Saturday, January 10, 2015

"Yes. And on that note I shall shut my eyes and look forward to a better day tomorrow, a new beginning."

Kaylee was 16 and knew the way some people knew they would be singers or preachers or veterinarians that she would never leave this town.  Her mother rented a 2 bedroom apartment across the street from the towny bar on the way into town.  From the small window above the sink she would watch aging home town heros come out for smoke breaks.  Like a real live music video for that song that she could never remember the name of.  Was it Hero or Glory Days? When she would stick her head in to see when her mom would be coming home the regulars would say she looked just like her. Same auburn hair, green eyes, sad smile. She looked so much like her mom that no one could even remember who her father was anymore.  Was is Bobby, her mom's long time high school boyfriend. Homecoming king and football star?  Or Reggie the science teacher everyone was sure her mother had slept with. 

She searched these men's eyes for the truth of how she had come to be.  But in Bobby's sunken dark eyes, clouded with alcohol and in Reggie ' s hidden behind glasses so thick he must be blind she saw nothing.  When she had Reggie for biology last year the town gossip had gone wild, but he had never acknowledged her as anything but a C student.  She hoped her looks could land her a husband but her legs were so long they looked like toothpicks under her dress and it seemed the one thing she had not gotten from her mother was her ample chest.  She was clumsy, plain, and just smart enough to know she wasn't smart enough.

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