Reading of "The Payoff" by Susan Perabo

Susan Perabo, Writer in Residence and Associate professor of English at Dickinson College in Carlisle Pennsylvania, recently returned to Frostburg to share one of her best short stories, titled "The Payoff." The story, as Susan put it, "took four years to complete, though the time was split up into a month of work and then never looking at it for a year and then coming back later again to finish it." A long time for a short story indeed, but in the end, the amazingly human characters and hilarious plot line was well worth the time and effort Susan put into her work."The Payoff" centers on a couple of schoolgirls, Anne and Louise, who were returning to the art room one day to collect a project, finding their art teacher "servicing" the school's Principal. Shocked, appalled, and quite confused by what they have seen, the girls are fraught with what to do with the information they now have. After tossing around a couple ideas that could easily get their principal in trouble with his wife, Louise decides that blackmail is the best way to go - after all, what kid would not want a chance at some easy money? Slipping a note underneath the Principal's door, the pair wait in anticipation for their payoff of twenty dollars to come from behind the second stall of the girl's bathroom. It arrives just as the note requested and the two contemplate what to do with their newfound earnings. Anne decides upon buying a gift for their art teacher because she believes she is a good woman. After doing so, the two try again, requesting double the amount of money this time. However, with Louise heading home sick that day of the payoff, Anne is left alone to pick it up herself. When Anne finds the payoff, containing a note with both of their names, she knew the jig was up. As fate would have it, her art teacher comes into the bathroom to find Anne holding the note, telling her to think about what they have done because their art teacher did what she did for love, nothing else.


Overall it was a very positive experience and the people that came out to hear Susan read her story loved every minute of it. The tone of voice, the humor of the girls, and the situation that they ended up in were amazing. Susan was kind enough to answer a few questions from the audience after she finished. The expected "Why did you become a writer? Where do you get your inspiration? Is there anything you won't write about?" were asked and answered: "Baseball didn't work out; I think of the most interesting or funny situations for people to get into; Siamese twins." One of the more humorous questions someone was curious about was "How many rejection letters have you received?" to which Susan stated that she had a binder full of at least one-hundred rejection letters. "It's not great, but it's impressive failure that you don't want to get rid of. However, to those of you sending out your work, if you do get a rejection letter, what you need to do is take that work you submitted and send it out again the same day. Just because one place didn't take it doesn't mean no one will." Good advice to give to a new writer trying to get their foot in the door and help deal with rejection better.


The audience response was amazing as well with people leaving Cook Chapel in an elated mood. Gerry LaFemina, English Professor on campus, spoke about how he "thought [Susan] was great, smart, and was wonderfully entertaining." In addition, Ashley Anderson, a student in her senior year, said she "had read [Susan's] work before and was really impressed with her ability to read so consistently through the story, without exhibiting too much emotion for the story. The words alone did that work for her." Many others shared the same views as Gerry and Ashley, talking amongst themselves and thanking Susan for taking the time to read her work. The event was very successful and Frostburg would welcome Susan back anytime to do another reading.