This jewelry is all my mother's. It makes me look a little more grown up, doesn't it? Especially with the makeup and stuff.

Mom said I used to play in her things all the time when I was a little bitty kid, but I'm not sure I believe that. Sometimes I think she makes things up … like some of the excuses she uses nowadays to make me put on girls' clothes.

There she goes again. Wiping her eyes … she just told me I looked so pretty, as pretty as a teenaged girl in a pageant.

I don't know whether to feel flattered or ill ….