Kitty was having a very bad day.
She had thrown up with the girls at their regular morning time (one must always adhere to some sort of, like, schedule or something right?) but had accidentally thrown up on a portion of her hair. All she could smell was vomit, instead of her very expensive Sarah Jessica Parker perfume.
Sighing, Kitty spritzed some more around herself and walked quickly into the wafting cloud as her mother had taught her. “Only whores and women of the evening spray it directly on themselves.” Her mother had often said. “If you must use oils, dab, darling, dab. Do not flaunt your scent like a slut.
She clutched her bible amongst her school binders. Stroking the embossed cover, the gold cross somehow comforting despite looking fake, she wondered if God frowned on vomiting. She wondered what she would have to answer for.
Her spine stood a little straighter when her boyfriend, Rogher Twinklewhip the Fourth, walked down the hallway. Kitty wondered if she had put enough perfume on. As he neared her, she realized she did not.
“God, babe, what’s that smell?” He waved at the air in front of her. “Smells like dead cat vomit and cat piss.”
“It’s Covet by Sarah Jessica Parker.”
“Covet my ass! You’re going to have to switch. Why does all perfume smell like vomit on you?”
“Just unlucky I guess.” Kitty said. She added another Listerine Breath Strip to her tongue. Why did he have to be blessed with such an intelligent sense of smell? She wondered. Curse her luck for falling for the geeky jock, the one who could actually think for himself.
Then again, so could she, so it was a little alarming that they got on so well. She plastered a smile on her face as she had been taught. Her mother had often said: “Smile honey. People judge how happy you are at home by how happy you are out of it. You don’t want people thinking Mama’s done a bad job, do you?”
“I’ll go to the mall later today.” She said. “Paris Hilton has a new fragrance out.”
“Spoiled Rich Whore?”
Kitty grinned. “You.” She said, smacking his arm. “Are. Terrible.” She giggled when he pulled her closer. She’d have to write some sort of apology note to Sarah Jessica Parker. But she was really thin too. Kitty wondered if SJP vomited on a regular basis. Then she wondered why she thought about these things. Surely there was something else she could be thinking about?
When Rogher took her hand, she got her answer. He was so dreamy, she thought. Closing her locker, she made sure her Coach bag was slung on her arm in plain sight and stepped in beside him when he began to walk.
“Where are we going?” Rogher asked.
“I wanted to go some place quiet.”
They walked a little ways along the fields that ran behind the school. Kitty could tell that Rogher was getting nervous and worked up. She put a hand on his arm. “Relax Rogher,” She said. “It’s not what you think.”
“But why else would we go to a secluded place?”
“If you really think I’m going to do it on a forest floor, you have to start thinking again.”
“Then what are we doing here?”
“We came for that.”
She pointed to a small brook that ran between two trees. A path of water snaked through the trees and she could see leaves and pine needles floating on its surface. She sat down at the brooks edge. She opened her bible.
“Here,” She said. “Help me with this.”
She tore out a page and, in a few quick movements, had fashioned a small paper boat out of the bible page. “See? Help me make some more boats.”
Rogher sat down beside her. “Isn’t that your family bible?” He asked. “I don’t get it, what’s going on, Kitty?”
She ripped out another page and fashioned another boat so that she didn’t have to look at him. “We’ve done some things.” She sighed, folded another edge. “I’ve done some things. Things I’m not proud of.”
She patted the little boat, brushed her fingers along on of its tips. “But just because I can’t get comfort from these words anymore doesn’t mean someone else can’t. Help me make more boats.” She said.
Saying nothing, Rogher took a page from her and fashioned a little boat. She watched as he set it on the surface of the water and it zoomed downward.
Towards the impossible.
No comments:
Post a Comment