First Dance

Leah was fifteen and about to attend her first dance, applying blue eyeshadow, sliding gloss onto her lips, thinking she looked older, prettier, and the boys would like her.

The hem of her jade dress caressed mid-thigh. She wore heels, the first time except for weddings or funerals, which as family activities didn’t count.

She emerged from her room where her much older parents waited, her mother, as always in a state of unsated activity, tapping her foot, arms folded across her ample chest. With one look she tossed Leah a washcloth and said: “Too obvious.”

 

end 8/25/2016

S. Darlington

10 thoughts on “First Dance

  1. Sad… And beautiful. How people that is supposed to love you, that really love you, may kill your dreams, your illusions, in Just two words…just like a throwing cold water over your head. Very well written, with such economy of resources. Thanks.

  2. Bravo. The image of the ingenue wearing the overly sexy dress and covered in eye shadow , perfume and high heels was spot on the money. One can also assume that the mother ( who helped her daughter select the dress) realized the error of her ways when she finally saw the daughter valiantly slogging to be an adult. It was a case of Annie Hall trying to be Kim Kardashian. And they say that the teenage years are intimidating.

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