friend in Sevilla, so I’m on the train and I’m going to learn how to dance Flamenco. Remember when that artist came to talk to us our sophomore year and we had just started dating? And she kept telling me you were a keeper because how often do you find a guy who’s an art history major? And then we went back to your dorm room, and you made me ramen and it was one of those cliché college moments? I’ve been think a lot about that. But this isn’t college. And I can’t just walk into your dorm. And I can’t talk to you whenever I have a problem because you aren’t here and you never liked listening anyway. I get that if you want space I need to give you space. But three years isn’t something I’m ready to let go of. So just tell me where you’re at, okay?

Delivered

I know I just texted, and you probably think I’m crazy. You probably think I have no friends, and I have nothing to do, so I’m just texting you all the time. But I have friends. A lot actually. And I’m really happy. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been this happy. And then I just get sad when I think about you, and how I almost didn’t come because I was scared of what could happen in two months of being away. And how many other things I did or didn’t do because of you. And I stayed out late again last night, and there was this man sitting on the street playing Flamenco and it was so stereotypically Spain, and I just sat and listened, and everything was quiet and still. Do you know what that feels like? I hope you can find what that feels like.

Delivered

I’m staying in Spain. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here.

Delivered

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