Post by Mint on Apr 14, 2023 16:41:49 GMT
I'm hesitant to label this as NSFW, as my English teacher let minors read this, but the short story I'm discussing did contain inappropriate touching and grooming, so just an FYI.
I read this short story several years ago when I was in late middle school or high school. Can't give an exact timeframe. It was one of those short stories you find in those older textbooks or in a pamphlet they give you to prepare for state testing, so I know it wasn't written too recently. I didn't understand the story fully at the time, as I was a very sheltered child and not exposed to much sensitive media-- and being asexual, quite naïve about how things like sexual attraction worked. But knowing what I know now about different kinds of harmful relationships, this story has floated back to the surface of my mind and is sticking with me. I'll try to give as many details as I can about it.
I think the story was titled something like "The Black Umbrella". It's possible it could be an excerpt from a larger work, though I highly doubt it. I remember the story was about an elementary or middle-school-aged girl who would walk to music class and back with her father. Her music teacher was an adult woman who would teach the girl one-on-one, either piano or violin (leaning towards piano). I think the lessons may have been in the woman's apartment. The girl looked up to her teacher as a mother figure; I think the girl's own mother may have been absent in her life, and the girl felt bitterness over it and didn't want to talk to her dad about her problems. Since it would be rainy a lot of times walking to her music lessons, the teacher let the girl borrow her black umbrella, which the girl used proudly. The girl's father was naturally a bit more skeptical of the gift. The conversations between the girl and her dad were in general slightly hostile, and the conversations with her music teacher were more warm and inviting, at least at the beginning of the story. As the story progressed, the music teacher became more and more physically affectionate with the girl-- nothing explicit of course, this is a story minors read. Stuff like giving the girl a hug at the beginning or end of lessons or having a hand on the girl's back while she played the piano. The teacher would also ask the girl more questions about her personal life under the pretense of wanting to help her. The girl gradually became less comfortable with her music teacher and more comfortable with her dad, and the uncomfortableness the girl felt during music lessons eventually escalated to the music teacher giving the girl a doting pat on her butt. When the girl left the lesson to go home with her dad, she finally threw the black umbrella her teacher gave her into a storm drain or something similar, symbolizing her letting go of that toxic relationship.
Has anyone else heard of or read this short story? I did some quick browsing online and couldn't find it at all. Any help is appreciated.
I read this short story several years ago when I was in late middle school or high school. Can't give an exact timeframe. It was one of those short stories you find in those older textbooks or in a pamphlet they give you to prepare for state testing, so I know it wasn't written too recently. I didn't understand the story fully at the time, as I was a very sheltered child and not exposed to much sensitive media-- and being asexual, quite naïve about how things like sexual attraction worked. But knowing what I know now about different kinds of harmful relationships, this story has floated back to the surface of my mind and is sticking with me. I'll try to give as many details as I can about it.
I think the story was titled something like "The Black Umbrella". It's possible it could be an excerpt from a larger work, though I highly doubt it. I remember the story was about an elementary or middle-school-aged girl who would walk to music class and back with her father. Her music teacher was an adult woman who would teach the girl one-on-one, either piano or violin (leaning towards piano). I think the lessons may have been in the woman's apartment. The girl looked up to her teacher as a mother figure; I think the girl's own mother may have been absent in her life, and the girl felt bitterness over it and didn't want to talk to her dad about her problems. Since it would be rainy a lot of times walking to her music lessons, the teacher let the girl borrow her black umbrella, which the girl used proudly. The girl's father was naturally a bit more skeptical of the gift. The conversations between the girl and her dad were in general slightly hostile, and the conversations with her music teacher were more warm and inviting, at least at the beginning of the story. As the story progressed, the music teacher became more and more physically affectionate with the girl-- nothing explicit of course, this is a story minors read. Stuff like giving the girl a hug at the beginning or end of lessons or having a hand on the girl's back while she played the piano. The teacher would also ask the girl more questions about her personal life under the pretense of wanting to help her. The girl gradually became less comfortable with her music teacher and more comfortable with her dad, and the uncomfortableness the girl felt during music lessons eventually escalated to the music teacher giving the girl a doting pat on her butt. When the girl left the lesson to go home with her dad, she finally threw the black umbrella her teacher gave her into a storm drain or something similar, symbolizing her letting go of that toxic relationship.
Has anyone else heard of or read this short story? I did some quick browsing online and couldn't find it at all. Any help is appreciated.
