"The Doorman"?

[cirerita]

There this person who read a Bukowski story 25 years ago or so and she badly wants to read it again, but she can't find it anywhere.

Here's what she recalls about the story:

The story is called "The Doorman" and features a mentally challenged boy named Charles who is supposed to go to the store for his mom. But he gets no farther than the lobby of his building. Not until the end of the story does the reader realize the boy is mentally challenged - his mom comes out into the hallway, sees Charles is still there, and says, "You're too sick to go today" and the "today" lingers and echoes - you get the feeling this has happened many times previously. There is of course, the doorman, and also a mailman in this story; it runs to about 25 pages perhaps. I read it in the early 1980s and enjoyed it very much.

This might have been published under a different title, but I don't recall any story such as the one she describes...

 

[mjp]

Doesn't ring a bell with me either. And it doesn't sound like typical Bukowski if it is...

 

[Father Luke]

Nothing here.

Nothing I've ever read of Bukowski had echolalic characters.

 

[Short Bus]

you can say that again

 

[1fsh2fsh]

Doesn't ring a bell with me either. And it doesn't sound like typical Bukowski if it is...

I was thinking the same. I'd bet that she has her authors confused. sounds like an interesting story though.

 

[cirerita]

well, I asked her if she recalled any other detail about the story, and here's her reply:

Charles is introduced to us right away, by a narrator. Then his mother is introduced by fussing over him and getting his sweater on, pinning a note to him for the grocery store, and cautioning him. Then she does her vacuuming while Charles' father snores in the kitchen/background -- Charles thinks he sees birds flying out his father's nose. Anyway once Charles is out in the hallway, he starts hallucinating all kinds of weird things, all the way down to the lobby. There, the mailman opens a wall of metal mailslots and Charles is intrigued. He is also acknowledged by the postie (yes I know, shadows of Bukowski's former life creeping in...). Then the doorman holds the door open for Charles and makes a little small talk with Charles. But Charles can't face the outside world, so goes back up to the apartment.

The last lines I DO remember, as they are so simple and poignant. Charles' mom opens the door and sees him there without any groceries. She says, "Charles, you're too sick to go out today" and then I think the narrator echoes - "today." (Which of course implies tomorrow will be just like today, which was like yesterday.)

 

[1fsh2fsh]

I still think that she may be confused. this just dosen't sound like anything that I recall Buk ever writing. of course I know that I havent read everything, but I would think that if it were written by him someone on this forum would reconize it.

 

[Bukfan]

I don't recognize it either. Could it be a story from some obscure mag? If it's a Buk story then it's strange nobody here ever heard of it. Did she read it in a book or a mag?

 

[mjp]

I would hazard a guess that there is not a 25 page published short story that is unknown to the all of the users of this forum (especially cirerita -- unless she read it in Write ;)). That the main character was named "Charles" - and it's from the early 80's - would seem to make it even less likely to be a Bukowski piece.

 

[Bukfan]

Right! The typical Buk story is much shorter than 25 pages...

 

[james]

i can guarantee you that is not a buk story....ok bye...

 

[Father Luke]

The Doorman - a lost story by Charles

Page 25

Charles, you're too sick to go out today.

Today.


The end.

 

[cirerita]

I told her that the Bukowski experts out there believed The Doorman was not by Bukowski, so I asked her if she was sure it was indeed by Bukowski. Here's her reply:

I'm about 98% sure - I wish I had more details, other than it was a slim volume (about 1/2 inch thick) and I think it was paperback. The story's about 10-14 pages long.
Not sure where else I would get Bukowski's name, other than I'd recognized it from a poem of his I read for college a few years earlier (1977-79) and I'd probably read Post Office around that time of The Doorman (1980-83)

She's from Canada. Maybe BSP throw in an extra story in the Canadian edition of Hot Water Music? ;)

 

[roni]

still it doesn't sound like a Bukowski-plot.

maybe she was intermixing it in her memory because of the name 'Charles' and the mailman in the story?

also, though the time would fit, I don't think it could have been in an edition of HWM, because it's a much thicker book than half an inch, even without that additional story.

 

[mjp]

I told her that the Bukowski experts out there believed The Doorman was not by Bukowski...

The fact that you had to ask proves it to me.

That, and the story just doesn't fit. And if it doesn't fit, you must acquit! We learned that here in Los Angeles the hard way.

 

[Black Swan]

Charles, you're too sick to go out, today?. . . absolutely not!

If it were, Charles! , sick or not , go get a job, now! . . . maybe!