The Thread | Teen Ink

The Thread MAG

June 27, 2008
By Aliza Gans BRONZE, Woodbridge, Connecticut
Aliza Gans BRONZE, Woodbridge, Connecticut
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

The knitting club meets at the women’s center every ­Friday. Today they are working on ­pastel-colored baby socks.

The women clink metal needles and grumble about their husbands, ex-husbands, and rheumatic pets.

“Charlie forgot to take out the recycling yesterday. The trash man had to come into my house because I have such a cold, and he smelled like stale beer.”

The lady with silvery hair draws the curtains ­embroidered with peacocks. Pale light floods the cream-wallpapered parlor.

“The sky looks like rain. Maybe we’ll get a ­thunderstorm if the wind picks up. I’m terrified of storms at night – when the sky bursts like a Polaroid camera.”

The lady who likes to knit in yellow brings in her record player every week. She plays vinyl recordings of Chopin, Dizzy Gillespie, and during the winter, Dean Martin’s Christmas carols.

“This week we have Chopin’s Concerto No. 2, but there’s a scratch right after the first movement.”

They sip black-as-shoe-polish coffee from tiny porcelain cups until their tight buns uncoil into soft, ash-colored curls.

“It’s too weak today. Too watery.”

The lady with silvery hair pulls out twisted strands from her scalp and weaves them into each row of the sock pattern.

“I want my grandbaby to know what I smelled like when I’m gone.”



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This article has 56 comments.


on Jul. 15 2010 at 11:16 am
i_am_nobody SILVER, Belgrade, Montana
7 articles 0 photos 85 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Be yourself, don't take anyone's sh*t, and never let them take you alive." -Gerard Way

that little bit at the end was a little creepy but still pretty good

Erudite GOLD said...
on Jul. 13 2010 at 8:36 pm
Erudite GOLD, Rawalpindi, Other
19 articles 0 photos 102 comments

Favorite Quote:
trust your heart
if the seas catch fire
(and live by love
though the stars walk backward)

amazing, it really touched me

on Jun. 28 2010 at 9:12 am
writergirl13 GOLD, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
11 articles 8 photos 261 comments

Favorite Quote:
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.
Ambrose Bierce

That is precisely why i said it's a good piece, because it tells you one specific thing: don't foget your children. However, I also think that the piece would just be slightly more...what's the word... appealing to the reader if there was just that little something to compliment the theme. As i said, it's still a very good jpiece!

Coffee BRONZE said...
on Jun. 23 2010 at 8:02 pm
Coffee BRONZE, Tallahassee, Florida
4 articles 5 photos 184 comments

Favorite Quote:
Your Face.

Awwwn! that had great writing, and I liked all the details

on Jun. 23 2010 at 7:55 pm
I'm not trying to pick on you or anything, (writergirl13, 1Corinthians13:4_8, and/or Carter G) but maybe the writer doesn't want you to fully understand the story. Maybe it's just that he/she wanted to tell you not to forget your children and their children.

Carter G said...
on Jun. 23 2010 at 7:52 pm
I agree with writergirl13. It's a good piece, but it feels like there's something missing...

on Jun. 23 2010 at 7:26 am
OfficialApprover PLATINUM, Orefield, Pennsylvania
48 articles 0 photos 1752 comments

Favorite Quote:
Grab life by the balls. -Slobberknocker
We cannot change the cards we're dealt just how we play the hand
Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted
It's pretty easy to be smart when you're parroting smart people
-Randy Pausch

This was really great, very well-written, sweet.  I love the last sentence.  Awesome job.

Btw, will you check out and comment on my work?


on Jun. 1 2010 at 3:16 pm
LaughingGirl GOLD, Ocala, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 49 comments

Favorite Quote:
Play the music not the instrument. -Author Unknown

I agree with hanfan. I like how each women has sort of a personality and a way of speaking. Love it.

on May. 13 2010 at 7:00 am
I don't know if you're really supposed to "get" it. I think you have to just look at it and figure it out on your own, kind of a personal thing. It's not one of those stories where you can just read it and understand it.

hanfan24 GOLD said...
on May. 10 2010 at 12:34 pm
hanfan24 GOLD, Dexter, Michigan
15 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It is not the magnitude of your actions, but the amount of love you put into them that counts." Mother Teresa

This is great and so unique-it doesn't have a begginning or an end, its just kind of in the middle.  I love it!

on Mar. 28 2010 at 9:35 pm
Charlotte_Bukowski SILVER, Austin, Texas
6 articles 2 photos 4 comments

You know, everyone posts these stories with so called "beginnings" and "ends" and then place meaning and plot into the middle somewhere. The reason I like this kind of short story is because, on the first glance and first time upon reading it, it seems to have no meaning. You walk away from it thinking to yourself, "What's the point?" But there is none for the general public. Each individual assigns their own meaning, just as the author most likely has theirs. 

Really great work. Stories like this ought to have a genre unto their own! 


MiniPirate said...
on Mar. 27 2010 at 8:24 pm
MiniPirate, Cambridge, Massachusetts
0 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
"He's an armchair pinko!" From The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
"Writing is really very easy. Tap a vein and bleed onto the page. Everything else is just technical." Derrick Jensen

I think it was written very well. Sparing and simple. But the last line does make the whole thing click.

brie13 GOLD said...
on Mar. 27 2010 at 2:23 pm
brie13 GOLD, Sparks, Nevada
11 articles 0 photos 44 comments

Favorite Quote:
What is the meaning of life? -- To live ( Mr.Swigart- Bio Teacher)

i know what you mean. it is missing something. I think she has good discriptive words though. right now the story is good but it's needs something else to make it a great story. i don't even really get it after i read it like 20 times.

on Mar. 27 2010 at 2:01 pm
writergirl13 GOLD, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
11 articles 8 photos 261 comments

Favorite Quote:
All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.
Ambrose Bierce

idk, i like it, but i kind of feel like it's missing something. but it's still a good piece!

on Mar. 27 2010 at 8:45 am
joywriter18 BRONZE, Long Grove, Illinois
4 articles 0 photos 10 comments

Favorite Quote:
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent" - Elenaor Roosevelt

it's not an incredibly written piece, but the last line is what makes it work. 

on Feb. 11 2010 at 3:48 pm
homewardbound, Billerica, Massachusetts
0 articles 8 photos 78 comments
I know I will think about this for days now. Thanks.

amber96_ said...
on Feb. 11 2010 at 3:27 pm
amber96_, Anglesey, Other
0 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
"no"

so what i'm saying is: IT WAS REALLY GOOD. it really makes you think which i love :) Probably my second favourite on teenink ;D

amber96_ said...
on Feb. 11 2010 at 3:25 pm
amber96_, Anglesey, Other
0 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
"no"

short and simple which i really like :) i was really excited to get to the end and see what the moral of the story was. And the last line really makes you think.. It was reeeaaalllly eery but nice.

Tim-.- SILVER said...
on Jan. 20 2010 at 5:25 pm
Tim-.- SILVER, Markham, Other
8 articles 0 photos 43 comments

Favorite Quote:
We all screw up sometimes, just some people more than others

This is a very... developed taste you could say it. The entire thing is useless, except the last line, which is the meaningful punch in an otherwise useless script. In my opinion anyhow. Keep on writing :D

T3on0y BRONZE said...
on Jan. 20 2010 at 1:23 pm
T3on0y BRONZE, Esperance, New York
2 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
"As athletes, we're used to reacting quickly. Here, it's 'come, stop, come, stop.' There's a lot of downtime. That's the toughest part of the day."

the most deprsing thing ive ever heard