Great Are the Myths - Episode 9

Great Are the Myths – Chapters 19–20At Miss Porter’s, Birdie’s world is still ruled by Tilly and Cornelia — but the balance is shifting. Tilly declares she has “outgrown high school” and begins disappearing on mysterious dates, leaving Birdie and Cornelia to carry the work and watch, half amused and half alarmed, as their brilliant friend drifts into riskier territory. Birdie senses something darker beneath Tilly’s swagger: an affair with a married man that could ruin her if the wrong people find out.Birdie, meanwhile, is keeping her own secret life. She shudders at the thought of anyone discovering her summer of sin with the boy back in Memphis — and how quickly a girl can be branded and destroyed for the same behaviour that barely registers as scandal for boys.For the holidays, Birdie chooses the South over New York. She goes home to Miss Mary — and to the boy, who seems changed. He’s dressing flashier now, wearing his hair in a rebellious way, performing himself with a new flamboyance that makes Birdie laugh and ache with affection at once. Under the showmanship, his old shyness remains. He tells her he can only truly be himself around her.When he plays for her, something in his music feels newly alive — bluesy, stirring, and more powerful than before. Birdie is stunned by the force of it. She urges him to take school seriously, to believe he could become a professional musician, but he shrugs it off. College feels impossible in his world. He talks about money, responsibility, and taking care of his parents. Birdie hears the gap between their lives widening again — and tries not to let it harden her.Back at school, glamour arrives in person: Gene Tierney visits Miss Porter’s, a former student returning like an Olympian. The girls watch her with awe, half worshipping, half mocking themselves for worshipping at all. In the midst of the excitement, Tilly reappears beside Birdie and Cornelia as if nothing happened — affair ended, details withheld, asking to be left alone with whatever damage it caused.As the months move on, letters from Memphis become less frequent. The boy is juggling school and jobs, and Birdie is increasingly swallowed by the demands and freedoms of her life up East. He writes to say he performed “Till I Waltz Again with You” at a talent show — for her — and jokes that if she isn’t careful he might end up waltzing with someone else.Birdie laughs, but the ache remains.She hears rumours he’s been seen with other girls. She travels more, writes less, and is pulled deeper into the world of weekends away, parties, and new friends. She even kisses Topper at a summer ball in the Hamptons and returns home sick with guilt. When she confesses, the boy claims he doesn’t mind — yet his questions feel like tests, and his distance feels like something slowly turning.Senior year arrives. Tilly becomes valedictorian; Birdie and Cornelia make honours, suddenly eligible for the best colleges. Birdie must choose what comes next — and what kind of life she is really building.Then, just before she leaves Farmington, a letter arrives from the boy: short, sentimental, apologising for his distraction, admitting he’s missed her — and asking her to come home.Birdie wants to.After years of polish and performance, she feels the pull of Memphis again — the place where her heart first learned what it meant to belong.