Staring in the mirror, Victoria thinks about her visit to the doctor�s office. She was not sick, just a check up. Victoria is the type of woman who does not get sick. She comes down with a slight cold every few years, stays in bed for the day, and is back to her bouncy self the next morning. She is the type of woman that other women hate. At 46, she does not look a day over 35. She is successful. She takes care of her herself. Just this morning her doctor, and dear friend at that, joked about how well she maintains her �hourglass figure.� For some reason this term bothers her. She does not want to resemble an hourglass. An hourglass contains sharp contrasts: it is wide then extremely narrow, to slow the passing of time. Victoria wants to resemble neither contrast nor the passing of time, no matter how slowly. She looks around the room and sees her guitar in the corner. Looking back at the mirror, she realizes she much more resembles a guitar than an hourglass. A guitar, unlike an hourglass, has smooth curves that lead to a wide middle. When women see Victoria, they do just that: they see her, but they do not look at her. Take for example this scene at the doctor�s office:
Victoria walks in and shakes her head to free the hair from her face. The long brown tresses reflect the lights above and her natural highlights shine through. She catches the eye of a woman sitting in a chair by the doorway and smiles. The woman (a beautiful woman by today�s standards: attractive facial features, tall, weighing around 120 pounds with large breasts) does not smile back. �Tramp,� she thinks. Victoria ignores the woman�s rudeness and walks to the receptionist�s desk. With an authoritative voice, she announces �Victoria Thomas. I have a 10:00 appointment with Dr. Williams.� The receptionist looks Victoria up and down, sees her business suit that clings to her body in all the right places yet still maintains a professional air, smirks as she hands Victoria some forms to fill out. �Just fill these out and the doctor will be right with you.� She smiles a sarcastic smile.
Thinking back on these events, Victoria knows she presented an appropriate face. She did not look upset or affected by these other women. She is a professional woman, and is not supposed to let petty comments or catty behavior disturb her. However, she was crushed on the inside. The woman sitting in the chair took one look at her and saw a pretty body, pretty face, great hair, and became jealous to no end. What she didn�t see was the label on Victoria�s skirt that said size 10, not size 4. She didn�t see the label on her bra that said 36-B, not 34-C. And the receptionist was more of the same. She saw Victoria�s business suit and briefcase, and also envied her. She didn�t see Victoria�s bills every month to pay off her loans, or the store-brand label on her suit because she needed the money for her business.
neb 2/2/04
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