There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell - v4 by Laurie Notaro Page A

especially welcoming when Maye e-mailed back that she was basically a disciple of all Gothic literature and would spend her life devoted to the craft if she didn’t need to earn a living.
    “A devoted reader and willingness to explore the text is exactly what we’re looking for,” Crystal replied. “We want someone who’s really going to feel free to examine the possibilities.”
    “Oooooooh!” Maye cried upon reading this, delighted that she had found someone in Spaulding she had something in common with. She imagined spending the evening deconstructing Henry James’s short story “The Altar of the Dead” or anything by the Brontës. Toss in some brownies and you have heaven, Maye thought, glad she had taken the step to answer the ad. She was therefore a little disappointed when Crystal e-mailed several days later that the next selection the club would embark on was
Practical Magic
. Maye had read the book—a fun one about two sisters who work magic for and against their best interests—years ago and had enjoyed it, although it wasn’t exactly what she’d hoped for for the club. She had lent her copy to Sara, who still had it, something Maye was glad about when it was time to move. Maybe I can suggest a more Gothic book for the next reading, Maye thought to herself as she sat in front of her computer screen after reading the e-mail, realizing that Crystal had spelled
magic
wrong, adding a
k
at the end. It’s a reader’s club, she reminded herself, not a copy editor’s club.
    “Anyone can make a typo, stop being so damn snotty,” she said out loud as she stood up, grabbed her car keys, and headed out to the bookstore. “Maybe Crystal learned to read with Hooked on Phonics.”
    Now, scanning the “H” section, Maye found
Practical Magic
by Alice Hoffman, pulled it from the shelf, and frowned. There, on the cover, were pictures of Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock from the movie version of the book. The copy Sara still had was a hardback and had on its cover a lovely Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti portrait of the mythical Proserpine, who was taken to Hades from her home in Sicily by a lovestruck Pluto, and was cursed to spend half the year there because she ate a pomegranate, which in the portrait she holds in her hand. Maye had loved that image—it was why she’d bought the book in the first place—and now she looked with scorn at the cover of this edition. She hesitated for a moment, debating whether she should return the movie cover book to the shelf and head to another bookstore, but she put aside her book cover snottiness and headed to the cashier, passing by three more books that she wanted in the ten steps it took to get there. Maye put the mass-market paperback on the counter and reached into her purse for her wallet.
    “
Practical Magic
, huh?” commented the cashier, a woman who looked to be about Maye’s age. “This is a quirky little book. I bet you’ll like it.”
    “Oh, I read it already, years ago,” Maye replied as she pulled out her credit card. “I joined a Gothic lit book club and this is the first selection, so I figured I should get another copy.”
    “Gothic lit?” the cashier questioned. “And they picked this? That is a little puzzling.”
    Maye nodded. “I agree,” she said with relief. “I was expecting something different, I guess hoping for something more like Shelley, or even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I mean, I liked the book, the movie was okay, but it’s not really what I think of when I think classic Gothic literature.”
    “Are you sure you didn’t join the club for books with movie-poster covers?” the cashier joked. “If
Memoirs of a Geisha
or
The Devil Wears Prada
is the next choice, I’d run for the hills if I were you.”
    Maye laughed. “I know,” she said, shaking her head. “I just—I’m new in town, I really don’t know anyone, and I thought this would be a good way to meet people. In this town it’s a little hard to do that, for