She studied her face in the mirror. Her nose was in the wrong place. It was off center. It had a slight bump that she didn't remember seeing before.
She was late and had to leave. Her boss would be angry if she was late.
It was a long day, and she forgot to check until the next morning. Again, she studied her face in the mirror. Her eyes looked green. Was it the light? Weren't her eyes blue? Or had she imagined that?
Was there somebody behind the mirror playing a trick on her? She turned away from the mirror and pretended to leave the room. Then at the last minute, she rushed back and looked at her face in the mirror.
For an instant, she thought the mouth of the face in the mirror was open, as if surprised. But her mouth wasn't open. To be sure, she moved her tongue forward. It hit her closed teeth. Her mouth was definitely closed. As was the mouth of the face in the mirror, at least, now. Everything else about the face in the mirror was her. Well, everything, except the off center nose with the slight bump and the green eyes.
She had no time to think about this. She had to leave for work. She was a waitress at Don's, and Don was already pissed at her for being ten minutes late last Monday. Monday is a slow day, but it was the principal of the thing.
After a short bus ride, she walked into Don's Diner. Don looked at her. "You look different," he said. "You have changed something. I can't put my finger on it. What have you done?"
Then Don snapped his fingers. "Oh, I got it. You changed your hair color. You are a red head now. Not bad. Pretty hot, actually."
She wasn't sure if she should feel flattered or not. She hadn't changed her hair color. She was the same dirty blond she had been for as long as she could remember.
When she had her first break, she went into the bathroom and studied her face in the mirror. Sure enough, the face that looked back at her had red hair, along with the slightly off center nose with a small bump and the green eyes.
She liked the face she was looking at, but she didn't think it was hers.
Don yelled in at her. "Hey, we have customers you know! Get the hell out here and get to work."
She left the bathroom and started taking orders.
At her next break, she returned to the bathroom. Now her eyes were much larger and her mouth rounder. There was no mistaking it. Whoever this face belonged to, it wasn't her.
She left the bathroom and went to Don. "How is our coffee doing?" she asked.
Don just looked at her. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.
"You know me," she said, "I've worked here for ten years."
"You are crazy lady, I've never seen you before in my life. Which is too bad, because you are a looker. But get out. I have payin' customers here, and you may be a looker, but you ain't payin.'"
She didn't know what to do. All she knew was working at Don's Diner. It was like her life was over. Not that she would miss it much. Truth be told, she hated working at Don's. Always dealing with whining customers and a maniac boss. And then returning to a dingy little apartment. No, she wouldn't miss her lousy life at all. But what to do instead? That was the question.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a man shouting from across the street. "Maria!" he yelled. Since her name wasn't Maria, she ignored him.
But he crossed the street and stood directly in front of her. "Maria, I have been looking all over for you. I was worried sick. Where have you been?"
She didn't know how to respond. She had no idea who this man was, and no idea who this Maria was.
But what the heck, she thought. Whoever he is, at least he isn't Don.
She hesitated for only a moment, and then looked into his eyes and took his hand. "I'm sorry," she said. "I got lost. I'm so glad you found me."
Spiritual questions:
- Who are you?
- What makes you who you are?
- What would you want to change about who you are?
- What's stopping you?
This is one of the Parables for the Spiritual but not Religious Series.
May 16, 2019 - This was written at the Roundhouse Writing Group, Santa Cruz, Guatemala. The writing prompt for the session was: She studied her face in the mirror.
The photograph of the face in the mirror is by Léa Chvrl and made available through Flickr and Creative Commons. Some rights reserved.
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