3WW can be found here Thanks Bone This was written in ten minutes. And i’m not planning on editing at all–my last week’s was much better
Who was that woman in the mirror? Her face used to be so smooth. Strangers would approach her and tell her how beautiful her skin was.
Liza tried to get used to this new person. Her looks had truly been her fortune. Every door had opened for her. She knew an open door was just a beginning. It was her responsibility to make the door open wider and have more doors open. They had.
About ten years ago Liza noticed that she had to actually try a bit to get people to like her. She didn’t know how. Life hadn’t prepared her. She supposed she was lacking character. But how do you get a personality when her face and figure had sufficed for so long?
She had never been a drinker. Now she retreated into the world of high quality vodka. People used to laugh at how long a bottle lasted in her house. Now she went through a bottle or two a week.
She began calling in sick once or twice a week. Her boss had been her friend. He told her he could no longer keep her on.
She couldn’t see her furniture because of the clutter on it. She didn’t care. The cleaning woman had long ago stopped coming. The cleaning woman told Liza’s friends that she was a dirty dead beat. They knew. Liza’s friends stopped caring. You can’t help a person who won’t help herself.
When the eviction notice came, Liza pretended not to notice. When the marshals came and took her stuff onto the street, Liza rescued a few bottle of vodka and drank straight from them.
The people at the shelter thought they had seen everything. They weren’t prepared for Liza Adam, former super model. When they did the intake, Liza refused to answer all questions. The caseworker thought Liza still beautiful for 56. She investigated her life and was shocked to find that Liza had always worked. She had saved nothing, but the caseworker thought Liza could be eligible for disability. Despite her constant drinking, Liza didn’t have any liver damage. The rare times Liza spoke she was still lucid.
The caseworker was in her 20’s and determined to save Liza. She had such beautiful smooth skin. Her face looked unmarked from years of drinking. The caseworker wanted Liza’s figure.
She came to work one day and was shocked to find that Liza had broken a bottle, taken it to her face, and cut it all over. She cut as much as the rest of her body as she could before passing out.
“See,” Liza said some days later when she regained consciousness. “I am disfigured.”
http://dewyknickers.wordpress.com
This is very good Pia. I know you don’t like it, but it captures the self-hatred so well.
Rose
xo
You definitely got a point across with this one, Pia. I think you told the story well.
Off the cuff? Whew, not many could write this well with edits. I’d like more toward the close but you a solid storyteller. Thanks for the read.
ten minutes? Wow! how do you do it?
I truly like this. For a 10 minutes effort, it is truly good.
http://firmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2008/01/bag-and-baggage-3ww.html
gee, ten minutes…i think it’s great!!… it is a perfect reflection of today’s beauty is everything.. is disfiguring oneself a state of mind…
This is gripping. Really nice job.
I think we all have some hatred of aging buried inside us.
Say for instance, for a certain blogger who happens to believe she’s too young to be finding her first gray hair… but found it anyway.