Ten BUTS Thru Ten COMMS: UMBRELLA & THEFT

In the eighth pairing of the Ten Buts thru Ten Comms Project reading “Mildred's Umbrella” through “Thou shalt not steal,” Steiny approached by pointing out certain words and asking questions.

MILDRED'S UMBRELLA.

A cause and no curve, a cause and loud enough, a cause and extra a loud clash and an extra wagon, a sign of extra, a sac a small sac and an established color and cunning, a slender grey and no ribbon, this means a loss a great loss a restitution.

Here are some words that might suggest a scenario where a theft or maybe mugging might be happening: a cause, loud enough, a loud clash, a sign of extra, a small sac, cunning, this means a loss a great loss, a restitution.

Here are some questions and answers: 

Q: What would cause someone to steal?

A: Given that there is a sign of extra as well as an extra wagon, Steiny ventures that someone who does not have extra, who is poor and in need and unable to control the urge to take what is not hers might indeed steal.

Steiny hears a loud clash of...something we don't know what.

A:

Q: Would a sign of abundance (extra) encourage someone needy to steal?

A: Because there is mention of a cause and a loud one at that, maybe there is a demonstration on the street that spurs the needy one to steal.

Q: Has someone absconded with a sac, a small sac?

A: Eleanor Smagarinsky said sac in French is a woman’s handbag and these are often stolen.

  

Q: Who was that cunning person and why would he/she steal?

A: Again, this might be a person who takes in a street demonstration, possibly against an employer who has not adequately paid his/her employees and maybe the needy one was once employed by this stingy boss but laid off or fired.

Q: What was the thief wearing? Maybe a slender grey dress with no ribbon?

A: Hard to say what the thief was wearing be it a slender grey dress with no ribbon. Steiny is now more interested in ascribing the slender grey and lack of ribbon to the handbag, which may represent a great loss to its owner.

Q: Can there be restitution?

A: That sign of extra, that small sac stolen and meaning a great loss. How can this be restitution for someone down on his or her luck. For as cunning as this thief might be, he or she is impulsive and not thinking through what this act might mean in the long run. Prison being among the consequences.

Q: What happened?

A: Something straight on (without curve, as in no curve) happens to the person who becomes a thief. Possibly the urge to steal is brought on by the abundance seen on a street. Someone, probably a woman of means (an established color) carries sac à main (handbag). The needy one devises a plan through cunning. The bag is slender and grey and has no strap (no ribbon). During some kind of mob scene on the street (possibly a demonstration— a cause and loud enough, a cause and extra a loud clash, the perpetrator bumps into the woman of means, grabbing the sac, which the thief feels is restitution for what society owes him/her.

Q: If we see Mildred's umbrella as protection could that be a factor in not having any complications (no curve)?

A: Ah, the story could be revised, if the woman of means used her umbrella to fend off the

thief.

Q: Now flipping back to the original close reading “Mildred’s Umbrella.”, could this Ten Commandment read through with that shalt not steal be a plea to the Higher Power not to take Mildred's life?

A: In the world of interpreting Gertrude Stein, anything is possible. Mostly it is about thinking outside normal limitations. Steiny thinks this study group would be good for leadership training.