"You could go by 'May' you know," Beth was advising her friend. They were filling out college applications and Mabel was dying to start fresh in a new location.
"My mom would kill me. 'I gave you a perfectly good name that honors your grandmother,'" she ended in a high-pitched sarcastic voice. "Not even a middle name that I can go by." She flipped through the college catalog in front of her. Beth pulled it away.
"Why are you looking at those guys? Don't you want to go to college with me?" Beth was applying to her dad's alma mater, and shoved the brochure across to her friend. "I have an extra application form here if you decide you need it," and she waved a blank form that she pulled from underneath the one she had started writing on.
"I don't think my parents can afford this school." Mabel was turning pages but her mind was elsewhere.
"That's what scholarships are for. Besides, you'll never know if you don't apply."
"Okay, hand it over."
"Yay!" She held the form out of Mabel's reach as she added, "Now... we both have to fill them in perfectly because there are no extras." She smiled and released the paper. "Go for it, 'May'!"
Mabel smirked at that and picked up a pen. The room got quiet, but for the sound of pens scratching on paper. As she finished hers, Beth asked, "What did you use for your name?"
"I'm waiting. Left it blank for now." She was intent on what she was writing. Beth's mom came in at that moment.
"You need anything? I can get some sandwiches going in the kitchen." Both girls nodded and the parental unit was gone.
Finally Mabel's pen rested on the table and she dropped her voice. "Do you think I can list your address as mine?"
"Why?" Beth had dropped her voice to match Mabel's secrecy. Mabel raised the form so that Beth could see the top "personal information" section. Beth grinned. "I don't mind, but the school might. I approve your new pseudonym, May."
"May-Belle. I'm hoping my mom will understand."
Thanks for visiting my #AtoZChallenge! All month I'll be writing flash fiction, with the theme "Audience Participation".
Now
it's your turn, lovely audience member. Do you have a writing prompt to
suggest? Don't worry about choosing a letter of the alphabet, just
leave me a word, a thought, a place, a concept... anything! and I'll add
it to the list.
My "Mabel" story came from the prompt "Pseudonym" provided by Anstice Brown of Curious Daydreams, in a comment left on my F post, here.
A good compromise pseudonym, not much more than accenting a different syllable.
ReplyDeleteSo, finally a decision was made! :-) Nice one!
ReplyDeleteM for Mayo Hall
Indeed. She kept her thoughts to herself the whole way through though. If this was book Beth would have to be the protagonist.
DeleteA good choice in the end. Here's a prompt you could try for 'P' - politics - we're fast approaching an election here in Scotland, so it's dominating the news coverage at the moment :-)
ReplyDeleteOoh... I don't always fit the prompt to the letter, but I will get politics at some point. Juicy.
DeleteI don't think May-Belle is much better! The cat across the street from me is named Mabel. I think it's an odd name for a cat.
ReplyDeleteI think with a hyphenated name she could please her mom, and easily be called "May" at university. I didn't expand too much on that, though.
DeleteI love what you did with the prompt. I quite like the new name she chose for herself. I like the name Mabel but I'll always associate it with the older generation, despite the fact that those sort of names are making a comeback.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I knew a 12yo Ingrid recently. And "Florence + the Machine". But I think "Mabel" may take a while to come back.
DeleteOnce she gets to school she can tell her new friends to call her anything she wants. What's written on that form won't matter.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe it's time to stop letting Mom have THAT MUCH control.
That's what I expect will happen.
DeleteBut some kids come from VERY controlling households. I imagine University will be very freeing for May!
Well, that's one option. I bet she'll want her old name later. (I do believe that most college applications are online nowadays.)
ReplyDeleteI thought of the online applications, and then decided this may have taken place 20 years ago or so.
Delete