Page 21 - Contrast2009

of his gifts into the trash basket next to her dresser. Her

feet moved heavily, scuffing the' world mirrored beneath her,

both a scarred renecition and a true representation, in which

she '~aw that a mirror neither lies nor distorts or enhances;

'i,tthrows back a ha'rsh r'enection with no mercy to softeri the

blemishes and wounds, or offer comfort through alterations.

What was reflected back was the unmitigated,truth; Greta saw

truth in her floorboards, that night., ,;

She found cheap housing in a shabby boarding house with

peeling' yellow, pa i rrt> ,a few towns away from her home, to ,:'1

which she was too asha~ed to 'return, downcast and abandoned.'

The landlady was a slight, brown-haired woman, only a few'

years Greta's senior, who had been left a young widow with

little'money. Rushing about with a harried look on her face,

she only 'gave the' floo rs a quick skim with the broom, Le avf.nq

the hallway covered in a thin film of dust. Late at night,

Greta liked to sneak out, take the broom ,from where it was

leaned against the wall, and give the pale, narrow planks a

long, clean s~eep. She'poked the broom under the tables and

chairs, set up like props 'along the hall, and pulled,the ,
dust slowly down the length of it. Greta liked to fee~.she
was helping the embittered Mrs. Green, 'and sweeping late at I
night, when the si.l.vermoonlight poured in the window at the J

end'of the,hall and drenched the newly clean boards, endowed

her task with some mystic, pagan quality.

One of the other borders, a sober young man with dark

hair and kind eyes, took notice of the quiet young woman

across the hall with the slow 'walk. For Greta lost the

carefree spring to her gait. He invited her out several

times, to restaurarits and plays, but never took her dancing.

It was hard to d~nce with iron in the feet. r '

! Over ,time, however, Greta 'fell in love trhe ~erious
Alan Black; it had been a slow courtship;' and a gr'adual

realization ~f the depth of her feelings. But those feelings

,were profound and sincere, and on her wedding day she leaped

and twirled across the parquet Hoo,r, to t.he amazement- of. her

new husband, and herself as well. Greta had never danced

:with such intense joy. No longer was she dancing for an

audience,. for the appreciative eyes of 'other young'men, for'

feminine pride at the envy of other young women. This time,

Greta was moving her body in her own savage and beautiful,

dance of self-awareness. She stretched her limbs to feel the

limits of her own skin, s'avori.nqi t.he pleasant'"rhythm that

shook he'r legs, As the bride, she could fee,l the gaze of the~

eptiri room upon her,thoughno guest realized there were

two marriages she was celebrating. Greta was also wedded to

herself that day.

The dry rustle of leaves and another blast of cool air

jerked Greta back to the present moment. She looked down'to