Peace & Quiet
Fresh from the bath and tucked into matching pajamas, we kids squirm into each other on the couch, arranging and rearranging ourselves to ensure an optimal viewing position, enthusiastically waiting for the show.
After a time, we hear her descending the stair.
Her heels click against the wood, her fragrance wafting before her.
Like the sun, she emerges, breathtaking and brilliant. Her full lips painted rich red and smiling. Then, like a lady in a shampoo commercial, she looks past us to some unseen camera and began ever so slightly to move her head, tilting back and forth with a kindness and curiosity on her face as if she were greeting the walls of our living room for the first time, ensuring that we saw all her extravagant angles.
And we are wholly transfixed as she stands on the landing like a beauty queen batting her eyes and waiting for her tiara. We, her loyal audience, erupt in oohs and ahs as if we are witnessing fireworks.
And then, like the tiny ballerina in the jewel box, she begins to spin. Slowly, her arms held slightly away from her body, palms open to the floor as if pressing down, her neck and chest elongated and elegant.
Our hands flutter and then come to our mouths. Our voices pleaded, "Again, again!"
This was our mother?
"But where had she come from? And where had she been? And where had our other mother gone? The one with the house dress splattered with pancake batter? The one in curlers and bobby pins? Where went the furrowed brow and the reading glasses?
This freshly painted, sparkly version of our mother was too breathtaking to understand. And so it was her beauty that would finally accomplish what she had always hoped for, spent years requesting and then demanding. Please, please, just a little peace and quiet!
She had it now; we sat in awe and silence at the transformation of our mother, our magician, our God, our Goddess.
Prompt: Write a love story about your mother.
Remember, those who hold the pen hold the power. So write on my powerful friend and use your words for good.
Love, Maur
