First, do not be beautiful. Men will turn heads briefly and look back for beauty. Challenge them with an elbow. Move away. They will smell perfume and feel you pass. Elbows and feet are not dead giveaways. Not even mouths. If you are not beautiful, you may speak. Even the truth. But then there are eyes. If they see them, they will know. If you want this, look up. Think hard about wanting. If you do not succeed entirely, if you are beautiful in some light, the man who needs to be seen always will move around you, hit your foot, dangling from your crossed leg. Uncross it. He will wait for you to see, to do. Do not look, as he would not otherwise. Upset his custom. Make it yours. Make him make you beautiful.
Lauren Becker
www.lauren-graysheep.blogspot.com
The Progress of Love
Alice Munro
Lauren Becker
www.lauren-graysheep.blogspot.com
The Progress of Love
Alice Munro