Discover this podcast and so much more

Podcasts are free to enjoy without a subscription. We also offer ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more for just $11.99/month.

197 - One Hundred Ninety Seven

197 - One Hundred Ninety Seven

FromBreaker Whiskey


197 - One Hundred Ninety Seven

FromBreaker Whiskey

ratings:
Length:
4 minutes
Released:
Apr 23, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey's radio. Breaker Whiskey is an Atypical Artists production created by Lauren Shippen. If you'd like to support the show, please visit patreon.com/breakerwhiskey. As a patron, you will also receive each week's episodes as one longer episode every Monday. ------ [TRANSCRIPT] [click, static] I went to Sylvie’s shop.  She’s still there. I’m—I can’t believe it—she’s still there, doing her thing as far as I can tell, customers and all— [click, static] Jesus, I just realized—she’s not there-there. She’s not here. She’s there. God, fuck, um—not to give anyone false hope—I wanted to see if I could prove my theory about the polaroid, or at the very least gather some more evidence in such a big city and I was looking for Don in this pizza place right down the block from Sylvie’s shop and thought…what the hell.  It’s clear that no one’s been in here in years. Which makes sense. Don knew Sylvie, a little—or at least by reputation—but this isn’t a place he’d spend time in I don’t think. So I’m probably the first one in here since ’68. And it’s… Well, it’s strange. And sad. And lonely. And a little bit comforting. Which really describes so much of the experience of being back in New York.  I went to my old place. And by that I mean, I went to the last apartment I’d been living in—I was a few months into a sublet that I’d probably have been in for at least half the year, a friend of a friend of a friend’s place I’d sublet before. And, well, I actually got some of my own fucking clothes which is…god, I’d missed my boots. These nice steel-toed ones that I’d bought for myself after my first significant take. It’s nice to have them back.  But there wasn’t much else there that was…mine. I mean, the place was never really mine. I did take a few polaroids, and things had been moved around, so I’m assuming the tenant came back and is living here again. I guess they either didn’t care that they missed out on a few sublet payments or they found someone else to live here while they were gone but…well, I’m glad I didn’t fuck up their life.  But being at Sylvie’s is like…being at home. The smell of it, the sound of glass and china rattling in their cabinets as you walk through the shop. I loved this place. And it feels good to be back, even if I am alone.  Sylvie would often work on project at the register—the shop was rarely full, but you could hardly tell if anyone else was in it with how winding and full it is. So it’d be easy for her to miss a customer if she didn’t camp out at the register.  It looks like she was working on an old Tiffany lamp right before… I wonder if one of the crew brought it to her. It’s a nice piece and genuine Tiffany lamps always go for a decent price. I wonder if she finished it. I’m looking right at it but I wonder where it is now.  So, anyway, I took a photo of the counter and there she was—I got lucky with the timing because she was checking out a customer who was buying an old mantle clock. There was a big pile of fabric in place of the Tiffany lamp, so I guess she’s mending things at the moment. That always relaxed her.  She looked…she looked like Sylvie. Older, of course, but no worse for wear.  I hope she’s happy. I hope she doesn’t wonder about me.  [click, static]
Released:
Apr 23, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

BREAKER WHISKEY is an ongoing, daily microfiction podcast exploring one woman’s journey to find additional survivors in an America made empty by an unknown event in the late 1960s. In 1968, two women find themselves in rural Pennsylvania during what turns out to be some kind of apocalyptic event. By the time they discover that everyone else is gone, it’s too late to figure out what happened. Despite not liking each other at all, the women work together to survive, until six years later one of them sets out on her own, driving around the country to find other survivors. This is her, calling out to anyone who might listen. BREAKER WHISKEY is made by Lauren Shippen and recorded on a 1976 Midland CB Radio. It releases daily, Monday through Friday. If you would like the entire week's episodes as one single download, released on Monday, you can support the show at patreon.com/breakerwhiskey or by becoming an Atypical Plus supporter at atypicalartists.co/support. Please visit breakerwhiskey.com for more information or to send a message to Whiskey.