“You have freaky eyes.” Those were the first words spoken to me on my first day of kindergarten by a chubby boy who should’ve been more concerned about his diet than my appearance. I did what any sensible five-year-old would do and pushed him to the ground. He, of course, wailed to the teacher, as all bullies do when they’ve been bested. I was immediately reprimanded and put in a “time-out” chair to “think about” what I’d done. Honestly, all it did was give me to time to consider whether or not my eyes were indeed, “freaky”.
Ten years later, and it’s another first day of school. I’ve gazed at my reflection in the mirror many hours since then, which I know sounds vain, but it’s really confusion over narcissism. My eyes are large, as if I’m perpetually surprised, but they don’t bug out or anything unappealing like that. The problem is my china doll appearance doesn’t match the inside of me; I look fragile enough to break, but I don’t feel fragile enough to break.
After my daily gazing in the gold, ornate full-length mirror was complete I joined my aunt and uncle in the kitchen. Spending time with my aunt is like spending time with a Jewish Stepford Wife. In case you don’t know what that is, I’ll tell you. Housewives were turned into robots to be more pleasing to their husbands. I’ll bet that’s every man’s fantasy, to have a woman completely at his disposal. No arguments, no opinions, just absolute submission. I sometimes suspected this was Aunt Leonora’s fate. Except for a few knickknacks, the house was plain, white, and scrubbed clean. The kitchen was exactly the same, all white, with its cabinets, appliances, tile floor, walls, and the round table and four chairs.
“What would you like for breakfast, Aura?” Aunt Leonora asked, hopefully.
I hated breakfast, but she never gave up. I decided to give in, although eating on the morning of the first day of school is probably the worst thing to do.
“I’ll have a yogurt,” I decided.
Aunt Leonora frowned. Yogurt didn’t give her enough to do. She hustled to the refrigerator with her middle-aged body, shapeless dress, and sensible shoes. She had dark bangs and long hair that she scooped into a bun. There was an insect quality about her face, due to her enormous tortoise shell frames and bad eyesight. She had wide lips that reminded me of a frog. Aunt Leonora returned with four varieties of yogurt; I chose raspberry.
