Ten Nobodies (And Their Somebodies)

Here are fictional narratives by "nobodies" who were privileged (or, in some cases, not) to be employed by or otherwise to have served famous people. The include corpulent Horatio, who serves as "a sort of muse" to a grieving William Shakespeare; Mose, a runaway slave who serves as a masseur and bedtime reader to Anne Bonny, the fierce but nervous pirate; and Parson, a spiritual advisor to Davy Crockett. There's Buffalo Hump Woman, a hairstylist to General George Armstrong Custer; ten-year-old Mimsy, a tea party assistant to aged Lewis Carroll; pretty Antoinette, who serves as a maid for one difficult evening for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas; and Louie, a press aide to President William Howard Taft, whose endeavor is to mislead the press as to Taft's true weight. There's burnt-out Jean, a fortuneteller for Marilyn Monroe; and Percy, a spy for temperamental Packers coach Vince Lombardi. And there's Solly, who serves as a trivia research assistant to retired gangster Meyer Lansky and his brunch buddies at Wolfie's Deli in Miami Beach.