I wrote this the day after my big prom debut in April, and I was just too happy about having my silly teenage dream fulfilled to post it or even think about it, but I saved it, and The Girl haunts my thoughts.
There was this girl at the prom.
She was wearing a stunningly beautiful lavender gown sprinkled with tiny silver stars. Her bent and twisted body sprawled awkwardly in an electronic wheelchair that looked capable of taking off to the moon.
Money probably wasn't a big problem in her family.
She sat with the teachers and maybe an attendant, glaring at the crowd with blazing azure eyes. The teachers attempted to make small talk with her, but she didn't seem to be much interested. She was watching the hundreds of tanned, toned teenagers as they laughed and hugged and giggled and ran around clutching strappy little high heels and adjusting their carefully arranged hair.
Nobody talked to her. Nobody came up to her and whispered some hot new gossip in her ear. Nobody asked her to dance, or offered to escort her around to see what all the other kids were up to. No boy kissed her on the lips, whispering vague promises of eternal love.
She had blonde hair and blue eyes and a pretty, slightly twisted, bitter face.
I know myself well enough to know that I would have probably ignored her too if I had been a teenager.
As I stood at the edge of the crowd in my straight and strong body, I felt helpless.
I looked at the girls at the peak of their beauty and power and wondered. I wondered if any of them, in the coming years, would clutch their partner's hand with an icy grip as the genetic counselor told them that they were carrying a life with a birth defect.
I wondered if they would believe that it was worth carrying to term a life that one day would be hurriedly tucked into a darkened corner of the prom, out of sight and out of mind.
I wondered if any of the girls would, in the darkest days of their life, remember The Girl In The Lavender Dress fleeting through their consciousness like a vengeful, angry ghost, reminding them the only people they partied with at the prom had perfect, unbroken bodies.
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5 comments:
While all that about the uncaring teens might be true, it could just as well be that this girl's bitter outlook about her condition was of long standing. Bitterness about life's unfairness is hard for others to overcome and be attracted to.
I've know a few kids/adults in wheelchairs and who they attracted to them was very much a function of their warmth and didn't have much to do with their chairs.
Yeah, I wondered about that too. She was sitting with several other kids in wheelchairs. They just looked sad and resigned. She looked angry. I wondered if her personality turned people away, or if she had started out as a sweet kid and became bitter over the years.
The dress was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. She had taken a lot of time and care to try to look nice, and she must have had some hope that she'd have a good time, else why be there? eh, it was just depressing.
I can't dance, or even stand up very well, but I am miighty handsone, so I would have asked the girl to dance, if she dances with Old People.
I remember her. And I have spent my life with people like her.
I have worked/loved people with physical/and or mental developmental disabilities for over 20 years.
There are people who care.
amy
amyswaterworks@telus.net
That was beautifully written. I just like the way you see things.
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