2011 Issue - Santa Fe Community College

108 Suitcases
by Cynthia Gallaher
“That’s it,” said Diane at the party. “I will not drag one more suitcase
into my house. I’m finished. 108 suitcases are enough.” You might be familiar
with the riddle about a garage found with 52 bicycles, a gun and a
dead body. At this particular party, I was drawn into a conversation that
featured a lass who lives out of 108 suitcases in her house, filled with
everything from the mundane to absurd.
The 52 bicycles riddle has a solution. There are 52 bicycle design
cards in a standard deck of playing cards. As the story goes, two people
play a hand of cards in a garage, have a disagreement, one shoots the
other, then flees.
Aside from the dead body, the 108 suitcases situation is a little more
complex. Why would someone want 108 suitcases in her home Or more
than four or five, for that matter According to Diane, she has little furniture
in her house outside of a bed, a couch and a kitchen table. She
has no bureau drawers, armoires, nightstands, and bookshelves, file cabinets
or desks. “I do keep a few items of clothing on hangers,” she admitted.
Instead, she collects vintage suitcases in which she keeps her
clothes, table linens, books, important papers, and sundry other personal
items. “My husband’s mother collected giraffes of all kinds: ceramic,
metal, wood, cloth,” said Diane. “When she died, we inherited the giraffes,
and now they have their own suitcase.” She also has a suitcase
filled with bookends. Unfortunately, they don’t do her much good, since
all her books are in other suitcases. One suitcase is devoted exclusively
to books of poetry, which, as a poet, impresses me. She even has an open
suitcase crafted into a bed for her dog. “Totie loves it!” she said.
Diane herself, though of normal weight, has a squareness to her figure.
Dressed in simple black from head to toe, the monochrome lends a
compactness to her structure, while her thick and wavy dark hair atop
gives some sense of wild and human relief. Words pour from her mouth
in bursts; a rapid fire of expressive phrases, followed by silences; an unleashing
and shutting. “The suitcases are color coded, but I prefer know-
Santa Fe Literary Review 103