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to Mama, but she wouldn't hear of it.
"What makes you look good is in style and what doesn't is out of style in my book," she said.
We wandered through the teen fashions unsuccessfully. Mama didn't like anything. I thought she would give up on Drawbridge's, but she decided to go into the adult section, and she stopped in front of a manikin wearing what was called a princess cut blouse and skirt. It was a black and silver polyester jacquard material with a floral pattern on the blouse and a modest leaf pattern on the skirt. Because of the curve-enhancing princess shape in front and back. Mama thought it was sexy and stylish.
When I stepped out of the fitting room. Mama and people around her looked impressed. Other customers paused to look at us. too. I was
embarrassed by the attention.
"What a perfect fit and what a beautiful figure your daughter has. Mrs. Goodman. She could model for us," the saleswoman said, "She looks like she's in her early twenties."
"Her father will have to sit at the door with a shotgun, you buy her that dress," a woman just passing said to Mama.
Mama was bursting with pride, her eyes electric, her shoulders hoisted,
"That's the latest fashion, you say?" she asked the saleswoman.
"Yes ma'am. It just came in yesterday, matter of fact."
"We'll take it," Mama decided.
It was an expensive outfit because of its designer. but Mama was determined.
"Your father can pick up some overtime," she told me when I showed her the tag.
"I don't need anything this expensive, Mama."
'Of course you do," she said. "The better you look Saturday night, the nicer you'll be treated. He's not going to take you to any Denny's in this," she said laughing, "That's for sure."
"Maybe he can't afford to do anything else. Mama," I said. After all. I didn't know anything about him and Mama really didn't know much either.
"That doesn't matter," Mama said. "When a woman impresses a man, he doesn't think of budgets and bank accounts and what he can and can't afford. He just thinks about one thing: impressing her. I know men. honey. And before long now, you're going to know them too, know just what to expect.
"Your education is starting a little later than mine did, but you have the benefit of me." she decided. nodding. "'Truth is. I wish I had me when I was younger. I didn't have an easy time of it. My mother thought sex was such a dirty word, she had me and my sister and brother thinking we had been born through some sort of pollination, you know, like flowers? It got sprinkled on her stomach and we got created."
I smirked at her attempt at a joke, but she laughed,
"I'm not being funny. All she knew was the birds and the bees and that's what bees do; don't they spread the pollen? Bet you didn't think I knew so much about science. huh?
"I got a lot of surprises up my sleeve. Ice." Suddenly, I was afraid she was telling the truth,
    My heart ticked like a time bomb as Saturday night drew closer. That night after we had done all our shopping, Mama made me put on the outfit we had bought so I could model for Daddy. First, she worked on my makeup. She sat me in front of her vanity table and stood behind me gazing at my face in the mirror. scrutinizing. She decided I needed a little eye shadow. I thought it was too much, but she claimed my eyes were my strongest feature and I should do all I could to make them stand out.
    "You have a natural pout," she told me, and decided to enhance it by dabbing a sliver of lip gloss onto the center of my lower lip. She showed me a trick to prevent lipstick from getting on my teeth. I was to put my finger in my mouth and close my lips. When I withdrew my finger, it removed any excess color.
    "Someone once told me a beautiful woman's face was like an artist's palette. The artist sees the picture there and brings it out. You got to do the same with your face. Ice. Make it a work of art. That's what I do." she said softly, but with deep feeling.
    I remember looking up at her and thinking with surprise that she had